Elemental Genesis

Chapter Nine: Conversations of Relevance

Dark curtains swayed in the cool wind blowing in from the crystal windows. A woman with long dark hair and striking blue eyes glided silently down the corridor, pausing at one glass portal to look out on her realm. The Queen of Annuvin, the Dark Lady, had done a lot of work to assure her plan would be successful. But it was time for her to return to her job. Nevertheless, she would keep an eye on the mortal realm.

Not many of the immortals traveled here to Annuvin. This was why many had a repulsive image of the place. Actually, it was much like Lethe: striking in its own way. She breathed in the heady perfume of Night Blossoms. Those blooms were sacred to her, as was the Night Tree itself. Unlike the land of oblivion, there were many of these in the land of the dead, not just one. Stars that seemed frighteningly close shone light down on her dark place, illuminating it silver.

Her mind was elsewhere though; far away spinning more plans within plans. She tore her gaze from the window and her beautiful, but dreaded realm. She continued down the hallway to the main entrance hall. She had to go back to work soon, as much as she didn't want to. So, the elegant figure in the high-collared sleeveless gown walked gracefully back to do her niche in life, which she found rather tedious. The dress was dark green and glowed with each step. Most of her clothing in her wardrobe were dark-colored. Her reasons: she liked those colors, she had an image to keep, and they were harder to stain than those light-colored, skimpy garbs that the other goddesses wore. She was a practical person.

Passing an ornate marble staircase in the main hall, a sarcastic voice said out of nowhere, "Slacking? Typical."

She sighed and turned to the wolf statuette made of black stone fixated on the end of the banister. "I don't want to hear it, Black Wolf."

The animated wolf made a snort. "I'm sure you don't. Young people tend not to listen to the elder voices of reason."

The Dark Lady raised a black eyebrow. "You? A voice of wisdom?"

"Yes, I am! I used to be one of the ornaments gracing the Throne of Darkness in Tartarus!"

"Right. Dad tried to destroy you because you're annoying. I don't know what Mother was THINKING when she stopped him."

"How dare you insult your great mother?! The Lady Nyx knows far more than you do."

"Obviously! She's the goddess of the night! She watches practically everything and is ages older."

"A truly amazing woman, Lady Nyx is. How she produced such thick offspring is beyond me. It must be your father's blood."

"I'd like to see you tell him that to his face."

"Are you mad?! Disrespect the ultimate god of darkness and lord of Tartarus?! I'll stick to making fun of Lord Erebus behind his back, thank you."

"You are such a coward."

"No, I merely am smart and happen to be extremely concerned with my survival. Now that you're here, I can at last talk to you about..."

"I was ignoring you for a reason, Black Wolf."

"So? You can't now since you need to open the doors soon anyway. You can't keep all those souls out there forever."

"I had to deal with a few things in the mortal plain."

"Why? All souls end up here anyway. That's another of your flaws: you interfere far too much."

"It was important and I'm not going to discuss it with you. Yet. Now, what did you want? Though I think I have a good idea."

"I've been sitting here for millennia, girl, and have seen every soul that has ever existed."

"Your point? I know that very well. You are certainly in an ideal position to do that. Not to mention that you certainly take advantage of it. Honestly, can you for once stop spewing foul language at them?"

"I'm not done! All I see are the same souls over and over again. There's hardly a new one around, just old ones. Are you listening to me?"

"I know, Black Wolf, it's been concerning me for years and you've certainly haven't kept this to yourself." This was true. Very rarely did she send someone to his or her final destination anymore. Usually, they went straight to reincarnation. This trend started sometime in the early AD years and had gotten worse over time. Personally, she herself was bored, but she wasn't going to admit that. And she certainly was not going to divulge that thought to a statue. "I can't send them off until they have fulfilled their purpose in life. You know that."

"I don't care. Send them off anyway...what's that?!"

The Dark Lady listened for a second, before her complexion paled. "Oh no..."

