AN: Well. I'm surprised. So many people saying they wanted to see what happened with Ma-Ti's chapter, and I get only three reviews? And one of them doing nothing but correcting my spelling? ;-) Well, I keep on going. An author always does. Reviews are like oxygen; especially since a fanfic-cer doesn't make any money off it.

Kwame woke up sharply.

The last thing he remembered was the light. It was all encompassing; he was drowning in it...

And then he was here. He felt sand under his body, and he sat up. He was... inside somewhere. It wasn't a room, more like a cave. There was a still pool of water in the center of the floor, the gap in the rock worn down by the trickling stream that ran in from somewhere...

And the rock was so beautiful. It was sandstone, Kwame knew, but it was filled with glimmering blue green colors that shimmered across the walls. There was coolness in the air. The kind of cool that came from having hot air outside.

Kwame knew he should be scared but he wasn't.

He sat for a while, wondering what to do, when the blue green walls shimmered and glowed brightly, the light returning again... and with a fierce flash that lasted longer than it should, Kwame covered his eyes a moment...

And when he opened them, he found he had company. A man his age with pale skin and freckles, spiky red hair...

Wheeler sat up. "Uh, get the license plate number..."

Kwame went over to him. "Be careful. I don't know what happened, but I think it happened to both of us.

Wheeler looked at him. "Sorry man, I don't speak... whatever..."

Kwame was silent a moment. He didn't have a clue what the man just said; but he recognized it as English. "American?" He said slowly and clearly.

Wheeler looked up. "Yeah." He nodded slowly.

Kwame put a hand to his chest. "Kwame."

Wheeler mirrored the gesture. "Wheeler."

They were silent for a few minutes. Wheeler got up and started exploring the cave. There was no visible entrance... or exit. But there was light. Neither of them could tell where it came from. Kwame dipped his fingers in the pool. It was cool and deep and it measured at least five feet across…

A few minutes passed while they searched... and then the light in the cave suddenly surged again. Both of them covered their eyes... and found they had a new companion.

Wheeler's eyes widened a bit as the very attractive blonde appeared. "Hel-lo legs! Well, the situation has much improved." He said to Kwame.

Linka groaned a little and sat up. She took in the two of them and opened up with a rapid fire speech in Russian. The two guys let her wear herself out. Finally, her tone changed, and she started with something that sounded like a question. Wheeler and Kwame repeated the 'introduction pose.'

The lithe blonde returned the gesture. "Linka."

And then the light flashed again, coming faster now, and this time a human form fell from the light with a splash, into the small round lake. Thrashing and spluttering, another young woman, this one Asian with short cropped hair came up from the still lake cursing in some Asian language that nobody could follow.

"Well. Two guys, two girls, and a cave." Wheeler said. "This may just be some reality show."

The newcomer looked up. "Survivor or Amazing Race?"

Wheeler beamed. "Hallelujah, you speak English."

"I speak some. I'm not fluent."

"Neither am I. I'm from New York."

The young woman chuckled. "I'm Gi."

"Wheeler. And near as I can figure, this is Kwame, and Linka. That's all the clues I'm going to give you."

Gi nodded to both the others, pulling at her wet clothes. While she didn't have pajamas exactly, the boat could get very cold at night and she usually wore regular clothes, though comfortable ones to bed. She was relieved for the fact. Nobody wanted to be abducted in sleepwear. "Where are we?"

"No idea. Last thing I remember, I was in my room. Then I'm here."

Gi looked around. "It's beautiful. What is this in the walls?"

Kwame noticed her pointing at the rock in the walls, and he ran his fingers along the blue-green minerals. "Opal." he said.

Linka blinked. "Opal?"

Kwame nodded, and started talking in his own language.

Gi glanced around. "Anybody else get that?"

Nobody did. There was silence for a moment. Each wondered idly if they should be suspicious of their companions, but doubted it. None of them knew how they had gotten here; but the fact that none of them seemed able to understand the others made it seem less likely that one of them was their abductor.

The light came back with a flash, and another form appeared, drawn in the light until the glow faded. It was a boy, younger than all of them, with olive skin and black hair. The boy sat up and smiled. He saw the four of them and smiled like he'd just walked into a family reunion.

"How many more are coming in here?" Linka demanded.

Wheeler looked at her in shock. "So you do speak English?"

Linka looked back at him, equally shocked. "I... I understand you now."

