"I hope Mr. Ngandu doesn't give us a hard math assignment this time around," said Amanda. Her eyes fell on me as I approached her and Christine. "Hey, Diana, you're back."
"Hey, what did I miss?" I asked as I threw the ball mid-way into the air and caught it.
"Nothing much," said Christine as she shrugged her shoulders. "We lost the relay race, by the way. We came out third."
"Huh. Better luck next time."
I wanted to ask if I had been gone for too long, but I realised that it wasn't worth it. My friends didn't ask why I took so long and it looked like the ball games hadn't even started yet. It's either time moved differently where I was or all that I went through didn't eat up much time at all.
"Ah, thanks for bringing the ball," said Chileshe as she came to join us. I threw the ball in the air and she caught it with both hands.
"You're welcome," I said. "Do we really have to have ball games?"
"It's only just football. And besides, the dorms won't be going against each other. It's only for those who want to play."
"Whew!" Christine, Amanda and I muttered in relief.
Chileshe laughed as she knew why. Our dorm was awful at football, and I mean, really awful. We didn't have many football players, so we always had to make due with what we had. And what we had was awfulness through and through.
We all went to the football pitch right next to the race track. A lot of us didn't like to participate in football, so all we did was watch. Many preferred to leave and head for the showers before supper. But even then, no one was allowed to leave or else, punishment as usual.
Groups gathered around the pitch as the teachers facilitating the match, the sports prefect and a few other prefects were on the pitch, obviously discussing over the game. The game couldn't last a whole ninety minutes since we only had an hour and a half till the sports period was over.
My friends and I sat at the south end of the pitch. There weren't many trees around, but luckily, the sun didn't hit us much as it was going westwards.
Those who wished to play gathered in the middle of the pitch and divided themselves into two teams. Christine and Amanda were talking about some hot topic that had been going on around school. I contributed as much as I could, but I soon lost interest. I found myself drifting off into space. I had a lot to think about. Especially with what happened to me earlier.
A little while ago:
"Where are we?" I asked as I looked up. Was I still underground?
I was looking up at a clear blue sky with a few white clouds here and there, but the blue sky nonetheless. And there was the sun too. Was all of this real? Did I just travel to another place?
I stood at the top of what looked like a mountain with Stella and the other five. It was here that I could see the beautiful land below me. We seemed to be on some sort of island because of the clear blue waters that surrounded the land.
I looked down on the island. I could see the trees and also make out human settlements. For a moment, I thought those were huts. But it was quite the opposite. I made out stone brick buildings, almost like the place was some kind of town. At the centre stood a large white building that was bigger than any of the others. It reminded me of one of those ancient buildings built by the Romans that I only got to see in books and movies. Around the white building stood six others, slightly smaller, in the six colours: red, blue, orange, green, purple and yellow. The place looked tempting and I was dying to go down there to look around.
"You will have plenty of time to see the place the next time you come here," said the Asian woman who stood beside me. I looked at her and she also had her eyes fixed on the town.
"She's right," said Stella. "Come, you need to see someone."
Stella turned around and I also did the same. And there stood a huge stone grey building in front of me.
It was a temple and at the entrance stood two grey stone statues of a man and woman on either side in robes almost similar to the ones Stella and the others wore, except without hoods over their heads. Their hands held stone butterfly statues the size of a large orb. The others led the way up the stone steps leading all the way to the entrance with no doors. There were engravings around the door post. I couldn't read the words as they were in a strange language. I'm not much of a multilingual, but even I could tell that it was neither Latin nor Greek.
"Strange, isn't it?" came a voice of a woman beside me.
I hadn't noticed that I had stopped right in front of the doorway. I turned to look beside me and there stood the person in the bright yellow robe. This time, I could see that underneath the hood was a woman with curly white blonde hair and amazing clear blue eyes.
"Umm, yes, it is strange," I said as I looked back at the writing. "I've never seen anything like it. It isn't Greek, is it?"
