CHAPTER 8
Disaster!
After that eventful night, everyone was very nice to her.
Loralle was very suspicious, didn"t they want to hurt her still, she herself had seen it on their faces that night...
But, no one did, and it was the total opposite!
They tried to talk to her, but she put her guard up, and they casually walked away letting her be, only making her try to guess why they acted this way...
It was very suspicious! And confusing! Honestly, she didn"t know if she was more confused or suspicious...
Three days later, she was sitting and exploring the metal power, when someone came up to her, "Loralle, come n see."
She looked up to see the "Boss" putting out his hand to her. Staring at the hand, Loralle wondered what to do with it...
He bent down and took her hand in his, and said, "Ya said ya wanted ta see our special things, right?"
Uh?
Loralle couldn"t remember that as she stared up at him...But, she smiled at the thought of it, it was true...She did want to see them! Did he perhaps...Read her mind?
"Yes!" Curiosity was overwhelming her already.
He pulled at her hand and she got up to follow him. She guessed his hand was actually to help her. How nice!
Then, she noticed that the "Boss" was still holding her hand...
Uh?
She tried to pull her hand away, but he held it tighter. Was there another reason he needed her hand? She suddenly remembered some of the people she had seen through the earth, they held hands too...What was the significance of it?
He suddenly turned to her and grabbed her waist with his other hand, saying, "Dun be scared. Come n hava look."
The sudden closeness made her stiffen up. Uh?
Being touched by others was definitely something she wasn"t used to. She had no idea how to react, nor how to feel. She had seen a little of others do the same but...What does it actually mean!?
So many strange things have happened lately...
I must start using the earth and air power to see people more often again...
Her thoughts made her a little sad, because, she had used it very little since leaving the Air Tribe. She never went far in her visions and she didn"t do it for long. Loralle didn"t want to see anything else that could be her fault and she didn"t want to see anything that she didn"t like.
The "Boss" squeezed her hand and continued walking, noticing her being quiet and looking sort of down.
Loralle followed silently, as she heard a couple of whispers of jealousy and happiness for their "Boss".
Nothing...Lately...Made any sense! Why are they happy for their "Boss"? Why would they be jealous? All this totally confused Loralle and she wasn"t sure how to act towards them or their words!
...Maybe they were jealous because he really could read minds!? From that, Loralle understood their jealousy as she would like a power like that too!
Finally, they stopped and Loralle looked in front of her. Her eyes became wide and excited, totally forgetting her confusion, suspicion...And other thoughts...
The "Boss" had been watching her expression and smiled, "Ya like?"
She didn"t look away from it, as she nodded her answer. She wasn"t even sure what it was, but it looked fantastic! "Show!?"
"Haha, Very good! Boys, show ma lady the goods!"
She watched as they set off and saw that light flashes started to fill the air. They were somewhat stronger flashes then what went through their caves and she felt a slight pain run through her, even though she wasn"t too close to it. Actually what she saw was that, it wasn"t hard to get things working, but they seemed to be very careful about it, in which took them longer to have the end result. Nonetheless, she continued to look enthusiastically at what it was in front of her!
It had something start to rotate, faster and faster now, it was large, having one bit of each side stick out of its body and it looked like it could carry people in it.
What was it!? What can it do!? Loralle wanted to start jumping as she waited impatiently to see what would happen!
The "Boss" laughed happily at her obvious curiosity and pulled her into his arms. He put his mouth close to her ear and said, "We wun it ta fly...Like ya do!"
Loralle moved her head to his, not realizing how close he was because she was so fixated on this big object. "Fly?"
The "Boss" only said, "Mmm." As he took her ear lobe into his mouth.
Feeling something weird, Loralle went to push it away with her hand, but it didn"t stop.
What? Is he doing something to me?
He stopped and before Loralle could feel better, she felt strange on her mouth instead!
Uh?
While this was going on, the others saw this and left their "Boss" and Loralle in peace, leaving the two of them alone.
Loralle moved her head away and said, "What, doing?"
Putting his hands up to caress her face, Loralle looked at him confused. She was still unsure how she was feeling about someone else touching her...
If she wasn"t wrong, what he had just done, was something a male and female did when they liked each other. Wasn"t it?
She had never really paid too much attention to this kind of behaviour, but now she sort of regretted it. If she had watched more of it, she would have some kind of idea on how to act or be a little bit more informative about it.