Kwame stepped forward. "And I understand you both." Kwame glanced at the newcomer. "And I would gamble it has something to do with him."

"Why him?" Gi asked.

"Because none of us could understand each other till he arrived." Kwame explained.

The newcomer stood up. "Indeed. My name is Ma-Ti, and I'm not sure how or why, but I can... sense you."

Wheeler and Gi traded a cynical glance.

Ma-Ti smiled serenely, and pointed to each of them in turn. "Wheeler, Kwame, Linka, Gi." He put a hand to his forehead, as though dizzy. "It's really quite a rush."

Wheeler's face changed and he reached out, grabbing the boy's wrist. There on the hand was a golden ring.

Everyone saw it at the same time, and lifted their hands, making their own rings visible. The mood changed instantly, as though something much more serious had been let into the conversation.

Wheeler spoke first. "I don't know where it came from. I just know it came to me. A friend of mine, someone I trust, said that the glyph on it was a fire symbol."

His ring shimmered, and a flame burst into life just in front of Wheeler, a quick spike of flame that went out instantly, having nothing to burn.

Everyone jumped back in shock. Wheeler held his left hand out, as far from his body as he could. "I- I mean it! I don't know where it came from. I don't know how I did that. It just... appeared."

Gi took that in, and thought very seriously for a moment. "So did mine." She looked back to the small reflecting pool, gathering in the center of the cave floor. "You said yours was a fire symbol?"

"Yeah."

"Well um... I did a bit of research on the glyph on my ring and it was the symbol of a Japanese god of..." She licked her lips. "Um, maybe you had better step back."

Everyone did so.

She made a gentle fist with her left hand and held it out. "Water."

The pool seemed to ripple, then suddenly burst upward, like a bomb had gone off underneath; but the water did not spray out everywhere. The water rose and flashed toward Gi, drenching her again. "Dammit, I am getting tired of this!" Gi yelled. "I am never gonna get dry!"

Wheeler came over quietly. "Why did you say that?"

"Say what?"

"Water." Wheeler quoted. "You said the word, and it worked. Not, 'Abracadabra' or 'Shazam'. What made you say that?"

Gi seemed worried suddenly. "I don't know. But it just seemed... right."

Linka freaked. "Okay! That's it! I WANT OUT! I don't know what's going on here, and I don't believe it! This is impossible! I want outta here right now!"

Wheeler stepped over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey! Calm down. Its okay, we're all in the same boat. We'll figure this out, but it'll be easier if we all stay cool."

Linka fought to keep from breaking his arm. "Fine. But I'm serious, I want out of this cave right now!"

Ma-Ti, a foot shorter than any of the others, raised a hand and easily reached the roof of the cave. He could sense that Linka's panic was coming more from the uncertainty and the narrow confinement than any fear of them. "She's right. With five of us, it's a little crowded in here."

Kwame seemed calmest. "I wouldn't worry. These blue green mineral is called Opal. Valuable stuff; though fairly common in some parts of the world." he raised his own hand. "Everyone should get back."

Everyone hurried to do so. Kwame pointed. "Earth?" It came out as a question, but it worked nevertheless. The cave rumbled and Linka threw her hands over her head quickly, ducking as low as she could.

Part of the rock wall collapsed, and warm air came rushing in, heralded by a wave of bright yellow sunlight. The section that caved in was smoothly bordered, looking not unlike a doorway.

The tremor ceased instantly; and Linka moved, first, heading for the door. The others followed more slowly.

Outside was a bright hot day. There was a mountain behind the entrance, with a stream flowing down into the cave. There were grasses and trees surrounding the water's path. And out beyond the water, beyond the foliage, was a horizon of open desolate red sands.

Linka was breathing easier the second she was out of the cave, but the sudden heat pole-axed her and she backed up to the shadow of the trees until the others joined her.

"An oasis." Kwame commented.

"Africa?" Ma-Ti asked.

"No. Not with these trees. Also, the sand is too red." Kwame put in.

Wheeler looked around. "Where the hell are we?"

Gi looked up the mountain. "I bet we could see forever from up there."

Linka looked up. "That's quite a climb you're suggesting."

Ma-Ti looked up too. "But it's not a sheer wall. There are plenty of handholds to use. I think we could make it."

Kwame looked at them all. "It can be dangerous. Something brought us here! Are we so sure we want to make a dangerous climb our first move?"

