Guardians of the Earth

Chapter 3: Solitude

Tasha was in a bad mood after her meeting with the two archeologists. They hadn't gotten any further in their translations. The relics that they had found in Africa last year were gathering dust and those idiots were still no closer to figuring out what it meant. She had been able to figure out more than half of it at first glance, the part written in Alderian, but she needed those so-called language experts to translate the rest. She had used her less than conventional resources to look into it further but had hit a dead end. What she felt was part of an ancient prophecy in a forgotten language referred to some strange power source. A mystical sphere of some kind.

Tasha shook her head and made her way on foot to the beach. It was all probably just the raving of a mad man or a strange archaic religion. She was just bored that was her problem. There was nothing threatening the earth and her company ran like a well oiled machine and didn't really need her constant presence. She had jumped at the idea of solving a puzzle presented by the archeologists she had funded a dig for, but now even that was losing its appeal.

Maybe Miguel was right about her going through some weird phase. She did feel like isolating herself. The only thing that had kept her from closing herself off from the world was Cookie. But even his constant prodding was growing too easy to ignore. Martial Arts were no longer a challenge, training in severe climates was growing easy, she had long ago mastered every different weapon she had ever seen, on earth and elsewhere. The only thing that seemed to interest her was Physical activity, and that stupid relic.

And now Miguel was back. He had returned with twice his normal speed and these strange new powers that she couldn't even detect. He had offered to train her. What was it he had said? {...According to JJ when we reach a certain level we instinctively feel this urge to build a place where we can seclude ourselves and attempt to reach another plane where we become attuned to the cosmic powers that is the universe itself. Because of our battle with Julius and absorbing his vast power and life energies we reached this point sooner then any other Alderian...} He had been so animated in telling her about his transition.

She felt again the way those hand had touched her and remembered how he had looked at her. Tasha wrapped her arms around her and breathed in the salty night air. As she listened to the waves crash on the shore she could almost smell him, feel his arms around her comforting her, hear his voice in her ear. It would be so easy to love him... but if she let her guard down...No, every one she loved seemed to meet a fate worse than death. Her mother had reverted to a child-like state, her father was tormented by nightmares and cared for a woman that could never understand him again, and Cookie... Tasha laughed out loud. Poor guy was stuck taking care of her!

Miguel had also said that they would be able to have children. She could give up her immortality and become fertile again. She had never been able to resign herself to the idea of not having a family. In the past few years it had been harder to watch people her age starting families of their own. But she would still live longer than a normal human. {...Well it's hard when the person is 500 years old and your only 18!...} Tasha smiled remembering Miguel's words about JJ's daughter.

Tasha started walking again. She would continue training with Miguel she decided. She knew that things had already gone too far between them to stop the growing feelings. If he had died two weeks ago she would have been devastated. He was the only one that could really sympathize and understand her. He was her only real peer. But now she feared that if he died she would be more than devastated, and she would lose more than her only true friend.

All the more reason not to let him out of my sight Tasha thought. She let her body mingle with the fog that was rolling in and rode the wind back to her mansion.

She didn't bother to use her senses to look for him in the house as they didn't seem to work anymore. Instead she went to her room and pulled up the files with the information about the ruins in Africa on her computer. It was time to tell Miguel...