He sighed and took away his hands, "I was told ya dun remember, but I sorta hoped ya would."
Loralle took a small step back from being too close to him. "What?" She asked, a little bit worried.
He looked at her, then away, then sighed again.
Putting a hand through his hair, he looked back at her, "It"s fine...Wanna try it out?"
Loralle saw what he meant and nodded happily.
He got up, onto the metal base, and put out his hand to help her up.
Loralle looked at it, again. What was it he did last time? She had already forgotten how this action had been responded to.
"I"ll help ya up, give me ya hand." He said patiently.
Actually, the Boss was named Mitch and he honestly liked this crazy, little minx.
Upon hearing that she could not remember much of that night, he was a little upset. Taking a few days to meet her again, he had come to the decision that he still liked her and wanted to be nice. He wasn"t normally so lenient, yet, he wasn"t a monster either.
But if this girl cun remember the great time they had tagether, then he"ll make a great time that she can remember...N never farget!
Loralle took his hand and felt a bit happy. Not in a way Mitch would like, but she was happy because no one had helped her this way before. Yet, another new experience for her, and she liked it!
After everything was organized, the big metal thing let out more light flashes and Loralle noticed some rocks or stones that sat around at the front. It reminded her of the big field with big flashes of light, in the middle of the Metal Tribe village.
Then, they lifted slowly into the air!
It was slow and looked like it wouldn"t go very far, so, Loralle made a strong wind flow underneath them. Suddenly, they shot up and Loralle panicked, slowing the air.
Mitch laughed, "I knew it! Haha, look, now it"s workin!"
Loralle looked out to find that they were finally moving!
She slowly took away the wind and realized, that now, it wasn"t needed. "Working! Working! Look! Look!"
Mitch laughed at her enthusiasm, "Yeah. We could never get it high enough...But, I thought you"d give it a little help!"
Loralle looked at him and nodded happily.
He watched her for an extra second before turning back around again.
This woman is powerful, she"s fun n she is interested in what I"m interested in. Definitely someone I want ta keep by ma side.
Mitch really was smitten...But Loralle had no idea!
"Air. Look. Air!"
They were now travelling over the Air Tribe and they both looked down upon it. Mitch had looked at the Air Tribe when he was on ground, thoroughly, but being in the air was much better!
They stayed away from the giant cyclone, that reached to the sky, and hovered around while Mitch got a better idea of how the Air Tribe worked or looked.
"Look. Houses, I made!"
Loralle"s voice shocked Mitch, as he could see the houses. Suddenly, he was worried that she was actually an enemy! "Ya from the Air Tribe?"
Seeing anger coming from Mitch, Loralle was confused. "No. I, from water."
His eyes shot up. First he thought, great! She"s not an enemy! But then, he questioned her words, "Water?"
"Yes." Her voice was quiet and he had hardly heard her short answer.
Mitch wondered what she meant...Water...What? Tribe? Are there more tribes out there? "Water Tribe?"
"Yes." She answered like before.
Mitch overlooked her quietness because he couldn"t believe the news, "There"s more tribes?!"
Loralle sighed, "Yes."
He turned to her, "Show me, let"s go n see!"
She didn"t want too! They were...She really didn"t want to!
"Tell me! Which way?"
Loralle pointed in the direction of the Water Tribe village hesitantly, and said, "Far."
Silence had filled the air, as they went into the direction that Loralle had pointed.
Mitch was excited! He had people go out into this barren, desolate wasteland, some had never returned, and others had found nothing! But now...He knew there was something else out there! A Water Tribe! He wondered how they had survived so far away...Or are they flourishing because they weren"t at war?
Mitch couldn"t wait!
And the silence continued as hours went by, as did the view of the barren, desolate wasteland.
When the land in the distance started to change, Mitch got excited again. His enthusiasm had dwindled over time and at one stage wondered if Loralle had lied. But now, as they went through the air at a good speed, they could see a change within the day.
Loralle knew it would take a long time and when Mitch had seemed adamant on going there, she had air to go behind them to get them there even faster. She also gave him water and brought food to them when they had gotten hungry, but she had stayed silent, feeling more and more restless, as she could feel them getting closer and closer to their destination.
