JESSIE
Meditation is actually quite peaceful. I cleared my mind and I let nature take its course, and it whispered. I felt like a lion in the wild. I was so deep in my element, not thinking about anything, not Leonard, not Sebby, no one. Just me and the wind.
Until Paul interrupts me and says we should join the others at the bonfire, and as soon as I open my eyes, I'm left star-struck at the fact that it's nighttime already. And holy smokes, that felt so short, but I remember coming here at precisely one forty pm, and I look at the time on my phone, and it's eight pm. Jesus.
"Come on, no time," he says, already three steps ahead of me. I jump up from the ground and I start jogging his way. I follow him to the bonfire.
There's a large fire in the woods, and surrounding it are a bunch of kids; there are adults here as well. I spot Sebby, which, by the way, I'm so happy that I didn't think or dream of anything related to Sebby while I was in that meditative state.
Son of a bitch, why does he keep clouding my brain? I wouldn't be surprised if he's behind it all. He's very capable of doing something like that.
It's Sebby.
"Hey, handsome, how was the meditation?" he asks mischievously. I look at him with widened eyes.
"You idiot, you knew that I was going to be mediating." I nudge him on his shoulder, and he laughs. I laugh too. He gave me the impression that I was going to learn how to fight demons, but he knew all along that Paul was going to tell me to meditate.
"I kinda liked it though," I say.
"Yeah, I could sense you were tensed. I knew you would," he says, and I look at him for as long as I planned to. Sebastian De La Rosa always wants to make me happy, always trying to loosen the tension. Always there for me.
Did his eyes become more beautiful than the midnight sky, or is it just me?
I stop staring into those beautiful eyes of his when I receive a tug on my pants. I look down and I see a brown-skinned little boy, probably two or three years old, looking at me with big, large eyes.
"Aww, hello." I carry him and I place him on my lap. "You're a cute little kitten, aren't you?"
"Jezzy, meet Esteban. Esteban, meet Jessie." Sebby introduces us.
"Hello Jezzy!" Esteban says cutely, and I pout my lips at how adorable he is.
"Hey, I'm the only one who's allowed to call him Jezzy; his name is Jessie," Sebby warns him.
"Jezzy!" Esteban repeats, but this time he throws his hands in the air. I let out a laugh.
"You listen here, you little-"
"Seb, relax. You can share the nickname with little Esteban here." I tickle him and he wiggles his body.
Sebby scoffs. "I don't like sharing."
My God, so childish. I roll my eyes and I shake my head.
"You'll live," I say to Sebastian, and he scowls at me. I look around me, and the kids are so adorable.
"Wow, so all these kids are nytheri."
"Yep, every single one of them."
"Do they have little claws?"
"Nope, their claws become visible at the age of like sixteen."
"So all this time we've been friends, you have been training to fight demons," he shrugs.
"Pretty much."
"Wow, just wow when you think you know someone." I let out a fake cry.
"Oh shut up." he slightly pushes me, and I do the same.
Someone catches my eye, a tall man with long white hair, looking straight at me.
"Oh, Victor participates in bonfires like this?" I say to Seb, Seb looks Victor's way, and he nods his head at Sebby.
"No," Sebby says begrudgingly. "He's here because you're here. He's here to see your progress, study you and see you're not killing all these kids."
Ouch, does he really think I'd snap?
"Well, he has nothing to worry about because I would never hurt cute little Esteban." I tickle him and he lets out a cute little laugh.
"Hello, kids, who's ready for some stories?" A man with long grey hair asks, and the kids give a collective reply saying they want him to tell them a story. That's why they came.
But there's something out of place about this man. He doesn't look like he's one of us. He's different.
Huh, "one of us", how is this my life right now? I keep asking myself this question, yet I can't seem to give myself an answer.
"Wait, is that man not a Nytheri?"
"Sharaf? No, he's a sorcerer."
"Oh." Yeah, sorcerers exist because of course.
I have spent my whole life being intrigued by stories, fictional stories about magic and adventure. I mean, I grew up with my first crushes, Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. Back then, I believed in magic. I believed in a world that would save me from the hellhole I was in. And then I lost that belief. It couldn't be possible for magic to exist.
