Chapter 22

         When I opened my eyes, Vesta and I had arrived at our destination. We were at the gates of the Land of Fire. No hecapsycheir can teleport into or out of the Land of Fire or any other of the elemental lands. We can teleport anywhere else on the hecapsycheir level, but the elemental lands are special. Coming here may have been a mistake considering we were supposed to avoid people, but we hoped we could ask the guards not to let anyone know we came here.

         Vesta and I walked towards the gate where a very large wall of water surrounded the Land of Fire. There were guard towers every three-hundred feet and a large gate between two of the towers. When we came within five meters of the gate, a voice told us to halt. I recognized the language, but it took me a while to tune my brain to it.

         Vesta and I stopped, and a hecapsycheir guard approached us. He wore the traditional robe and cloak that looked a lot like the robe and cloak Vesta was wearing when I first met her. We faced the guard and stood formally but loose enough to move at a moment's notice.

         "Names?" the guard barked.

         "This is Vesta, daughter of Julius and I am Aden, son of Sergius. We are both wielders of fire," I replied.

         "Quest?"

         "To remain hidden from the prying eyes of the enemy," Vesta said.

         "Destination?"

         "None specifically. The outskirts of the town, perhaps," I said.

         "Follow me," the guard said.

         He barked an order to open the gates. Once the gates were opened just wide enough for us to squeeze through, single file, they stopped, and Vesta and I followed the guard into the Land of Fire. On the other side of the gate was a long bridge over water which was the source of the outer wall. Before we could truly get into the Land of Fire, we had to pass through the castle. I had only been to the Land of Fire once, but it had changed since I had last been there.

         Now, there was a drawbridge on the other side of the bridge so it was as if there were two moats with running water, both of which lead to the protective wall. When Hearst visited the Land of Wood, he told me that instead of water running under the bridge and drawbridge, flames blazed along. I figured that the element running under the bridge was unique for each land.

         We crossed the bridge, and the guard barked an order for the drawbridge to be lowered. When we were on the other side of the bridge, the portcullis opened and closed as soon as we walked through it. I looked at Vesta and saw the look of awe on her face. I had been here once before, but I guess Vesta never had.

         It was as if we were in a hecapsycheir court room. There were seats to our right and left, and ahead of us was a large podium for the judge and several seats for the jurors. There were two doors at the back of the room, both of which opened as we approached them. We were about ten feet from the podium when a judge (I assumed she was a judge by her robe) stuck her head over the podium.

         "Thank you Tyson, I'll take them from here," the judge said.

         "Yes, your honor," Tyson said.

         The judge turned to us and asked, "Have you ever been to the Land of Fire before?"

         "No, your honor," Vesta replied.

         "Yes, once, your honor," I said.

         "I will explain to you how the entrance now works. If you visited recently, son of Sergius, you will already know how you may enter, if not, then please listen."

         I hadn't visited the Land of Fire since 1920, so I figured I had better listen. Vesta and I both stood formally and listened attentively as the judge told us how we could get into the Land of Fire.

         "Behind me are two doors as you can see. One for male hecapsycheires, one for female. When you enter, you will be asked several questions. While you are being asked these questions, you will sit in a machine that makes sure you tell the truth. If you are cleared to enter the Land of Fire, a guard will point you in the right direction. If not, then I will be seeing you shortly, and I'll discuss your options from there. Any questions?"

         Vesta shook her head.

         "No, your honor," I said.

         "Proceed through the doors, if you are both cleared to enter the Land of Fire, you will be reunited on the other side."

         "Thank you, your honor," we said together.

         Vesta and I said a telepathic see you later and walked toward the door that corresponded to our gender. I pulled the door open and walked inside a faintly lit room. It was light enough to see the figure that appeared out of the shadows. He was wearing a robe and cloak that looked a lot like the outfit that the guard Tyson had worn.

         "Please come forward, son of Sergius," he said.

         I walked towards him and he directed me to a device that looked like it could've been anything from a power chair to a torturing device. It was wooden, which was what made me think of it as power chair that a fire hecapsycheir could feed off of. The chair had arm rests and a foot rest, but it had a funny sort of helmet on top that could've been for brainwashing, perhaps. The hecapsycheir gestured for me to sit down.

         "I am going to ask you several questions about you, your personal life, your quests, and your plans for life in the Land of Fire. Though some may be more personal than others, I need you to answer. Understand?"

         "Yes."

         "Okay, let's begin. Have you any siblings?"

         "Yes, four brothers, each of us can control a different element."

         "Have you any friends or family whom you would trust with your life?"

         "Yes, there are five female hecapsycheires that I would trust my life with as well as my brothers."

         "So nine total?"

         "Yes."

         The questions continued, and I answered all of them truthfully and honestly. When the hecapsycheir finished asking questions, he told me that I had passed and I could enter the Land of Fire. I walked through a wall of flame and emerged in the Land of Fire. It was a beautiful place. I didn't have to worry about controlling my flame, because everything was fire-retardant. There were huge buildings on fire for hecapsycheires that wanted to gain power and relax. The buildings, called power houses, were probably the equivalent of a human sauna where it is comfortable and cozy. Vesta soon arrived next to me.

         "Shall we take a walk and find a place to settle down?" she asked.

         "Yes, do you know where you'd like to stop specifically?"

         "No, I've never been here."

         "I know, sorry, I meant do you know what kind of terrain you'd like to stay in?"

         "I don't have any strong opinion. Can we just walk around?"

         "Sure," I agreed.

         We began walking around the outskirts of the main village. There was a maze of a'a about a league away from the village which had a flowing stream of pahoehoe running through it, though there were parts of the maze that had cooled and were good to walk on. Vesta and I walked through it looking for a place to stop.

