ewan's Story

An explosion can be heard from deep within the massive green house. Then a small, very young boy runs frantically through the jungle within the building, escaping from the soldiers who managed to sneak in without setting off his bracelet. The had caught him off guard, trying to ambush him with c4 and claymores, but the plants had warned him before he fell for it. Once he found a good place to rest, he touched a tree and closed his eyes. He could see men wandering through the jungle, in search of the young boy.

"Where the fuck did he go...?" asked one of the soldiers, by his voice he was still just a rookie. "pipe down, kid... remember he as a power here that has yet to be revealed... so keep your mouth shut.." the commanding officer says.

Ewan knocked on the tree, and a few birds flew in, he knocked in mores code and then the birds flew off, sending for help, the first person they find. Then he focused on the men, not happy that they tried to kill him. I'll make those big meanies pay... he thinks to himself, and he makes a vine grow and trip the young soldier, then giggles as he cusses and rubs his knee.

"What the hell?" the soldier groans out loudly. He is again hushed by his peers. He gets up, grumbles and continues onward.

Ewan continued to mess with the soldiers until it was time to say bye bye, then he created a massive Venus fly trap. It towered over the men, they shrieked and started to fire at the giant plant, which was completely useless to it. It bites down on the first man, separating him from his lower half and it crushes the upper body, then dissolves it by its digestive juices. Then two more appear, trapping the two men between them and a very large, thick tree. The first plant grabs the young soldier and lifts him high. "AAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! WHAT THE FU-" and he was silenced with a single slam into the ground, the sound of his spine and neck snapping on impact. The commanding officer makes an attempt to save the boy, but is grabbed by the other plant, biting his head completely off. As his now headless body spurts massive amounts of blood, it walks a few steps, firing off a whole magazine of bullets before falling to his knees and twitching, stopping only when the monstrous plant devours the rest.

Ewan sighs in relief that it was all over, he uses his vines to patch up where they had broken into the green house, but he was not proud of killing those men, but it was something he knew he had to do to keep the green house, and the others, safe from further attacks.

|PRELUDE|

Prelude stared with sad, almost blank eyes at the other children. Her small, pale hands pressed against the glass as she tried to read the expressions on their faces. She softly counted them in her head, making sure no one was gone. She sighed in relief seeing they were all, present and accounted for. Well, at least the ones she lived near. A few other names popped into her head. Her fingers left the glass, as they closed into a powerless fist.

She shook her head. She wasn’t going to think negatively. Faces started disappearing. Children slipped back into the safety of their homes. Prelude stepped away from the window, and her long blue dress swayed with the movement. She turned and walked back into the church her steps quiet and gentle, almost as if she were just that fragile. Her eyes gazed over the area around her. Huge stained-glass windows and tall pillars made up the sides of the church. Flowers twisted around them, hugging them in such a beautiful display. Rows of wooden pews sat symmetrical on either side of the church, separated by a single faded red rug. It was a place that may have once held beauty but now, like most places in Project 21, it was impossible to preserve.

A patch of yellow flowers replaced the area which would have held an altar. Prelude had been given them as a gift from her young friend Ewan. They lasted longer than the average flower, and were blessed by the boy’s magic. She stared fondly at them, before slipping past them into a nearly unseen room. This was her living space, although she had to admit, lying amongst the blooms was very comforting. The room consisted of a small bed, with a shelf built into it and a chest at the end, for holding personal items. Prelude never asked for much, and this little suited her well. There were no pictures; pictures were not allowed in Project 21. The only other thing in the room was a small rack for holding clothing that was not meant to be folded.

She leaned over the bed and gathered a few things from the shelf. She carried them over to the rack and removed a bag from it. She packed the items from the shelf into it and slung it over her shoulder. Then she pulled a large piece of material from the rack and slipped out of the room, without a glance back. Prelude walked quickly to the front of the church and flipped the cloth, which turned out to be a large coat, over herself. She flipped up the hood and covered her face in order to combat the terrible air of Project 21.

She locked up everything checking once, twice, three times to be sure everything was completely secure and hidden. Then returned to the front door and slipping out proceeded to lock that up tight. Sealing it with a prayer and a touch of her clothing, she turned swiftly and immediately disappeared into the streets. The winding paths were the best place to hide if you knew where you were going but then again no one really knew where Project 21 ended or started or even every path in it. There were no maps made for them, as if the Adults wanted them confused. Or, perhaps not even they knew exactly the way Project 21 was laid out. Really all anyone knew was the path to their home and their friends. Lucky for them that never changed.

