The Elements

Chapter Twenty Six

Flora was leading the group down the dirt road, and she felt like she was walking down the yellow brick road. But of course, it's not going to be all sunshine and rainbows.
"Are we there yet? My legs are getting tired." Jason complained.
It was true. They'd been walking for hours, and the sun was almost out of the sky. Flora considered the following: to rest, to keep going, or to go by herself. As an independent young lady, she could do things her way.
But she finally settled on one choice.
"I agree, let's rest."
They went deeper into the woods, and then started to make camp.
Flora looked over at Jason, who was already sound asleep, curled into a snug little ball on the ground.
"Shhh." She said quietly, and got to work on making a tent out of sticks. She saw Asher and Cole working on making a fire, and Arabella was scouting out anything useful.
As soon as the group was done, Arabella motioned for Flora to come over to her.
"What is it?" Flora asked.
"I think I saw something in the shadows." Arabella said, the words barely flowing together.
"What do you mean?" Flora asked slowly.
Soon enough, a dark shape floating in front of them was hissing in a snake like way, which caused Arabella to go behind Flora.
"Alright, is this how it's going to be?" Flora barked at the shape as Asher and Cole ran over.
"What the hell is that thing?" Cole asked, half shakily, half causally.
"I don't know." Flora shrugged, and kept her eyes on the dark floating shape.
Soon enough, things took a turn for the worse. The odd looking dark shape lunged for Flora, and she struggled out of its grasp as it hissed like a serpent.
"Flora!" Arabella was the first to protest as the team lunged for the ghastly creature of the night.
Flora thought this was unbelievable, she didn't know what was going to happen next. She struggled to break free as the hissing got louder by the minute, but that didn't really matter. She had to get out, she couldn't die. This was Death Mist, and it was showing her worst fear.
Dying too early.
Flora screamed as a fresh, new jolt of pain scorched through her bones like a wildfire, as if had come through an open door.
I can't die, not now.
It was true. She couldn't die, not at a time like this. Flora thought about getting the Moonstone, saving Selene, and stopping the Darkness from winning what they wanted most. Selene was just the pawn of the chess board, but she could fight.
And Flora could too.

It was a bright night, and Flora was seven years old at the time. She was in Hawaii with her family for the week, and it was quite peaceful.
Until a hurricane came.
"We're gonna be ok, alright." Flora's dad said.
As they drove to higher ground, Flora knee they wouldn't be able to escape the raging storm.
"Wait, maybe I can stop it." Flora said firmly.
"Honey, you can't. A hurricane is a force of nature, it can't be stopped. People can be warned, be saved, but we can't stop it." Lilly reasoned with her daughter.
"But I can do this, I've got to try." Something inside her told her to fight the enemy rather then run away form it.
"But you can't, we won't let you." Lilly said, her voice breaking. She didn't want to loose her daughter.
Fortunately for Flora the window on her side shattered from a tree smashing into it.
Flora jumped out, ignoring her parent's protests.
She started at the waves crashing below and closed her eyes.
"NOOO!"
Flora opened her eyes to see her father running towards her, a worried look plastered on his face. He grabbed Flora, took her to the car, and stopped.
But then, seaweed from the water grabbed his legs and pulled him under.
"DAD! NO!" Flora cried, and she erupted into sobs.
Lilly knew there was no hope, so she grabbed Flora, held her for a few moments, and put Flora in the car. Lilly went in the drivers seat, and she drove, tears streaming down his face.
Flora's dad had died before his time. He'd saved her.
She let herself cry, and looked out the window.
He's dead.

Flora wasn't going to die.
Not before her time.
She struggled to break free, and she was successful.
The dark shape floated around her.
"Guys?" Flora asked, wondering where her friends were.
But had soon found out they were lying on the ground, passed out.
Soon Flora was pinned to the ground, and the dark shape turned into mist and swirled around her.
Her vision spun into deep, bleak, helpless darkness.