Kenzie. Kenz? Are you awake? I heard someone whispering as I groggily opened my eyes. I was in my room, safe inside the walls of the palace. I couldn’t feel anything, and my chest felt like it had a heavy cinderblock on it.

“Wha–What happened?” I asked, yawning.

I sat up and saw Mother Nature sitting at the foot of my bed. I was above the covers, and the clock read 3:14 pm.

“What do you remember?” She asked me.

“Well, pretty much all of it until I blacked out. The last thing I saw was Anubis getting squished.”

She nodded and rest her soft, delicate hand on my knee. There was a moment of silence before I spoke up again.

“What did I miss? Is Anubis dead? What about the others? Where’s Sol?” A million questions crossed my mind, and I craved answers.

“There is a meeting in the Grand Hall in fifteen minutes. Until then, just get dressed, have a snack, and relax a bit. You’ve been sleeping for an entire day.” Mother explained, getting up and shutting the door.

I brushed my hair and changed into different clothes, and spritz on perfume. I quickly gobbled a granola bar before heading to the Grand Hall, Edna at my side.

I pushed open the grand doors, where everyone was seated, almost silent. I made my way to a seat next to Sol, and he grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

“I’m so relieved you’re all right. How are you feeling?”

“Groggy, my chest is a little sore. But I’m fine, don’t worry about me. Thank…Thank you, by the way. That was really heroic of you.” I said, stumbling on my words, like usual.

He smiled and squeezed my hand once more, before turning around as Mother Nature spoke.

“Good afternoon everyone. Thank you all for coming. First off, I’d like to say that we are all so delighted to have MacKenzie back, safe and sound,”

Everyone clapped and returned their gaze back to Mother.

“Now, that was quite the battle. I am happy to say that Anubis is no where near us, he’s gone off somewhere else. But, he is still on the radar, and he will come back. And, we have discovered what he wants.

“Anubis, he is a sick and twisted man. He feels no emotion except for rage and hatred, for everything an everyone. He wants the world to feel the same way he does, and he wants everyone to have such a fiery hatred for one another, we eventually tear each other apart. He wants the world gone, he wants to be the last one standing, to finally be alone.”

It sounded just like a cliche movie, the villain wants everyone destroyed, except this was real. This was happening, and we had to stop it.

Mother continued, “We have graphs we have received from many many years ago, where Anubis has been planning this for centuries. He is using a powerful force, which at first we thought could never be stopped, until now. We all have to combine our elements to make a new one, which will be very hard. It is not as simple as shooting it out of our hands, into a bowl, and mixing it together. No, we will all have to travel to extraordinary places scattered throughout the Earth, and find the main source of our element. Where our element originates from. Some of these places are not even known to the world population. You will be traveling in groups. Sol, Chi, Caldwell, Feng, you are a group. MacKenzie, Brooklyn, Morgan, August, you are a group. Flora, Fauna, Luna, you are a group, and Scarlet and Aria, you are a group.

“But, before you go, you will all have one day to go visit your families, warn them of what is coming, and what you will be doing. You will leave tomorrow, and be searching the next day. If you have questions, please, come ask. Otherwise, you are dismissed.”

People started to file out, but I ran up to Mother.

“How will we be traveling to our Elemental destinations?” I asked.

“I think Delia will be happy to answer that for you,” Mother replied, gesturing to the fairy behind me.

She guided me to the training center.

“I am going to teach you a quick way to travel, as you can see, your companions are learning as well.”

I looked over to see Morgan floating up in the sky, water surrounding Brooklyn, and August seemed to be stuck to the wall.

Delia giggled. “They’ll get the hang of it. Now, your form of transportation will most likely come easily to you. Now, the only thing you have to do is say your destination three times, pronouncing every syllable. Then, bring your arms up, and push forward, off the ground!”

I did just as she told me. Other Side of the room. Other side of the room. Other side of the room. I swung my arms up and pushed off with all my might. I made it about 3 feet into the air before face planting on the floor.

“Shake it off, thats actually really good for a first try! Again,” I repeated it over and over again. It wasn’t coming as easily as I had hoped, it was coming along.

After the 437th try, I made it 10 feet into the air. I tried again, and again. One more time, I swung my arms up and pushed off of the ground with all my might. Soon after, the whole room seemed to be in an orange tint. I was flying freely, but not very fast. It took about 30 seconds to get to the other side of the room. I landed, and everything returned to a normal color. Delia fluttered over to me, holding something in her hand.

“You did it! Now we’ll work on speed.” She showed me a picture she was holding. “This is Aden, doing the exact same thing as you.”

Aden’s hair was soaring be hind her, and she was inside a huge fire-ball thing. It seemed to resemble a comet tail, minus the rock.

“Thats what I was just doing?”

“Yup! Now, you’ll gradually get faster and faster. C’mon! Lets keep practicing!”

~

I stood in front of our old, tilted home with a broken window and dead flowers.

What happened? Our house was usually in good shape, the garden always tended to.

I took a deep breath and walked up the pavement and knocked on the door. I waited, and knocked again. I heard my dog barking and someone shuffling towards the door. It creaked open, and swung wide. A woman with dark hair and sorrowful eyes stared at me.

“Mom?” I asked.

A single tear streamed down her face and she held her hands up to her face.

“MacKenzie?” She whispered. I nodded, beaming. “MacKenzie!” She embraced me into a hug, shaking with sobs. “Stephen! Get down here! Piper! Piper come here!”

I heard voices saying “Yes sweetie” and “Who is it mom?”

She let go of me and I turned to face my family. My dad’s beard wasn’t trimmed and my little sister seemed to lose all the light she had once held.

“You guys,” I said, tearing up. I bear hugged my dad and he twirled me around.

I crouched down and opened my arms for my little sister. She ran towards me and nearly knocked me down. I squeezed her, and kissed her. I missed my family, and now I had them. They were safe, they were okay. I was here with them.

“We didn’t know when you would be back! We got a message saying you’d been gone on a military trip, but we were confused for so long!” My mother said, still crying.

“I’ll tell you everything! Lets go sit,” I made my way to the living room, and my mom returned with a cup of hot cocoa.

I explained everything I could to them, and afterward, their mouths were gaped open.

“Can I see you do a magic trick?” Piper asked.

“Of course I replied. I showed her my favorite tricks, and impressed my family with my skills. I played with Scout, or bulldog, and played dolls with Piper. I helped my mom in the kitchen and my dad in the garden.

I was here, with my family, where I should’ve been all this time. The question of whether or not I would ever see them again still hung stale in the air, and the thought gave me chills.