Matched

Chapter 5

As Kate followed Preston, she became increasingly aware that he wasn't leading her to the dance floor. Instead, as they wound through the large crowd of people that had begun to gather in the middle of the dance floor, Kate realized that Preston was heading towards the door on the other side of the ballroom.

She stopped, tugging Preston back. He turned his head sharply, and in his gaze, Kate saw fear. She didn't know what he had to be worried about, but she knew that as he glanced up to where his parent's were, that it had something to do with them. "Please," he begged, "We don't have much time, Kate. Please come with me."

Glancing back at where Dax stood, now with the crowned princess of Thilípsi, she knew that he wouldn't be asking for her for a while. She relented and let Preston give her hand another tug and let him lead her out the door.

The cold breeze blew Kate's hair back as she stepped out onto the smooth steps of the back lawn. The staircase down the back led to a garden where there were over forty fountains with various statues spouting water.

As soon as they were out of the sight of the ballroom, Preston stopped and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I'm going to tell you something, and you have to promise not to interrupt me to tell me that it sounds crazy or to ask questions," he said, speaking quickly. "This story may sound far-fetched, but we don't have much time. I need to be back in there before Max realizes that I'm missing."

Kate stared at him, unblinking, comprehending his words. "Max? You mean like your father?" she said.

"Yes," Preston said, grabbing her hand to begin to lead her through the gardens, "But that was your only question ok? No more."

He was silent for a few moments before beginning his story. "When I was little, my father used to tell me a stories in moments of weakness. He seemed to have moments where his humanity as a father showed and he seemed to care about us, but it is imperative that you know the whole thing to understand, and it was told to me over the course of many years, so I'm going to shorten a few parts.

He began the story like this: When God made the world, he decided that having emotionless humans wasn't enough. He needed more than just mindless acceptance of Him, and so he created seven stones in which he put a single branch of human emotion. Emotion is a word not commonly used anymore, and if you're wondering what it means, it's defined as something that you feel that effects the way you act.

The first explorers of this world that spread knowledge were the Mycenaean's off the coast of what was formerly Europe's Greece. The stone's names were based off of the names of the seven main emotions in their language. There was Thilípsi, which was sadness, Fóvos, which was fear, Thymós, which was anger, Eftychía, which was happiness, Aídia, which was disgust, and Ékplixi which was surprise."

He paused, giving Kate enough time to say, "But that's only six."

"Good, you can count," Preston said sarcastically before continuing, "But the last Stone was the cornerstone of all seven, Agápi, which is love. God realized that love was an encompassment of all of these emotions. Love was each of these emotions both together and separately at the same time. It was the most powerful of the stones.

These stones were placed in a cave, and this cave of emotions harnessed a powerful magic that kept each of these stones in place for hundreds of years, under the careful watch of the spirit animal that each stone had protecting it. One day, a man named Maxwell found the cave and stole the stones for himself. He had sold himself to something evil, a force said to be within all of us, most of us choosing to not give in to it.

He found a woman who had given in, just like him, and they grew to be the most powerful people universe, conquering the entirety of the world. They destroyed most of it and carved what was left of it into six districts, five of them ruled over by their sons who were said to never age. The rest of their sons were killed off, as they weren't needed anymore. The stones were distributed to each of the districts to protect, and each district was named after the stone they had. The last stone, Agápi had refused to leave the wall. The story goes that love could conquer all, even the darkness inside."

They had reached the cliffs that looked out at the sea. The ocean below was churning, the waves crashed against the rocks so rough that Kate could feel the spray from below.

"So you think that this story is true?" Kate asked.

Preston turned so that he could face her. "My mother once told me never to listen to anything my father said, because he was a fool. She told me that he's had his moments of weakness where he struggled, and that he said things he didn't mean. I think that although he told me that story in a moment of weakness, the weakness was what made it true. A moment of remorse when he couldn't believe everything he had done. He has never brought it up since, because I believe that he blocks out those memories of remorse or sorrow. If my father is truly the immortal Maxwell from the stories, then he is capable of feeling emotions, capable of weakness, unlike the rest of the population."

He paused, drawing in a deep breath and his hand clamped on her shoulder tighter. "You have to listen to what I am about to say next, and remember that we are here to fix it. Matches aren't real. They have nothing to do with who you end up with or your soulmate. Since most people are incapable of feeling anything, it wouldn't make sense. When the six men stopped all emotion, people began to die. You see, a human is a shell of themselves when they are asked to live without emotion. When a person is born, their emotion sensor is blocked but they are injected with enough of the emotion serum from the underground cave to survive on. The sensor is placed in them so that they can be monitored as they grow up, and if the gene that causes a person to react negatively against the blocking of all emotion is detected in the fully mature eighteen year old brain, then the person is given an injection that allows them to live for another year before passing into the Ether. If a person doesn't exhibit signs of this, then they are given an injection that will last them a certain amount of time before they die."

He stopped and faced away from her, looking out at the sea. "I don't know if all of this is true, but I mean who would make this up? My father had been very serious when he explained these things to me. I believe them."

He glanced sideways at her before continuing. "I need to show you something, and you had to hear all of that to understand it ok? I need you to continue to not ask questions until I've shown you everything and then you can make your decision."

He smiled at Kate and motioned to the sea below. "We're going to jump."