Ascendance

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Hunter was exactly right.  As soon as the sky began to get darker we arrived at what looked like a rather big opening to a cave in a gigantic mountain in the middle of the desert. The rock was the same colour as the sand that I'd come to love after the past days. I could feel my mouth hanging open in amazement as I stared dumbfounded ahead of us.

"Wow." I muttered stunned as we drove through the wide entrance and Hunter chuckled beside me.

"Welcome to the Institution for Elementals." Hunter grinned. At the end of the tunnel we were driving through I could see an opening in the middle of the mountain.  Once we entered the hollow centre of the mountain there were various types of bulky cars and vans parked inside. Faint yellow light illuminated the walls from the oil lamps that hung from the rough rock and lit the room all the way up to the high dome ceiling of sand rock.

"Where is everyone?" I asked Hunter as we jumped out of the Hummer.  My voice echoed off the walls as I walked around towards him, still completely amazed at the size of the place. We'd been driving off road and across the never ending desert for so long I was sure no-one could find the institution for elementals - as Hunter called it - twice if they ever stumbled onto it.

"They're around here somewhere." He answered.

"Through those passages," Hunter continued, pointing in the seven directions of the narrow passages on the circular rock wall that had the same glowing light coming from them. " Are our bedrooms," He pointed the first on the right, "Living area" the second passage, "Gym and weapon room" the third, "Library" fourth, "The creek, as we call it" fifth, "Cesar's office" sixth,  "The kitchen" the seventh passage. "There are several intertwining passages through those ones that connect this place all together. However, that tunnel is the only way out or in." The more Hunter explained the extraordinary place the more I believed it couldn't be real. It all seemed too unbelievable.

"What the hell is this?" I questioned.

"It's my home." He replied unnecessarily and simply.

As I followed Hunter's wide shoulders through the first passage I couldn't believe that a place that beautiful existed. The misshaped rock smelt ancient and earthy, and there was a slight hum from the flames that hung from the orange-like walls. We walked past five or six empty rooms but stopped when we approached one that was placed off the main path and trailed away along its own passage.

"Wait here. This will be yours." Hunter smiled, showing me inside the opening of the rock - which would be my room, at the end of the passage. I was glad I wouldn't be crammed in with all the other people living there and I would have some privacy. In the room stood a long green camp bed inside with a single pillow and a light woollen blanket folded on it. A wooden trunk was placed in the corner and on the opposite wall a cracked mirror which was missing a huge chunk of the right hand side hung. There was nothing else in the room except from two oil lanterns, candles placed below the mirror and a small selection of books tucked away in an small opening of the rock.

"Where are you going?" I asked alarmed as Hunter turned to leave. I sat on the low bed and stretched my stiff arms with a yawn. I watched as Hunter placed my bag and his backpack beside me on the bed, never taking his eyes off me. He had a look on his face that I hadn't seen before. It was a strange mixture of longing, anger and admiration.

"I need to talk to Cesar. I'll come back later, I promise. " Hunter's face dropped becoming emotionless before he left, I could hear his heavy footsteps as he walked away down my own passage and left me alone in a strange new place.

One million things ran through my mind as I sat cross-legged on my bed with my head leant back against the pleasantly surprisingly cold rock. My eyes were fixated on the night sky above my head I could see through an opening  in my ceiling above me. The beauty of the stars still shocked me, I guessed I was just so used to living in a town where you couldn't truly see them properly shining through all the street lights and buildings. In the middle of nowhere the stars were so big and bright in clusters, it was like being in an entirely different world there in the desert.

"Excuse me?" I heard a soft voice at my door. My eyes flickered to the small dark auburn haired girl that stood awkwardly before me. Her green eyes stared at me curiously as she fiddled with her nails. "I'm Amber, I saw Hunter's car."

"Eden." I smiled getting up from where I sat and walking over to her. I shook her hand gently and took in her pretty face. She looked like a typical southern girl with her curled hair and full fringe, yet there was only a slight hint of an accent when she had spoken to me.

"Welcome!" She smiled sweetly, seeming to relax a little. "Everyone is so excited to meet Susie's daughter," Amber continued, referring to my mother. "Obviously I haven't met her myself because I was just a baby when she left, but I believe our mothers were friends."

"Oh," I muttered shocked that she knew who my mother was, and the fact my mother had been here before. "Are you a...?" I stuttered lost for words. It was a strange question to ask and I didn't know how to. It felt like I was asking an insecure middle-aged woman how old she was.

"Am I an elemental?" Amber giggled sweetly. "I'm a gnome, earth affinity and all." She continued to laugh as she explained. "I've never liked the name gnome, I feel like I should be perched up on some green grass with a fishing rod and a pointy red hat and chubby cheeks." I laughed with her. 

"What does that mean then? To be a gnome I mean?" I asked stifling a laugh as I saw a playful smile form appear on her lips.

"I don't know if I should say." Amber hesitated, rocking back on the soles of her feet whilst inhaling.

"Don't worry, I've seen flames appear in Hunter's hands and a few demon deaths. I can keep a secret." My humour didn't reach my voice as I remembered it all, and the guilt came rushing back.

"Well, I guess you could describe it as I can just help the earth. I can control any plant, tree, environmental disaster and it's as if I have a special connection with the earth. There's something else, promise you won't think I'm some kind of freak?" I nodded to Amber as she paused for my promise. "Okay, well I can talk to the earth as well. Did you know plants can be very insecure sometimes? They need a little boost to help them grow." Amber smirked as I laughed, unable to contain it anymore. How could a plant be insecure? It was like a teenage female plant could be looking in the mirror and deciding it was ugly.

"Ya' know Eden? I think we're going to get on just fine. Anyway I better go, they'll be looking for me." Amber hugged me quickly before walking out of my room and humming on her way through the winding tunnel. Pleased that I'd made a friend within my first hour at the institution for elementals I began to unpack my belongings out of my duffel bag and into the empty trunk as I waited anxiously for Hunter's return.