Kelele

''Wow! Seedos! You weren't exaggerating!''

''What are these?'' Ameena felt astonished. She was looking at the ceiling of the temple - which was illuminated by the torches the siblings and she had brought in and the moonlight shining through the building's ventilation shafts. The huge, open space itself seemed empty.

What really got the friends' attention were the colorful creatures that were fluttering several metres above them. They seemed featherlight, made the most elegant airdives and emitted the strangest sounds...

Despite its absurdity and chaoticness, the whole spectacle looked harmonious and brilliant in a way. It looked like some strange, unearthly kind of ballet show, though it couldn't quite me compared with something as physical as ballet...
This was different from anything in the world, Ameena almost felt as if this was something superiour to human race; therefore impossible to be comprehented by her human brain...

''Those are... Sherbats!''

Ameena glanced from the strange 'Sherbats' to Leafos. The girl had the same wonderstruck expression on her mask as her. Then she looked up again and noticed her friend was right. Those were Sherbats!

The point was, they couldn't be ordinary Sherbats, those would never have such an enchanting effect on people. Eventhough Sherbats were rather magnificent by themselves, they remained pretty common piñatas.

''This is...I think this...'' Leafos stuttered, still looking up in awe.

''The long-forgotten colony of the Kelele!'' Seedos was delighted. He had actually discovered something of importance, something that would interest people more than his seed collection! This find would make him a hero, he had retrieved something legendary.

''Ke... lele? Are they something similar to the Canda wolves?''

''You know those, Ameena? Yes, they are, actually! But just like the Canda these were supposed to be an extinct species... Who could've known that they were hiding in a deserted temple, only metres away from dad's garden!'' Seedos lifted his torch a little higher. ''Shall we look around? Leafos?''

''Oh, of course! I was just... Great Gods, they are beautiful. Remember that fairy tale Mother used to tell us, about the hidden city of the Kelele? I think we just walked into that place!''

''Hmm, yes, probably...'' Seedos walked deeper into the temple, rubbing the chin of his mask. He could've sworn he saw something glinstering in the darkness ahead... When he got nearer, near enough for the light of his torch to shine on the shimmering object he gasped: ''Look! Look at those!''

Leafos and Ameena nearly got a stroke when they saw what Seedos was enthiusing about. What the boy had found - it was kinda uncertain what it actually was! - seemed to be made of some crystal-like material...

No normal crystal though eventhough that would've been a major find by itself. This was an unknown kind of mineral. Not only did it have the prettiest tone of lilac, the stone seemed to... pulsate - as if it had a heart! It emitted some sort of light by itself too, a very weak glow that could only be seen when you were standing a few metres in front of it - in a dark temple! - but the idea of a crystal even radiating light at all was incredible by itself...

''Wow!'' Ameena's amazed voice cut through the silence. ''I bet even Bart hasn't ever seen such a thing...''

''Such a thing... Indeed... If we only knew what it was!'' Leafos took a step closer. The three were standing near to the object, but in their awe they hadn't undertaken to actually get to touching distance... ''I need to take a sample of this! We got to send this to the science lab in the Central City, once we know the composition of this matter we - ehm, basically I! - can write a pioneering article on it! I might even get published in the Islander Daily! ''

''Ohh Gosh...'' Ameena suddenly felt uncomfortable with the whole treasure finding scenario. She'd seen plenty of films in which the main characters would go nuts when they'd found something of high value, and Leafos now had that same lickerish look in her eyes...

''True'' Seedos agreed. ''It'd be great if someone analyzed this stuff... But I'm more interested in the archeological science! I mean, what in the world could this mean to these Sherbats?''

''Let's see...'' Leafos squinted against the weak but penetrating light as she walked around one of the pillars of sparkle. ''Have you noticed how weirdly these are shaped? They sorta look like... I don't know, their curves are so soft, so soft and rounded... They remind me of - Ameena, what's that building called the pope lives in?''

''I've no idea'' the girl stumbled ''but I know what you mean... This looks like some strange dome structure...''

''Exactly! The Sherbats must use them as a temple...''

''Or as houses!'' Seedos interrupted her joyfully. ''You know how some piñatas like poshy things... Glad my Shellybeans aren't materialistic like that - I'd never be able to afford!''

''Hmmm possibly... I can't find an entrance though, or window, or any inlet!''

Seedos shrugged. ''Who knows how those Sherbats get in? They're Kelele. Like Canda. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a system of shafts and tunnels that runs through the entire building, they could have built a complete infrastructure all hidden in the temple walls! And it'd be under the ground too of course, in the ceiling, everywhere!''

''Why would they do that?'' Leafos asked skeptically.

''To keep uninvited visitors out of their buildings of course! Especially those bigger in size than theirselves, like us! I mean, who knows what we'd taken from them if we'd had a chance to get in... I can't blame them.''

''Doesn't get us any further, though...''

Ameena yawned. ''However... I'm afraid it's bedtime for me...''

''It's far passed your bedtime!'' Leafos mocked, desperately trying to find a hidden switch in the wall. ''I think even most Sherbats would call it a night!''

''Then I guess we should go...'' The girl yawned once again.

''Are you alright?'' Seedos asked, surprised by the fact some human beings actually needed their nightrest... He couldn't recall the last time he was as knackered! ''You look as if we need to support you to walk to the temple exit... Entrance... Exit...''

A watery smile appeared on her Tigermisu mask. ''That's not necessary...''

She stretched, rubbed her weary, prickly eyes and started walking. She hadn't slept properly for days... Even before her actual introduction to the Canda wolves, she'd been woken up by... well, possibly them? The idea of having met two legendary piñata tribes in just two days was of course fantastical, but just lifting her legs was so laborious and wearisome at this point that she didn't even give a fudge.

''Ameena!" A loud cry abruptly awoke her from her trance. ''What's wrong..? Don't you see that?"

''Hm, what?''

Ameena turned around and she saw that Leafos pointed up. In the few moments it took her to turn her face to the ceiling, she noticed that the melodious night songs of the Kelele had taken place for an awful sort of... screeching. And what was far more alarmingly the entire colony of colored bats was nosediving right into the group of friends, as if they were aiming to attack them...

Suddenly, the girl was wide awake.

''What in the world are they upto?''

''I'm not willing to find out!'' Leafos grabbed her younger brother's hand, and started running. In a blink of an eye she'd passed Ameena, who couldn't do anything but throw herself on the ground and hope they'd fly over at this point...

Oddly enough, her stragety seemed to work! The bats fluttered over and... Wait...

''Seedos!''

Apparently, an air raid was not quite what the piñatas had in mind. No, they'd actually lifted Seedos up...

The boy might've screamed, but the shrieky sounds the Sherbats made were so loud that it couldn't be transcended by one human kid. All that was discernible from Seedos' doom was the colorful tornado surrounding him, lifting him up and taking him to...
To where, actually?