by J. M. Lyons
said, trying my best to recall what took place at uncle Tom's.
"Wait, didn't you do something?" I said, pointing at his hands.
"Yeah, watch this." He said with a proud look on his face.
He pulled his hand into a tight fist. A ball of energy appeared
just above it; the room grew cool. The ball of energy began to
grow and as it did the animal fur's that decorated the tent began to
lift off the fabric walls; as the wind blew stronger the fur lifted
higher. My hair began to swirl around as the wind grew too.
Tucker released his tight grip and slowly opened his palm, I
watched the energy slowly disappear, and as it did the wind slowly
disappeared. "You can do that? What is it? How did you do it?" I
asked very intrigued by the sudden swirling winds around the tent.
"Well, uncle Tom said that I had the power to control the wind." He
said, with a very big smile on his long brown face. Suddenly the
tent flap flew open.
"Hey there, you're both awake." Grandpa said, peering into
the tent. "Yeah." Tucker said, jumping off the bed in a hurry to get
outside. He took a few steps out of the tent while still holding the
flap door; but he slowly backed into the tent. "Um.... Mia I think
you should put something more decent on before you come out." He said still staring at something outside. "Why?" I demanded.
"Trust me, change your clothes, and wash up or something." He
said with a chuckle. I swear sometimes you wouldn't even know
that he was older than I was.
Just then grandma pulled Tucker out and came into the tent,
lowering the flap. "How was your sleep Mia?" She asked so softly.
"Grandma, what happened? I thought you and grandpa died?" I
asked confused all over again. "That is a story for another time
Mia, right now I need to you get yourself washed, changed and
ready for a long days work." She said, placing a big round
wooden bowl on the small table.
The water was very cold, as it touched my face I felt refreshed
and awake. Grandma laid out a long sleeved red dress. It fit me
perfectly, with every inch snugged to my body. "Is this yours?"
She asked picking up a feather off the floor next to the bed. "Yeah,
I got it from a little friend of mine." I said taking it from her. "Good,
keep it close your gonna need the good luck." She said with a
smile.
"Here try this." She said passing me a small bowl of red
paste. "What is it?" I asked, leaning over smelling it. It smelled like
roses and berries. "You put it on your lips dear." She replied with a chuckle. I did as she said, then she picked up an old brush and
began to brush my hair. "You have beautiful hair Mia, at one time
in my life I had beautiful hair just like yours and it was as red as
yours too. That is of course until I got old and blessed with this
white hair." She said with a soft laugh.
"Grandma, you are just as beautiful as I remember." I said
softly. "Ha, ha, ha. That's what your grandfather keeps on telling
me." She laughed. "There you look amazing." She said slowly
walking around me with her eyes looking at every detail.
"Grandma really." I said sarcastically. She walked over to a bunch
of old boxes that sat in the corner of the tent, and pulled out a
shiny golden mirror, with beautiful designs and inlaid jewels.
"Look, see for yourself." She said placing the mirror in my
hand. I gazed at the mirror and I jerked back a little. The white in
my hair was still there but it was fading back to a dark blood red
color. My eyes were different too it wasn't so red anymore, it didn't
look like I was crying for days. "Come on dear let's go outside,
you've got to meet the rest.
I took a few steps back, and looked at the ground not wanting
to move any further. "Grandma, can you tell me what's going on?"
I asked, sitting back onto the bed. She looked at me with a sad look on her face, then a compassionate look. "Mia." She began.
"Do you remember the stories I used to tell you; about the
Weeping Mountains, and the tribes that protected it?" She said as
she sat next to me on the bed.
"Well those stories aren't just stories; they were real.
Everything I told you and your brother really happened. One
person from each of the four tribes that live around these
mountains was given a special power to use in order to protect the
mountain, and what lies within it. Remember the story of the red
moon?" She asked. I nodded my head as the memory of the story
began to come back to me.
"Well, that special person came from our tribe, Mia." She said
with a proud smile. "What do you mean?" I asked still confused.
"Well, the bringer of the red moon; she came from our tribe, and it
had been passed down through the generations as did the other
powers." She continued.
"Those who lived in the eastern plains held the power of the
wind, able to bring great destruction or bring the cool air from the
mountain to their people and animals. That was the tribe that your
grandfather is from. Then those who lived in the western forest,
they held the power of the fire, able to burn everything in sight or to bring light in such a dark place. Those that lived in the southern
field near the lake held the power of the earth, able to bring about
the destruction of worlds with devastating earthquakes to destroy
or to create great farm lands for food to feed all those who need
food. And, those who lived in the northern forest nearest to the
mountain they held the power of water, able to flood out all the
other tribes or to bring water to all who needed it, and that tribe
also held the mountains most precious jewel the one who brings
forth the red moon. That person is the only one that can find the
way to the red diamonds that are hidden in the mountain. Those
diamonds possess the power to destroy this world and turn
everything into darkness or to bring life and abundance to this
lands, to this world.” She explained.