Gi was already moving. "I agree. We don't all have to go. I've done mountain climbing before."

Wheeler was right behind her. "So have I."

As they started to climb, the other three glanced at each other. And shrugged.

"Why not?"

"Fine." Kwame said. "But if I fall of the cliff, I'm taking at least two of you with me."

And the five of them made their way up the side of the low mountain.

The climb was not as difficult as they thought. The handhold and ledges went much deeper than any of them could see from ground level. They had plenty of places to comfortably sit and rest.

The higher they got, the more they had to help each other. They had plenty of ledges to sit on, and grab hold of, but no ropes, no equipment. They were all in good shape, but Kwame became silent the higher they went, and Ma-Ti and Gi had trouble reaching some of the handholds, being shorter than the others.

On one of the ledges, Gi could not reach. "Kwame! Can you give me a hand?"

Kwame started to reach below him, then lost his nerve and grabbed back for the ledge he was on. "Um... no."

Gi looked up. "Fear of heights?"

Kwame nodded sheepishly.

Gi smiled forgivingly. "I'll find another way up. In fact, I bet I'll beat you there."

"I'm certain of it." Kwame admitted awkwardly.

Gi found another set of handholds, and her promise rang true as she scrambled up a bit ahead of them. The climb went higher, and the five of them started to run out of puff, gasping for air as the sweat clung to them. "So." Wheeler puffed finally. "Where you guys from?"

"Africa." Kwame called back. "I work for the Deka Mining Company there. On the edge of the Savannah."

"Amazon." Ma-Ti answered, puffing too much to get a full sentence out

"Russia. The town doesn't have name anymore." Linka added. "It hasn't since the time of the Tsars."

Gi was perched cheerfully on a ledge, directing them to handholds. "Shinagawa City, Japan now. But for the last few years I was in the dorms at Tokyo Tech." She swung herself around, climbing again, and looked back down at Wheeler directly below her. "How about you?"

"Brooklyn, New York."

"New York, New York. City so nice; they named it twice." Gi quipped as she turned to start climbing again and Wheeler laughed. She smiled and glanced down at him. "Hey. Quit staring at my ass."

Wheeler grinned. "I'm not. Just checking to see how far it is to go. Not my fault if you're always up above."

Gi chuckled with good humor. "Well, next time you get to be on top."

Wheeler laughed, and then paused. "Wait. Next time?"

Linka sent Kwame a look. "Are they always like this?"

Kwame rolled his eyes. "How would I know? I've known him three minutes longer than you."

Banter aside, eventually they made it to the top. The mountain was not that high, but it was a greater exertion than most of them were used to. The pulled themselves up over the edge of the plateau. They lay there for a while, breathing hard.

"My god." Linka croaked. "Look!"

The top of the mountain narrowed to a jagged cliff that extended out into the open air. There was a soft carpet of moss there as well as a few trees growing out of the sides, their roots growing straight into the rock. Down below, the ground was much lower than the side they had started on, a deep canyon in the earth, which widened out considerably at the base of the mountain.

And within that canyon was where the water went, taking life with it.

Even from up above, the sound of rushing water was evident, and the canyon was filled with lush green trees. Beyond the trees as the canyon flattened out were lakes and streams of crystal fresh water. Birds sang musically and flew between the treetops, and the whole thing was gently filled with a light mist.

The whole view seen from above, with the narrowed cliff reaching out into open sky like a peninsula; was absolutely breathtaking. Standing out on the finger of rock, they were almost flying.

They were exhausted from the climb, elated from the view; stunned by the circumstances, terrified by the mysteries of how and why. There were no words, no explanations. All of them were just left speechless for a long time.

I have them all, and bring them into my keeping.

Kwame: Calm, methodical, and humble.

Wheeler: Aggressive, protective, and loyal.

Linka: Strong, independent, and uncompromising.

Gi: Intelligent, inventive, and resourceful.

Ma-Ti: Gentle, open-minded, and compassionate.

I start to move beyond these people alone. They are all of my domain, but they are also of their own; and the two are no longer compatible. The power must be theirs, but they are so young, compared to me. All their people are. I need their youth; but I need their understanding too. And even I do not know if I have picked the right people. They draw me to them; and I hope it's for a reason.

The sun was creeping lower on the horizon; and finally somebody stood. Wheeler walked out onto the narrow crag and spread his hands wide, as though taking in the entire nature scene. Ma-Ti stood too, opening his leather bag and pulling out a camera; snapping photos of the view, of the others, of the sunset...

