Chapter 3: The Twins

This is the story of the Twins and how they are raised until they meet the guardians

                                                                       Chapter: 3 The Twins

                The year is 1995 and a woman with long curly blonde hair is running frantic through the rainforest. Her name is Amelia Romero, she is young, no older than twenty and she is heavily pregnant with twins. Amelia was down in South America with her new husband she had run away with. They had met at an earth convention which was about saving the planet in San Francisco.  Amelia fell deeply in love with him immediately; he was handsome, charming, and had the same beliefs as she did. They stayed up all night their first time together talking about Mother Earth and the belief that Earth was indeed very much alive.

                Her parents were against this young man whom they have never met and for some reason did not trust. When telling them his life story he did his best to not tell too many details. Amelia was told by her parents that she was to never see this boy again, but love cannot be stopped. They soon ran away together and after almost a year of running they made it back to her lover’s home country, South America, where they were married. When they arrived Amelia saw why her parents did not want her to be with this man because he was a well known drug king pin. He had gone up to San Francisco in order to take care of some business but stopped at the convention because he was a true believer in helping to save the planet. His kindness and charm soon faded to a darker self. He never hurt Amelia but he would remind her that she belonged to him and to never betray him every time he would kill in front of her. She was growing frightened of the man she had married because she was very pregnant and had found out the other day she was carrying twins; a boy and a girl.

                Today had been the last straw. She witnessed her husband slaughter an entire family down to the infant that lay in its crib. After watching him pull the trigger on the infant she cried out and ran as fast as she could into the Rain Forest. “After her!” Her husband yelled at his men. They did as they were told and ran after her screaming at her to stop, but she didn’t. She ran with tears blinding her vision; she didn’t know where she was going but she didn’t care. If he could kill an innocent child he did not know what would he do to his own?  A bang rattled through the forest and Amelia fell into a tree; the left side of her chest bleeding profusely. She had been shot. She turned her head, using the tree to stay up. Her husband stood several yards back staring at her with angry, fiery eyes; he had given the order to shoot. There was no way she was going to crawl back now so she gathered all her strength, pushed off the tree, and continued running. Her husband’s men went to persue. “Wait,” he told them in his native tongue, “let the jungle have her.” They turned and left her for dead.

                Amelia soon collapsed to her knees, she was unable to go any further. The world was spinning and losing color. She gently laid herself down on the hard jungle floor, weeping for her unborn children she could not save. A tree to her right moved unnaturally. No, she must be seeing things, she was dying. It happened again, then another one moved, then another. Before long all the trees limbs were moving in a conscious was. It was Earth, for her children were about to be born. Amelia could sense it was Mother Earth, the one she worshiped and she was not seeing things.

                “Mother Earth,” she cried out, “Mother Earth please I beg you to listen to me.” The wind blew gentle; Amelia could swear she heard a voice in it. “Mother Earth please save my children, I beg you, please save them.” The ground shook and the wind blew in response. The whole forest became alive and vines began to slither towards her like snakes. One of the vines hovered above her with giant thorns. Amelia started to panic but Earth blew calming whispers in her ear, settling her fears. In one quick move the vine sliced her stomach open. Amelia did not feel any pain because death was gripping her so tightly that she was barely conscious. The rest of the vines, that did not have thorns, eased into her now open stomach and pulled out an infant boy and girl. They were softly put down on a pile of leaves and began to cry. Amelia heard her children and smiled weakly.

                The cries of the twins echoed through the jungle; waking all living things. Out of the shadows came a female panther; her eyes focused on the scene before her. The panther gracefully walked over to Amelia and stared down at her. Amelia was not afraid when she looked into those yellow eyes, it was like they were saying ‘Your children are safe’. 

