Destiny calls, p.22
Destiny Calls, page 22
her attention to the nearest pod floating in a tank. She put her leafy hand on the tank, closed her eyes, and began to chant. “You must go. I cannot concentrate with both of you here. And you are needed elsewhere.”
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CHAPTER 23
More troops arrived in Thanati. Large tanks, trucks, helicopters, and military jets. The chancellor kept his promise. If Morgoto returned to any part of Thanati now, he’d have a battle on two fronts.
“We need to return to the temple to plan our next strategy. We must lure Morgoto to the mountain,” I said to them.
“Elise is right, our next move must be to get Morgoto to pass through the seam before it closes,” Henry said.
Undine nodded confidently. “Thanati seems fairly safe right now. I’m not sure what we’d have done without the chancellor’s help."
“I’m glad he became an ally,” said Henry. “I just hope Morgoto doesn’t deceive him once again into joining the evil side.”
Deciding that the temple was the place, we streaked back, landing right next to the globe.
As soon as we landed, Undine disappeared for a few moments. When she returned, she carried the scroll. “I got it,” she said. “The final steps to 362
removing Morgoto. Come with me; I will show you using the Tree.”
Undine closely examined the unfurled scroll as we entered the round room. “These symbols down at the bottom of the circle represent Wind.
That’s you, Elise. They say that you must go to lure Morgoto to the mountain. From there, the rest of us, along with other forces, will make sure that Morgoto cannot turn back. The timing must be just right, for we want the seam to close just after he enters. This will ensure that he’ll stay in his prison. My problem was that I failed to interpret these symbols down here as Wind, but now that I do, the entire puzzle makes sense."
Dread, stronger than any feeling I’d ever known, surged inside me. “Me? A lure?”
While I had come to believe that I was up to most of the tasks before me, I was terrified at the fact that I, too, might be enclosed in the seam with Morgoto forever. What if I didn’t get out in time? Luring Morgoto into another realm of the universe made me shrink inside just a little. Bolster yourself, Elise. You can do it. You do have the champion’s heart. Nothing will go wrong. You will succeed.
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“It’s the only thing that will work, Elise,” said Undine. “These matters have been written by the Parcae. You must do it."
I walked around the Tree of Life, thinking about the meanings of each circle.
“Elise, are you all right?” asked Henry.
“I need to think for a couple of moments."
I walked away from them both. The contradictions that had plagued me all along about this fate business arose in me again. I had believed that the Parcae were daft in sending me out—at fourteen—to fight the worst demon ever.
The struggle with Morgoto had taken so much more than I thought I was capable of, yet when push came to shove, I was able to muster enough strength and courage. Reuniting with my siblings had been fantastic, though I’ve hardly been given any time to get to know them.
I trembled inside at the idea that I might be locked forever with Morgoto and away from all the people I loved. That would be a fate I could never allow.
When you are done, you can live your life as you choose. That is what I told myself.
I returned to my siblings. “We must be ready to make sure that Morgoto cannot escape back 364
through the seam and into our universe.” I took a deep breath. “I am going to the west part of the valley near the coast where no people will be hurt. I will summon him there and bring him back to the mountain." I streaked off westward.
Throughout my entire flight, I sensed that Morgoto watched me. When I arrived at a clearing near the coast, I transformed into my human shape. A rocky mountain stood behind me, and the cliff’s edge overlooking the sea was to my right. My heart pounded in my chest, and I wished all of this was already over. Time to talk to the beast. “Morgoto, evil insect. You are worthless and need to go. There is no room on this planet for you anymore. You cannot win against us." I stood watching the landscape, waiting for his arrival.
A thunderous boom nearly shattered my eardrums, causing the ground to shake.
“How charming that your siblings sent the youngest and weakest to face me,” said Morgoto.
His red eyes could barely be seen behind the ridges of black and red flesh. His horns bent up over the crown of his head. His shoulders seemed malformed as they sat high next to his ears. His jagged and rotted teeth lay under a long black tongue that he pulled in before he 365
spoke. “If you hadn’t arrived at the temple, those other three would have been useless against me.
So, I hold you personally responsible."