What she hadn"t expected was that it only took hours...Not days. The machine hadn"t looked very fast, but she started to think that it was faster then what she had originally thought, then adding her air power, it must have been something that shamed anything she thought was fast in the past. Her thoughts on the metal flying thing made her smile, the metal power was truly magnificent!
But, as she wanted to appreciate this amazing object and power further, she looked towards the Water Tribe village and her eyes filled with horror!
It was a devastating sight!
Magma had over taken the lakes and she finally saw with her own eyes, the trench of magma, that flowed from the huge volcano.
"Ah!" She let out a cry.
Mitch turned after he heard her cry, but she was no longer behind him.
Turning around, he watched her fly down herself in a hurry.
He followed her and went to land in a safe spot, before getting out.
Seeing the magma, Mitch felt hatred flow through him. Just like how he felt for the Air Tribe...He tried to tear his gaze away, to find Loralle, but found it hard to do so.
Suddenly the earth trembled, breaking Mitch"s view and he looked around to see Loralle hovering with clenched fists, a little distance away.
What"s goin on?
He walked towards her, trying to stay upright on the trembling earth, as she flowed slowly to the ground. He watched her sit down and put her hand on the trembling earth and close her eyes.
What was she doin?
Since she was concentrating, he let her be and continued to look around.
Time went by and his sight fell onto the big, menacing lake further off into the distance.
Suddenly, it made sense...This was where the Water Tribe was suppose ta be...She was angry cause the Water Tribe was gone...Right?
By the looks of what happened, they had been overrun by another tribe! One that had the power of magma!
With this, Mitch remembered seeing Loralle being able to use that power...
Noise interrupted his thoughts, as he turned to find something heading in their direction at a very fast pace.
"Loralle?"
Loralle opened her eyes and stood up angrily, the earth continued to tremble beneath their feet.
Was she doin this? Is her anger makin the earth tremble?
Mitch was a little flabbergasted to what was going on and continued to be silent. Watching an earth wall appear, Mitch remembered when he had first met Loralle and wondered if she had trapped somebody again.
By now, the earth trap was a little tattered, because of Daniel"s power. "Loralle! What"s the meaning of this!" He yelled.
Loralle let the earth disappear from around Daniel and stared at him, the earth below them still trembling.
"You tell me! Meaning this!?" She pointed behind her at the remnants of the Water Tribe village.
Daniel laughed, trying not to show his fear, "Oh, come on! Didn"t you say you didn"t want to fight?"
Loralle clenched and unclenched her fists, now the earth was trembling even more and they could barely stay on their feet. Both Mitch and Daniel put out their hands and bent their knees to stop themselves from falling over.
Daniel took a deep breath in, to try and help his fear, but he couldn"t stop it from showing, "Hey...Wait, calm down!"
Loralle raised her hand, and in an instant, Daniel was tied up by water and slapped harshly onto an earth stand that sprung up from the ground.
"Stop! Loralle! If you had cared then why didn"t you..." Daniel wanted to pled, he wanted to remind her that she didn"t want anything to do with this. He felt it entirely unfair that she was getting angry now, though, he didn"t have the guts to show her his dismay over it. But, he couldn"t continue to speak, his voice was suddenly cut short because of a water robe that went tightly around his neck.
"Loralle?" Mitch asked...What was goin on?
But Loralle ignored him, talking angrily to Daniel instead, "I show you hate!"
Daniel just let out a wisp of a noise, unable to speak, he tried to move, in fear for his life!
"You still fight! You knew!" Loralle yelled at him, not caring that his face was starting to go red in colour.
She let out a deep breath and smiled coldly, "Fine...Watch!"
She walked past him and made the earth turn him to see the volcano in the distance.
Loralle sat back down on the ground...
Daniel could only look on as his eyes started to bulge out of his sockets, he let out an angry set of flames around his body, as he fought for air to enter his lungs.
"What?...What are ya doin?" Mitch asked, a bit scared. This woman seemed ta always do as she pleased, she wun tameable in the slightest, if she really wun ta kill people, he had no way ta stop her power at all!
Earth trembled violently and on every side of the volcano, earth rose up slowly.
More whizzes could be heard from Daniel, as he tried to speak, seeing that Loralle was about to do something to his tribe. Tears started to run down his cheeks and the angry flames vanished for a moment as he looked on in despair. Seeing that he had been able to loosen the hold around him, he flared up again in flames, to hurry his escape, and try to stop Loralle!