                “Take care of them.” Amelia told the panther before her life slipped away from her. She laid there on the jungle floor with her eyes open and her face frozen in a weak smile. The panther left the side of Amelia’s dead body and silently moved toward the crying newborns. She gently licked them cleaned then laid beside them to keep them warm. The ground shook, the forest came alive with noises, and the wind blew in excitement, for Earth’s special children had been born again.

                                                                                     ***

                Seven years have gone by and the twins of the fallen mother are now a young seven years old. They knew nothing of the world outside the jungle and had been raised by Earth and its creatures. The monkeys taught them how to climb trees and find safe insects to eat. The snakes and the birds showed them how to hide in the trees, to become part of the tree, and never be seen. Their mother panther was still in the process of teaching them how to stalk and watch without ever being heard. They were young and very curious children. They were always touching things they shouldn't and had to be constantly watched by their mother panther along with the rest of the forest creatures. Earth would watch them from time to time but knew that it must be the creatures of the planet to raise them. The only thing Earth taught them is how to speak to the animals in the original language of world. This language had been dead for thousands of years but the Twins were always taught it when they were growing up in every life time they both lived. Along with teaching them a language to speak Earth taught them how to use their powers. The boy, which Earth named Enlil, could call and manipulate the wind. The girl, which was named Demetria, could manipulate the ground.

                One day while the children were playing in the trees a group of men appeared in the jungle. The Twins were very curious they had never seen creatures that looked like themselves before, but these men were bigger then they were. The men were also caring instruments they have never seen before. The instruments looked big, black and they shined in the sunlight. They were pointing the instruments out in front of them as the men stalked the jungle slowly as if looking for something. Being so young the Twins decided that they would have some fun with these similar looking creatures. Enlil whistled at his sister like a black-and-yellow Broadbill, a bird very common in the rain forest, telling her that they should spread out, stay hidden, and use their powers for some fun.

                The men crept forward deeper into the jungle stepping as silently as possible. They heard a noise so they stopped to listen. The leader of the group motioned for them to follow after they didn't hear anything else. Demetria, in a tree not far from the men, lifted her hand just slightly concentrating on a small area of the ground. It rose up in front of the leader. Unaware he tripped over the newly  mound of earth causing him to fall face first into animal droppingss. The other men in the group howled with laughter and did not hear the Twins snickering above them. "Silencio!" He shouted standing up, his face twisted with rage. He was one of the greatest hunters of his land. Known through out the rain forest as the one to go to if you want a poacher. He had never been caught off guard let alone falling flat on his face, but there was a first time for everything. The other men tried to stop their laughing but found it difficult seeing as how their boss's face was still covered in droppings. He wiped his face with his sleeve then turned to continue to walk this time checking where he was walking. The other two men followed still giggling about what had happen. After a while the giggling among the two men died down and they returned to finding something to poach. A twig snapped in the distance. The leader of the group signaled to move forward towards the noise. Not far from where they stood the mother panther entered the clearing. She was looking for the Twins and was beginning to panic which is why she was unaware of the poachers in her territory. The lead poacher's eyes glistened with excitement. A black panther would pay a pretty penny to a rich American. He lifted up his gun pointing at the mother panther. She wasn't even paying attention he wondered what she was looking for but no matter he had her in his grasp. 'Wack!' The leader of the group was lifted off his feet and landed hard on the ground making the gun go off notifying mother panther of the strange men; she ran away quickly but still looked for the Twins. The leader poacher had been hit by a branch of a tree and the wind was going crazy.

                The Twins giggled leaping from tree to tree around the poachers as their laughter echoed throughout the jungle. The men became frightened. One tried running but was lifted up and thrown by a gust of wind smacking him into a tree. The laughter grew louder. The third and last man standing made a run for it as well but instead ran straight into a solid wall of rock that had some how lifted itself from beneath the ground, he to fell to the ground. The laughter grew louder and some how darker its sounded demonic and was coming from all directions. The men ran from the forest screaming the name Diablo. The did not stop running until they reached their village. Ever man woman and child came out of their houses to see what the commotion was about. The men , though exhausted, ran to the only church in town bursting through the doors covered in dirt, leaves, bruises, and scratches from their ordeal in the rain forest.