"MEL! Long time, no see!" A set of large heavy doors at the top of the stairs opened with a bang. Black Wolf howled in what probably could be called exasperation. Standing above both the Lady and the statue, was a tall man with wild black hair. Under rich black robes, he wore simple blue jeans and a white t-shirt. He looked to be in his thirties and looked down on the Lady with a large grin. The newcomer had gold and silver flecked blue eyes, filled with mischief.

Jumping up onto the banister, he slid down to the lower level. Once there, he enveloped the Lady in a huge hug and swung off her feet in a circle. She couldn't help but laugh at his antics, while Black Wolf just sighed. "Thanatos! Put me down!" The Lady could barely keep the humor from her command.

Thanatos complied, after a while. "Fine, fine. Don't be such a wet blanket, Mel."

"Don't call me that. You know I HATE that nickname."

"But I LIKE calling you 'Mel'. The name 'Melania' is far too formal for me to be calling my little sis."

"I'm sure it won't kill you, Thanatos."

"It's Nat! Mother was horrible at naming us." He turned abruptly to Black Wolf. "I know what you're thinking and I don't want to hear it." The statue snorted again, but was cut off from responding by the man. "Now, what's this I'm hearing about a boy in the mortal realm? It's not like you to intervene in human affairs."

"I had to. One, he was suffering in that hellhole that Dumbledore fellow put him in." Her eyes took on a steel edge as she thought about the events that took place in Number Four Privet Drive. "Two, she was reaching out to him through Voldemort. I had to do something."

"Ah, you're finally not taking it anymore? About time."

"They either end up dead, radically insane, or possessed! This has been happening for over a thousand years and there are only two left. I barely saved Tom, the least I can do is keep Harry safe."

"Just out of curiosity, this question is about Harry. He has 'silver sight' like Tom, right?"

"Yes, he can use it. Thankfully, that ability will help him out in all this mess."

"But you know the side effects to having that gift and so does she; they see things sometimes when they're not even trying. It's happened before, look at what happened in the beginning of his summer. She'll make sure that he'll get dreams or visions, whether they are about the past or pertaining to what Voldemort is doing. How are you going to deal with that?"

"Remember his owl?"

"Of course, I do. It's hard not to remember the old soul of the other ornament that was on Dad's throne. White Owl was actually useful, unlike this lump."

"I'm over here, you insolent pile of-"

"EXCUSE ME! But anyway, I gave her the task of making sure that she doesn't try to reach him. White Owl will do her job."

Thanatos sank down to sit on one of the white marble steps and looked up at his younger sister. "You can't protect them forever. Tom has his role to play, as does Harry. If we coddle them too much, they won't be able to deal with later obstacles that we can't help them with."

"I know that, but-"

"But nothing. They need to be prepared. That's why we sent Harry to Grey Tower and Tom to Lethe. The pieces are moving into our favor, but it's not too late for them to block us completely, Mel."

Melania sighed. When Thanatos was serious, then it was definitely important. It just wasn't in his nature. "I can't help it. I'm not able to be there for them all the time and that upsets me."

"You've spent too much time among the mortals," Black Wolf reprimanded. "For one thing, you care about them far too much, which can endanger them. Also, it is partly your fault this is happening. Most of it on her, but you do carry part of the blame."

"Black Wolf, you're not helping her."

"I'm not meant to, Grim Reaper. Are you also slacking off? I wouldn't be surprised, you're more hopeless than she is."

"I do my job!"

"If you call always running off, especially on Friday nights, to do stand-up comedy 'doing your job'."

"Laughter in the world is a good thing, there's hardly enough of it. Besides, I'm hilarious! I'm so funny that some people die laughing!"

Melania narrowed her eyes at the god of death. "Often, literally."

"What a way to go, though, huh?"

"Moving off from this fascinating topic," interrupted Black Wolf. "You need to get some new souls out into circulation. We're all getting tired of seeing the same faces over and over again. If I'm bored, I can imagine how this dimwit and his lackeys feel."

