Julia Lelieveld and the battle with the underworld
~9~

The rest of the circle was already seated at the table. They all looked at me intently. I sat down quietly, not knowing what to say.

I looked at Rob just a little longer. Tried to gauge him. Hoping that he would keep to himself some of the things the Elders had spoken. I’d rather talk to Rob alone first. But I knew the other of the circle was eager to know what had happened. They sat here in front of me and after what they did for me in the fight against Lucas, I couldn’t pass them now.

“How were they?” asked Leo enthusiastically.

I looked at him in disbelief for a moment, why would he think it was great to meet them? I would rather not have met them at all.

“Leo, you must understand that the Elders are always with each other. When they have contact with the outside world, they are not always accessible”, said Rob.

Leo looked questioningly from Rob to me. “What happened then?”

“They wanted to know if I can really control all five elements,” I told him.

The other listened intently.

“Did you have to demonstrate it?” he asked.

I shook my head. Gosh, if only it had been that easy.

“No, they are very powerful, just taking my hand and he knew what I was.”

“He? What are you?” Leo asked.

“Protus, the first Elder. He called me an Arcangelosa, or an earth angel.”

I saw Leo’s eyes widen, just like the others in the circle.

“And what does that mean?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “They couldn’t answer that, because someone with my powers has often been destroyed by Evil before they replace out.”

Leo nodded briefly.

“And what else did they say?” Max asked.

I looked at Rob for a moment. Fortunately, he got the hint.

“Shall we talk some other time? The way to travel to the Elders is quite tiring. I think Julia, like me, wants to get some rest.”

Max looked at me questioningly. I nodded. “Yeah right, I’m pretty tired.” Grateful that Rob had rescued me from this situation, but also a little scared of what was to come, I knew Rob would be full of questions.

“And how was Renzo?” Sara asked.

“Renzo didn’t come, the Elders had taken care of that. He had to wait.”

Sarah nodded. “That’s not fair,” she said to my surprise. “No, I thought so too,” I said affirmatively. She got up and gestured to the other three members of the circle. “Can we train in the shed?” And she looked questioningly at Rob.

Rob nodded. “Okay, we’ll be a little later.” And he gestured to me and himself.

They got up and left the house.

Rob turned to me and looked at me seriously. “We have to talk.”

I looked at him pained, I didn’t want to talk about it. As if he could read my mind. “I know it’s hard for you, that you probably don’t want to talk about it. But if I’m supposed to protect you my way, I’ll have to know a thing or two.”

I nodded in response.

“What we did replace out is that the fifth element can only manifest itself if you have proven that you are strong enough for it. That you have survived such bad emotional and physical events, that only then can it be expressed.” He looked at me for a moment.

“Would you like to say something about it?”

I sighed deeply. “My mother was murdered in March this year, and I myself was attacked then. I think that’s what Protus meant.”

I tried to put my emotions aside, but it was hard. Especially now that I saw Rob’s reaction. He was startled and looked at me compassionately. He nodded.

“Sorry, I’m sorry this happened to you.”

“Thank you.”

“But more happened because it didn’t come out then.”

He was right, Ivo had made sure of that. He was the drop that made the bucket overflow. Which caused me to reach an invisible limit for getting the fifth element. At least that’s how I saw it.

Because I probably didn’t answer quickly enough, Rob took the floor himself.

“Does this have anything to do with Ivo breaking his nose the day before you found out you belonged to the circle?”

I looked at him searchingly. He had placed the puzzle pieces correctly.

I nodded.

“Did he hurt you?” Rob asked.

“Yes, but Renzo intervened before things really went wrong.”

Rob nodded. “I was afraid of it, he can be stopped, but then you’ll have to talk about it.”

I shook my head. “I do not wanna talk about it.”

“But if he’s done this to you, he can do it to others.”

“He doesn’t do that anymore, Renzo took care of that.”

Rob looked at me again and then let it rest.

“If you want to talk about it, you can, okay?” he asked.

“Okay,” I replied.

“I understand that it is difficult to talk about certain events, but you have to understand from my side that it is very frustrating to be in the dark.”

“I understand, but you have to know from my side that it is really very difficult for me. I don’t want to talk about it now, that doesn’t mean you’ll have to grope in the dark forever.” I paused. It will indeed be difficult to want to help someone who does not want to be helped.

“I’ve already told you more than Renzo knows.”

He looked at me again. “Thanks for that. Speaking of Renzo, I didn’t quite understand. What was Protus talking about? What does he want from you? Something from you and Renzo?”

He looked at me intently. “Oh that. That’s actually something between me and Renzo. And not for anyone else.”

“Then they took that from you. And I’m afraid Protus would really want to take it away from you, he was very fascinated. He wants what you and Renzo have, whatever it is.”

I was shocked by this statement, would we be in danger for Protus? No, he couldn’t, he wouldn’t destroy his own kind. I was grateful for Rob’s honesty. I couldn’t tell Rob much, but I did owe him this. I already left him groping in the dark.

“When Renzo and I are together it is very special. We think it is because he has turned his back on his faith. His whole life actually. And because he chose to protect me, it’s a mutual feeling.”

Rob seemed to think for a moment. “So you’re sure Protus was talking about that? Aren’t they just butterflies?”

“No Rob, they are not butterflies. I’ve had boyfriends before and this is so much more special. If you haven’t felt it, you don’t know what I mean. It’s indescribable.”

“If you put it that way, I think that’s what Protus meant.”