                "Devil children!...In the rain forest!" Uttered the leader of the group in his native tongue before finally passing out. The other two men fell to their knees overwhelm from emotion and began to pray for forgiveness to their god, before joining their leader on the floor. The townspeople were soon informed of what had happened in over dramatic tale by the three poachers. How they had nearly  escaped with their lives from monsters devils and cursed part of the jungle. The priest told women to hide their children at night for the devil children would lure their little ones out with a song before devouring them in a single gulp. The priest then told the men of the village that the devil children were actually one being and would convince their wives that they were lost children before forming into the Devil himself and raping them. Before long the whole village was enraged and wanted the blood of the devil children. After many days and nights of arguing on what to do the men of the village locked their doors with their families inside, grabbed whatever weapons they could find, torches, and a few flashlights then headed to the jungle.

                That night the Twins were playing like always. They jumped from tree to tree trying to chase each other, giggling in the process. They stopped when a loud roar from their mother panther echoed throughout the jungle. Enlil whistled at his sister telling her it was time to go and hide but she did not move. He jumped into the tree that his sister was in and looked at her, she was staring at something. Enlil asked her what she was looking at and she pointed into the distance. Lights were heading their way and they both could hear voices which were growing louder by the second. Mother panther roared again telling them to come down and follower her to safety but they ignored her. Instead they headed towards the voices and lights curious beyond any reasoning. They jumped quickly and silently from one branch to the next until they were right above the large group of villagers.

                "Spread out," stated a tall man wearing a grey, button up shirt that showed of his ridiculous muscular arms. "And look for those devils. If you find them scream for back up and try to kill the little b******s." Enlil turned to his sister with his usual mischievous look on his face. Demetria knew exactly what he wanted to do but was more grounded then he was and knew whatever he was planning wasn't good. Before anyone could spread out Enlil dropped on the forest floor infront of them breaking twigs on purpose to get the groups attention. Demetria hesitated for moment but then joined her brother quickly to moss ground below. Every man in the group gasped, the muscular man screamed, at the sudden appearance of the devil children they were hunting. No body moved petrified by their sudden appearance as the Twins stared at them with intrigued eyes and the mob villagers did the same.

                "Move!" Shouted a man from the back. The mob parted to let him through, it was the priest. He took out a small bible, flipped a few pages, and began reading it. The Twins just stared at him confused they did not understand Spanish or any other language other then the dead one that was taught to them by Earth. While speaking Latin the priest pulls out a little see through bottle filled with a liquid. He pulls off the brown top with his teeth then starts flinging the liquid on the Enlil and Demetria. Unaware of what it was they flinched at first. This is got the male villagers happy thinking that the holy water was working, but their smiles soon faded when the supposed devil children licked the liquid off their bare skin and realized it was nothing more than water. When the Twins giggled at the fact water was being thrown at them the priest grew angry. He threw the now empty vial away and took out a cross with a crucified Jesus on it continuing  his chant of Christian prayers. Enlil saw how shine the cross was and quickly snatched it out of the priest hand. This shocked everyone including the priest who stopped his prayers baffled by the fact the devil standing before was not bursting into flames at the touch of such a holy object. Enlil looked at it for a bit, his sister taking a look at it too before shrugging and handing it back. Once he realized that it did nothing of importance using his unique abilities he threw it into a tree then stared back at the very shocked villagers with a small smile hoping that his abilities would impress his new friends. Instead they become frighten and out of their fear hate appeared.