As the earth rose and rose up, finally Daniel was able to speak again.
After coughing frantically for a minute, he said, "Stop! Please, stop!"
He fell to the floor and heard a huge noise as he was still trying to get his breath back. But that noise...It had rocked the whole continent of Mondal, it echoed through the entire land and Daniel, who had trouble breathing, stopped. Uneasiness went through him as he stared at the ground in complete horror...
For a long while, silence filled the whole of Mondal, as people wondered what was going on. It was like death had come upon them all, that something was now changed and there was no going back...What they all thought, was to flee, without even knowing what it was they were fleeing from! It had been such a monstrous noise that people feared for the unknown, they hid and covered themselves. In the land of Mondal, everyone, without even realizing it, was afraid of Loralle. Her power reached each tribe and to the middle of the barren, desolate wasteland. The menacing lake grew wilder, the huge volcano, from where it was buried under the earth, spit out hot magma. The giant cyclone grew more rapid and the flashes in the Metal Tribe grew more intense. The earth area in the middle of the barren, desolate wasteland grew much wider and the fresh, green gra.s.s mound grew bigger!
In a very quick s.p.a.ce of time, Mondal changed...And now, a half of what was known as the "barren, desolate wasteland" was covered in a beautiful green colour!
Do I dare look? Daniel asked himself, still very quiet.
The earth finally stopped trembling and Loralle stood up, "We go back now." She said to Mitch.
Mitch was speechless and didn"t process her words, he was absolutely flabbergasted at the huge, new earth that overtook the volcano and parts around it. He knew he was still some distance away from it, but he could clearly see the difference from what it was before...
Loralle looked back at Mitch and wanted to say words to make him move faster, but she was interrupted by Daniel"s loud cries.
It had all happened so quickly, too quickly! Most of his tribe...Wiped out! In just moments...So quick! I should have taken her seriously! I shouldn"t have had the Water Tribe killed!
Daniel was filled with that much regret and heartbreak that he didn"t know he was the one making all the mournful cries. He didn"t know his eyes had become so blurry that he couldn"t see anymore. He thought he was dreaming...It wasn"t real. How could a defeat like that happen!
Daniel"s thoughts were in total chaos!
Footsteps came towards them, running fast, "What! What is going on! The...The Fire Tribe!...No!"
It was Daniel"s brother, who had left for the Water Tribe land quite some time ago. "Who did this...?"
He was totally freaked out by the loud noise before, but had felt it from close by. Worried about the Fire Tribe, he had to gather all of his courage to try and find out what had just happened. No one, he saw, moved to do anything, but he couldn"t just hide like everyone else!
Loralle turned towards him and simply stated, "I did."
"Why!?" He fell to his knees and cried. Not knowing how to feel, he found himself trembling in front of what he thought was a G.o.d. The power in this person scared everybody, was she going to kill us too? The people who he should protect really had faith in him, but what was he suppose to do to keep them safe!?
Daniel didn"t have the courage to face his brother, so he continued to look towards the terrible sight of the big ma.s.s of earth, still in a state of shock.
"Ask him!" Loralle spat, pointing at Daniel.
"Who?..." He slowly got up and walked to be in front of Daniel. "Daniel?...What?"
Looking away from his speechless brother, Daniel had no idea what to say.
"Speak!...Why is it...That...The Fire Tribe?!...Fat...her..."
The two men looked pathetic, both unable to come to terms with what they could see. Loralle smiled seeing this, and turned towards Mitch, "Let"s go."
"Wait!" Daniel"s brother yelled in a screech, "I"ll kill you for this!"
It wasn"t much of a threat, as he had tears in his eyes and was falling again to the ground.
Loralle stopped and turned, "You haven"t done enough?"
He stared at her, part of him showed sadness and despair and another part of fear, only a slight part showed killing intent. "What are you talking about?"
Loralle stared back, "Did Fire Tribe kill Water Tribe?"
He clenched his fists and jaw, nodding slowly. With all that was going on, the easiest thing to do was to answer her question. Everything else seemed...Unreal.
"Then we are even." She said, turning away yet again.
She grabbed Mitch"s hand and flew them both to the metal flying thing and then lifted it up, even though it wasn"t running with the flashes as it did before.
The people watched as she left, not even using the metal power to have it start, just by the power of air to take them quickly away.
