The Chronicles of Earth and Time

Chapter 1

A young woman stood on the edge of a cliff overlooking a lush green valley. As she surveyed the valley below, a sudden wind blew through her long brown hair covering her face and ruffling her floral green dress against her tall slender frame. The wind suddenly stopped and the young woman pushed her hair aside exposing her olive skin and stunning green eyes. Her silhouette was suddenly surrounded in a sparkling glow like the birth of a star.

The peaceful serenity was interrupted by a familiar voice that seemed to move through the fjord like a gentle breeze. "Hello, Terra." Terra's green eyes squinted against the sunlight. A figure appeared before her in a silver and blue dress with long white hair. As Terra moved closer, the beings white skin shimmered in the light like the sun reflecting off a clear pool of water. It was then that Terra realized that it was her sister. Terra's heart grew heavy as she peered into her sisters icy blue eyes.

"Aura!" Terra exclaimed ran forward and lovingly embraced her younger sister's smaller form. "How are you? Have you seen others lately?" Terra released Aura momentarily from her hug realizing she caused Aura's hair to fly in front of her face. Terra laughed as Aura huffed brushing her hair back to reveal her thin oval face. "I'm so sorry haven't been able to keep in touch with you. I have been very busy with orders from Gaia. I have been given the job of reshaping the earth. I guess it was time for a layout change according to Gaia." She explained as she gestured toward the cliffs as the waterfalls poured from them into the valley below them.

"It's beautiful, Terra!" Aura observed as she ran toward the very edge of the cliff excitedly. "I actually haven't really seen Aqua or Ustrina lately, but I have seen Gaia." Aura responded as she sat on the grass and gently touched the snowdrops that were growing nearby. As soon as Aura mentioned Ustrina and Aqua, Terra felt a twinge of guilt. She had not seen any of her sisters in the last nine months, but that was because she was given a very important job to do. She did not want to mess it up and was sure that their mother had given all the elemental siblings assignments. However, when Aura mentioned seeing Gaia, Terra felt nervousness start swell within her. Gaia was the elemental sibling's mother, but they treated her more like a ruler or instructor. The reason for this high quality of respect was because Gaia was Mother Nature.

Terra watched her little sister as Aura's childlike wonder set Terra's mind at ease. It always amazed her how innocent and carefree Aura was. Whenever Aura was with her, Terra always felt herself become more cheerful. However, that was just in Aura's nature since she was in charge of the wind. Like the wind, she was a free spirit, playful, innocent, and always cheerful. Terra on the other hand was an earth elemental. She cared about every living being on the planet and was a much more grounded spirit. She was the responsible one of her siblings and more often than not, the one who had to take charge.

"You've seen Gaia? Have you seen Aevum?" Terra asked mumbling the last question a little more quietly. Usually, they only saw Gaia once a year and that was during the Gathering so it was unusual that Aura had seen Gaia before then. Aura looked up at her sister and smirked. Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she stood glancing up at her older sister with a knowing look in her eyes. Terra felt her face slightly blush for she knew what was coming next.

"Aevum? Why are you asking about him?" Aura asked in a teasing tone. Aevum was a time apprentice who studied under the guidance of Father Time or Aion. Aion and Gaia were lovers and had been together for as long as Terra could remember. She was the first created of her sisters and had always known they were lovers. Aevum was made a spirit around the same time as her and ever since then Terra had developed a bit of a crush on him. Aura knew that and took every chance she could get to tease Terra about it.

"Well, I was just wondering because..." Terra trailed off trying to think of an excuse to keep Aura off her back.

"Because you like him!" Aura finished excitedly. "You know he likes you too. He likes you a lot more than you think." She added slyly as she began floating in the air slightly letting her excitement get the better of her. Terra stared at her stunned as she thought about what her sister just told her.

"Aura, you're starting to float away." Terra stated as she watched Aura float higher into the air. Aura looked around realizing what was going on.

"Whoops, sorry." She apologized as she quickly floated back down toward Terra. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Gaia and Aion have scheduled a meeting." Aura added as the wind continued to flow around her causing her long white hair to float around her.

"A meeting?" Terra questioned confused. "It isn't time for the annual meeting yet. Why are we having it so early?"

"I'm not very sure, but she sounded serious." Aura answered quietly as her long hair fell back over her shoulders. It must have been serious if it caused Aura to calm down Terra noted as she studied Aura's expression. She was usually the hyper, cheerful spirit who never really seemed to take anything too seriously and tended to make a game of everything.

"When is the meeting supposed to start?" Terra asked fully understanding that something might be seriously wrong if Gaia wanted to meet with the elemental spirits.

"Umm, sunset at her palace." Aura answered as if she had forgotten when the meeting was supposed to start. Terra quickly looked in the sky to see what position the sun was in.

"Aura, that's in five minutes!" Terra exclaimed franticly.

"I'm sorry, Terra. I kind of got distracted on the way here." Aura admitted as her eyes began to slightly water. Terra, knowing how sensitive Aura could be, quickly patted her shoulder reassuringly realizing she might have sounded a lot angrier then she anticipated.

"Don't worry, Aura. It isn't your fault. It's just in your nature." Terra confirmed to ease her sisters guilt. Aura looked up at her sister and gave her a small smile. "We better go now. We might make it in time if we teleport right now." With that being said Terra disappeared within a cyclone of leaves, dust, and grass while Aura disappeared within a whirlwind of clouds.