"No one but God Almighty should have that power! Burn these little demons!" Shouted the priest. The men roared in agreement as they slowly stepped forward towards the young children. The Twins became frightened and did not know what to do they just starred at the angry men who were closing in on them. An angry roar was heard close by making the men jump as it echoed through the forest. The mother panther jumped inbetween her babies and the angery mob showing teeth. They backed away in fear at first more out of surprise then anything. But once they realized that they had power in numbers and the few weapons they did posses the group of villagers stood their grown prepared to kill. Enlil and Demetria sensed the danger and each used there powers for defense. Enlil summoned a wind storm which blew some of the men of their feet while Demetria raised the ground beneath them making some trip and even fly up in the air. As the angry mob was being blown and thrown out of the way they dropped everything in their grip including their lit torches. The torches hit the ground causing flames to erupt and soon spread through the forest. Out of fear of the devil children and the now burning inferno swirling its way around them the angry mob retreated to the safety of their homes. However Enlil, Demetria, and the mother panther were stuck in the middle of the burning forest. Mother  panther told her young children to jump on here back, they listened. She ran with all her might through the flames ignoring the burns her body that developed . Yet she could not seem to run fast enough so Enlil called for the wind to hurry their pace. Before long the flames were long behind them and they were safe. However their home was gone and they now wondered through the forest searching for a safe place to live out their lives in peace.

                           ***

                The year 2010 slowly made its appearance after eight long years of searching for a new home after that horrible night of the fire. Their old living place was just starting heal and was still not safe to return to since it had become known as a place that is cursed by the devil himself. As the children grew and wondered they also honed their skills. Daily they would use their powers by mostly playing but their mother panther taught them how to hide and even appear to disappear in thin air when needed. In the year 2008 the Twins found a way to use their powers and skills to a test. As the Twins were hunting for food one day they came across men with odd looking contraptions. They were big, yellow like the sun but underneath  they had round things that were as black as night. Not only were they big they were so loud that the ground shook and the trees would sway with their power. Curious as always the Twins got closer, Enlil leading the way.

                As they got closer the sounds of the men working grew louder. Shouting, machines hammering, and of course the sound of trees falling. The men were from a logging company here to take several acres of trees back to the factory to be made into paper. Both Enlil and Demetria stared in wonder at the sights and sounds but soon noticed that these men were a destructive force. They watched as every tree quickly fell, even crushing some of the creatures. Yet the men did not care they would cut up the fallen trees and kick away the dead bodies of the animals. Enlil looked down at the ground and saw that it was dead the men had destroyed everything in that area even killing the soil by the oil seeping from their machines. Death was everywhere and the Enlil would not stand for it. His sister though upset thought it best that they leave the men had things she had never seen before and she was rather frighten. So they argued in the tongue of the Earth;

                "Ennay bac yootou!" 'We must stay!'

                "Nah! Ennay bac bah! 'No! We must go!'

                "Tey ennay bah, muo kaki fuwwenah!" 'If we go, they will destroy everything!'

