Destined: 2 Be Continued

2. Jeremiah Has a Lot of Explaining To Do

"Yes, please," Alex said sarcastically. The person nodded, then snapped the fingers on his right hand. The vines binding Alex to the tree freed up and slithered away. Alex saw Penny's limp body fall on the ground from the other side of the tree. The person handed Alex a perfectly roasted marshmallow on a stick. Alex, not one to deny handouts, ate it gratefully. The person dusted his hands off, then sat back down on his log.

"Well, where should I start?" the person wondered before answering his own question. "Ah, wake up Penny. Right." he walked over and shook Penny three times, and Penny snapped awake. "Wuzza?" She asked. The person ignored her question and sat back down on his log. "Allow me to tell you a few things," he said. Penny woke up quickly and started to listen to the person's crazy story.

"I'm Jeremiah. I'm one of the Destined. 'What are the Destined?' you ask. Well, they're a special kind of people chosen by...something to have super powers. They protect the world from evil, unless they cause it themselves. There are thirteen different elements that a Destined can belong to, and each element has a 'lord,' so to speak. I'm a master of shadow. You, Alex, are a master of the sky, and you, Penny, are a mistress of poison. Vespira was the lady of poison, as you might have already figure out. I asked her and Windigo, the lord of the sky, to bring you here for me.

"You see, I need a little bit of your power to call my buddies to save us, and a lot more to help my buddies and I defeat Locust. Who's Locust? Well, he's a really bad guy. He was a Destined of life, but then he became corrupted, and lost reason and goodness. Who corrupted him? I don't know! I think it was the strange old man but the name of TG, though.

"I've been stuck on this island for two years now, but I know these things because of a boy named Jali. He was able to show me things through artificial 'dreams.' Aside from that, and that my friends should be coming here soon, I don't have much else to add. Any questions?" Alex and Penny looked between each other. They had one specific question in mind.

"What?" they asked in unison. That earned a laugh from Jeremiah. Well, more of a guffaw. Jeremiah then seemed to remember one more thing. "Oh, yeah! This," he said, pointing to the wolf made of shadow, "Is Marionette. Normally, he's a human, but he can shapeshift, and he likes being a wolf." That seemed like a trivial thing to know, and the more important thing would be how exactly he came across a person made of shadow that liked shapeshifting into a wolf, but that wasn't what Jeremiah had explained. Perhaps he didn't think it was important how he got Marionette, but just that he had Marionette. 

As Alex was thinking about puppetry, a boy, just about twelve years old, ran up to the three. "Jeremiah! Jeremiah!" he cried, then saw Alex and Penny. "Oh, you found Alex and Penny. Great."

"HOW DOES EVERYONE KNOW OUR NAMES?" Alex tried to rage, but the boy just kept talking. "The train is coming! The train!" That seemed to perk Jeremiah up. The boy dashed off, and Jeremiah grabbed a spear from where he was sitting and followed. Marionette followed Jeremiah. Alex and Penny exchanged glances, then followed Marionette.

They eventually reached a village. A bronze machine was speeding from the sky towards the village, but the villagers that had congregated in the village didn't seem to mind. Alex bumped into Jeremiah. "What's with the train?" he asked.

"My Destined buddies ride a train," Jeremiah explained quickly as the train drew closer. Suddenly, as it was about to hit the water, the train pulled up and slowed down as it sped towards the village. Jeremiah muttered happily about dramas and the last month of summer. The train came to a stop at the beach, and Jeremiah dashed towards it without hesitation.

Alex and Penny followed. A sliding door opened from one of the train cars, and the most beautiful blonde girl Alex had ever seen stepped out. Jeremiah seemed really glad to see the girl. "Heather!" he shouted. "Boy, am I glad to see y--" The girl that Jeremiah had called Heather slapped him in the face. "I hate you, Jeremiah," she said to him. A Spanish guy, who had curly black hair and bronze gauntlets on his arm, stepped out of another sliding door. 

"August! How ar--" August punched Jeremiah in the stomach. "Te odio, damasiado," he muttered, which Alex knew translated to "I hate you, too." Another pretty girl, one with silver hair that was armed with two katanas walked out of a third door. Jeremiah opened his mouth to say something, but the sword girl hit him with the butt of her sheath. "You're despicable, Jeremiah," she told him. Jeremiah fell to the ground. "Really...Really feeling the love, guys," he managed.

Alex and Penny dashed over to him. "Oh, Alex and Penny. Nice to see you guys," Heather said to them as the two new Destined checked to see if Jeremiah was okay. He had a bruise already forming on his cheek, but he seemed fine aside from that. He stood up.

"What's your problem?" Alex asked the three other Destined that had appeared. Heather snorted. "This guy," she started, pointing at Jeremiah, "left us with barely any warning, and disappeared for two years! Certainly, killing a darned lion wouldn't take so long?" she spat at Jeremiah.

"The promise I made didn't ever specify that I would come back!" Jeremiah defended himself. "And you should be glad that Alex and Penny came of age recently, or I wouldn't have been able to call you guys over here!" Alex was extremely confused. 

"What is going on?" Penny asked. The Destined looked at each other, then back at their newcomers. Jeremiah walked away, over to the villagers, and said goodbye to each of them. While he did that, Heather explained that they would be kept up to date about what they were to do. "Let's get in the train," August proclaimed. The older Destined went back into the train, and the younger Destined followed.