After Fate Fell

2 • ELLA

1 year, 3 months, & 11 days after it all
•ELLA•

It's almost midnight, and we're all headed off to bed. All of us except me, that is. Sleep isn't my friend. Too many visions and thoughts and nightmares. So I've decided not to go to bed tonight. While the others are all going off to bed in the makeshift-hut we've built over the last month or so, I'm packing a few things into a bag. I have some unfinished business to do before I leave this planet.

I lie on my mat in the hut and wait until I hear all of their breaths slow and see their muscles relax. It also helps that I'm a telepath, I guess. They're all asleep.
I get up and grab my bag as quietly as possible. Since John can also read other's thoughts, I keep my mind as blank as possible. I move toward the black night through the opening in the side of the hut. All that's out there is the night.

All of a sudden I feel fear. Fear that rips open my mind and brings back the worst of memories. All of a sudden I'm remembering the vision from Chicago...of the Mogs winning, of me at the right hand of Setrákus Ra, of the world destroyed, of Sam going crazy, and Six....

I hear a sharp breath. I know it's John. In the almost blackness, I can see him convulsing and holding his hands to his stomach.

Why did I let my mind go? I could just leave, but I know I can't leave John like this. I walk over to him and put my hand on his back.

"Hey. It's okay. It's over. None of that happened."

With tears welling up in his eyes, he says
"It's over it's over it's over. All over. Nothing."

I think he understands that there's nothing to worry about. But I get what he's feeling. It's what happens in the aftermath. I mean, I did just make him remember one of his greatest fears, the scariest vision of the future he's ever known. So I just rub his back until he calms down.

"Where were you going?" He asks. I feared this was coming.

"Listen, John. I can't tell you right now. You wouldn't let me go. But I have to go. You can't stop me. I promise that I'll be back in a week."

"No, Ella, you have to tell me. You can't just leave-"

"Yes I can. And I'm going now." I get up and walk toward the door, picking up my bag.
He sits up. "Ella, all right, I'll let you go. Wherever you're going, though, you have to tell me. You are not getting out of that door without telling me that."

I hesitate. Can I trust that he won't follow me? That he won't try to monitor my every move?

"Come on Ella. I promise it's only for emergencies."

"Mexico. I'm going to the Sanctuary."

"But the Sanctuary isn't there anymore?"

"But Legacy still is. I need to speak with her."

"Can't you do that telepathically?"

"Sadly, my energy from her is drained. I must go to the source."

"I understand."

"Thank you. Now go back to bed."

"All right."

"See you John."

"Bye Ella. One week."

"Right. Goodbye." I say as I walk through the entrance. I've been down this mountain, but never at night. I don't know what I was thinking. I really wish I had lumen right now. Instead, I pull out my tiny flashlight that is connected to my bag by a keychain. It casts a dim light onto the ground in front of me, but it will have to do.

As I descend down the mountain, the bareness of the top is giving way to more grasses and bushes. The temperature is also rising a bit. And the air is becoming thicker, making it easier to breathe.

I start to imagine how I would fend off a group of Mogs here. There's barely any cover, so I would have to duck behind a bush, hoping it would help a little, and send a barrage of jagged rocks at them with my telekinesis. I don't know how many Mogs I would be able to handle.

But I have to remind myself that it won't happen. There are barely any Mogs remaining, and none of whom would still want to hurt me. The Mogadorians are no longer a threat. To me, to Earth, or to Lorien. I brush away these feelings of fear and continue walking.

Finally, the bushes give way to evergreen trees, and I'm in a giant forest of the green needles. I pick up hundreds of the needles from off the ground and swirl them around me like a tornado, and I feel the cool breeze I've created. I suddenly stop my telekinesis, sending all of the needles off in all directions. I feel so free. I've been on this mountain for much too long. I'm so relieved to be finally leaving it.

After many many miles of hiking, I get to an open field where I sit down to rest for a moment. I look up at the sky, at all of the stars, white dots contrasting with the piercing darkness. I find the constellation that Crayton always showed me when I was little, the one where he said Lorien is. And I hold up my hand to it, palm open, like I am holding the star that is Lorien's sun. And I whisper "Lorien." And I swear, it gets a little bit brighter.