Demetria looked into her brother's eyes and knew the words he spoke were true. However she was still frightened as she looked out at the men and their strange equipment. Demetria was on very set in her ways and did not like stirring up trouble unlike her brother who enjoyed being as free as the wind itself. "Yeh, how fee ennay a' fateh foo leyust tyst? 'But, how are we to defeat all those things?' Enlil smirked , "Tetooah leyata et messa teh too." 'Because nothing has power like us.' He slide down a hill that was in front of them and Demetria followed quickly. I big yellow machine roared just past the Twins who were hidden behind some brush. It was headed towards a group of trees; it was planning on destroying them all. Enlil went first he raised his hands shoulder length, palms outwards, concentrating on calling the wind he pushes a man in front of the machine. The driver sees this and slams on the breaks, parks it and rushes out. Enlil looked at his sister communicating that it was her turn while everyone was checking on the man. Demetria looked hard at the ground concentrating, imagining the ground rising. She lifted up her hand with her fingers slightly curled and a large part of the ground rose quickly underneath the yellow machine lifting it into the air then crashing on its side. All the men ran for their lives startled by the sudden flying machine. Enlil then focused his energy on a chainsaw that was in the process of cutting down a tree. With a wave of his hand it flew out of the hands of the man holding it and was flung towards many of the needed supplies cutting food to shreds and destroying the bottles of water they needed. All the men were running around  frighten from all the commotion still unaware of the presence of the Twins. Demetria saw a long metal sphere on the grown she did not know what it was but it looked like it would be fun to destroy. So with a fast movement of her arm a large rock was pulled from the earth underneath the sphere and sliced it in half as it went through it. A dark watery substance started pouring out of it and spreading through the forest floor. A large number of men had witness the giant rock going through the gas tank and dropped their tools then fled into the woods. The rest of the men yelled at them to come back and tried to figure out what was going on. No one noticed that the leaking gas had found its way to the giant machine that Demetria and Enlil had knocked over first. The machine was still running and there were some protruding wires that were sparking. Within moments the gas was lit by the spark and was being led back to the gas tank from the trail of gasoline. An explosion accord, "Let's get out of here!" screamed one of the men and without any disagreement all the men fled for fear of their lives. Once the coast was clear the Twins came out from the brush admiring their handy work. They looked at each other smiling and nodded. Enlil quickly extinguishing the flames, that were getting rather close to the forest, with his powers.

                While the Twins were slowly leaving the place they had now destroyed a man from the lumber company was running at full force. Sweat was already pouring down his face and he was filthy from not just working but from running mindlessly through the jungle. He thought he heard something and turned to look; while not looking where he was running he ran hard into something, making him flip and land on his back. He was dizzy and the leaves in the tree were spinning as he opened his eyes. His back was now killing him he was sure that he  landed on some nice sharp rocks that were hidden under nice pointy fallen branches. He swore loudly as he tried to get up quickly, he was still horrible frighten from his experience at his work place. He had saw that rock slice through the gas tank nothing human could of done that. He had heard that these jungles were cursed; the locals called it 'La maldición de los niños de Diablo' meaning 'The Curse of the Devil children'. He didn't believe a word of it until this day. He froze suddenly, he heard something moving from behind him. He turned his head slowly to see that what he had ran into was no rock or tree stump but a living thing; a black panther was trying to get up on it legs. He shrieked, and backed away into a tree. He had a weapon, everyone that worked out here did just for this situations, but he could not remember where he had put it. While the creature was still trying to push its way of the ground the man was frantically trying to find his pistol. The panther finally got up and looked at the man. He had found his weapon and was pointing it directly at the panther. It was shacking he was so frighten he promised he would never return to this place or anything like it ever again, if he even made out of here alive. The panther also seemed to look frighten, the man thought he was crazy because in the eyes of the panther he swears it knew what he was holding and what it had the power to do. They both stayed frozen for a moment, neither willing to move out of fear of the other. The panther finally had no choice it had somewhere more important to be and went to turn away. The man screamed and fired five shots into the chest and side of the beast. After seeing the creature fall he ran for all his might.

                Demetria and Enlil were laughing about their play time they just had when the sounds of the five shots echoed throughout the jungle. They both knew that noise and what it came from. They look at each other; fear and worry reflecting in their eyes. Without a second thought they burst into a run towards what they believed to be where the sound originated from. The ran for several minutes expecting to see a person, a gun, anything really that would explain the sound of shots fired. After running for straight ten minutes dodging tree branches and uplifted roots with ease they found a horrible sight; they found the slain black panther. But they knew by just a mere glance it wasn't just any panther; it was their mother. Demetria fell to her knees into the pool of blood, tears already streaming down  her face. She gentle pet the fur of the only mother she had ever known; she felt cold already. Unable to contain her emotion she flung her body on top of her mother sobbing into her fur. Enlil stared at his mother the only thing that had raised him, loved him unconditionally. Tears seeped out of his eyes and the anger came boiling up from the pit of his stomach. When the rage met his throat he let out a scream of pure anguish making wind blow as if a hurricane was on its way.