After a while, they started talking again.

Linka turned to Ma-Ti. "So... can you hear Spanish when I talk?"

"Actually, back home we speak a very rare language. Our village has been in the Deep Amazon for longer than anyone can remember. We rarely recorded dates and history that way. But times change, and my village is now on the edge of the Rain-forest. My village is pretty much the only place left that speaks our language. Most of the Amazon basin speaks either Spanish or Portuguese; so it's not unusual to have people who speak both."

"But what are you hearing?" Linka pressed. "I do not speak Portuguese or Spanish, or anything in-between. I'm speaking Russian right now. What are you hearing?"

Ma-Ti shrugged. "I'm hearing what you're saying. It's not our ears that listen; it's our minds and hearts."

"Don't know if I'd call that an elemental power." Wheeler commented.

"Why not?" Ma-Ti asked. "Water and earth can make a place for seeds, but what makes them sprout and grow? Life isn't something that can come from nothing. If elemental powers are about making things grow, you need at heart whatever it is that makes seeds sprout."

With that, the conversation turned at last to the one question mark nobody liked to think about. The rings. About where they came from, and what they did. They shared the experiences of how the rings came to them, and what they had noticed with the benefit of knowing the Rings were special. Wheeler described what Polly's candles were doing, Kwame talked about the sudden earthquakes in the mine.

Linka did not recall the moment she had unwittingly used her ring, and so had little to share on the subject when her turn came.

"Anyone ever see a movie called The Fifth Element?" Gi asked quietly.

"Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman." Wheeler put in. "Love that flick."

"Me too. In that movie, some alien weapon was used, bringing together the five elements of life to fight an ultimate destructive evil every five thousand years." She gestured at each of them. "I think that Linka's must be air. It's the only one not spoken for."

"Which makes Ma-Ti, Milla Jovovich." Wheeler quipped. "But she's right though."

"You know..." Linka said finally. "I haven't used my Ring yet. At least I don't think so. I'm still normal."

Gi looked troubled at that. "I'm still normal too."

Linka smirked. "Gi, you can make a small pool of water jump up and stand up on end, by snapping your fingers." She gestured at the trickling streams. "You could probably do it right now."

"It's true." Wheeler put in. "Very few normal people can do that."

Gi bit her lip. "Huh. Well, Linka... it's up to you, but if it were me... I'd want to know."

Linka shook her head. "If my... and I can't believe I'm saying this with a straight face, if my power is..." She hesitated. "...is a-i-r. Then using it might just send all the air away from this place and suffocate us all."

Chilling silence.

"Hadn't thought of that." Gi admitted.

Wheeler looked at Linka carefully. "Are you sure you haven't used it? I mean, I didn't notice when I first did. Neither did Kwame..."

Linka shrugged. "It's so windy around the town I live in, how would I-AHH!"

The second she said the word, her ring glimmered and the top of the mountain suddenly turned icy as a blast of powerful wind blew across them, almost blowing Ma-Ti off the edge of the cliff face. He caught his balance and ducked his head low as the sudden windstorm swirled around them, abated, and vanished like it was never there.

Long silence.

"So." Wheeler said. "You command the wind."

Long silence as the sun started to go down; the bird sounds intensifying.

I want to rush them to work. It has been so long since I have studied the Humans from their own perspective. Even I, who has lived for countless centuries, am suddenly gripped by impatience.

I force myself to wait. I know that humans learn things better when they learn things alone.

"Well, wherever we are, it's amazing." Ma-Ti commented.

"We're in Australia." Kwame said finally.

Linka looked up. "You've been here?"

Kwame shook his head. "No, but it makes sense." He pointed to each of them in turn. "Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, North America. Australia's the only continent not spoken for. And there's a lot of Opal in Australia."

Linka looked up at that. "You think we were sent here to find someone else?"

"No." Ma-Ti said immediately. "We are five. There is... completeness about us."

"He's right. Five is a prime number. Commonly used in nature for balance and equality." Gi pointed out.

Wheeler smirked at Gi. "Benefits of an Internet education?"

Gi laughed delightedly. "Only place where you can learn about TV, mythology and news at the same time."

"So... why are we here then?" Linka asked, trying to get them back on track.

"I don't know, but if there's something for us to find... it was probably where we appeared. We were all brought to that cave." Ma-Ti pointed out.