The woman chuckled as she also looked up at the engraving. "No," she replied. "This language is old. Way older than you can ever imagine."
"Can you tell me what it means?"
The woman shrugged. "I would, but that's for Bob to teach you."
My eyes widen. "Wait, I'll be taught this?"
"Come on, Ariana," came the man in the green robe who stood behind us. "This is no time for chit chat."
The woman in the yellow robe interlocked my arm around hers and we stepped inside the temple together.
"Yes, it's part of your training," she said. She whispered this time as she said, "and the man in the green robe, is Bob. He can be a little mean, so you better be prepared because he's the one teaching it to you."
I gulped. I didn't have to be reminded. Just by the tone of his voice earlier, I could tell he was one not to mess around with.
We stepped into a hallway, and this time, fire torches on either side of the wall lit up the place. On each side of the wall, stood other statues of men and women. Unlike the statues that stood outside, these statues had different stances. Some of them looked like warriors holding up different weapons; others like magicians as some of them held staffs in their hands. I couldn't be sure unless I asked. But Bob was right behind me, so questions would come later. There were only a few statues of people that seemed pretty ordinary.
Stella and the Asian lead the way down the hall. We were soon at the end and there stood huge wooden double doors. Huge enough for giants to walk through.
The Asian woman reached the door first and knocked. It took less than a second for the doors to draw wide open. The two women in front both turned to look at me. I looked back at them, feeling confused. I looked at Ariana beside me, who soon dropped her arm that interlocked with mine. Was I supposed to go in?
"You can go in," said the Asian woman. She had a smirk on her face this time around. "You wouldn't like to keep our Highness waiting."
Was I meeting a king? Now didn't seem like the right time to ask as I took a few steps forward, going through the gigantic doorway. As soon as I was in, I stopped in wonder.
"Wow!" I muttered to myself.
I expected the room to be what a temple should be; filled with ancient statues, pillars with weird symbols or symbols carved on the wall and an altar at the far end of the room. But no. I felt like I had just stepped into a whole different world again. The room was like an orchard. Green grass grew through the stone tiled floor, leaving a straight bare aisle. Green vines and creepers hid the wall with beautiful white roses growing on them. There stood six pillars on either side of the room with vines and white roses wrapped around them. There seemed to be no roof above as sunlight streamed it's way inside.
There stood a fountain in the middle of the room. The fountain basin took the shape of a butterfly. The white marble statue in the middle of the basin was of a woman. She looked elegant like an angel, with her arms and hair spread out. She had the mark of the butterfly engraved on the inside of her palms and also on both her feet. I noticed another on the side of her neck. She wore a long sleeved dress. Water sprouted out from her back, making it look like they were wings - angel wings to be exact. I don't know how they made it work, but it was pretty creative.
I rounded the statue and continued down the aisle. At the further end of the room stood a cherry blossom tree planted on a round stone dais. I had never seen anything quite like it. The light pink flowers shone brightly under the sun. I hadn't noticed the pink flower petals flying all around me until I saw one clearly land on my nose. I continued to walk down the aisle and I noticed lovely white flowers on either side of the aisle, swaying from side to side.
I soon reached the platform and climbed up the round steps. Flower petals still flew around and a lot of them covered the platform. I noticed the tree's roots sunk deep into the concrete platform making it look like the two were joined as one.
I approached the tree trunk and I placed my hand on it. A sudden warmth radiated on the spot, and as weird as it felt, it also felt kind of nice. I couldn't help but marvel at the tree and the environment entirely. I never thought I could find myself in such a place.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" came a soft female voice behind me.
I turned my head around with my hand still glued to the tree trunk. I saw a woman in a white long sleeved dress. I recognised her as the statue of the woman on the fountain. She had white dazzling blonde hair. I saw the gold tattoo of the butterfly on the left side of her neck and on the inside of both her palms. I looked down at her feet. Her long dress almost covered them, but it was enough for me to see the other gold butterfly tattoos on both of them. I looked back at her face and she was smiling at me. I noticed that her eyes were a soft brown colour that soon changed to a bright gold.