After ten minutes of silence, Mitch finally came to his senses and realized Loralle was doing all of the work, as they flew through the sky. He continued to be silent as he started the metal power and steered it himself.
Not a word was spoken as they travelled back to the Metal Tribe. This time, Loralle didn"t get food, nor did she supply water to Mitch.
He had no idea on what to think about or what she was thinking about...What he had seen...The power that was used...It had been unreal! But, he wasn"t dreaming!
***
The events that happened in such a quick time span, carried a lot of burden to not just those who knew about it, but to those who had heard the rumbling. This day, will be remembered by all for quite some time...Even the elements...Who were now closer together, because of the bigger fresh, green gra.s.s, earth mound in the middle of the barren, desolate wasteland. Having grown to such a degree...This change would have no one on the continent of Mondal know what was going on...
But, hundreds upon hundreds of years ago, there was something that happened like this, when there was an Earth Tribe. The Earth Tribal Leader had seen the opposite happen, the elements becoming further and further apart, by the earth mound retracting itself instead.
In those times, the Earth Tribe was the monarch of the other tribes. They were the King"s of Mondal and were respected as such. They seemed to commonly have more than the earth power and the "royal" line had been known to always have all five of the powers!
But...
In a time of slaughter and schemes...They were all killed to extinction!
Many would wonder how such powerful beings would all be killed...
Actually, it really was such a poor state to see, as other tribes had teamed together to eradicate the Earth Tribe...This was because...The Earth Tribe"s first power of earth, didn"t seem to allow them to kill ruthlessly.
Having the earth power, was like a double edged sword. It made you more powerful, helped prevented other powers hatred and was the key to gaining any other power...
On the other hand, it didn"t seem to let you kill people, that would not lead to peace...
With so many people against the Earth Tribe, they had been quietly surprised that they had been overrun so quickly!
Surrounded by people...With eyes filled with hate...The Earth Tribe could not see a peaceful solution quickly enough, and died...
The hate had started thirty years beforehand. The Earth Tribe had known about it, but were not able to overcome it.
All it took, was for one person to not get approval by their respected power...Then another...
Taking many journey"s to each tribe, the Earth Tribe had tried to control the people"s hate, by making sure they all got their elements approval. By making it a happy occasion to help them overcome their fear, festivals and gifts were bestowed. Acknowledgment from the "royal" line and that of the powerful Earth Tribe was to incite them...
Had they got lazy? Had they not known? What had...Happened?
Nonetheless, more and more gained hatred and it became the Earth Tribe"s demise!
And as the time went on, no one ever knew that there used to be an Earth Tribe, or that the earth mound used to be in contact with the rest of the elements.
There were histories lost or rewritten and tribes gained more and more hatred by not gaining approval of their element. When people tried to get it, after the Earth Tribe"s complete extinction, they lost their lives, then it was told by others, that due to losing life"s, to not do it...
Over time they never thought to gain approval, and even the word "approval" was forgotten.
There is one tribe, though, that didn"t go against the Earth Tribe...And to this day are, unknowingly, still are very loyal to the Earth Tribe...
The Air Tribe had not been able to save the Earth Tribe. They were...Too late.
Through their cries and sorrow, they became the wind itself and forgot how to speak.
Other tribes had wanted to eradicate them also, as they hadn"t helped go against the Earth Tribe, but...They couldn"t be found.
Of course, it wasn"t long after that, the tribes were no longer allies.
Hatred spread everywhere in Mondal...Except for one tribe, who carried on their existence and continued to make sure all their tribesmen gained approval for their power. Even so, over the many years, they forgot why it was so important to them in the first place.
Loralle had not killed anyone in the Fire Tribe...In her way to form the "peace", she had just hidden the entire village underground, as she rose the earth on the outside at the same time.
Her anger had been very high, but the earth power helped her suppress it and she was able to think clearly, before she had turned Daniel around to see the huge volcano in the far distance.
What many also didn"t acknowledge, is that the war ending between the Fire Tribe and the Water Tribe, quite some time ago, didn"t kill many men...As they too had been saved and then a tunnel of earth had let them walk back to safety...
When the metal flying thing got closer to the Metal Tribe, Loralle left suddenly, flying off to somewhere he couldn"t see. He wanted to go after her...But what could he say?
Letting her go was his only choice, as he landed and sat there unable to think of what he should do next...
***