Thanatos glared at the surly wolf. "What was Mother DRINKING when she stopped Dad from liquefying you in a blast of dark energy? Whatever it was, I'd like some.

She moaned loudly. Being stuck in between a bad-tempered nonliving being with an attitude stuck to a staircase and her older brother, the insane death deity, had to be horrible. Add that to her worries over Tom, Harry, and the state of the souls and she had quite a migraine. Massaging her temples, she asked, "Nat, he does have a point. What do you and the reapers think about all of this?"

"Us? Bored out of our tiny, nonexistent minds-"

"You're right about the state of your intelligence at least."

"Shut up, Black Wolf! Anyway, some have been asking for retirement."

Melania paled. "I hope that you're joking."

He nodded the negative. "Sorry, but I'm not. I had to let Mei-zhu Li go two days ago. He was one of our oldest reapers - advisor to one of the emperors of China's Song dynasty - and one of the best. I wouldn't be surprised if Indra Mugdal or Ptolemy Shadis handed in the scythe as well."

"Wonderful. Even just one Reaper leaving their post isn't a good thing."

"It is getting out of hand. Let's remember the case of one Brian Jennings." At the two groans that greeted the mention of this one name, he grinned. "You both know he's the perfect example of constant reincarnation."

"I forgot what his purpose even was," admitted Melania.

Black Wolf gave a sharp bark. "I can't say I blame you there. How many times has he been here? I think it was 2,659 times since 1633? I swear that in his unconscious mind he knows us."

Thanatos stifled a laugh. Sending a glare in his direction, she nevertheless replied, "You know that can't be right. Reincarnation totally erases the soul's memory of the past and of here."

"I have to agree with the old stone statue here, that guy does probably recognize us. He happens to hold the record for 'Most Incarnated Soul', for your information. I bet that Annie Kentworth is going to throw a fit if she even sees him again, much less picks him up."

"But I can't send him off yet! You know the rules! As great as my cunning and deviousness is, I can't get around that."

Black Wolf sneered, "I bet you haven't tried. He probably never will make it to his final judgment anyway and he's the only one at fault. Everyone knows that you shouldn't cheat on your wife, ESPECIALLY when that said wife has Viking blood running through her veins. Did you notice that her reincarnated soul is the one that keeps killing him?"

Thanatos blinked. "No. Did you, Mel?"

"Unfortunately so. Remember that time he came back five months after we sent him off in August 1974?"

"Yeah. His mother got into a car accident and miscarried him. Annie picked him up. Again. Why?"

"The driver of the other vehicle was the reincarnate of his wife. In every one of his lives, he's been killed by whoever has his old wife's soul. Talk about revenge."

"Ouch."

"Well, you get the idea. Now both of you, quiet. I'm reopening the doors." She snapped her fingers. The huge carved black doors at the end of the hall slowly opened. But before they had opened completely, the loud voice of a female reached their ears.

"I've had enough of this! Boss!" A blonde woman in her late twenties angrily swept into the room, dark green eyes flashing dangerously. Behind the fuming, black-robed woman was a thirty or so man looking very confused. Seeming to forget who she was in front of Melania and Thanatos, she pointed at the male and screeched, "Again! This makes it the thousandth time I've picked him up! His wife's reincarnate killed him again. It involved poison, a gun, a knife, a six-pack of beer, and his girlfriend's betrayal, who happened to be the reincarnation of his mistress! How does this always happen to him?! I'M SICK OF IT!""

With a bemused expression, the man asked, "Don't I know all you people?"

Black Wolf turned to the shocked Melania. "See? He's back! Are you ABSOLUTELY SURE you can't do anything?"

<><><>

Nuitari's head shot up when he heard the door to his room open. It had been three days since his testing and he was wondering what was going to happen next. I know I passed, which means an elemental family will adopt me, he thought. I wonder who I'll end up which clan they're in.

