Etherea

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The book was resting exactly where I left it on the table, two days ago. It feels like an eternity has passed. I looked at the places where the candles had stood. Thinking about those things made me uncomfortable. The room felt so small to me. I felt a sense of suffocation. I grabbed the book from the table and climbed the steps to get to the room on the top.

The second I got to the room, a kind of relief washed over me. The warmth of the evening light and the slight coolness of the wind welcomed me. I felt my lungs filling with fresh air. I wonder how it will feel to stand in an open place? With the wind, the sunlight, the rain, and the view of worldly things, I want to feel everything. What would it be like to be a bird? To fly high up in the sky, to be free. If I was born without this gift, what would my life be like? Each cell in my body felt the need to go out. I want to go out, but how? My parents would never agree to that.

I sat in a comfortable place and took the book in my hands. There wasn't much left to read, only a few more pages. I opened the book and flipped through each page, feeling the pages. When I reached the page that I last read, I started to read.

Day by day the ocean began to grow restless. Bigger waves crashed on the land. They understood that if it's going to continue like this, the land will be slowly engulfed by the ocean. The only thing they had was their gift; the magic. They held meetings once in a while to think about the things they could do to save the land. In such a meeting one man put forward the idea of creating a shield around the land against the ocean. They thought about it and planned to make a group of gifted people do that.

The idea of a group to take care of Etherea was a brilliant plan. A group of gifted people was selected to be members of this group. There was a total of twenty people. They practiced their magic for days. They combined their magic and made it stronger. As they practiced, their magic became stronger. They practiced by creating a wall of magic around themselves. At first, they became tired easily. Then, they improved. Then, two people combined their magic to create the wall around them. Then, three people combined to create the wall. Then, they tried to widen the diameter of the wall. They all combined their magic and tried to cover the entire land with the wall. When people combined and did the wall, the color of the wall created by them began to change. When they all combined to do it, the color was golden. At last, after so many days of practice, they did it.

When the gifted were practicing, the other people were building a tower. When the gifted were training, they understood that if they made the wall while standing in a higher place, they can make bigger walls. So, the leader gave instructions to make a tower higher than the highest tree in Etherea. They all worked hard and made the tower. It was a simple tower structure with steps inside to get to the top of it. They were able to see the ocean from every side when they were on the top of the tower. A man was appointed to stand on there and look at the ocean. If he sensed any movement in the ocean, he must make the bell ring, which was also placed in the tower. The gifted were always ready to do their job.

One afternoon it happened. The man sat of the tower looking at the ocean. Suddenly, he heard a sound from the east. He focused on the eastern side. The ocean seemed like it's rising. He immediately rang the bell. Within one minute all the members of the group got to the tower. The waves became stronger and were coming to the shore. They prayed and formed a circle. They joined their hands and raised it to the sky in a swift movement. A bright golden light came from their hands and covered the total of Etherea like a shield. The waves hit hard on the shield again and again, but the shield never broke. It worked. They were saved.

From that day onward, whenever the ocean was restless, they created the shield. The people were removed and added to the group according to age. Men of age between twenty-five and thirty-five were the members of the group. The job of the watcher on the tower was passed on from generation to generation. The same family did that job.

The last time the bigger waves came was in nineteen-ninety-three. But still, we are always prepared to do everything in need.

That was it. That was the history. There were some blank pages after that. I flipped through the pages to find whether there is anything else in the book. I flipped almost twenty pages. Then, there was a title: The Leaders. There were pictures and names of all the leaders. The pictures were pencil drawings. Whoever drew it was a good artist, the pictures were beautiful. After the leaders' section was finished, there came the next set of blank pages. Then came the title, The Watchers. Then came the pictures of people who worked as the watchers were shown. Again, these pictures were also pencil drawings and were beautiful. The section of the leaders only had pictures of men, but in the section of watchers, there were pictures of some women as well. If women can be watchers, why can't they be leaders? There are some beliefs in this society that needs some serious alterations.

I stood and looked outside. I looked at the clock tower. I looked through the next slit, then the next, and then the next. Finally, I saw the tower, the tower of the watcher. I stood there looking at it. Again, I lost myself in my thoughts.
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★★★

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter...
Stay safe my beautiful people...
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