SOLO ELITE THE GREAT AWAKENING

“Adam, if I am who you say I am, then the Swine has already gotten word that I am here. How on earth am I going to lead an army if it’s just you and me?”

Adam replied, “Robin, I don’t know all the answers, but what I do know is that the prophesies say you would return and defeat the Swine, freeing our people.”

“You’re kidding me, right? Do you know what kind of pressure that puts on an eleven-year-old little girl?”

Adam’s eyes watered, and he turned around, leaving through the door.

“Adam, wait, please wait!” I got up and ran out the door, but, by this time, it was dark, and I could not see him anywhere in the courtyard. Frustrated, I kicked a nearby wooden box, shattering it. I put my hands on my hips. I did my best to scan the area from left to right, then shook my head in frustration. Suddenly the realization of being in an unfamiliar environment in the dark made me uneasy, so I decided that I would wait for him by a big oak tree; at least there nothing could sneak up behind me. Sitting down against the tree, I laid my head back in awe of the whole situation, when suddenly a match struck. Lo and behold, there was Adam, sitting on a thick tree branch, his head facing away from me, looking toward the hill from which I came.

“I miss her, you know? She was the only mother I had ever known. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about her,” said Adam, still with his head turned away from me. “I’ve been alone for so long, I wonder if she is ever kept up at night thinking of me or if she’s even alive.” He turned to me now and wiped his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Adam. I don’t want you to hurt any longer. I am here with you, and we will find a way to get your family back.”

I said what I said because I really wanted to help him. I mean, I had only been away from Mama for a day and already missed her, so I could only imagine how he must feel.

Suddenly Adam jumped down from the tree in front of me. “You will do that for me?” he asked.

“I will, but you have to help me find a way home, OK?”

“You got it, Robin. You have my word.”

I asked Adam if he wanted to head inside, but he declined. I started to return to his house, but the flickering of a growing light behind me caught my attention. Turning around, I could see that Adam had quickly fashioned a torch to provide light so that we could stay outside. Looking into Adam’s eyes, I got the feeling that he really didn’t know if I was the one he thought I was, but, out of desperation, he didn’t want to give up hope.

“I have something that belongs to you. Stay here. I’ll go get it!” Adam said while running to a water well.

I watched him and was confused to say the least. He began to pull on an old dingy rope while throwing the slack behind him.

“Here they are!” Adam said, pulling up and holding a long beautiful sword and a pair of large feathered wings.

“That’s mine?” I said, pointing to the sword.

“Yes, it is,” he replied, handing the sword to me. “And these too.” He secured the wings to my back.

“Are the wings really necessary?” I said, chuckling.

“Well, we have to stay true to what the prophesy says, even if it looks a tad ridiculous.”

“A tad?”

Adam grinned and winked and made adjustments and said, “Besides, I think it’s kinda cute.”

I held the sword in the air as the glow from the torch reflected on it, which made the light bounce upon my face and clothes. Adam stepped back and smiled, nodding to himself as if he were assuring me that the sword had been placed in the right hands.

”You ready to see what you got?” he asked.

I squinted my eyes, puzzled by what he meant, when Adam quickly took his sword from his back and swiped downward in the air, clanking against my sword.

“Are you freaking nuts!” I screamed, jumping back and dropping my sword.

Adam laughed and swung at me again, startling me. I jumped back once more.

“If I were you, I’d be picking up that sword,” said Adam.

My heart raced, but I had to think quickly because he might very well kill me. I grabbed my sword, trying to find some fight in me, so I thought about all the mean kids at school. Oh, and that Heather Crystal! I mean, who even has two names like that? I screamed at the top of my lungs, charging at Adam. I must have startled him by the look of his face and the way he froze. I may have gone a bit overboard, but I swung at Adam’s head. Luckily he ducked in time. I aggressively swung my sword in anger.

After all those years of torment, now I had an outlet to release my frustration. I had found a punching bag, and Adam was it. My arms began to act on their own, blocking every swing Adam threw at me. What is going on? I knew nothing of sword fighting, yet I could effortlessly use the sword as if I were born with it. As though it was a part of me. We must have spent hours under the tree, sparring and laughing.

After a while I grew tired and decided to lie down under the tree. I found myself gazing at the stars through the leaves above; it was very beautiful, but I couldn’t shake the idea of wanting to go home and being in my nice warm bed with Mama at the end of it, talking with me.

I think Adam must have sensed that I still felt homesick and a little unsure about my surroundings, so he sat next to me and said, “I’ll stay up with you until you fall asleep.”

I remembered the locket compass Grandpa had given me and opened it. Tilting it back and forth, the needle did not show me the way home. “I think this thing must be broken,” I said while tapping on the glass.

“What? Let me see that,” said Adam.

I took off the necklace and handed to him. “It was a gift from my grandpa.”

“Hmm. That is strange. I can’t get it to work either. I don’t know. Maybe it is broken, but it is still a nice necklace.”

I sighed and placed it back on my neck, a little disappointed that the compass wouldn’t show me the way home like Grandpa had said it would. I yawned and stretched my eyelids open with my fingers, but soon they were too heavy for me to fight keeping them open any longer. I drifted off to sleep and dreamed of being at home, and Daddy was there, smiling and telling me, Happy birthday.

Daddy held me and danced with me. I cried and buried my head in his chest. It felt so good to smell his cologne again and to hear him say, I love you. Mama was there beside Grandpa, smiling while watching us dance. Looking up at Daddy, his face was so blurry that I could barely see it. I whispered, Daddy, but he just turned his head away from me. My eyes watered, and my heart sank.

“Please, Daddy, talk to me! I’m sorry, Daddy.” I began to cry because I couldn’t see his face and couldn’t even remember how he looked. The room filled with icy water, and his hands slipped from mine as I began to sink in the sea once more. The light from above danced around my face as I drifted away.

All I could say was “I’m sorry,” over and over again, as tears welded my eyes shut. Suddenly I felt a hand grasp my shoulder. Startled, I opened my eyes and saw Adam above me.

“Robin, are you OK?” he asked.

I sat up and wiped my eyes. “Yeah … I’m OK.”

Adam reached out to me and said, “Come on. It’s morning, and we need to get an early start.”

“But how do you even know what direction to go?”

He pointed to a ghostly silhouette through the smoke in the distance.

“I don’t know where exactly, but we need to go there, over where that smoke’s rising—or at least that’s the direction the Swine headed. Come on, Robin. Let’s head out,” Adam said while taking my hand and pulling me to my feet.

I brushed off my pants and slid my sword down the back of my shirt. “Of course it would have to be the giant creepy plume of smoke in the distance.”