Kwame chuckled mirthlessly. "I was afraid you were going to say that."

The climb down was easier, but far more terrifying. Gravity seemed far more powerful when you were going toward the ground.

Eventually though, they had made it back to the ground. Though they had rested and taken in the intoxicating view for a long time, they were exhausted.

Wheeler was flat on his back. "If somebody left something up there, you can go get it yourselves."

One or two of them chuckled, appreciating the attempt at humor.

"If whoever brought us here wanted to hurt us, we had better get our strength back fast." Linka added.

"That's a cheery thought." Gi commented. "Who could have done it?"

"Who would want to?" Kwame asked. "I cannot think of anything we have in common expect the rings. And if they came to us at random..."

"Not random." Ma-Ti maintained, just barely loud enough to be heard.

"Why us?" Wheeler asked him, without getting up.

"Why not?" Ma-Ti countered.

"Did anyone see any signs of people when we were up there?" Linka asked. "Any towns? Roads?"

Silence.

Linka shivered, and there was nothing cold to cause it. "If we don't get any answers, if whoever brought us here doesn't send us back... we may not have a chance. There's water and plants... but still... I'm Russian. It's winter back home! This is not winter. This is not winter by anyone's imagination. I don't belong in the Outback!"

"You guys are missing the point. How did we come here?" Gi demanded. "Forget about who for a minute, HOW did they do it? What can teleport five people into a cave from across the planet?" She gestured at the ring. "And how exactly do these things work?"

Nobody had an answer to that. They had avoided the greatest mysteries for as long as they could. It was scary to think about; confronted with strangers in a strange place.

They got to their feet and headed along the rock wall until they found the entrance Kwame made. The Opal Cave was unchanged.

"Gi, what you said about how in the movie, the elements were brought together as a weapon against something dark and terrible?" Wheeler said finally.

"Yeah."

"So if we're the five elements, what's the great and terrible monster?"

I will tell you. Come closer.

Everyone jumped. One or two of them gasped or yelled in shock. But not a one of them thought to disobey. They gathered around the pool of water in the cave floor. It shimmered amazingly; with the jeweled Opal light. The water shimmered, seemed to ripple. The ripples continued, bouncing off each other, till it almost appeared as though the water was simmering, but there was no heat, only movement.

And then the water seemed to glow; the light taking shapes; showing them things. It showed... a person. But it did not seem real. It seemed somewhat like a beautiful young woman, only too... overwhelming. 'She' seemed to be made from many things, like standing water, and smooth ice, and rich soil. Her lips parted with the warmth of golden sunlight and her eyes held impossible ancient calm.

Welcome Kwame. Welcome Wheeler. Welcome Linka. Welcome Gi. Welcome Ma-Ti.

"She knows my name." Wheeler croaked.

"She knows all our names." Kwame whispered.

The Voice was infinite power; but it had incredible subtlety. It spoke with the wisdom of the ages, and with the anticipation of eternity. It filled the space between atoms and seemed to pass through each and every one of them like flowing tangible warmth and it seemed to carry them away.

If you knew me as anything, you would think me Gaia. I am, and I am within, every living thing on this blue and green jewel. All alone in the dark.

The rippling from the opal pool now turned into shapes and images, more than just sights, but the sound and taste and feel of things too... They were taken on a tour. The visions swallowed them. The things they saw were no longer bound to the shimmering opal cave, the visions were coming from the water and into them.

I am the heart of the great living thing that we are all part of. There is a piece of each of you in me, and so a part of you in each other. I thought that you would always understand that. And I was wrong.

The visions started to shift. She was showing them... everything.

Dynamic energy. An huge stadium rock concert, the people swept up in the roar of the crowd as the music washed over them, screaming in pure exultant ecstasy as though they'd never come back to themselves.

Rainbow explosions. A great market place in Indonesia. Stall after stall of fabrics, clothing, spices, jewelry, knick-knacks, and mementos. Every stall another wave of fascinating intricacy. All the endless detail of Aladdin's cave filled with interested people, making their way through.

Simple Joy. Two people sitting on the floor, curled into each other by a fireplace while snow wafted gently against their window; their love reflected by firelight.

Partnership. Two children playing a game of jacks in the playground, unconcerned with the riot of noise from the other children in their school.

You understood once. You were very wonderful to watch.