“My family comes from the Northern tribe Mia. The last time
that the bringer of the Red Moon came forth; it was to defend our
tribes and this very mountain from a great evil, that wanted to
conquer this world." She said, using her hands to illustrate. "See
the diamonds will bring to whomever holds it great power; to do
either good or evil. So, it was said that the ancient one's
bestowed these powers to the tribes to protect it, so that no one
would ever use these diamonds, to bring harm against all of life, as it once did hundreds of years ago. Those who held these
powers were called.." "The Elemental's" I cut her off. "Yes, Mia,
the Elemental's." She said with a smile, knowing that I finally
understood the stories that she told me as a kid.
"But, what does that have to do with me?" I asked staring at
her. "Well, a few nights ago there was a big thunderstorm, and I
had a vision of someone holding the diamonds, calling forth the
demons that live beneath the lake to destroy all things that lived.
So, I believe that the great evil that the ancient one's wanted our
tribes to defend against is
back again. So, now each of the people
who are here at this camp, are descendants from each tribe, and
they each hold great power. But you Mia; you.... Well, you are the
one.." She said with a smile. "You are the bringer of the Red
Moon." She said proudly.
"How do you know that?" I asked stunned at her simple way
of putting it. "You can call upon the winds, the fire, you can move
the earth and you can call on the water. Only the bringer of the
Red Moon can do that." She continued softly. "Before you ask
any more questions, close your eyes." She said staring at me;
grabbing both my hands into her's.
I did as I was told and closed my eyes. "Ok, now picture yourself at the lake; picture yourself standing in the lake. Feel the
water flowing around you, with it's ripples flowing around your feet.
Can you feel it?" She asked.
"Yes, I can." I answered.
"Alright, now call the water to you." She instructed.
"How?" I said quickly.
"Feel it's flow, it's ripples building around you. Can you feel
it's energy building within you." She chuckled.
"Grandma, don't laugh." I said, starting to giggle myself.
"Put your feet down. Do you feel the wetness beneath your
feet?" She asked letting go of my hands.
"Yes, I do, I feel it's energy, it's power, I can feel that my feet is
wet too." I said, as I could actually feel water under my feet. "So,
open your eyes." I opened my eyes quickly and looked down.
Water surrounded my feet making the fur beneath it cold and wet.
I twitched my toes in the small puddle. "But, how?" I said
looking over at grandma who was pointing at the bowl of water
that she brought to me earlier. It was tipped over and the water
from the bowl kept gathering around my feet. "Oh my god." I said
out loud, breaking my concentration, of feeling the water as if I
was in the lake; the water fell and stopped seeping toward me. The energy that came from the water disappeared as the water
went still on the ground.
"Good Mia, now you're ready. Come on let's go." She said
pulling me up from the bed. She handed me an old pair of flats. I
slipped it on and was surprised that it fit. We both stepped out of
the tent into the brightness of the sun. It kind of stung my eyes,
and blurred my vision. I rubbed my eyes a few times but still
everything was blurry.
"Mia is that you?" I heard a familiar voice say. I squinted my
eyes until it adjusted to the light. "Steve?" I said, shocked at
seeing him. "Hey." Another voice said. "Jim, you too." I said, still
shocked. "Oh god, please don't tell me." I said softly to myself.
"Well, at least I know why I haven't seen you for a few days now."
I heard Jon's voice say with a soft laugh. "Jon, you're here too?" I
said, again still shocked to the core to see all of them here. "Yeah,
we're all here." Steve said with a smile on his face.
"So, I hear you're our leader, or whatever you wanna be
called." Jim said, with an attitude. "No; I'm no leader, I'm just Mia."
I said with a laugh that was very short lived. "Mia. You must
accept who you are and you are the one who will lead these men
to victory." My grandmother demanded. "Yes, grandma. Well Jim, I guess I am." I said with a smile, as the thought of ordering him
around ran through my mind.
"Come you five, it's time to train." A man called out from
behind the tent. I was taken back by the sudden appearance of
uncle Tom. "Uncle Tom?" I said with both eyebrows raised. "Come
on Mia, you too." He said, waving us over toward him. We obliged
and walked over toward him, slowly. “Come on.” He insisted, as we all picked up the pace.
5 TRAIN ME
"So how many of you know what type of power you possess,
and know how to use it?" Uncle Tom asked as we all got closer to
him. Everyone accept me raised their hand. "What's wrong Mia,
you're not sure; are you still confused?" He teased. "I know what I
can do." I said sarcastically. "Ah huh sure; that's why my house
was almost burnt to the ground." He said, with that stupid looking
smirk on his face.
