Dominions

Chapter 20: Elle

Elle felt her heart rise into her throat as she watched the others take a seat. This was what they had been waiting for. The moment where their pasts would be revealed. The origins of who they are and how they got their powers are going to be told to them. 

And Elle wanted nothing to do with it. 

She had been running from this since the second she was thrust into it. If she heard her story it would mean only one thing: there could be no more running. Everything she wanted to avoid would have to be faced head-on, and if she were honest with herself, she didn't know if she was ready for that. 

"Is there a problem, child?" asked one of the women from the table. 

The rest of the kids turned and faced Elle, whose feet remained planted firmly on the cave floor. Maybe there was a chance that she could run. An opportunity to get away from the crazy and go back to her normal life. 

But what was normal? Surely not her mother abusing her. Surely not being called names and having things thrown at you. It wasn't normal to live each day like an election period wasn't over for her father. The truth was, Elle's life was exhausting regardless of what she wanted at this moment. Both her original and her one in Glorianna. 

Elle just got a bad hand from the house.

Elle turned to walk out of the cave when a hand gripped hers. She turned and saw Judah stood in front of her with a sympathetic face. "This is our destiny, Elle," said Judah. "We can't run from this." 

She wanted to shout, to pound her fist into the floor. She kept hearing about destiny and how these powers and this world they were supposed to save is what she was meant to do. How there isn't a choice, but in Elle's mind, there was always a choice. Her mother chose to be an abusive woman. Her father chose to ignore his wife's antics, and Elle had always chosen to fall into the background. 

"I can't do this anymore, Judah," said Elle. She poked her head around his body and looked at everyone else in the cave. "We have had our entire lives turned upside down. From killer monsters to being forced into liking each other. I feel like I'm drowning and I can't come up for air with how fast this all has moved. I don't have it in me to keep going-"

"Nonsense," said the male guardian in the center. "Come and sit down immediately and listen to what we've to say." 

Elle wanted to say something, but her jaw remained on the floor. The disrespect she felt with his dismissive tone made her blood boil. Who was he to tell her that what she was feeling was nonsense? And then directly give her an order? He might be some all-powerful being here in Glorianna, but Elle wasn't from there anymore. 

"Who are you talking to?" Elle asked. 

Tension could be cut with a knife as the rest of the kids sucked in their breath at her response. She knew that she wasn't making the most respectful choice. Neither were they, and she refused to be pushed around any longer by them. 

"Child this is not a fight you want to start," said a female guardian tauntingly. 

"Some things never change," a male guardian chimed in. 

"I'm right here!" said Elle walking forward-looking at them with disgust. She pushed Judah to the side and stopped at the edge of the table. "Stop talking about me like I'm not. I'm so tired of this new world with its new rules, and new leaders who quite frankly suck." Moss started to surround the inside of the cave at a rapid pace as Elle began to fight back. The smell of evergreen began to waft, and roots began to sprout from the rocky ground of the cave. "If you're so powerful why don't you take care of that monster sitting in the gymnasium at our school instead of leaving it to a bunch of kids!"