Now I'm an adult, and I'm seeing magic right before my very eyes.
"Okay, we are going to start with the story of creation," he says, and then he plays with the fire. At first, I think he's about to burn himself, but the fire doesn't stay a fire for long, and he transforms it into a story.
The children clap at the sight of magic. I do the same as well because just like the little kids, it's my first time seeing this kind of magic before me.
Wow.
The fire turning itself into a story is the most fascinating thing I've seen these past few days.
The fire shows the story, but Sharaf is the one creating it because he has magic in his veins.
"The story begins with Nun, a primordial ocean of chaos from which the creator God Atum emerged," he begins, and I'm highly engrossed in the story. Including Esteban.
"Alone, Atum created himself on a primordial mound and then, by willing himself into existence, generated Shu and Tefnut. These two then gave birth to the earth God Geb and the sky Goddess Nut, who were separated by Shu to create the ordered world. Humans were later created from Atum's joyful tears when Shu and Tefnut returned to him.
Geb and Nut gave birth to other significant Gods, including Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys, forming a group known as the Ennead."
Everyone claps their hands at the story.
But he's not done.
"Ra created a group of Goddesses he called his eye, and they were also known as his daughters. Sekhmet, the lioness goddess of war and destruction. Hathor, the goddess of love, joy and music and Bastet, the cat goddess of protection and home."
Everyone cheers at the mention of Bastet.
"While Sekhmet was sent to punish humans, Bastet was sent to protect humans from demons. She kissed a man, and he was transformed into a Nytheri. Sooner or later, that man would procreate and give birth and have children who are trained to fight demons. That's how the Nytheri was born."
Wow, the Nytheris ancestor was human at first, how ironic.
"But only the Goddess Bastet can bless a human with a kiss, a normal Nytheri can't or else the darkness consumes them and they destroy not just humanity but us as well."
I can feel a sudden shift in the air, and I feel all eyes on me. Turns out I'm not being paranoid, people are looking at me.
Yikes, calm down, guys. I'm sure if I do start acting crazy, I'm going to get killed as soon as possible.
The story time is over, and everyone's playing instruments from Egypt. The one that impresses me the most is the goblet drum. I can't help but move my body to the rhythm.
"That was beautiful, don't you think?" I ask Sebby.
He shrugs. "Eh, I've heard the story like a billion times, so. I wouldn't know."
Whatever.
"Esteban, there you are," a young woman who looks like Esteban says. She must be his mother. Before taking Esteban from me, she freezes when she sees me.
"Oh, hello," she says. You can tell she's a bit frightened. And I'm tired of people being scared of me.
"Hello, Maria," Sebby says.
"Hi, your son's nice."
"Jezzy!" He yells.
"Bro!" Sebby shouts, and I laugh, so does Maria.
"I'm Jessie," I say.
"Yeah, I know. Uh… I'm sorry if I'm staring at you, your energy is so…"
"Dark."
She gives me a look. "I was going to say magnetic," she says, and I'm taken aback by that.
"Oh." I thought she was scared of me, but turns out she's not. Maybe I should stop assuming for people.
"Yep." She says with a smile on her face, and we both stare at each other for a long time. I think Maria and I are going to be good friends. At least I hope so.
"Anyway, we have to go. It was nice meeting you, Jessie," she walks away.
"Bye Jezzy!"
"Last warning, bro!" Sebby warns again.
Esteban sticks out his tongue. And so does Sebby.
"Oh my God, stop." I grab his hands and I tell him to look away from the kid, and while doing so, I bump into someone.
Sharaf the storytelling sorcerer.
"Oh, sorry," I say, and then he gives me the same stare that Maria gave me.
Wow, I don't think I'm ever going to be used to this.
"It's fine, it's fine. You must be Jessie Humphrey."
"Yes, and you're Sharaf. I loved what you did there earlier."
"Thank you. I love to tell stories."
"Me too. But your way of storytelling is more magical."
"I believe every writer has magic in their fingertips," he says, and I nod because I believe that too.
We don't talk for a while because Sharaf takes a longer look at me.
"You are destined for greatness," he says, and then he smiles a bit, and then he leaves us.
I just stand there in awe because…
No one has ever told me that before.