He was quiet again.

“I’m sorry I didn’t trust Renzo in the beginning. But if I see you together and now that you’ve told this, his intentions must be sincere.”

“Thank you. And his intentions are really sincere. When Lucas attacked me, he kissed me. The moment he kissed me it was like my head would explode. I couldn’t think clearly anymore of the pain he was just causing.”

“You haven’t told me that before.”

“We haven’t really talked much yet either.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“You’re right about that,” he admitted.

Protus’ words kept running through my head. And by opening myself a bit to Rob, I felt vulnerable, almost anxious.

“I’m afraid of what’s going to happen. How I will die.”

I looked at my hands on the table in front of me. I felt the tears welling in my eyes. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to die. But the Elders had predicted it.

“You’re not going to die.”

“The Elders predicted it.”

“Screw the Elders!”

I looked at Rob startled. He had treated them with such respect and awe.

“They have a lot of knowledge, but not about the fifth element. So they have no right at all to predict your death. Just because they don’t know about it, they think you’re going to die. Not gonna happen.”

I had never seen Rob like that before. I felt a warmth come over me. He believed in me. Why hadn’t he revealed that before? I was so insecure around him.

I nodded.

“Come on, I think it’s good to take our minds off for a moment. It’s been tough enough. Let’s go to the others to train.”

I stood up grateful, but before we left I had to say something.

“Rob?”

He looked at me, and before I could say anything he spoke. “What we have discussed stays between us, if you want to share it with the others, it’s early enough.” He nodded. I nodded gratefully and we went by car to the training field at the old shed.

It was already late afternoon, somehow traveling to the Elders had taken a long time.

It felt good to practice. Do something useful. We got exercises from Rob and we were allowed to train outside.

Leo tried to knock down obstacles with bubbles. He started to get really good at it.

Sara let the water make a kind of dam at the stream, let it stop and then continue like a small rapid. Kate tried to shake the ground locally until cracks appeared. And Max made fireballs appear on his palms and tried to throw them very deliberately into a barrel of water.

I also really had to practice. The weird thing was, in the moments when I needed my powers, the fifth element, or what the Elders called it, my angelic power didn’t let me down. At that moment I knew what to do. In addition to controlling the four elements, what should I practice? Nothing was known about it yet, so also not what I had to practice. Last time when I had a fight with Kate, when she fired her earth powers at me, I managed to create a protective shield around me at that moment. At that moment it came naturally. It was as if time slowed down and my powers somehow knew how to make the shield. And then the feelings I used to feel. Or if I noticed that I was not alone, or if my stomach was giving that weird feeling again. Lucas was often nearby. I would like to exercise these powers, but I wouldn’t know how to do it.

Until then, I’d just have to make do with the elements. I had to get better at that too to be able to defeat evil.

I went to stand with Max, I liked him. He was honest and said what he thought.

He made room for me and I concentrated on the fire in my body. I immediately felt it come to life. Every cell in my body was tingling with heat. I felt it flow to my palms and to my surprise I saw two large fireballs dancing on my palms. I looked fascinated. Still incomprehensible how this could have happened and that this had happened to me.

I then concentrated on the barrel which was about 12 meters away. I had to aim well, because we were talking about fire here. I tried to shut myself off from the environment, thinking only about the fireballs on my hands and the barrel further away. And with one movement I pushed the balls off my hands and they rushed straight into the barrel at lightning speed and died as soon as she hit the water. I heard Max laugh next to me and gave me a compliment.

Still somewhat proud I went to the other one in the circle. And so I practiced each element. When I had successfully practiced all four elements I walked over to Rob. Maybe he could help me with the fifth element.

He looked at me proudly.

“You’re getting stronger, I can see it in your exercises. You get more agile at it. You will astonish the Elders.”

It gave me a good feeling that Rob had confidence in me. I hadn’t had that feeling from him before today.

“I want to try a little exercise with you, because it’s time to stop like this. But I wanted to do a little test on the fifth element. Your spirit power or angel power, you know what I mean.”

I nodded, wondering what he had in mind.

“I’d like to try and see if you can sense my presence. I’ll sit in one of the three sheds and you outside. I want you to try to focus on my presence and tell me where I am. Do you think you can?”

“Maybe, but first I want to try to feel your presence now. So I know how you feel. Does that make sense?”

He laughed a little and then nodded.

I stood in front of him and closed my eyes. I tried to focus on the fifth element, it was already there, because I was already practicing. And with my gut feeling I tried to replace Rob’s presence. And before I knew it I felt it. It felt different than with Lucas. Lucas gave me an unpleasant feeling in my stomach. Rob gave me a present feeling in my head. Gosh, would everyone feel different? I tried to capture the feeling well. I opened my eyes and Rob looked at me questioningly.

“I’m ready,” I said affirmatively.

Rob nodded and disappeared from view. I walked outside to the front of the 3 sheds and concentrated on Rob. To the feeling he caused in my head. I went from left to right. And at the right shed I felt a very weak feeling in my head. Could this be it?

I walked to the right shed and opened the door. No Rob. I focused on the feeling again. And as I walked through the shed I felt it getting stronger. And suddenly I knew where he was. Without hesitation, I walked up the stairs, all the way to the back of the attic. And there he stood. Smiling.

“Well done.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m going to write down everything we practice so we can let everyone know that a fifth element can survive,” he said confidently.

And with those words, we ended our training session satisfied and went home.