I sniped back at him. “You’re wrong, Morgoto; there’s no winning for you. You could never stop us, and you won’t ever stop us.” Upon seeing his face and all that he’d done in Thanati, the black fingertips, the burning bodies, the water burning at the nuclear power facility, I became angrier. I couldn’t explain why anger had replaced my fear, but it did. Every previous time I had faced him, it was fear that drove me to continue to fight. But now, I was angry over the devastation and carnage. Seeing him made me want to destroy him once and for all.
“Your parents are dead, Elise. I killed them just yesterday. You weren't there to protect them. Perhaps they didn't have to die in pain, but what do I care about that?” Morgoto's words filled my head like a noxious fume.
A knot fused together inside me. “This makes all-out war, then. I have nothing to go back to and nothing to lose. That was a stupid move, Morgoto."
Morgoto transformed from a wretched beast into black smoke.
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“Clever, Elise."
The smoke seeped into me like poison gas. I wanted to blast him with a tornado of wind but could no longer wreck anything; my head was in a muddle of confusion. I fell to my knees.
“Do you want to feel what death is like?” His whisper had a distinctive hiss to it.
Sharp pains radiated through my stomach, and I vomited.
White bubbly boils popped up on my skin. My fingers turned black. I tried to blow out the fetid smoke from my lungs, but that only doubled the pain.
“Don't hold on, Elise. You are no use to your brothers and sister. Let go,” murmured Morgoto, whose tone suddenly became sweet sounding. “You made the mistake of letting me in."
“You stink like a bad venereal disease.” I writhed on the ground. “Revenge is all I can think of." I tried to will him out of my mind, but it was to no avail.
“Funny you should use that term 'venereal,'”
he barked. His tone became soft again. “Just let go, Elise. You are not needed or wanted here 367
anymore. There's nothing to fight for. Your family is gone."
Like a drug infusing my veins, a calmness overcame me as my spirit sank inside my body.
I rolled over on my back.
“That’s right, Elise, let go. Just let go.”
Morgoto was in control of my feelings. Through his deception, part of me felt as though I should let go, that it was time. Slowly, I slipped into unconsciousness, and just as I fell utterly unconscious, my body jerked. “No…” I opened my eyes to see the sky full of flickering light in more colors than I had ever seen before. “No!” I yelled aloud.
I struggled to my feet. Sickened, I managed to transform back into the light. Desire to harm my siblings flooded my mind. Thoughts of destroying the temple flashed through me. “No, this is not me,” I said to myself. Cramps and pains in my stomach nearly caused me to fall from the sky.
I approached the temple. “He’s in me! All of you, surround me, push me through the seam!”
Henry, Noma, and Undine streaked up behind me as I passed over the temple.
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“The volcano! Head down the volcano!” said Noma.
I streaked down the mouth of the volcano.
Behind me, I sensed Noma, Undine, and Henry creating a wall to prevent Morgoto from escaping. In front of me, I came to a black hole of emptiness. Through it, I saw nothing at all.
Diving directly into the hole, I turned myself into wind and separated from the black smoke. As a gust of wind, I blew back through the seam. A stream of light brighter and stronger than I had ever seen flashed at the point the seam closed.
The same light pushed us out of the volcano. As we floated in the air, a light came from the top of the temple. The volcano soon filled with dirt and rock until it was just a mountain again.
We lingered in the sky for a few moments until we appeared together in the round room of the temple. All ten crystals lit up glowing blue, pink, red, purple, green and yellow.
“You did it, Elise! You got him through the seam!” Henry shouted.
“We did it,” I replied. “I could not have done it without you. The Tree of Life closed the seam and returned the mountain back to normal." I was relieved that the fight was over, that we had succeeded in removing Morgoto. I was proud to 369
be a part of the team, but something didn’t quite feel right inside me.
“The prophecy set out by the Parcae is complete,” said Undine.
“I know, and I am thrilled,” I said. “I want to see what’s happening in Thanati, the Warming Beds, and Fulan."
We streaked across the sky, passing squadrons of military jets on patrol. In Thanati, soldiers patrolled the streets, and no civilians could be seen at all. We flashed into the Warming Beds. Fulan was not on the fifth floor anymore.
