Destined: The Six

19. There are Elves In This

          Jeremiah looked out the window. Below was the Aran islands--a mass of grass and rock seemingly separated into plates. Sadly, there didn't seem to be a human in sight. There were, however, plenty of elves.

          "Are those elves? THERE ARE ELVES IN THIS WORLD?" Jeremiah cried out, positively outraged. It was bad enough that he had strange innate powers. It was bad enough that he had been kidnapped and forced to save the world. It was bad enough that Castle had invaded his dreams so that Scorpionem could give him a cryptic hint. But elves? That was just overkill.

          August brought Loraine in for a landing. The elves, separated into circles around campfires, looked at them in curiosity. A few of them walked over to the Destined as they exited the train. 

          The elves averaged around two meters tall(he wasn't in the United States, so he used metric units), wore strange emerald-colored clothing, and had pointy ears. Their eyes, mostly a deep, dark brown, stared at the newcomers. "Cé tusa?" an especially tall male asked. "Great," Jeremiah complained. "They speak Irish Gaelic." The others looked at him. "You know Irish Gaelic?" Heather asked him. Jeremiah nodded reluctantly. He walked up to the especially tall one.

          "We are warriors, here to save you," Jeremiah responded in Irish Gaelic. The elf nodded. "You have come to kill the socrpion?" 

          "Yes, this is true," Jeremiah finished. The tall elf smiled, then turned and spoke to his clan. Jeremiah walked over to the others. "What did you say?" Heather asked. 

          "He asked me who we were. I told him we were warriors, coming to save his clan. He asked if we had come to kill 'the scorpion,' whom I assume is Scorpionem. I told him yes." The elves cheered loudly. They all crowded around the six Destined, grinning and thanking the young heroes. Jeremiah hoped that they would fulfill these elves' wishes of being free from the scorpion. They seemed pretty happy that these teens had come to help.

          Later that night, Jeremiah sat next to the tall elf and a few of the tall elf's friends by a campfire. "I never asked you," he told the elf. "What is your name?"

          "Fjord," The tall elf answered. Jeremiah was surprised to know that the elves had human names, even if Fjord's was a bit obscure. Then he realized all the elves were gathering in a large circle. "Come, warrior of shadow," Fjord urged him. "We are celebrating your coming. Join us!" 

          The celebration was brilliant. The elves served food that was more delicious than humanly possible(that's why they were elves) and had plenty of dancing and music, as well. The elven music was an absurdly amazing combination of Irish folk music and American rockabilly. They had dance moves that Jeremiah couldn't describe. Their movements were so smooth and unbroken, with the ability to balance on a small point. 

          Jeremiah wished he had met the elves earlier.

          "So, young boy," Fjord asked him after the party. "How did you like our celebration?"

          "I sure hope we can beat the scorpion," Jeremiah mustered. He really did, otherwise this celebration would be pointless, and Jeremiah would be dead. He made a note to himself that no matter what, he was going to kill Scorpionem. There was no way he was letting the elves down. 

          "By the way, are there dwarves, too?" Jeremiah asked. Fjord nodded. "Yes, but they're Scottish." Jeremiah was burnt out after his outburst about the elves, so he wasn't really going to freak out about dwarves. "So," Fjord continued. "In the morning, we will feed you, then you will go and defeat our little scorpion problem, eh?"

          "Why must he be a scorpion 'problem'? Why not a scorpion 'lovable quirk?'" Jeremiah asked. The tall elf chuckled. "Because that's not how giant scorpions work," he responded. Jeremiah took that as a valid answer. He finished talking to Fjord and went over into his room on Loraine. He then brushed his teeth, etc., then sat in bed for an hour or two wondering about Scorpionem's hint.

          Scorpionem had said, "Not with that attitude." What could that possibly mean? Maybe he had to have a positive attitude when fighting him? But that didn't make any sense. Who would have a weakness like a positive attitude? No, it was probably something less absurd.

          What attitude had he had when Scorpionem gave the hint? Jeremiah said, "I'll never break through that armor." That still went with the "positive attitude" theory. Jeremiah thought about it some more. If his attitude was that he would never break through the armor, what should his attitude be? Maybe it should be towards finding out how to break the armor...

          Then it hit Jeremiah. He had to believe that he could break through the armor. That would be the exact opposite of the attitude he had had, which would make perfect sense. As long as he thought he could do it, then he could do it. 

          It made so much sense. That was how it worked with using shadow magic. He had to use his willpower to make the shadows obey him(wow, that sounded pretty...dark). He assumed that was how other magic worked. He couldn't wait to tell...

          That's right. He couldn't tell anybody. That meant the best thing to do was to fight him alone. Or was it? Finding out Scorpionem's weakness was probably going to be the extent of his thinking powers. It was just depressing that it had taken Jeremiah that long to figure it out.

          After a sleep involving packing peanuts and Castle's evil presence, Jeremiah woke to see a few of the elves and the other Destined gathered at a long table. Jeremiah showered, got dressed, and went to join them.

          "Hello, Jeremiah," A female elf said. She must have been the elves' patron Breakfast Eden. Jeremiah was sure everyone had one. Jeremiah simply waved back and ate breakfast with the others.

          After a depressingly delicious breakfast, Fjord walked over to the Destined. "I and a few of my friends will join you," The tall elf said with confidence. "Come, let us go to the scorpion's cave."