"Ummm, yes, the tree is extraordinary," I said as I dropped my hand from the trunk and turned my body to fully look at her.
She continued to smile and took a step closer towards me. "I'm happy to see you here, Diana," she said.
"You know my name?" I didn't have to ask. Of course, she did.
"Who doesn't know you already?" she asked as she tilted her head a little to the side, looking like an anxious child. "When you were meant to die you defied all odds, and lived."
"I got lucky." I shrugged my shoulders. "Besides, I am not the only one who has ever woken up after encountering death."
She nodded. "You're right, you're not. But who encounters death and later develops abilities beyond what they can ever imagine?"
She raised her brown eyebrows at me and I didn't know what to say. She got me there.
"Have you ever wondered why it happened to you? Why you're so special?" she asked as she took another step towards me.
"I don't think I'm special," I answered.
"Why do you say so?"
"Because I'm not. If anyone else were ever to meet Death -and they will- they will probably survive. And maybe, just maybe they may experience what I am experiencing right now."
She gave me a chuckle. "Cute, but even you know that the chance of that happening ever again is zero."
She came closer and when she reached me she stretched out her hand. I thought she was going to touch my head or something, but she ended up holding the tree trunk behind me.
"And it knows it too," she said as she looked up the tree.
I looked up too and I saw the pink cherry blossom flowers start to glow like a pink lit up Christmas tree.
"Wow," I said. "I've never seen a tree do that before."
"Just like many living things, it's alive and very sensitive."
"I guess there aren't a lot of trees as sensitive as this one."
The lady went round the tree. "Very soon, you will know more about it," she said.
"It seems I'll be coming here more often."
"You will," she said with so much enthusiasm after going round the tree and she was right back in front of me. "And you can't imagine how happy that makes me."
"But what am I going to learn? Those ancient words at the front entrance?"
The lady giggled. "That, and so much more. Somehow, Diana, destiny has brought us together. With all the threats this world continues to face, we have to make things right before things get out of hand."
I raised my eyebrow at her. "What are you talking about? And what's this about destiny bringing us together? You found me."
"And how do you think we knew about you?" She slowly started to go around me, her eyes scrutinizing me. That made me uncomfortable.
"I don't know. You tell me."
"In due time, Diana," she said as she now stood right in front of me, "you will know why you're here and your purpose. You're already aware about the dangers that surround you, don't you?"
I knew she was talking about Bertha and what I saw take over her back at the clinic. Seeing such monsters or whatever that creature was, was one of my unique abilities, no doubt. And that dream I had about the future..., could that monster have something to do with it? Why did I also feel that Chisha was strongly involved somehow?
A soft touch on my cheek brought me back from my thoughts. The lady in white held my right cheek and the warmth of her hand gave me a sense of calmness that all those thoughts in my mind magically started to disappear.
"You have so many questions, that I know," she said. "But all in due time."
She smiled at me and dropped her hand. She looked towards the aisle and I followed her eyes. The six robed figures stood there in a line below the dais. Those that had pulled down their hoods earlier had them back on their heads.
The lady walked away from me and stood at the front of the dais. The six hooded figures all bowed in unison and uttered:
"Your Highness."
"I thank you for bringing Diana to me," said the lady, her voice loud yet soft. "Her training should start as soon as possible."
I would have opened my mouth to oppose on this whole training thing. I already had classes to attend to and how was I going to come here? I couldn't be seen going to the poultry all the time. People would start to think that I practice voodoo there or something.
And one thing that bothered me the most, was trust. How was I sure that I could trust these people?
"As you wish, your Highness," said Bob as I saw him bow his head.
The lady turned to look at me and stretched her hand out for me to hold. I walked up to her and did likewise. She still had that calm smile on her face.
"I'll leave you with them," said the lady. "They will be your teachers."
"Aren't you also going to teach me?" I asked.
She chuckled. "I wish I could, dear. But you won't be seeing me so often. I have a lot of matters to attend to. You're in good hands."
