The Lost Kingdom (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 5 [part 1]

Elina may not have been my blood mother, but she had raised me as her daughter for the twelve years she was by my side, and if she had taught me anything, it was to never give up.

That was why I had continued to fight after her death, why I got up every day to work, to provide for my family, for her, because I knew it would be what she wanted.

That was the reason I wasn't going to give up now.

If Syform had said that the Tree existed, then it had to exist. And even if no one believed it, I would search every last corner of this great big world until I found it. I would not give up hope. I could not give up hope.

I searched in my sack for the only answer I had left to contemplate.

The small parchment wrapped in the red cloth amazingly had not gotten wet in the great splash of water I had endured to get here.

'What's that?' Caelus asked as he watched me examine it.

'It's something Syform gave me, it's for you, he told me this would be another way to convince you,' I explained extending my arm towards him.

He reached out and took the parchment, brushing his fingers against my hand. How could someone who appeared to be so aggressive and mean have such gentleness in his actions?

He rested it on the table, and after unravelling the cloth, he opened the parchment.

His breathing stopped for a second.

'That bastard,' he mumbled.

I stepped forward to see what it was that had knocked the wind out of him.

It was a map. Why was a map so important? Unless it was...

'It's a map to the Tree, isn't it?' I wondered aloud.

His head turned to me, anger drawn in his eyes.

'For years, for years I asked him for help and he never listened, and now he gives you the map to the Tree, something thousands of people have searched for centuries. But of course, it couldn't be perfect. It's incomplete. What's he playing at?'

The confusion of his statement was visible on my face.

I approached the map on the table again and couldn't contain myself.

'What are you talking about? The map is complete.'

I had no experience with maps other than what I had seen in library books, but I was pretty sure that was a complete map. It was a map of an island, with different points marked with black X's, culminating in a drawing of a tree.

Caelus pushed me aside and stared at the map again. Then he glanced at me and at the map again.

'Can you see the whole thing?' He wanted to make sure, although my face confirmed it.

Suddenly, he slammed his fist on the table. He had to learn to control that anger, otherwise we would really be in trouble.

'What's the problem?' I asked already tired of his attitude. If he was going to be like that at every turn, if he was going to get angry at every little thing, we weren't going to get anywhere.

Smiling with a sour look on his face, he took the glass I had left full and finished it in one gulp.

'The problem is that bloody Syform knew I wouldn't want to take you with me, I mean look at you, you're a helpless child, you'll be easy prey for the tests.'

I wanted to snap back at him, oh Gods, I wanted to smack him for underestimating me like that. It was true that I hadn't been able to fight Aurora's mental powers, but that didn't mean I couldn't defend myself. Even if I didn't fully understand my powers, they were mine, they were part of me and had saved me when it had been necessary.