Prelude's white hood popped back up into view as she neared a house that looked as if it was a giant tree with all the plants that surrounded it. Her eyes sparkled behind her face cover made of a special cloth that would protect 68% of the time and had great vision. It was probably an invention of Dex's, from a while back. Prelude didn't upgrade because she didn't mind it much. Still smiling she wound around the bend that led to an entrance of the greenhouse, and then froze. Panic welled up inside of her as she saw that part of the greenhouse was missing, as if blown apart. Worry surged through her and she picked up her pace.

"No!, No! Not Ewan. Please dear Father, not Ewan” . From the other side she could see Stephen, a child with the power to manipulate the earth, who served as a sculptor for Project 21. Her body flooded with relief that he was safe for a moment, but quickly returned to worry for the youngest Child she knew in their home. Stephen seemed to have the same concerns as her as he made his way towards the damaged building. She shot him a worried look and then turned towards the greenhouse and she called out, "Ewan!~ Are you in there?!" . She lifted a hand from the tresses of the large coat and traced the wall pleading. Please tell me they didn’t take him. Tell me he didn’t get taken away.

Stephen didn't immediately notice that Prelude was there as well. Only that there was a gaping hole in the building that Ewan called home. On reflex, the ball of clay burst out of his bag to form a toddler sized golem standing at the ready. Sure it could take out the knees of any adults around. In terms of stopping power, it would have to find more inventive ways in order to achieve that if it didn't find a way to 'bulk up' soon. It didn't take long for it to begin solving that issue. Any dirt, dust, soil or rubble it came across, began to absorb into the clay mass. Anything that couldn't be properly absorbed to support itself instead is used to help upgrade its offense; broken glass and larger chunks of metal stuck out from its club-shaped arms.

By the time him and his slowly growing construct are ready to brave whoever or whatever was inside did he see that he wasn't the only one there. Its when Prelude calls out for Ewan that it startles Stephen. Reflexively the golem lashes out at the source. "Wait! STOP!" His voice cracks with desperation. He thought he had inadvertently sent Prelude to her doom. The golem's shrapnel adorned arm stopped less than an inch from Prelude's face. This was part of the reason why he preferred to control a golem from the inside of it. It responded to him much more quickly and he was far less prone to letting his fear rule his actions. Being outside left him feeling so exposed and defenseless.

His relief to find Prelude untouched is short-lived. As much as he wanted to stop and check her over to see if she was okay, the most could do was visually check her over for injury and see by her expressions if she was ready to continue into the building with him. Being around her normally kept him feeling at ease. This time was an exception. He takes her by the hand as though he was the older of the two. The golem cleared a small path in front of it so they could both safely get to Ewan without risking injury. Stephen knew that Prea could heal just about any wounds that could result but he preferred to simply avoid getting hurt altogether.

Speaking of hurt, he wondered how Ewan was doing. He was in his element sure. On the other hand he wasn't even old enough to tie his shoes that well. Then again he never really saw him tie his shoes. The fact was that his home had been attacked. Powers or not, Stephen was already fearing the worst as he and Lu headed into the green house.

Ewans heart was beating out of his chest, his whole ordeal gave him an extreme adrenaline rush. He felt sick as well when he had watched the plants kill those men, he hated the sight of blood. He also started to think what would happen if he hadn't killed them, how they could have talked in their magic boxes and told the bad guys where they were and all hell would break loose.

Then he heard a familiar voice calling for him. "Ewan~! Are you there?!" the voice cried out, and he knew it was big sister Prelude. He smiled big and touched the tree, finding her location, he then surrounded her with amazingly beautiful flowers that spelled, 'I am fine, big sis! I'm coming to you!' just before he was about to run to her, he noticed that Stephen was here too with his big rock monster, whomever he thought looked really cool. He made a few flowers grow out of the monsters head looking like it had flower hair. He laughs silently and went after Prelude.

He finds Prelude and jump hugs her, very excited to see her, hugging her as tightly as possible.

|PRELUDE|

Prelude sent out a silent prayer for Ewan. She stood by the opening of the Greenhouse with closed eyes and her head bent down, as her fingers lightly traced the once-was wall. As she slowly opened her cyan colored orbs, she thought she heard something strange. She blinked a few times peering into the greenhouse, before another noise solved that it was coming from behind her and not in front. She turned around, pulling the cloak a little away from her eyes and only had time to gasp in shock.

