Our Ancestors

“Seven Heavenly Spirits? Is that a movie?” Chase looked so confused that you couldn’t see his eyes through his squinting expression.

“No. Long ago-” Bloom was interrupted by yet another entrance through the gymnasium door.

“Sorry I’m late. I just got the tests back and you were right, Alex.” Jessica was out of breath from searching the entire compound for Alex and Bloom.

“Great! You can help me and Alex explain it to the kids!” Bloom smiled earnestly as Jessica groaned at the idea.

“Anyways. Long ago, when humanity wasn’t united under one government, there was war, poverty, and prejudice, more than now. People had names like you and me, not the government given numbers that most people go by now, and Spirit wasn’t even known about by anyone, even less than it’s known about now.” Alex continued.

“Everyone had names?” Amora asked in astonishment.

“Where is this going?” Chase whispered to Amora but Alex didn’t hear.

“Yeah, can you imagine? They were given to them by their parents. They could choose their own jobs too, the government didn’t choose that for them. But, one day, these amazing lights showed in the sky. My grandpa said it was like the northern lights, but everywhere.” Alex’s story drew the kids in closer.

“Mrs. Frewin told us about her and Mr. Frewin’s lineage’s.” Akilah muttered to herself as she thought over that fact.

“Who is Mrs. Frewin?” Taro whispered to Kai as he shrugged in response.

Alex continued.

“When these lights appeared, 200 years ago, seven people across the world exploded in Spirit energy. Nobody knew what was going on, neither did these seven people. However, every single one of the seven was immediately enlightened on how to use their abilities. Their modes were already chosen from the things they felt most strongly about. To this day, they are the seven strongest Spirit users in history.”

The seven children simultaneously reacted in oohs and awes as Alex continued.

“There was Mandla from South Africa, Andrea from Peru, Charlotte from Australia, Abaddon, a researcher from Antarctica, Chikara from Japan, Aali from America, and Vlasta from Serbia, my great-great-grandmother.” Alex paused for special effect.

“No way!” Chase exclaimed a little bit too loud as Akilah shushed him.

“Yep! Me and Sierra, oh, I mean Mrs. Frewin, were descendents of one of the Seven Heavenly Spirits. Anyways, these countries wanted to use these people as weapons at first. Instead, the Spirits decided to make a pact with each other, and combine all of the world’s countries into one government to stop war, once and for all. This was the first United Nation. For the next fifty years, these Seven Spirit users made sure that the government was ruled peacefully and with equal representation. They made sure to teach each and every citizen that they were capable of using Spirit, whether that be for self defense or special tasks.”

“Everyone could use Spirit?” Taro asked in amazement.

“Yeah, amazing right? But then, out of nowhere, Andrea, Charlotte, Mandla, and Vlasta disappeared. This only left three of the Seven: Abaddon, Chikara, and Aali. They started a new regime, the one we’re under now. They started naming people after numbers to ‘make sure everyone was equal.’ They started choosing the jobs for everyone. And most radically, they outlawed the use of Spirit. At first there were riots and protests, but the cruelty of the new regime was shown swiftly. After a few generations, the regime’s efforts to make people forget about Spirit worked. The three Heavenly Spirits left disappeared less than thirty years after they established the new regime. This meant that all that was left of the Seven were the children that they left behind, which were swiftly taken care of by the new regime when they tried to protest, except for two, the children of Mandla and Vlasta.”

“Mandla was Mr. Frewin’s ancestor?!” Chase put his hands on his head in near cartoonish astonishment.

“Right. They stayed quiet and passed on their secrets to their children in hopes that their descendants would be able to change this world.”

Alex was interrupted as Jessica stepped into the forefront.

“What they didn’t know was that although they were descendants of the seven strongest Spirit users, that strength grew weaker with each generation, averaging out to a normal amount of Spirit by the time their grandkids came around. Which is where you come in, Hendrix.” Jessica pointed at Hendrix with her clipboard.

“Me?” Hendrix pointed at himself.

“Yes. You have the spirit levels of a direct descendent of one of the Seven. Not a great grandchild, not a grandchild, but a first child of one of the Seven Heavenly Spirits. This makes no sense. Your levels are impossible.” Jessica flipped through the papers on her clipboard.

“Didn’t the last of them disappear like 150 years ago?” Chase looked around to make sure everyone knew he was paying attention the whole time.

“Yes. That’s why we’re trying to see how in the world he could have this much Spirit. The reason for your outburst yesterday was because of these Spirit levels. You could not possibly control this much Spirit.”

As Jessica finished talking the other kids all turned to look at Hendrix, who was just as confused as everyone else.

“What?” Hendrix continued to show as much confusion as the other kids.

Hendrix thought about if he could even be around his friends anymore. Did he pose a threat to everyone at all times?

“Get that freak of nature away from here.” Taro said with equal amounts of fear and anger. Taro’s words sank into Hendrix’s heart as well.

“Taro!” Bloom walked over to Taro as she put a hand on his shoulder. “Remember, we’re all allies against the regime. Hendrix meant you no harm. He’ll have it under control in no time, and me and Alex will be here with you guys every step of the way.” Bloom smiled reassuringly at Taro as he gave back that look that says ‘if you say so’.

Vida looked at Hendrix. She was scared. She wasn’t scared of him, but for him. She had seen the tears that Hendrix had shed when his Mode went out of control.

Hendrix felt her eyes as he looked at her and back down to the floor in a nervous back and forth.

Akilah noticed as well as she put her arms around both of their necks.

“It’ll be alright, you two. Besides, we have each other. And I’m sure Hendrix will work hard to have it under control next time.” Akilah smiled at Vida and Hendrix as they smiled back.

“Are you sure?” Kai whispered to Bloom and Alex.

“Of course kid.” Alex ruffled up Kai’s short black hair as she began to speak to the group. “Now, we should get back to training. Remember, we’re all allies here. Once you guys have more control over your modes, we’ll get to combat training. But for now, back to basic spirit control and mode manifestation.”

“Alright!” The group of kids were back to their hyper selves. Kai and Taro seemed just as excited despite their injuries.

The kids split up into their groups as Akilah and Chase train to concentrate Spirit in their hands, Hendrix, Vida, and Amora train to manifest their Modes, and Kai and Taro go to the other side of the gym to spar.