I wouldn't think that, I thought to myself. Who knows what I was going to learn here. I know I am going to learn that ancient language and I couldn't help but wonder what other lessons are in store. To top it off, I have the toughest teachers like Bob and the lady in the orange robe. Let me not forget the Asian too.
"You must go back to school now, Diana," said Stella. "We don't want anyone thinking that you've gone missing."
"Okay," I said as I dropped my hand away from her Highness. I went down the dais towards the six hooded figures.
"Until we meet again, Diana," said the lady behind me. When I turned to look at her, she was gone.
"Now," said Ariana and I quickly turned to look at her, "a whole lot of things are going to change from now on. You begin your training tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" I didn't like what I was hearing.
"Yes, tomorrow. You need to keep up appearances, so we can't get you during the weekdays unless it's necessary or at an hour that is most convenient."
"Wait, so you'll be coming to get me?"
"Yes, any of us would," said the man in the purple robe. It's the first time I heard him speak. I looked at him hoping to see his face, but he didn't as much turn to look at me.
"Oh, okay," I said, still looking at him. "Will I be learning from here?"
"No," said the woman in the orange robe, sounding irritated as usual. I saw her face, at least. A Latino in her middle ages. "You will learn at the small town you saw down the hill. It's much more convenient there."
I wanted to jump for joy, but I didn't want to look like a five year old in front of them. I get to go down there and take a look around. I wondered what the people there were like.
"Now, we need to teleport you back," said Stella. "We meet tomorrow."
"Wait, at what time?" I asked. "And where? Back at the poultry?"
"We will send you a signal," said Bob. "And it will lead you to where you have to go."
"What's the signal?"
The man in purple behind me answered, "you will know when you see it."
I wondered how he got behind me, but then I realised that the six of them had formed a circle around me and I hadn't even noticed till now.
"So, I'll see you tomorrow, then?"
"Yes, we shall," said the woman in the red robe who stood to my right.
"Make sure you don't say anything about what you've seen to anyone," said the Latino woman in front of me.
"I'm not a child," I said. "If that was the case, I would have told my friends about my encounter with Death. I'm not an idiot, you know?"
I heard Ariana and the man in the purple robe chuckle a little. Stella was almost on the verge of doing so too. The Latino threw them a look.
"She's something, alright," the man in purple muttered to himself. Somehow, I heard him. Was I meant to hear that? I found myself blushing. Why?
The six robed figures soon held each other's hands and started muttering to themselves in a language I had never heard before. I bet it's the same one I had to learn.
The floor beneath me started to glow. I looked and saw that I was standing on the butterfly symbol glowing in white light. Soon the light filled my eyes, blinding me completely. I knew nothing more until I found myself back at the poultry.
And now, I am seated on the grass, watching the football match that kicked off some time ago, still in my thoughts.
"Hey, Diana," said Amanda. "You're very quiet."
"I'm just tired," I answered.
"Anyway, the match is almost over," said Christine. "I can't wait to get out of here and take a bath."
We all know going to take a bath is always a challenge. Each and every one of us would want to use the showers, crowding the ablution. In the end, a good number of us wouldn't take a bath when the supper bell rings. And we all know what goes down when we head for the dining hall late or you're caught wondering around in the dorm area. Well, there was always time to hit the showers before study time.
"Same here," I said, agreeing with Christine. "I've had a long day."
In just seconds, the sports prefect, refereeing the match, blew the whistle to end the game. Everyone else around the football pitch stood up and made their way back to school. A good number started to run for it so as to hit the showers first.
"I'm also making a run for it," said Christine as we walked. "Is any one of you running with me?"
"I am," said Amanda. "Diana?"
"It wouldn't hurt to run one last time today," I said with a smile, knowing that I would be running for a long time.
"Okay, who ever gets there first, should make sure to put us in line after them," said Christine.
Amanda and I agreed. Soon we were running across the field to the dorm area.
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I got there before anyone else.
ns3.21.55.224da2