A giant fist was coming towards her. Her eyes opened wide and she stumbled back into the wall. Shock paralyzed her. She was sure it was her end as the debris and glass filled arm hurdled at her. All she could think of was Ewan’s safety. The books hidden in Estellas, and what would happen to them. The sick Children and… Then a voice called out

“Wait! STOP!” Prelude’s vision cleared as the large arm froze just merely an inch from her face. She recognized the voice, and knew she was safe at that moment. A huge breath of relief escaped her as she released the fingers that had been so tightly clamped onto her clothing at her chest. She looked beyond the ar, which she now realized was Stephen’s golem and saw the mentioned boy. His eyes scanned her for injury, and then looked at her face. She smiled softly at him, although she was still a bit shaken by the previous events, she couldn’t form any words.

She then looked up at the golem. Stephen’s creations were just amazing, she couldn’t help but to think that despite having been almost crush by this particular one. Stephen came closer and grabbed her hand. The gesture calmed her down. She watched as the clay based creature cleared away any obstructions for the two of them as they entered the Greenhouse together.

The air was thick with the smell of iron, and Prelude brought a hand up to her face to replace the cover on her coat. Then the earth shifted just next to them. Prelude glanced at Stephen for a second, wondering if it was him. Then flowers formed around them. Prelude gasped lightly as they spelled out the words that erased her worry.

I am fine, big sis! I’m coming to you!

She read. The many flowers gave off an aroma that purified the air. “Oh thank goodness!~”. She smiled at Stephen and waited. Surely, soon enough she could hear feet padding through the thick forests. Ewan popped into view shortly after. Her face broke into a big grin as the six year old boy jumped into her arms. Stumbling slightly her hand was pulled from Stephen’s and she wrapped both her arms around Ewan, giggling. He hugged her tightly and she hugged back. A few moments later she placed him down and knelt in front of him as she checked him over for injury. She sighed and placed a chaste kiss on his forehead.

”Oh, I’m so relieved that you’re okay. Ewan I was terribly worried! What happened here? Half your wall is gone! Were you attacked? Was it something in the area? Did a scanner try to get you?” A million questions came to her as she tried to cover every possible option. She then shook her head and pulled both of the boys into a soft, sisterly hug. “At least you’re safe now. Now, we should fix up this wall, Yes? She said once she released them.

...

The golem kept picking up bits of dirt with each step it took inside the greenhouse. Stephen hated the smell that hit his nostrils. It wasn't the smell of fresh air or the scent of flowers. It smelled like the stench of death. He turns noticing that Prelude was looking at something on the ground. Flowers sprouted forming letters. In an instant he knew it was from Ewan and he could tell that he was improving since he last saw the six year old. Thank goodness for that. Otherwise he just might have been snatched up and taken away. Not that Stephen knew precisely what happened there but there was more than enough evidence to know that Ewan might be in need of their help in case whatever series of events that happened decided to repeat themselves.

Stephen saw a smile sprout from Ewan's face. Following his line of sight he saw what the boy did to his golem. The golem lifted its club-like arms before they then converted to more dexterous hands to delicately feel at its new hairdo. Since Stevie's imagination was quick to run wild it was easy for his thoughts to cause his creations to act in odd ways. As though it could actually feel that it had sprouted flowers or feels the flowers against its thick, gritty fingers it reacted the way Stephen thought it would, or should react. Before it took a lot of effort to get them to move. Now his creations almost moved of their own accord with the slightest bit of will behind a stray thought. Still, it wasn't completely effortless. It took a driving emotion to prompt the quickest of responses. Like how the golem nearly pummeled Prelude earlier and how he was able to stop it from doing so in time.

His hand felt empty. It was then that he saw that Lulu was no longer holding onto his hand. He started to breath faster and his heart began to race. He was away from his shop and he didn't want to think about the smell or look for evidence of a struggle. Stephen squeezed his eyes shut. He was thinking too much and it was making him panic. When he opened them again he found Prelude hugging him. She was hugging Ewan too but he was completely thrown off guard by being held. His cheeks blush red and the golem acts as if it suddenly became dizzy. Steph shakes his head and takes a breath. "First thing's first." The golem splits in two, sharing half the flowers with each. And they then go back to the giant hole and begin moving the rest of the rubble and using parts of their own bodies and dirt that they collected to cover up the entrance. It was like stacking up mud bricks only many of them had bits of building in each of them as well.