A soldier came up to us. “The Leaf girl is in the basement restoring pods. We had quite an attack after you left,” he said.
“We’ll have to take the stairs,” said Henry.
“We don’t know where she is down there."
We flashed as light down the stairs. When we arrived in the basement, several employees followed Fulan, who stood next to a whistling pod.
“This one just came back to life,” said one of the employees to Fulan. “It’s ready to be born."
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When Fulan spotted me, she ran over. “Elise.
You’re back. Since you’ve been gone, I have brought back hundreds of pods. We had an attack of beetles on the first floor. You should have seen the gunfire and smoke bombs they used to get rid of the things. It all seems calm now. No more beetles."
“What would we have done without you, Fulan,” I said to her.
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CHAPTER 24
That evening we had a lavish dinner. Fulan, Millie, and Wesu sat at the round table.
I sipped some juice from a cup. Naturally, deep inside I worried that my parents were dead and that there would be nothing left to return to. If they were dead and I would be nothing I can do about it. I couldn't shake the thought, so I turned my thoughts to Morgoto. “Why do you think I had to be the one to lure Morgoto?”
The others at the table stopped talking.
“It’s because you were the most innocent,”
said Undine. “The symbols around the Tree say that there is excellent value in innocence."
Noma seemed agitated at that comment.
“What do you mean? We are all innocent. How is Elise more so than you, Undine, or Henry or me?”
“I think it’s because you were willing to fight with us. That had to play a role,” added Henry.
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“They’re right,” said Fulan. “To fight for the good of others is the greatest gift you can give.
The Parcae knew that you would do this.
Therefore, they chose you to be the one to lure Morgoto."
Henry and Millie talked to each other quite a bit at dinner. He laughed and smiled more than I’d ever seen her do before. I wanted to ask her just what they were talking about. Wesu and I sat together, and I wore the gold bracelet that he’d given me for my birthday. Noma told many corny jokes, and then we listened to some lute music. Fulan sang songs in the language of the Leaf People. While I couldn’t understand any of it, it was quite lovely, nonetheless. Fulan would be returning home to her family, and I promised her that I would visit. After all, I was only a flash away.
After dinner, Wesu and I decided to take a moonlight walk in the garden. Holding hands, I caught some of his musky scent.
“I know you want to go to see your parents,”
he said. “I’m going to miss you terribly."
I tried to take in the luminescent flowers that glowed and sparkled as we passed by, but I was only able to glance at them. I was gloomy at the thought of not seeing Wesu for a while. “I guess 373
you’ll have to visit as soon as you can. I will be in school in the fall, but you can stay with us.”
He pulled me close to him, and we leaned against a statue of a nymph holding a bird in her hand.
“What I said to you when we were in the jungle, I meant all of it. I want to see at least if we can be a couple for the long haul. You’re beautiful, powerful, funny, and brave. When your siblings told me about your having led Morgoto through the seam, I thought it was incredible."
I pinched his chin affectionately. His eyes sparkled in the moonlight. “Thanks, but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them."
I kissed his cheek. “About being together, I guess I will just have to flash across the sky to wherever you are."
Wesu chuckled. “You will continue to be the Daughter of the Wind, that part you can’t change no matter how much you want to--it’s your destiny." He locked his arms around my back. “I will be visiting very soon. I’m not sure I can stay away from you for very long.”
After a few tender kisses, he grabbed my hand and started back to the others. I could tell that 374
he wanted to stay longer in the garden, and I did too, but getting back seemed right.
Eager to see my parents, I didn’t want to linger at the temple any longer than I had to.
Henry and Millie talked privately in the round room. With the help of my siblings, Millie transformed into light, and the two of us streaked across the sky back to Ourania. We landed in front of the Mikula Inn.
“Home sweet home!” I said to Millie. “Our parents will have been so worried. But, what a story I’ll have to tell them."
Looking back on everything that had happened since the day I left, I couldn’t begin to describe the changes in me as a person. More confident, having fallen in love, having fought evil itself and I discovered an entire side of my family that I never knew existed. Though I had doubted the wisdom of the Parcae earlier on, I certainly didn’t anymore.
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E. Townsend, Destiny Calls
