Chapter 4 - Chap 4

**********************
I am sailing over the earth on the winds with Liesh clutching my arm. I don’t know where we are going, but I will know when we get there. We have just come from the Tree. It told me that it is with me always. It told me I must complete a series of challenges. It told me that I must leave my family, and Liesh hers. It told me that it is my destiny
********************
I woke, with tears streaming down my face. I knew what I had to do. I looked at my clock. Twelve-thirty. I crept out of bed and packed all of my clothes in a bag along with my teddy bear, and some food. I wrote a letter to my parents.
 
‘Dear Mum and Dad. I’m sorry. I had to leave. Someday I might come back. It is not your fault. Since I am not here for you to laugh at me, I will tell you why. But you cannot tell anyone else. The Tree told me that I am the Keeper of the Infinite Light. I control all elements. Liesh is the Guardian of the Keeper. She will be going with me. Tell her parents. I have changed the number on my mobile so no one can get in touch with me. It is for your own good.
I’m sorry.
Ari.’
 
I snuck out of the house, and flew to Liesh’s. I knew she kept her window open, so I went straight in.
“Liesh. Liesh. Wake up Liesh!” I whispered urgently, because I saw she was crying in her sleep. She opened her eyes.
“So its true?” she whispered. I nodded. She dried her tears and started packing her bag. I sat on her bed.
“I wrote a letter to my parents explaining. I told them to tell your parents.” I said.
“Ok. I will just write a note saying
‘Mum, Dad. I had to go. I’m sorry. Ask Ari’s parents for more info.’” Liesh said as she scribbled on a piece of paper. She went and put it on the kitchen bench.“Lets go.” She said quietly. She grabbed my arm and I flew us out over the houses. About twenty minutes later I was struck by a vision. We careened out of control for a minute until I was better.
“What was that?” Liesh asked.
“I got a vision.” I said
“What was it?” she asked.
“The first quest is in a little shack by the swamp.” I said.
“Shack by the swamp, shack by the swamp? You don’t mean that tourist attraction, Swamp Side, where there are tours of the shacks that the people used to live in…?”Liesh asked, realizing that’s exactly where I meant.
“Where is it?” I asked excitedly.
“Um, near The Island.” She said.
“Great!” I exclaimed. I took off. We arrived at Swamp Side as dawn broke.
“We just have to wait until it opens.” I said. “Um, I just thought of something. Do we have to pay to get in?”
“Nup.” she said, “you can control the wind or the air whatever right?”
“Yeah. So?” I asked.
“Can you see the wind?”
“No.”
“So if you can control the wind, and the wind is invisible…” she said prodding me
“I can turn invisible?” I asked.
“Yep. Why do you think no one reports flying kids? We look and feel solid to each other, but while we’re up there, we are the wind.” she said.
“That’s right. I remember. Cool.“ I said. The gates opened.
“Hey, put your cat suit on.” Liesh said.
“Why?” I asked.
“I don’t know. But there is something inside me telling me to do that.”
“Ok.” I said doubtfully. We changed to the cat suits and I rose up and over into the swamp.
“Ew.” I said. There was only one shack, but there were heaps of huts.
“Lets go.” I pointed to the shack.We crept inside. Inside it was set up like there were people living there. I tried to sense where the Quest Sheet was. The teddy on the bed started to jump.
“There.” Liesh said.I went over and held up the teddy.
“The Quest you pursue,
Is hiding from you,
The quest you seek.
Won’t you have something to eat?” the teddy squeaked out in a singsong voice.
“Great. A riddle.” Liesh said.
“Is hiding from you? Liesh, start knocking on the walls to see if there are any secret hollow bits.” I commanded.
“Yes ma’am.“ Liesh said with a salute. She started knocking on the walls.
“Hey, can you smell something?” she asked. She looked at me. “Oh my god. You need to calm down.”
“I cant. This is so FRUSTRATING!” I yelled.
“Your hair's on fire.” Liesh said. “You need to calm down.” I grabbed a strand of hair.
“So it is.” I said. I took a deep breath. The flames subsided, but didn't go away. I took another. The flames reduces themselves to smolders. One last breath and my normal hair was back.
“Ok. Lets keep looking.” I said. I looked down and saw the fake food that was set out on the table.
“And on your left you will see the fabulous little ‘Family Shack.”
“Oh no. Tour!” I said. I grabbed Liesh and rose up into the air.
“They say, when the Miki’s wanted to protect their secret belongings they would build little tunnels and then hide them along the way, but we haven’t found any tunnels from this shack. Moving on.”I looked at Liesh. We knew where the tunnel was. We didn’t know how, but we did. The tour group filed out, and we came back down. I grabbed the teddy and stuck it into a little groove in the wall. A large trap door opened up in the floor.
“You first.” Liesh said. I jumped in then made a little fire in my hand so we could see. I walked to the end of the passage and turned to face the left wall. I put out my fire and reached for the dirt. My hand closed over something. I yanked it out and the dirt started falling around us.
“RUN!” I yelled. We just closed the trapdoor when the path outside caved in.
“we better go.” Liesh clutched my arm and I flew to where we were standing that morning. I looked at what was in my hand. It was a food item of some sort that had been preserved immaculately. I tore it in half and grabbed the roll of paper.
“‘It is time now for you to see
Quest one, of two, of three,
Of four.
Keeper now must search through book,
Careful now,
at how hard you look.
When you find it,
Be sure to know,
The next Quest you seek,
Will be in the snow.’” I read out loud. “Any ideas?”
“What’s your favorite book?” Liesh asked.
“Elementals. Why?” I said. Liesh just looked at me.
“OH! Does it have to be my copy?” I asked the piece of paper. The word ‘no’ flashed up on the page. “Right.” A copy of the book rose up out of the dirt, and then turned to paper. I started reading, writing down any words that jumped out at me. At the end of the book I had: this, my keeper is not the solution you need start to fight pollution.
“Pollution?” said Liesh.
“Yeah. The WWRC. World Wide Recycling Center” I said. I held onto Liesh and started flying. We stopped to sleep, and to eat, but then we were on the way again. When we got to the WWRC we went to the front desk.
“Hi, were here to help.” I said.
“Can’t you read? The clerk said. She pointed to a sign. It said that no visitors were allowed today. So we snuck in. We went down the hallway peeking into every room we passed. Near the middle of the hallway, there was a room with so much white, shredded paper it looked like snow.
“The next quest you seek will be in the snow.” I said.
“First, we have to start to fight pollution. C’mon.” Liesh said dragging me down the hallway. We ended up in a room with all these charts. As we walked in, one flashed.
 
For this quest, you must use your wind to fly all the rubbish into the air, then your fire to burn it.
 
I concentrated.  I spread my arms wide, and lifted them. The winds rose, taking with them all of the rubbish on land. I flattened my hands then pushed the air. The rubbish all went to one place, over the sea, where no one would see. I pushed my hands together, and the rubbish spontaneously combusted, leaving only dust, that the wind blew away. I collapsed with the effort. The sign flashed.
 
Very good Keeper. You have almost mastered Wind and Fire. The rubbish is gone, and the snow is immanent.
 
Liesh looked at her watch.
“We need to get out. We’ve spent all day here.” Liesh said, ”It will just have to be another Quest for another day.”

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment