Chapter 12

         After the ninth building, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. We walked into the middle of the campsite to find another dorm building when Irvin froze.

         "What is it?" I asked.

         "Run!" Irvin yelled, and he turned around and fled for the outside of the campsite.

         We followed him all the way to the fence on the outside of the camp.

         "Why did we run like that?" Gina asked. "What's going on?"

         "Vadrak's coming. He was going to teleport to the spot we were. We didn't want to be there when he . . . "

         Irvin trailed off and we all knew why. From the center of the campsite, there were screams of many hecapsycheires. Everyone knew what had happened. Vadrak had joined the battle.

         "We've got to go and help," Vesta said.

         "You're right," I agreed.

         The ten of us ran back to the center of the camp. When we got there, Vadrak was furious. We had wiped out almost all of his Heinous Knights. He started using his sword to bat the ring of hecapsycheires out of his way. I charged through the crowd with my brothers at my heels. Irvin ran in front of Vadrak to distract him, while Demetrio, Hearst, Timur, and I snuck around to get behind Vadrak.

         "Vadrak, stop! This is not the answer Vadrak," Irvin said. "You're killing innocent hecapsycheires. This is not who you were meant to be."

         Vadrak snarled and said, "Oh really? Who was I meant to be then?"

         "You were supposed to be a prince. You were supposed to be the future king in your dimension."

         I wasn't sure if Irvin was making this up or if he could really see Vadrak as a king.

         "Your father banished you because your eyes are yellow and red. Your younger twin brother received all the attention and you were raised by someone who was not worthy of raising you. It shouldn't have been this way, Vadrak. You can still become king, but you just can't be king here. Go back to Dimension Z. You've outlived your father and brother. You are immortal. Be a leader of your own people. You would have those who are truly loyal to you, not just mortal men that you use as puppets."

         "You know nothing of my life," Vadrak spat.

         "Yes I do, Vadrak," Irvin said. "You were never good at telepathy. You were never able to keep others from seeing into your mind. I know your past, and I know your present. I know your feelings, and I know your fears. You are weak compared to me and all others who can see through you."

         "What do you think you speak of? I am very skilled at the art of telepathy and divination. Why else would I come here to take over?"

         "You came because you thought you could conquer these lands. You were mistaken. I'll give you one chance. You can go back to your own dimension quietly, or I'll tell every fear and weakness that you have to the Elders and anyone else who will listen so that they can stop you."

         "You wouldn't dare."

         "Yes, I would Mark Navik Giad. You have an odd name, but that doesn't bother me or anyone else. Go back to the dimension that you came from."

          Just then, the Elders appeared in the circle.

         They were about to rush forward when Irvin said, "Wait. Let him decide. He can either go in peace, or we can conquer him."

         As fast as lightning, Vadrak hurled five deadly rays of material at The Elders. The Elders collapsed and moved no more. I didn't know what the material that Vadrak threw at them was, but I learned that it was deadly the hard way.

         Vadrak took a breath and said, "I'll leave with no further destruction. Goodbye."

         With that, he turned and vanished. Most of the crowd swarmed around the bodies of the Elders, but my brothers, Vesta, her friends, and I all ran towards Irvin who looked as if he was going to faint from exhaustion. We caught him just in time. Reading Vadrak's mind had taken a lot of energy out of him; now he had nothing left but us.

         We teleported him to a bed that hadn't been destroyed during the battle.  Irvin fell asleep right away, and we waited by his bedside the entire time.

         "How are you feeling?" I asked when he woke up an hour later.

         "Head hurts a bit, but otherwise I'm okay," he replied.

         "Irvin, how did you know that Vadrak's name was Mark?" Aurelia asked.

         "I read his mind. After I looked back into his childhood and recapped some of it, his name came to me."

         "Why in the world is he called Mark Navik Giad? That must be the weirdest name in the world," Tamara said.

         "Yeah, it kind of is. His father and mother both had unique last names, so his mother, who actually loved him despite his eyes, named him Mark which was not so weird. Navik was his mother's maiden name, and his father's surname was Giad."

         "Why'd he choose the name Vadrak?" I asked.

         "Funny you should mention it, actually. Watch this," Irvin said.

         He shot water from his hands and shaped, out of water, the name:

M A R K   N A V I K   G I A D

         Irvin waved his hand and the water words reformed themselves into the following words:

I   A M   K I N G   V A D R A K

         "And there you have it," Irvin said as we all gasped in surprise.

         "So it was just an anagram?" Gina asked.

         "Yes," Irvin said.

         "Well, I must say, I think that his anagram name Vadrak was a lot better than Navik Giad. I almost felt sorry for the guy because of his name," Vesta said.

         "You feel sorry for the madman who ended the lives of millions of hecapsycheires?" Izumi asked incredulously.

         "No," Vesta replied, and I sighed with relief. "I felt kind of sorry for Mark Navik Giad, not Vadrak."

         Vesta's friends attacked her with more comments about Vadrak, as my brothers and I hung back and watched. A couple minutes later, they noticed that we were watching them argue.

         "I think Vesta's right," Irvin said. "I saw inside Vadrak's head. I saw his life before he went crazy. Mark was a good guy, he had a very difficult life, Mark . . . Mark was not Vadrak. There is such a large distance between the two men, I couldn't even begin to tell you."

         We all thought about it for a few about minutes until Izumi spoke up.

         "Will you tell us the rest of Mark's life?" she asked Irvin.

         "Look, Mark's life was a very sad and depressing story, and with all due respect to you, my best friends, it is his personal life, not mine. I don't think that I would like my head broken into without my permission. It's like breaking down a door with no knock or any other sign of respect."

         "But Vadrak was horrible!" protested Tamara.

         "Vadrak was horrible; Mark was not. Mark was a good guy who was treated horribly by his family."

         "Okay Irvin," I said. "If you don't want to tell us and go behind Vadrak's back, then I understand, but I think that it could help us too. If he went crazy again, it might be helpful for us to know about his past. Not just so that we could find weaknesses, but so that we could protect people."

         "Fine, I'll tell you, but I think I'll leave out some of the unimportant parts that you don't want to hear anyway."

         We all agreed, and Irvin began the tale of Vadrak's life.

         Vadrak was the first twin to emerge from his mother's womb. His mother was the queen of the land he came from which was called Nahrungsmittelland, which is German for "Food Land" or "Land of Food." As you know, the dimension he lived in, is full of horrible things, but Nahrungsmittelland was paradise for that dimension. To us, it is truly horrible, but to them, it was paradise.

         Vadrak's father, King Henry Giad, was not a very pleasant man. He had a bad temper. Whenever he was in his "raging mode," he killed a peasant, or he beat those who were near him at the time such as his servants and even his wife.

         When Vadrak was born, his eyes were, as you know, red and yellow. The nurse shrieked and dropped him on the floor where he lay naked and helpless. Eventually, his brother started to come, so he was moved to a cradle that was too small for him. The queen was expecting only one child, so because of Mark's eyes, they stuffed him in a large shoe where he waited, cramped and frightened.

         King Giad never loved his son because of his eyes. Queen Catherine Navik Giad was saddened because she loved both of her sons. She tried to give Mark extra attention because of the king's dislike of him.

         After Mark's mother died when he was ten, King Giad refused to raise him. Mark was thrown from the palace and landed in the sea. He could barely swim, but he knew enough to swim to the bottom of a cliff where the rocks were jagged and heated from the sun.

         There, he sat on a rock sobbing at his father's cruel treatment. He spent the night on the rock. In the morning, he began the difficult climb to the top of the cliff which is where the palace was located. In the middle of the cliff he found a road that he followed to the village of Nahrungsmittelland.

         There, he met his future wife, whose mother took him in despite his eyes. The woman who took care of him had a daughter whom he fell in love with. She loved him in return even though his eyes were so hideous. After they were married, Mark returned to the palace to declare his right to the throne, but his brother was sitting at his father's death bed.

         Their father's last words were "Go now, Alexander, become the king I never was." Alexander was Mark's brother, and those words hit Mark hard. Alexander became king and ruled for three years until a falcon came to visit Mark. The falcon told him that he was immortal and he could have his brother's throne. All Mark had to do was beat his brother in a duel where the loser was banished from the palace. Mark heard the falcon's words and trained for five years.

         In Nahrungsmittelland, any relative of the king was allowed to challenge the king for the crown with a duel. When Mark felt confident he could beat his brother, they went to the arena to fight. They both fought furiously, but in the end, Alexander brought his blade down to finish Mark off. Mark was left lying there for days as the people of Nahrungsmittelland came to laugh and throw rocks at him. He was still alive, but that didn't mean he wasn't in pain and suffering. Mark didn't really want the throne and the power, he just wanted attention.

         One day, Mark woke up feeling better than he had in a long time. He remembered he had dreamed he was the king of Nahrungsmittelland and everyone loved him. That dream changed him. He took his name, Mark Navik Giad, and changed it into "I Am King Vadrak." He went crazy until he had conquered all of the dimension that he lived in, but he wasn't done yet. He created a portal to our dimension and travelled through it, strong and immortal.

         As you know, he created an army and killed most of the hecapsycheires until we began to fight back. I left out all of the torture and extra violence. I figured it wouldn't go well with your stomach.

         "Well, that's quite a story," Gina said.

         "Yes, and now I am tired again. Can I go to sleep?" Irvin asked.

         We said that he could, and we stopped talking. We had completely forgotten about the passing of the Elders until we heard a large horn blow. The horn of sorrow. We slowly filed out of the dorm to see the crowd of hecapsycheires. Panton was at the front, and the five main servants of The Elders were carrying the Elders' bodies on stretchers in the traditional five-pointed star. The other hecapsycheires who were strong enough to walk, followed behind.

         We joined the crowd as they walked. I didn't know where they were going; we just followed them. Everyone was full of sorrow, and I understood their grief. I was never close with the Elders, but they were good leaders. They had to handle a million things at once, and they still did it. Not only that, but they did it well because they saw the point of view that the other people or hecapsycheires had.

         We walked to the end of the field where the stage was. Panton and the Elders' servants walked on stage. Everyone bowed respectfully as the Elders were set onto ceremonial catafalques.

         "This loss has been a great tragedy to us all. The Elders had brought life to this world and now they will do so no more," Panton said. "The Elders would not want you to suffer from their loss. They would have wanted the traditional burial and mourning days to pass and let the next elders take their place. Go home now. Rest up and return to this location tomorrow at dusk. The burial will take place at midnight."

         Everyone teleported away from the battlefield. They had seen enough battle for one day. The ten of us stayed put. We hardly even breathed.

         "Did you not hear my orders? Be gone!" shouted Panton.

         "We feel that you are in need of service. Please, allow us to help," Irvin said.

         "Fine," Panton said shortly. "You can wipe the memories of the humans and return them to their homes. Oh, and you could also get rid of the camp. You can have fun, let off energy, burn off anger after the passing of the Elders. Burn it if you want, I really don't care. I have other duties to attend to, and I can't be worried about the simple jobs that I just gave you."

         We turned to go, but we were stopped by Panton.

         "Thank you, by the way," he said, "for helping me with this. It saves me time."

         We nodded and left. We cleared the memories of the mortals who had been placed under Vadrak's curse. We didn't erase their memories completely, just the bad parts of their life as a Heinous Knight. We worked in silence until the job was done. Once we had finished, we walked back to the camps to collect the few items we had brought with us that were still in the cabin.

         We met back at the stage. I didn't really know what to say. The ten of us had been through so much together that I didn't really know what to do. We couldn't just leave, we owed each other our lives, but we weren't exactly best friends either. I think that we were friends, maybe more than friends.

         Knowing that we had to move on, we exchanged housing coordinates. Housing coordinates are similar to your home address, but for us, it's the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of where you live. After that, we shook hands, and teleported away from the battlefield.

Chapter 11

         Time went by until we were finally called to battle a year after the first one. Jessica was eating lunch with the other girls when we got a call from Panton. He appeared right at the head of our table without even giving us any heads up. Rude right? Well, there was nothing we could do about it anyway. Jessica shrieked and knocked over her glass. We all jumped at Panton's sudden arrival, but we had to drop from our seats and bow with respect.

         "I am to take you back with me. We need you for the war," Panton said.

         My brothers and I stood up and looked at Panton. He jerked his head towards the door.

         "I will also tell you that the name "hecapsycheires is now official," Panton said.

         Jessica grinned, but the grin quickly vanished from her face when she looked at me for what she feared to be the last time. We said our quick goodbyes to the girls and followed Panton out our door.

         We teleported to the entrance of the headquarters which happened to be in Ecuador. Well actually, it was in the Galapagos Islands which is part of Ecuador, but Panton told us to focus on Ecuador. There we walked into an ordinary building and went up in an elevator.

         The elevator left Earth and entered the land of the Hecapsycheires. The doors opened and the first thing we saw were thousands of hecapsycheires. Panton had disappeared. To find out what was happening, I approached the nearest hecapsycheir and asked him what was going on. (Hecapsycheir is male singular, hecapsycheire is female singular, hecapsycheires is plural male and female.)

         "We're supposed to wait another hour until the last of us show up and then the Elders will give us instructions," he said.

         "Okay, thanks," I said.

         I turned back to my brothers, and we pushed our way through the crowd to a tree. We all climbed to the top of the tree for a better view. In front of us was a large platform with five thrones. We assumed they were for the Elders. There were approximately 100,000 hecapsycheires in the crowd.

         If these were all the hecapsycheires that were going to fight the Heinous Knights, I thought we had a pretty good chance of defeating Vadrak and his minions.

         An hour later, the Elders teleported directly onto their thrones, and everyone bowed respectfully.

         "Rise to your feet and pay attention for there is no time to lose," Fire said.

         "We estimate Vadrak's army of Heinous Knights to be approximately 1,000,000. There's about 100,000 of us and we believe we can take them if we surround and surprise them," Metal said.

         "You have all trained before. Our spies have informed us that Vadrak's Heinous Knights plan to attack us the day after tomorrow at sundown," Wood said.

         "We will attack them tomorrow at midnight. Today, you must rest and prepare yourself for the battle to come. We have enough cabins for you if you split yourselves into groups by the element which you control," Earth said.

         "Panton will help you if you have questions. As a final parting sentence, until we next see each other in battle, be brave and don't back down. If you are hurt, teleport yourself to our medical tent, and our doctors will nurse you back to health so that you can rejoin the battle," Water said.

         With that, the Elders disappeared and Panton stepped up to the front of the stage.

         "Please divide yourselves into five groups based on the element you control."

         Panton pointed at different sections of a campsite that was behind the elevator we had come up in. My brothers and I climbed down from the tree and gave one another hugs. We split up to the designated campsites where there were five servants of the Elders all of whom were showing hecapsycheires to their cabins. The cabins were large enough for twenty to fit comfortably.

         I got sent to cabin #57 and was soon joined by a very beautiful fire controller who introduced herself as Vesta. She told me she was named after the Roman goddess of the hearth, and I introduced myself.

         Vesta was wearing the traditional robe and cloak. It was loose around her body so that she could move freely. It was black with red flames rising from the bottom hem so that it looked as if she were on fire. Her eyes were dark brown, and in them I could see the selflessness of her character. Her hair was tied in a braid that came a few inches past her shoulders.

          There were mats for us to sleep on with sleeping bags and pillows. More hecapsycheires showed up in our cabin, but Vesta and I merely greeted them without going into a long conversation. Instead, Vesta and I began to talk with each other.

         "I don't suppose a quiet conversation would be considered over-exertion?" Vesta asked.

         "I don't think so," I said. "What shall we talk about?"

         "Well, we could talk about each other. I don't know much about you except for the fact that your name is Aden, and you look very handsome."

          I was surprised by how different it sounded from when Jessica said it. Now that I'm among my kind, I can speak much more freely. For us, adjectives have different meanings. In my world, "handsome" means someone looks prepared for anything thrown at them. I think the term in the mortal world would be "fit," but in my world "fit" means taking the form of one's own element.

         "Thanks," I replied. "I can see the Elders did well in choosing you. Do you have any family members here?"

         "Yes, none of them are here though. My father was killed a while ago, and my mother is at home taking care of my younger brother who is quite sick at the moment. I'm here alone. What about you?"

         "My brothers are here with me, but they can't control fire so they are in the other parts of the camp. Which instrument do you like to play?" I asked. (Music is something that could fit under the "hobby" category in every hecapsycheir's life.)

         "I rather enjoy playing the harpsichord and the oud. What about you?"

         "I usually play the guitar when I'm in the human world, but outside, I like to make my own horns and play them. You said you liked playing the oud. Have you ever been to Mount Ararat?"

         "I've seen it in the distance, but I've never actually been on top of either peak. What do you mean 'when I'm in the human world'?"

         "My brothers and I have tried studying human emotions, terms, and body language, but we haven't been extremely successful. Do you have friends you talk with in the hecapsycheir world?"

         "Yes, I have four other really good friends, all of whom are here today. We've been friends for years and we do everything together. I also have another hecapsycheir friend, and we sometimes spend time together talking or playing music."

         "What elements can your friends control?"

         "One of each actually. Aurelia can control metal, Izumi, water, Tamara, wood, and Gina can control earth. What about your brothers?"

         "What a coincidence. My brothers also control one of each," I told her. "Demetrio controls earth, Timur, metal, Irvin, water, and Hearst, wood. So, tell me about yourself. I'm interested to hear everything about you, and it's a good way to pass the time. You just answer my questions, and then ask me one in return out of politeness. Am I scaring you or something?" I asked.

         "No, of course not. I'm just . . . . Look, can you keep a secret?"

         "Of course I can."

         "I have never admitted that I've been scared before. I always denied it whether I was telling myself or someone else, I never gave into fear. But now, with the Heinous Knight army ten times as large as ours, not to mention Vadrak who's the most evil and scariest of them all, I think I'm finally going to admit that I'm scared."

         "There's nothing wrong with being scared."

         "But you don't get it. I'm not ashamed of being scared, I'm ashamed that I'm not strong enough to hide my fear."

         "Hey, you should be scared, and no one should be able to hold in all of that fear. There's no need for you to feel ashamed."

         "Thanks for the vote of confidence, but that doesn't mean that I'm suddenly happy."

         I stood up and offered Vesta my hand. She looked up at me and I said, "Come on, let's go for a walk. A walk can't hurt."

         "All right. I suppose I could introduce you to my friends. We agreed to meet back at the stage at about 14:00. It's 13:55 now."

         Vesta took my hand, and I pulled her to her feet. We walked back to the stage, and pretty soon, my brothers came with four other beautiful girls to join us. My brothers and I greeted each other as Vesta, Gina, Aurelia, Izumi, and Tamara stared at us.

         "You know each other?" they all asked.

         "Yes," Timur and Demetrio said at the same time.

         "We're brothers," Irvin, Hearst and I said in unison.

         All five of the girls wearing the traditional robe and cloak. I learned that each of Vesta's friends shared a cabin with each of my brothers. My brothers and I had changed into our robes and cloaks after we got down from the tree and before we went to the campsite. The ten of us looked quite stunning if I do say so myself.

         We all took a walk together to explore the campsite. There were five campsites each of which was meant for the five elements. They formed a star shape and were all identical in size and number of cabins. In each campsite, there were four quarters: the cabins, the hospital, the training center, and a place for us to gather our strength. There were about one-thousand cabins in each section that were each big enough for twenty hecapsycheires. The hospitals were not huge. They had about one hundred beds, and there were approximately fifty nurses in each hospital. Each had the medications necessary to treat the hecapsycheires of that element. The training center was where a hecapsycheir could train without losing energy. There was some sort of spell in the arena so that a hecapsycheir could do all sorts of physical exertion without losing energy. The place where we could gather our strength was similar to the cabins my brothers and I had built back by our house in California. It was like a sauna, but instead of steam surrounding a hecapsycheir, the element that the hecapsycheir could control surrounded him or her.

         As we were walking, I thought about the battle to come. One way or another, this would be over by the end of the week. Either we'd lose, and we'd all be killed, or we'd win the battle and send Vadrak back to the dimension he came from. The evening wore on and it was soon time for the five of us to part because of the curfew. We said goodbye for the night, and Vesta and I walked back to our cabin that we shared with the other fire- hecapsycheires.

         I felt awkward sitting next to Vesta in silence, so I decided to introduce her to English literature. I summoned several books by famous English authors, Dickens, Tolkien, Austen, and we read them to each other to pass the time. We didn't really need to sleep, just rest, so we read.

         I realized that Vesta was a very smart hecapsycheire, but I began to have a nagging feeling that she was hiding something. I wondered what else she had apart from intelligence, beauty, and bravery. At midnight I realized that in twenty-four hours, we would be going to battle against Vadrak's army of one million. They outnumbered us ten-to-one. I thought I should save even more strength by sleeping even though I wasn't tired at all. I lay down on my mat and closed my eyes.

         "You're going to sleep already?" Vesta asked.

         "I'm going to try to. I don't know how much sleep I'll get between the thought of the battle that's going to begin in the next 24 hours and the fact that I'm not tired."

         "I don't suppose we can visit our friends can we?"

         "No, we're not supposed to."

         I spent the rest of the night drifting in and out of sleep until six in the morning when the horn of fire was blown to wake us up. There are five horns, one for each element. When they are sounded together, they make a beautiful chord that doesn't even exist in the mortal world. I doubt I can describe the sound accurately, but I'll try anyway. Think of your dream life and imagine the most beautiful sound you've ever heard. I guess you could think of your favorite instruments and imagine a chord with one note from each instrument. Think of that sound and then multiply the beauty by about a billion and that'll be close to the sound of the five horns together.

         We went to find my brothers and her friends. We tried to get into Demetrio and Gina's camp, the camp for those who can control earth. We were stopped by guards who spoke very sternly.

         "Where do you think you're going? This is the camp for the earth controllers. You have no knowledge of the art. The fire camp is to the left. Be gone," the guard said.

         We left the earth camp and walked over to the stage where Panton had given his speech. To my surprise, we were joined by Timur, Irvin, Hearst, and finally Demetrio.

         "Morning," I said. "What's happening?"

         "Nothing really. Everyone's tense. They've all been tense since we first arrived through the elevator," Timur said.

         "Good morning," Vesta started, "Do you think you four could get my friends; Gina, Aurelia, Izumi, and Tamara? I'd get them myself, but I can't go into the other camps."

         "Yeah, sure," Hearst said. "I'll be right back with Tamara."

         "Thanks," Vesta said.

         My other brothers left with Hearst to get Vesta's friends, and when they returned, we walked around the campsite.

         Throughout the day, servants were running around carrying battle armor and yelling orders. There had to be 100,000 hecapsycheires ready for battle by eleven at night. At 14:00, Panton told us to split ourselves into groups of ten with two hecapsycheires from each element. We needed to stay together for the rest of the day to talk about battle strategies. My brothers, Vesta, her friends, and I agreed to team up so we could protect each other in battle. We spent time training until seven o'clock in the evening.  After that, we would march to battle and hope for the best.

         Once the horns were blown 19 times, indicating the time, all of the hecapsycheires regrouped at the stage. Everyone received a breastplate, helmet, special gloves and a sword for each element. Underneath the armor, we wore the traditional robe and cloak. We wore shoes that were molded to our feet. They fit comfortably to make running in battle easy.

         When I was given my helmet and breastplate, I was surprised to find that it was very light. It couldn't have weighed more than a quarter of a pound. I put it on and belted my sword to my belt. After everyone had gotten all of their battle gear together, Panton appeared on the stage. He told us the swords were special and that they would release the Heinous Knights from their curse when driven into their bodies.

         There were groups of ten planted all around the Heinous Knight's camp. Each group was supposed to attack ten buildings. There were one-hundred thousand buildings for the Heinous Knights to sleep in, each building held ten Heinous Knights, plus the guard towers. Suddenly and silently, the Elders appeared and began using their powers to attack the guard towers, and we crept into the camp, and began to take control.

         At first, everything was going great. We broke into the buildings where the Heinous Knights were sleeping, and gave them a very surprising good morning call. The Heinous Knights were already in full battle armor with their swords at their sides. Demetrio was the first to strike. He hit his Heinous Knight across the chest, but didn't realize they were wearing armor. The rest of the Heinous Knights woke from the clang, and the one that Demetrio had struck jumped up, grabbed his sword, and swung. Demetrio jumped away before the Heinous Knight could hit him, but I had to pull Vesta back out of the way so she wouldn't get sliced. We each chose a Heinous Knight and the fight was on.

         Mine was a big, strong guy with a lot of muscle. The first strike of his sword split my shield into two pieces and broke my arm. I stumbled backwards, but I could still use my sword arm while I let my shield arm heal. The Heinous Knight was a lot bigger than I, but this meant that I could run around him and dart into small places he couldn't reach. Once my shield arm had recovered, I sheathed my sword and used my fire powers to ward him off. He backed away from me, and swapped places with his roommate who was fighting Hearst. I realized that the guy I fought was trained to take on the hecapsycheires who could use wood.

         The next guy was meant to fight the fire hecapsycheires. He wasn't as big, but he still knew how to fight. I knew better than to use my fire powers against him, so I stuck with my sword and what was left of my shield. I slashed and parried for what seemed like ages until he made a mistake. The Heinous Knight took an awkward step and lost his balance. He staggered backwards into his comrade, and I shoved my sword into his chest. He gasped and fell to the ground.

         Oh no, I thought, I didn't mean to kill him. Did the sword not work?

         Before I could think about his injuries, Vesta let out a scream. Her Heinous Knight was pinning her to the wall by her throat and laughing. I jumped over the beds and sunk my sword through his boot. He collapsed and let Vesta fall to the ground. I pulled her up and found she was okay, just scared.

         Just then, I heard a moan. Not just any moan, a moan that came from a human. The sword had done its work. The Heinous Knight that I first stabbed had changed back into a human. My brothers and Vesta's friends weren't finished with their Heinous Knights, except for Timur and Aurelia. Timur had got his opening when my Heinous Knight crashed into his, and he had helped Aurelia. We came to the aid of Demetrio, Irvin, Hearst, Gina, Izumi, and Tamara. We transformed the Heinous Knights back into humans and they were truly grateful. We told them to stay in the ruined dormitory so that they would be safe.

         We left the building and placed a quick spell on it so that no Heinous Knight could get into the building. One dorm down, nine to go. The next dorms went almost as planned. By the end of the seventh, we were starting to get pretty tired. All Heinous Knights are strong, but it was lucky that we were stronger, or at least, we had better strategies. We weren't so exhausted that we couldn't go on, so we pulled our strength together and plunged on. We got through nine buildings full of Heinous Knights before things went wrong.

Chapter 10

         When we landed in Dhaka, we found ourselves waste deep in rain water. Jessica shrieked and tried to climb higher on my back, which resulted in her falling off my back into the water. I had forgotten it was rainy season here. There were people walking along the streets pushing carts with whatever food they could find. I bent down and pulled Jessica to her feet; though she was still waste deep in water.

         "Sheesh," I said. "The water's not that bad. It's not like I asked you to bathe in the filthy and polluted Ganges River."

         "Sorry," Jessica said, "but now my dress is ruined. More polluted than this? Everything is floating by. Anyway, you're not Hindu are you?"

         "No, I'm not Hindu, but yes, the Ganges is extremely polluted. I'll get you a new dress if we survive this," I replied.

         "Jeez, it's roasting," Cari said.

         "We're in Bangladesh. You learned about it in geography class," Hearst said.

         "Can't we go somewhere else?" Portia asked. "Our clothes are ruined, I have a wedgy from the water, and I'm sweating like a pig."

         "What's a 'wedgy'?" I asked.

         "Never mind," Portia said.

         We scouted around the area to make sure it was free of Heinous Knights. The girls kept complaining throughout our journey in Bangladesh until we finally agreed to go somewhere else. I caught a glimpse of Demetrio's thoughts when the girls were complaining. It looked as if he thought about teleporting them across the Indian Ocean to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro to be rid of them.

         This was turning into a routine. We'd teleport to a new country in the early morning, scout the area, and find a hotel that hardly anyone came to, or one that was so popular that you couldn't go down a hall without seeing at least five people. We'd either mingle or stay distant. My brothers and I would rest up, while the girls would read or watch the foreign television channels even though they were in a language they didn't understand. We'd summon whatever food the girls wanted for meals and go to bed early so we could rise early and teleport to a new country.

         The girls weren't too scared; though it was obviously stressful for them. They wanted to take a tour around the countries we stayed in, but we couldn't. We hopped around to many different places, none of which bordered each other, and once we went there, we never came back to the same country. We knew we were going to run out of countries, but for the most part, we hoped to lose the Heinous Knights completely.

         We stayed in all of the European countries, most of the countries in the Middle East and those in Central America. We stayed in Asian countries, African countries and occasionally stopped in different parts of Oceania. Our adventures in the other countries weren't very interesting; though some were more fun than others. After so many countries, we were all feeling pretty exhausted. One day, while we were in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jessica asked me a question that I had asked myself throughout our journey.

         "Aden, you told me that the Elders remembered your father, Sergius. They said he was a good servant right? One of the best?" Jessica asked.

         "Yes, I quoted our conversation for you exactly."

         "Then why haven't they paid attention to you? Surely they realize that we're being pursued by Heinous Knights who want to kill us. Why won't they help us?"

         "Jessica, I really don't know the answer to that. I wish that I did know the answer, but I have nothing more than a hunch."

         "Well, what's that hunch."

         "Okay, I think that the Elders are too busy preparing for the next battle. We lost the last one and because we stood our ground and nearly died in the process, Vadrak sent his Heinous Knights out to kill us. He clearly believes that we are dangerous. The Elders have too much to think about. They can't concentrate on any particular group of us."

         "One more question. Do your kind have a name? You always say 'us' or 'our kind' but you never say what you are."

         "We don't really have a name."

         "Then you and I should come up with a name. I know. You remember that the hecatoncheires were the Hundred-handed ones from the Greek myths, right? So we can call you guys the Hundred-minded ones. You can be the hecapsycheires or something like that. Psyche is the mind part, heck the hundred part, and the heires is just part of the hecatoncheires."

         "Very funny, Jessica."

         "No, I mean it. It could be great, you guys can be the Hecapsycheires - the new generation."

         "Except for the part where we've been around for a lot longer than you have."

         "Okay then, you can be the Hecapsycheires - the hundred minded ones since that's what it means. Let's go tell your brothers, see what they think. Come on."

         I thought that Jessica's enthusiasm was a little over the top, but I didn't try to argue. It was late evening, and the girls were going to want dinner. We were in the lobby, and I called to my brothers and their girls. There was a room full of tables and chairs, so my brothers and I summoned dinner for the girls while we sat with them and talked about Jessica's idea for our new name. Terra, Cari, Rhonda, and Portia all loved the idea, but my brothers weren't as enthusiastic.

         "The hundred-minded ones? Why do you say we have a hundred minds?" Demetrio asked.

         "Because you're all very smart, and you know, it's kind of cute," Jessica replied.

         "Cute? That was not really our intent," Hearst said.

         "Oh, come on," Portia complained. "It's not that bad. In fact, it's not bad at all, it's great, and you should be glad that Jessica came up with it."

         Eventually the argument ended amicably and we agreed to tell a servant of the Elders about it.

         As the girls were finishing dinner, someone teleported to the head of our table. As soon as my brothers and I saw him, we shot to our feet and immediately dropped to our knees, and bowed respectfully. The Elders had told all of our kind, or the Hecapsycheires as Jessica would call us, that we were to respect the messenger as if he were the Elders themselves. If anyone didn't respect him as they were supposed to, the messenger had the power to banish them.

         The messenger's name was Panton which meant "everything". The Elders had given him that name because he was truly unique. He could bend all of the elements to his will.

         I had seen Panton practice this, and to be frank, he wasn't very good. However, when he wasn't on errands for the Elders he was ardent in his practice.

         There he was, standing in front of us, and that meant that the Elders had sent him to us. He only listens to the Elders orders, but he memorizes conversations that he has with those he is sent to meet.

         "Rise to your feet," Panton said in a low voice. "You are the five sons of Sergius, correct?"

         "Yes, my lord," we answered.

         "I am to inform you that the Heinous Knights who were pursuing you have been disposed of and have now returned to their mortal life in the mortal world. I am also supposed to report your response to the Elders. What say you?"

         "My lord, please tell the Elders that we are truly grateful for their sacrifice of time to dispose of our pursuers," Hearst said.

         Jessica nudged me, and I knew what she wanted me to say. I waited until Irvin finished expressing his gratefulness until I spoke.

         "My lord, I too am truly thankful for the kindness of the Elders. My friend here wishes to tell you something that she would like the Elders to know."

         "What is it?" Panton asked.

         "I have thought of another title for your kind and would hope that the Elders take it into consideration," Jessica started. "The name is Hecapsycheires based off of the hecatoncheires. The hecatoncheires were the hundred-handed ones in Greek Mythology, and you would be the Hecapsycheires, the hundred-minded ones."

         "I shall relay your messages," Panton said.

         With that, he disappeared and we were left alone.

         "Who was that?" the other girls asked.

         "That was the messenger of the Elders, Panton," I answered.

         "Now that the Heinous Knights are taken care of, we can actually take a real tour of Argentina, right?" Jessica asked.

         "Wouldn't you rather go home?" I asked.

         "No!" all the girls shouted.

         "Yeah," Portia started, "give us a tour. We already know that you guys have been to every country in the world."

         Eventually, my brothers and I gave in and agreed to give the girls a small tour of Buenos Aires. We visited the old Cabildo which was the first government building when Buenos Aires was founded. We also saw La Casa Rosada, the government house. We continued the tour and ended in the Plaza de Mayo.

         The girls ate lunch and the ten of us left the crowd and ducked into an alley so that we could teleport back to our house in Massachusetts.

         I teleported to the sitting room and let Jessica off my back. Instead of walking across the hall to her room, she hugged me around the waist and wouldn't let go.

         "Jessica, what are you doing?" I asked.

         "I'm savoring a moment."

         "What? Why?"

         "Because I'm just glad to be with you. I love you, Aden; nothing will ever change that even if you do have to leave me to go save the world."

         "I really thought I had begun to understand the average human, but I guess I was mistaken."

         "No you weren't, I'm just not the average human."

         "Why don't you let me go? You need your rest and I have things to do."

         "I don't need sleep and your tasks can wait. I want to spend the rest of my time with you."

         "Jessica, you're starting to scare me. This isn't you."

         "Yeah, I know, I just want to be the girl that you love. I don't know what I have to do to make you love me, but I haven't gotten it from you yet."

         "I thought I did love you. What makes you think that I don't?"

         "The fact that you're trying to pull away from me now, the fact that you haven't kissed me, well I kissed you, on the night that you told me the truth about the hecapsycheires, and even then, you scrambled away like a frightened monkey."

         "Look, Jessica, the definition of love is 'an intense feeling of deep affection'. I feel that way about you. I would protect you at any cost. I would do everything in my power to keep you with me as long as it were for the best."

         "What do you mean 'for the best'? Why would leaving me be 'for the best'?"

         "Because I'm scared of what is to come. I have a hunch and I really don't like it."

         "Why, what's going to happen?"

         "I can't tell you. You would only be upset or scared or both."

         "No I wouldn't. Not if you told me not to be."

         "No Jessica, I really don't want to think about it, much less talk about it."

         "Fine. Can I at least stay here?"

         "Why can't you? You're been holding onto me since we got back from Argentina."

         "Thank you, Aden. Listen, why don't we just stay together for the rest of our lives?"

         "Jessica, you don't understand. I'm going to live longer than you are. I can't."

         "Well, you can stay with me until I die."

         "No, I can't."

         "Why not?"

         "Because I don't think that I could sit around, looking young and healthy, as your heart and other vital organs start shutting down. I really want to be with you, but I don't have the power to keep you alive for as long as I live so that we can stay together."

         "I don't care, Aden, please, just keep me happy."

         "Jessica . . ."

         Jessica put her fingers to my lips to silence me.

         "Shh, Aden, I get it. You can't make me live forever, but can we at least spend our time together now? No distractions or anything?"

         "I don't know about the distractions part. You're pretty distracting."

         "Am I? Well, that won't be a problem, will it?"

         "I don't know, it might be."

         "Don't worry about it, Aden."

         "Jessica, stop."

         "What?"

         "I need to tell you something."

         "Can it wait?"

         "I suppose."

         "Fine, then let's do something together."

         "Okay, why don't you play some music for me?"

         "Oh, good."

         Jessica sat at the piano.

         We have many instruments in our sitting room: two pianos, several guitars, and woodwind instruments. We have two or three brass instruments and the usual complement of strings.

         Jessica asked for some music, so I gave her a couple of the songs that my brothers and I have written.

         "You wrote this?" Jessica asked.

         "Yeah, why?"

         "Because it's fancy. I've never seen anything like this. You could outstrip Mozart and Gershwin any day."

         "Jessica, it's not such a big deal, we've had instruments since we entered the human world."

         "Still, you guys are good. How about you summon me some music that I can actually play."

         "Okay, what would you like?"

         "What if you play me something instead. One of the songs you wrote."

         "Okay, what song would you like?"

         "Take your pick."

         "Okay."

         "What're you going to play?"

         "Not sure, I guess I'll just have to wing it. "

         "Fine with me. I know you're a good musician in all forms."

         "Thanks," I said and sat down to improvise.

         I played my way through a melody that come to mind as I thought about all the things that had recently come to pass. By the time I was done, my brothers had joined us with their girls. The five of us then took up instruments and started playing songs we had written as the girls danced. I learned that all five of them loved music, and I was pretty sure that I loved it too.

         I don't remember how long we played, but we finally went to bed exhausted. I didn't tell Jessica about my hunch. My brothers and I did have private meetings about our life which the girls were not part of. We all knew that it was only a matter of time until we were called to battle again. I feared we would be outnumbered and we would not be prepared for the battle in time. I knew my brothers and I all had a feeling that something very bad was going to happen at the final battle. We just didn't know what it would be.