         Vesta and I walked in silence. I think we were both thinking about the task ahead. For some reason, my brothers and I were the only five that could resist Vadrak's mind powers. There was a way to transfer those powers, but we had no idea how. Hecapsycheires were dying from Heinous Knight attacks and now, my brothers and friends had split up. There was no way that we could find each other since we all shared a different element. The next time we'd see each other would be at Izumi's uncle's house in the week a head.

         "Look," Vesta said after a while. "Could we stop here? It's far enough away from the village that we won't be seen, but if something happened, we could run in and find out what was going on. It also has a lava stream flowing past so we could bathe there."

         "I think you're right. Here would be fine. I don't think we need too much shelter, the weather here should be fine. We may want to make some sort of place to release our fire and gather our strength," I said.

         "Okay," Vesta agreed, and we set up camp.

         We built a small, but comfortable, camp that consisted of an area to release our fire as well as a place to sit and enjoy the scenery. We would probably sleep in the fire and bathe in the lava stream flowing past us as Vesta had suggested. Technically, we don't really need to bathe. We wouldn't smell bad; it's just a comfortable way to "play." Recreational gatherings are often held around ponds or streams of lava and everyone dives in and out of the lava and have a roaring good time.

         When our camp was assembled, we both sat in the fire, and I closed my eyes. I didn't fall asleep, but my brain wasn't working over time either. I slowly pieced together everything we had learned and tried to come up with a plan. I knew that my friends, brothers, and I couldn't take on Vadrak on our own. We'd need the help of the new Elders, but from the sound of it, they would be under Vadrak's curse.

         Vadrak had attacked my brothers and I before he tested his power on me. He had sent his Heinous Knights after us as we jumped across the country and had watched us try to understand humans. All of this was before he had discovered my natural resistance to his new power. So what had he seen in the five of us before he learned of our powers? Perhaps we always had the natural power to resist him, but we didn't know it. Even if we found out why we can resist him or why he tried to kill us prior to his discovery of our powers, that wouldn't help anyone else fight against him. He had said that there was a way to transfer our powers, but how?

         I hadn't realized it, but my body had morphed into fire and Vesta's had as well. I wasn't sure whether her flames were in mine, or mine in hers, but it felt calming after the stress of everything that was happening and had happened.

         Time slowly passed, but on the evening of our third day, Vesta and I had a visitor. We had both been bathing in the lava when a messenger hecapsycheir ran up to us. We both jumped out of the stream and stood defensively.

         "Please, I bring no harm. I bear a message from Irvin son of Sergius. He asks that the two of you to come meet him immediately. He says that there should be no danger, and he asked me to give you this note."

         The messenger handed me a piece of firm paper that was folded several times. I nodded to him, and he withdrew.

Meet us at the place father first took us when we toured. It is important that both of you come as soon as possible.

         I showed the note to Vesta, and she asked, "I know we need to go, but where is this place?"

         "I'll show you on the way, I think we should camouflage all of our camp because we need to leave in the next ten minutes at the latest," I said.

         Vesta nodded, and we hurriedly disguised and partially dismantled our camp. As soon as we had finished, we both ran back to the entrance to the Land of Fire. To get out was quicker than getting in. There was a quick security check (sort of like the security check at the airport in the mortal world) to make sure we weren't taking anything out of the Land of Fire that we weren't supposed to. I burned the note and disposed of it so that no one would find and read it. As soon as we were back on the regular hecapsycheir level, I turned to Vesta.

         "I know where to teleport to. Will you let me guide you?" I asked.

         "Yes," Vesta replied, and took my arm.

         We teleported to a very nice park. Young hecapsycheires don't play on playground equipment, a park in this case is a nice place to take a walk, swim, play in one's element, or even take a nap.

         "This is the place?" Vesta asked.

         "Yes, we didn't live on the hecapsycheir level. Our parents preferred the nice temperate forests on the human level, but my father took my brothers and me to the main hecapsycheir level, and we toured around. This is the first place that he took us, and we also stayed overnight in a treehouse."

         "If your father talked so much about the hecapsycheir level, why didn't he move your family to live there?" Vesta asked as we walked around the park looking for Irvin.

         "He worked for the Elders as a servant, but during the time period that my brothers and I were born and growing up, he worked on the human level."

         "Where did you live? Eastern United States? Western Europe?"

         "We lived in Ohio but not around humans. We lived in the forest itself."

         "Aden, Vesta, come here," a voice whispered.

         I recognized the voice as Irvin's, but I wasn't sure where it had come from. I turned around in a circle but still didn't see Irvin.

         "Up here," he said.

         I looked up and found him sitting in a treehouse. It was one of many tree houses around this park. Hecapsycheires could live around the park, but instead of living in a house on the ground, they lived in tree houses. They're just what they sound like. Houses in trees. Though the earth hecapsycheires don't generally like them, they still occupy the houses.

         Vesta and I climbed the rope ladder that led to the house. As soon as we were up, Irvin pulled the ladder up behind us. Izumi was in the house with Irvin and so was Timur, Aurelia, Hearst, and Tamara.

         "The only ones we're waiting for now are Demetrio and Gina," Irvin said.

         "What's the reason for this hurried meeting?" Vesta asked.

         "I'll tell everyone as soon as Demetrio and Gina arrive," Irvin replied, and he walked over to the window. Peering out, he said, "I can see them now, I just need them to walk this way. Good, here they come."

         Irvin led Demetrio and Gina into the house, though they were reluctant to leave the ground.

         "So what's the reason for this hurried meeting?" Gina asked

         "I think I've figured out how to transfer the psychological power that my brothers and I have to defend ourselves against Vadrak."