The vision shifted. People working in the fields, tending to their crops, happily brushing the leaves and stalks with their fingers as they talked; satisfied in their work. An older man with a handmade fishing rod, sitting in a boat with his child offshore. Their catch for the day between them. The Vision shifted till they say the same people, this time in a small town, buildings made of animal skins, and bound reeds, mud-thatched huts... Sharing what they had harvested, gathered around the bonfire...

But something changed.

Back in the fields. The workers were gone; and the crops stretched further. Great machines with a broad row of scythes and tireless treads marched over the fields, gathering hundreds of yards of wheat, spraying chemicals where they were not planting or harvesting...

Back to the ocean. Huge... impossibly huge ships pulling thousands of fish into their nets at once, then dipping the nets straight back into the ocean to do it again. There was nothing left behind.

The scene shifted to the marketplace, now a supermarket. A mother frowned at the price on a loaf of bread, put it back and moved on. The day ended, the loaf was collected with all the unsold bread, and tossed into a dumpster. A homeless man slunk out of the shadows, tried to get into the dumpster, but it was padlocked shut.

Gaia showed them the whole thing at an accelerated rate; but it didn't seem to be rushed, time suddenly meaningless in whatever magic place she held them.

Somehow you forgot. You forgot that everything you knew, everything you build on, started with me as a foundation.

And then, she showed them the whole thing over again, this time drawn against nature and not humanity. The same themes, brought out in Ecology. They saw...

Dynamic energy. The beauty within the power of a lava flow, rich red light coming from the blackest pits of smoke and ash, lighting raking across the darkness, so much energy it had to split the sky and melt stone to be released, unstoppable and unimaginable.

Rainbow explosions. Riots of colors as fish of every kind, a variety beyond imagination swam with grace and ease in and out of amazing corals and plants in the reefs of the world, warm clear water playing eternal host to the variety the oceans had to offer...

Simple Joy. A pride of lions, lazing in the shade as two cubs, filled with the energy of youth pounced and rolled with each other, playing too much to be considered very dangerous.

Partnership. An ocean of ants, the view of them close and intimate, every tiny insect powering over debris and fortification without pause, working toward a goal that they all knew to work toward without being capable of words of planning...

And now; I see death. I see darkness spreading. I see despair.

New visions. They saw...

The saw the sky going dark beneath the weight of thick clouds of black ash and soot.

They saw the forest simply gone, black mud and shattered tree stumps left in the wake of massive earth-movers, ripping up whole forests of trees, the birds and animals fleeing before them as their homes simply ceased to exist; fed into wood-chippers; great oaks that stood for thousands of years suddenly as nothing before the machines of man.

They saw the coral reefs bleached white, once teeming with movement and color, now like natural ghost towns as the water turned murky.

They saw the grasslands paved over, as towers grew in their place.

They saw the mighty rivers suddenly still, their waters stagnant as the path for them was blocked by great concrete dams that dwarfed the tallest buildings...

They saw the oil spills, animals and birds trapped in the thick vicious muck, braying helplessly for something to free them as the toxic mud pulled them under like quicksand...

And I say: NO MORE!

The Voice erupted into pure unholy Anti-Life. A rage that could make the mountains tumble. Her Anger was a tidal wave washing away empires, an earthquake that could tear apart continents.

THIS WANTON THEFT WILL STOP!

The five young people were barely aware of their bodies or their surroundings any more; but they were sobbing in sudden fear.

Shhh... Be at peace my children. My anger is not for you. For you I give my Hopes for the Future.

The sudden calm flowed over them. it was a mountain lake in summer, peaceful and refreshing. She showed them the world again. They saw...

They saw waving fields of pure gold wheat, shining brightly against the gentle sun, endless fields stretching across their field of vision...

They saw the mountains, majestic and immortal, standing untouched by centuries as the sunset flared them into bright orange and gold, the stars coming to life in their shadow...

They saw buds come into bloom across fields of wild flowers, natural gardens untouched by man and needing only themselves to be beautiful...

They saw the desert. Deep unrealized reds and oranges in the shifting sands, and still there were survivors, plants and animals making their way under a harsh yellow sun; the stark oranges drawn in sharp contrast to the rich pale blue of a cloudless sky...

They saw flocks of huge birds, with broad and powerful wings propelling them across the sky. Enough of them to make the clouds invisible behind their numbers as they flocked majestically across the wetlands...