He was tempted to try and create a third one but just the thought of it made his head hurt. As much as he wanted to re-secure the area he just couldn't make more than two moving golems at a time. If they weren't moving he could make as many as he wanted. It was mentally multi-tasking to the point of risking a migraine if he pushed it. "So...what happened?"

|EWAN|

Ewan looked up at Prelude as her questions spilled out, as she finished he tapped morse code on her shoulder. ]soldiers found out about my powers and tried to kill me, but my big plants ate them up, they are bye bye... And I think my detector is broken as well I wasn't warned about them breaking in... he then smiled at her. “At least you’re safe now. Now, we should fix up this wall, Yes?" She said once she released him.

He nodded and pointed at Stephen and his golems, hoping he could fix the wall. He could see him fixing the wall. Ewan was very greatful for his second family and he made some very very nutritious fruit grow in front of stephen, knowing how much of a strain that repair was taking on him, and he could use the fruit to feel better and as a thank you for his help. He then taps on Preludes shoulder, is everyone else ok...? he asks, worriedly. He didn't want to see anyone else get hurt or go missing.

|PRELUDE|

Prelude was always amazed by the powers of others. The way they used them, the way they worked and could benefit people in their very society. It was pure amazing. Her eyes always sparkled in delight as their “god-given” abilities were performed. The entire Greenhouse was made from the mind of a six year old. It once was a small building, with little special about it, but with Ewan’s nurture it advanced into the beautiful Greenhouse full of life, that she stood in.

It was a shame to see that work destroyed. She knew if her church had undergone the same fate, she would be torn apart. Her church was her sanctuary, her peace, her hope and everything she knew lay within or beneath it. She wondered if Ewan thought of the Greenhouse as she did the church. Certainly it held some importance to him, as it had always been his home, and he never left it.

They were lucky for Stephen’s presence. His amazing power could fix what had gone wrong. She couldn’t help but to smile as he made another golem and together they began to fix the hole in Ewan’s home. It was beautiful the way he could use his power to help people, and she loved it. She giggled as the golems sprouted flowers and shared them, they were definitely from Ewan. They made a great team, it was like. Together the Children could accomplish anything.

As the golems worked Stephen turned to Ewan and asked “So...what happened?”

Ewan looked up at Prelude and began tapping on her shoulder.Ewan couldn’t communicate in most ways, so Prelude had learned how to understand his tapping. “Soldiers found out about my powers and tried to kill me, but my big plants ate them up, they are bye bye... And I think my detector is broken as well I wasn't warned about them breaking in...” She translated so that Stephen would know. Then her eyes got wide. “Soldier’s from Éclos… came here?!? Oh thank goodness you’re alright.” It wasn’t a normal thing for the Adults to venture into Project 21, in fact she only knew of the Cleaners who ran the scanners making visits.

A little worried, she bit her lip and watched as the golems continued to build up the wall. is everyone else ok...? Ewan’s tapping asked. Prelude wasn’t sure of the answer. She hadn’t heard of a child having vanished yet, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one who was. Project 21 was a big place that no one knew the exact layout of.

“I’m sure everyone is fine” She told him with a soft smile and smoothed back his hair as caring as an older sister. She wanted to believe her own words but she wasn’t exactly certain.

After the wall was finished Prelude removed a few things from her bag, a tea set and some nice calming tea for the three of them. She made sure to have lots of sugar to satisfy a Childs tastes. Before long, her worry had vanished and she was smiling again. Much time had passed and the sky had grown dark outside of the Greenhouse glass. Prelude cleaned up the dishes and gathered her things to be leaving.

She set off to the door to make sure Stephen, who lived closest would get home safely, but upon approaching it, she backed up in surprise. Dark colours flashed across the sky, in a haunting light display. Clouds bunched together gloomily over them. Prelude drew back coughing, as the chemical fumes in the air were even more deadly than the usual. The entirety of Project 21 looked like it was trapped in a giant smoke cloud. Every once in a while a streak of lightning would pierce the sky.

No one was going anywhere that night….

“Ewan, Stevie, we need to get to safety. There is a terrible storm outside, we can’t be near the windows” Her voice shook with worry as she ushered the boys together. A storm like that had never come to Project 21 before, and it made her think.

Something is going to happen…