"Well in Mia's defense you did slap her, how did you expect
her to react." Tucker said with a smile. "Uh huh. Sorry about that
Mia." Uncle Tom shrugged his shoulders. I stood there with my
arms crossed over my chest, rather annoyed at him. As I was
growing up he always made fun of me, and now he'll get to do it
with Jon around, who just stood quietly on the side smiling.
"Ok, rock boy. Make us a road to get over this creek." He
instructed looking over at Jon. "A road, are you serious?" I said looking at both of them. "Shh. It's not your turn yet." He scolded.
Jon took a stance quietly beside the creek with both legs apart. He
closed his eyes and made both hands into fists holding them close
to his chest. I could see the ground beneath his feet emit this
energy force, that made the ground around him shake. I could feel
the ground beneath me starting to rumble like a train was coming.
All of a sudden he opened his eyes and his fists flew to his
sides opening quickly, and the ground started to move. Rocks
and dirt began piling on itself; one round heap of compacted earth
upon the other creating perfect mounds of compacted dirt. He
waved his hands forward toward the creek and the mounds of dirt
followed his hands, building upon itself to make a perfect small dirt
path over the creek.
"Remember to feel it's energy and hold on to it. You release
the energy when the need to use it, is no longer there. Keep going
rock boy." Uncle Tom pressed. Jon did as he was told. Jon kept
his concentration as the path got larger and larger with dirt and
rocks, soon it was big enough for two people to walk on side by
side. Jon closed his eyes again and began to shake his hands as
if he squeezed them way too hard. He then looked over at me with
a smile. "Good." Uncle Tom said thoroughly looking at the path that Jon created. "Good work. Ok come on guys lets go."
"Wow Jon, that was impressive." I said softly, as we walked
side by side over the path. When we all reached the other side we
waited for some kind of instruction from uncle Tom. "You there
wash it out." Uncle Tom demanded pointing at Jim. Jim slowly
walked over to the dirt path that Jon made and knelt over, putting
his hand into the water that flowed down the creek. I could see
sudden bursts of energy pushing circular ripples around his
hands. "Keep that energy, hold on to it. Don't let that feeling pass
through you, harness it." He instructed.
The water began to flow harder and harder pushing the dirt
that was packed on top of each other down, slowly eating away at
the path until everything washed down the creek. I watched quietly
in amusement. It was like they both knew how to work their power
without any help, as if they had them for a while. I wondered about
Steve, and Tucker for that matter who also just stood aside
watching. "Good, you're getting better." He said nodding his head
in approval.
"Tucker, push these bushes on the s
ide, make it easier for us
to pass." He said pointing ahead toward what looked like a trail ,
but it was rather overgrown. We must have been getting closer to an opening, which was obvious by all the small shrubs and grass
that blocked our path. Tucker stepped forward and looked at me
over his shoulders. "Watch this." He said softly, with a raised
brow.
He closed his hands tightly and again a small swirl of energy
began to build around his fists. He slowly began to walk closer
and closer to the small shrubs that grew on the path. Suddenly the
wind began to blow harder and harder as he opened his fists; but
it's energy was centered only around Tucker. "Come on." Uncle
Tom said following a few feet behind Tucker. Slowly the shrubs
were torn out of the ground as a perfect small tornado uprooted
each one blowing them back into the trees that lined the path.
The air grew cold around us. "Tucker focus; focus that energy
on the task at hand. Don't think of anything else." Uncle Tom told
Tucker. Tucker kept walking forward, uprooting more shrubs and
flattening the grass as the swirl of wind blew. The tree tops started
to swirl with it, as it was being pulled into the same direction,
following Tucker with every step that he took. Soon he stepped
out into a big clearing, where Tucker raised his hands and slowly
drew a big circle with his hands seemingly calming the wind that
circulated around him. Soon the wind completely died and the air felt normal again.
In the very middle of the clearing stood a massive old tree
that was surrounded by huge piles of boulders. By the look of it
they were placed there, but I couldn't figure out how; they were so
huge. "Very good Tucker. You need to learn to harness your
energy and focus it on what you are using it for. If not you can
surely do a lot of damage; damage that you may not want." He
told Tucker, with his hands on Tuckers shoulders.
Uncle Tom walked through the open grass field toward the old
tree, and we all followed slowly behind. I hurried to catch up with
my brother. "Tuck, how did you learn to do that?" I asked quietly.
"I learned it the morning of your graduation. But I had some weird
things happen to me prior to that; I just never said anything. I think
dad knew but he waited for me to say something, I guess." He