They saw waterfalls. Beautiful, endless waterfalls. A canyon going through the midst of a water table. The rainy season came and filled the whole area with water several feet deep, and the canyon became the center of cascading falls of water, churned to gorgeous white spray that went on and on...

They saw herds of wild horses, running across the wide open grass, and long sweeping plains of flat untouched ground as they simply charged for the horizon, lost in the powerful feeling of running as horses were made to do...

There is plenty for all; the needs of my children are not unknown to me and I do no hold back from those in need. The world can provide for the needs of all; but the Domain of Men takes more than I can offer. I grow less and less concerned with the wellbeing of the thieves and the parasites. They forget that we are all alone here; with nothing to be added, or taken away. I can bring nothing new into the world. And what I have must be shared by all my creatures, not just Man.

The visions shifted again. They saw...

They saw a pride of lions, perhaps the same ones, perhaps not... now lost in a dusty wasteland, the mother lion the last of the adults, lying listlessly on her side, as pathetic malnourished cubs, their bellies distended from malnutrition, mewled pathetically against their mother, begging for nourishment that was not coming as they all starved to death...

They saw a polar bear in the Arctic Ocean, swimming, exhausted, toward a small block of ice still floating in the warming water. It reached and clung on, trying to climb out of the water...

They saw a forest of trees; already dead... a lone bird flitted from one dried branch to another, tapping of the rotten wood. Down below, a sickly looking deer wandered from one clump of bare roots to another, searching for a bite of thin brown grass, desperate for food...

This mistake happened too quickly; and I was too used to looking a long way. The time to act is now. But it is not my place to act.

New visions came, showing them people again. People planting trees, people giving food to the hungry, people climbing down into raging rivers to rescue stranded people, people nurturing sick animals back to health, people working earnestly to cure diseases, people volunteering at hospitals, at retirement homes...

The mistake is that of Men. And if I am to believe you can find your place in my world; then I have to see you try and correct the mistake. If we can live together again; I will be very happy; but if we can't...

The end of that thought went unspoken.

The Mistake is Yours. The Answer must come from your will. But all of my Everything is in great danger; and I cannot sit by and do nothing. And so to the world of Men, I will send a message; a warning, an invitation, and a demonstration. A Deceleration of my Power. A Notice of my Intent.

I will send... You.

And then at last, the visions faded, leaving them back in the Opal cave, trembling, shaking, staring at each other... Suddenly so small, so tiny... nothing against the world they have shown.

There are Authorities that lasted on this earth long before human civilisation existed. You have been called not to serve forces of light, or of order, but of simple creation. Move the balance back, spread creation to counter destruction, and help your kind to remember what you once understood. Ignorance can be fought with knowledge, despair can be overthrown by hope; but your first duty, is to work not as my generosity, but my discipline.

I am a Whole that comes from many Parts. And some of them I grant to you; My Mighty Winds, My Fiercest Flames, My Flowing Waters, My Strongest Earth; and My Pure Life. Use them wisely. Use them together. For all my Parts are made stronger and more complete when they join together and combine.

Save me. Save us all. While there is still something left to be saved.

Remember always; The Power Is Yours.

...Is Yours...

...yours...

...yours...

The awesome voice faded, the visions fading into nothingness, leaving them where they started, sitting in a circle, around a shimmering pool of water, as light played beautifully over the Opal jewels in the walls.

Wheeler lifted a hand unthinkingly and felt the tears streaming down his face. He wasn't the only one. Most of the others had looks of impossible emotion flooding their faces. Awe, elation, joy, wonder... They were tiny nothings that had been taken on a tour of the world. The beautiful, wonderful, incredible, impossible, unbelievable world.

There were no words spoken. None were worthy of being said in that moment.

And then the light came back and took them all away.

AN: A Direct Appeal From The Author.

Everyone out there needs to study the world more closely. This one was hard to write. How do you find a way to take a tour of something like the whole world and then try to pick and choose some small things that fit the story, and then put that in words?

I admit that I am woefully inadequate to put into words what I was trying to show in this chapter. To that end, I ask that each and every person who reads this will let 'God's Paintbrush' speak for itself.

Go to Youtube right now, and search for 'Homeproject'. The top of the list should be a HD film called 'Home'. Watch that, and hopefully, you will see what I was trying to show in this chapter. Who knows... maybe Gaia's voice is the same as its Narrator.

How am I doing so far?