Mirabelle was fast becoming his reliable source of information about this new life he was about to begin. Without her explanations, he would have probably been lost beyond belief. He had the feeling that her father previously made sure that he didn't hear much about the secretive world of these elementals so that if he weren't one of them, he wouldn't be so upset. But the test proved I was. Maybe I'm low class or something. They said that wizards didn't have that much ability in this anyway..." He shook the feeling of disappointment out of his head. I have the power at any rate, so I shouldn't be concerned with class. Nuitari then recalled what Mirabelle had told him of the clans.

"There are six main clans around here, each and everyone with its own incredible history," the bubbly blond had said. "Though there are many differences between us, we try to live together in peace."

"How can you tell who is from which clan?"

"Every generation, a tournament is held to decide who will be the clan leaders of a certain age group. After that, we get a tattoo of our clan animal on our right arms along with our 'eye' mark. I can't tell you what the 'eye mark' means, you need to find that out on your own. But each eye mark is unique from person to person. The clan animal tattoo is the same for all members of a clan, only with color variations. There are the normal colors: purple, usually with the accents of other colors. The leaders though have animal tattoos in green, red, blue, and black - that's in order of whose most powerful, least to greatest. Whoever holds the title of Black is the main leader of the clan. It's actually going to occur this year, late August and September, so school will start late this year. I'm definitely going to compete. Another way is through your last name. Many of the families around here are large. For examples, a Diamante is always a Falcon and a member of the Arlen family is always a Unicorn. Get it?"

"The clans are?"

"The clans are mainly decided by the type of elemental magic they focus on. Well, there is my clan: the Kiri-Kaminari Falcons. Many of us know the healing arts. The Eikou-Taiyou Unicorns mainly concentrate on the arts of divination, prophecy, and philosophy. Defense and agility are taught by the Seijaku-Shinrin Tigers while the Rekka-Ki Chimeras concentrate primarily on offense."

Nuitari pondered on this a bit here. "Wait. Didn't that woman, Zylle, say she belonged to another clan?"

"Oh, that clan. Yes, she's the Black Dragon of the Arashi-Tenku Dragons. They focus on a balance of offensive and defensive magic, as well as strategy. They're pretty influential, mainly as the peacemakers. However, there is a sort of rivalry between them and the Rekka-Ki. You might see it, when you are released from here."

Lately, he had been thinking about where he was going to go. Would there be other children? What would he learn? Would he go to school here? It was really preying on his mind and Mirabelle wasn't helping. He was certain that she knew who was going to be his guardian because she kept laughing when he asked. But no, she wouldn't let loose a single hint. Plainly put, he was frustrated and impatient.

So, he was hoping that he'd finally get some answers when that door opened. Nuitari was surprised when he saw who walked in. It wasn't Mirabelle, or Betty. The person wasn't even Dr. Diamante.

Zylle Hawking wasn't someone he was expecting to see. Hedwig flew over to the woman with an easy familiarity. She laughed as the bird landed on her shoulder and petted it. The owl in turn nuzzled her affectionately. Then, looking rather pleased with herself, she flew back to Nuitari. "Hi, I came to see how you're doing." She sat down in a cushioned chair by his bedside.

"I'm fine, really. Dr. Annie said I could be released in two days, so I'll finally be able to get out of bed! They give me way too much food here."

"Betty, I take it? She's like that. You are underweight, so Annie probably thought it best that you were assigned to her. What's this I hear about a name now?"

"Yeah, it's Nuitari. I wanted something more normal, but Mirabelle wouldn't give in."

"Even if you did choose something more normal, no one would call you that. Mirabelle's stubborn and she would convince everyone to call you that anyway. She did that to John Xaviers, her cousin. Even his relatives call him the nickname she gave him."

"What was it?"

"Bubba." She smiled when Nuitari burst out into hysterics. "It's true. Her reason was that he looked like a 'Bubba'. I really don't see it, but it's funny. We have been calling him that since he was twelve."

