Master of the Elements

The Elements

Book 1: Air
Part 1: Beginning
Prologue

Feathers.
What?
Feathers. Falling
No, no, no.
What?
They are not feathers, silly.
What are they?
Clouds, and air. Small worlds of wonderful beings.
Beings? What beings?
When you grow up, you will be destined to control them.
Huh?
They will move at your will. They will help you overcome difficulties.
Oh.
But they will also create difficulties.
Oh.
It is time to begin.
Yes. Time to begin.

Poof. He falls.

Drift down, and have a good journey.
Goodbye.

Chapter 1

Time to go… Aepa is late again. Time after time, Aepa has forgotten to set his alarm clock, which leads to waking up late, which leads to having to do extra hair-unrumpling, which leads to a million other things. But on this particular day, Aepa has to really hurry. It is the last day of his Schooling, and instead of pausing to stare at the lush green meadows, or to admire the delicate spider webs decorating the old hollow bush, or even to do his favorite, to face the strong wind, always from the east, he had to quickly zip this way and that, whoosh past the happy strangers, and try to hop on the bus.

Today, I might get that bird I always wanted! He thinks. Even though I would have gotten it if not for my mentally challenged father… He continues. But today will be too happy of a day to object. To see his very own son finish Schooling…

But he falters in his step as he suddenly realizes that he is running. Not only is he running, but he is going at a fantastical speed.

This could be it! This could be the time! This could b-!

That falter in step causes his death the very next moment. A deaf eyewitness would say that he had seen him as only a blur until he slowed down, and suddenly flip thro’ the air, and land head first on the ground unconscious, and then a sudden flashing of light and a giant gust of wind. A blind earwitness would say that she had heard a fantastic sound like an elephant and a car engine, then a scream and a distant sonic boom of thunder. Though the strangest is that when his grieving mother and sister and his oddly ecstatic father sends him over to the hospital, was that even though his wound is very deep, he never sheds a single drop of blood, only a steady gust of air.

Soon he is declared dead, and looks like a completely deflated balloon, shrunken to a third of his size, only a few hours before.

His funeral was held only the next day, on a bright green park where he had loved to play in his short-lived life. The birds stop chirping, the spiders stop spinning their webs, and everyone comes, for some reason, to witness this moment. His family proceeds to do the funeral procession that Aepa has asked to do when he was only a baby. His body is thrown into the wind with a balloon, a drop of water, an olive branch, and a flaming torch. To the city’s horror, he vaporizes, and a distant chirping of a newborn bird is heard. And for the first time, the wind stops.