Extracted - Chpt. 1

I remember the last words my grandmother would ever speak to me quite clearly. The moment in which she told me was her very last; she was dying for an unknown reason. I remember walking into her bedroom and seeing her body where it did not belong. Quietly I approached her bed and reached to hold her hand. Somehow I knew that this was the day that she would be taken from the world and today of all days it was my sixteenth birthday. She started to speak as quiet and gentle as the wind and I strained to hear. "Little child listen to what I have to tell you for these words will help you survive. The exact minute you turn sixteen today, you will turn into a Magical, as it runs in our blood you will probably turn into an Elemental and soon after you turn, other members of your Elite will reveal themselves to you.

When this happens you will be targeted by Dark-Moon creatures and no matter what happens...." Her voice cut off sharply and I watched as my Grandmothers arm twinkle then disappear. I gasped in horror and pulled my hand away from her. Her words had not yet sunk in and I was in shock. "Do not let them do this to you," she fought to say the words and I ran to hug her. "What's happening!" I sobbed as a wild wind swept across the room. The wind turned into a hurricane and my Grandmother's things were lifted up and tossed about. My hair whipped my face and I struggled to hold on to my now half invisible Grandmother.

Suddenly the wind became a fire and I was fighting to breathe. A wall of flames encased us and I was being burned alive. My body couldn't take the heat and I collapsed into thin air. Frantically my hands darted out to find my Grandmothers but nothing was there. Mustering up all my energy I screamed out; "GRANDMOTHER!" but there was no answer. My Grandmother had officially disappeared and I was dying alone. I lay there burning and I could feel my skin bubbling. I was nearing unconsciousness but I fought the nausea.

Quickly as fast as the fire came, I was drenched in water. Instead of walls of flames there were waves crashing against me and I couldn't breathe. My body had no time to feel relief. Wave after wave crashed against my body and I was buffeted around by the current. I couldn't keep my head above the water and a huge wave knocked me into a wall. I swallowed water and I immediately couldn't breathe, another wave tossed me at wall and on impact everything went black.

I wake up in a jungle. Lush green plants and tall trees surround me, vines are wrapped around everything. The air is moist and little droplets of water fall from the canopy above. Sunlight finds gaps in the vegetation cover and shines its light down into the dense forest. Tangled thoughts of the previous events sweep through my mind but I push them away as figments of my imagination. I am too mesmerized by the beauty of the environment around me to care. Birds squawk with each other from different parts of the jungle fighting over one another to be heard. Monkeys sound calls warning one another of their territory.

Suddenly the world shifts and I am lying next to a thunderous waterfall but still completely in the jungle. A misty rainbow is visible in the mist and I watch it sparkle and move with the water flow. I seem to watch the rainbow waterfall for hours which turn into days and nights. I start to feel like months has gone by but yet I am still here immersed in the beautifulness of it all. Those months turn into years and I haven't moved and inch. I begin to grow tired of the magnificent sight in front of me and as if on cue the colors start to fade.

The sheer wonder of it has left me. The beauty that was once there had moved on and in its place was just a stupid waterfall. My mind is screaming at me and then thing start to happen. Lightning crashes into the waterfall erupting into hot lava spewing flaming rocks onto my jungle. Birds screech and fly trying to escape the burning threshold. Rain pours out of the sky drenching everything. I shake my head from shock and run like the wind into the forest. Trees and animals are burning all around me. My heart is being wrenched out of my chest because I want to stay and help but the world is crashing down on me I need to get out. My breath shortens and I need to stop. I suck as much air as I can down my throat before feeling lightheaded. I stumble over a log and trip into a clearing.

Everything is happening so fast for me to handle. I look up through cloudy vision and see a baby panther crying out for its mother. It is trying to run out of the clearing but something keeps throwing it back. Instinct tells me to go to the panther and I crawl slowly towards it. Acknowledging me it leaps into my lap and purrs contentedly. Stroking it I calm down and then all destruction ceases. I open my eyes to find light.