Nuitari quickly wiped the tears of mirth out of his eyes. "I shouldn't laugh, look at my name."

"Look at my name! For one thing, my insane mother made it up using the first letters of her mothers and her four sisters' names. Two, it's horrible in my business." She made a face of disgust as she straightened her skirt. Her business suit today was bright red, with a pale blue dress shirt.

"Really? What do you work as? The way Dr. Anne describes it, it's pretty hard and soon you're going to have a nervous breakdown."

Zylle's scowl deepened. "Remind me to hurt him. Badly. You know about LBN on television, right?"

Channel Six? Of course, it's the only channel worth watching. Great programming."

"Glad to know my hard work is appreciated," she said with a grin. Seeing his confused expression, she clarified. "I'm an executive at the station. Practically everything and everyone reports to me."

"Sounds tough. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to have several executives? You can't do everything."

"There are other execs, twelve of them. They just don't do their job. They'll probably be booted out soon."

"I see. They're doing nothing so the station would hire better people who actually do their work to take their place."

"Most of those said 'better' people will eventually become like their predecessors and the whole game begins again. It's a vicious cycle, but it's the way to power. I'm happy to be where I am."

He nodded. Her words made sense in a very realistic, down-to-earth way. Interested, he asked, "Do you know any of the new people coming up?"

"I'm hoping this girl, Rachel, gets chosen. She does good work and I like her. However, we have something else to discuss."

"My results?" Answers! About time!

"Yes, and that's why Annie's hiding behind the door." There was a large crash outside at that remark. "Come in, Annie. Since you obviously can't sneak around."

Dr. Diamante sheepily shuffled in, red-faced in embarrassment. "I hate when you do that."

Nuitari stared at Zylle. "How did you-"

She cut him off. "You'll learn it soon."

"That's true," interjected the good doctor. "You passed the test, so you can be legally adopted by a clan family. It will be relatively quick so let's thank the elements for luck and our influence in law. Let's go over the results." He nodded. He definitely wanted to know this. "We found your results highly unusual." Unusual? Is that bad? "You placed high level for all four, but we believe you may have a few blocks." The doctor cleared his throat. "Earth, fourth class. Water and fire, both fifth class. Now, here's the interesting one: wind, sixth class."

Sixth class? Him?! This was unexpected. "You're uh...joking, right?"

"I'm afraid I'm not, Nuitari. You're sixth class."

All he had learned so far about the classes and differences seemed to be rather pointless at the moment. "But I'm a wizard! Aren't I supposed to be low class?"

"That's what we found odd. Well, if you overlook the fact that sixth class is strange in itself-" For some reason, the doctor stopped abruptly and looked nervously at Zylle. She was glaring at him. Obviously, he took a hint and left that subject.

Now Nuitari had more questions than ever. "How did I get high class status anyway?"

"I'm sorry to say that we don't know. It was as I said before: it all depends on ancestry. Evidently, you are the descendant of a powerful someone whose genes somehow created this effect."

He sighed. "I hate not knowing things." Hedwig nipped his ear comfortingly. "Thanks, girl. So?" He refocused his attention back to the two adults. "Who's going to take me in?"

A large and teasing smile lit up Dr. Diamante's face. "The only other sixth class elemental, who also happens to use the wind element."

"Who's that?"

"Why, she's right here in this room!" Dr. Diamante then made a large extravagant gesture towards Zylle. "You just barely beat her in number, but you're inexperienced and still young. Don't think you can defeat her yet."

"You?" Nuitari turned to the older woman, who he had before thought was his mother when he awoke three days ago. "You're going to take care of and train me?"

Zylle for once looked unsure. "If you don't mind dealing with me, my eccentric mother-" Dr. Diamante made a derisive sound at this and she once again shot him a venomous look. "Not to mention our insane neighbor, Hans."

Nuitari grinned. "That would be great!"

Zylle smiled back at him. "Welcome to the family, Nuitari Hawking."