Adeem averted his eyes, stared at the ball a moment and then looked back at Loranae.
“It is true I have seen things inside the ball which I cannot explain. Once I was looking into the ball and I saw myself growing old. It was very frightening.”
Loranae’s eyes grew large. “Did you see me? Did you?”
“Yes, I saw you for a brief moment. You were standing right here talking to me.”
“That’s not very interesting.”
“I do not control the ball, or the future, it shows me what it wants.”
Loranae grinned slyly at Adeem and sarcastically said,
“Sure Adeem, I believe you.”
She walked away and left Adeem feeling what he feared the most, that the other elves would not believe him.
Loranae could not believe her own eyes when she turned back towards the crowd. Adeem raised his head slowly to see what everyone else in the room was already fixated on. All around them the walls of the cave seemed transparent. What was once tangible stone was transforming into simple geometric shapes, pulsating around them like they were inside a giant breathing spider web lung. Out of the dark void an orange lotus flower blossomed, its petals opened to reveal a tall green beautiful creature. All the elves stared on with a combination of terror and wonder.
“Elves of the underworld, my name is Taylor. I am a fairy from the sixth dimension of Athia. You have something, something which is causing our universes to interfere with one another. We cannot allow this to happen. Our existence depends on the persistence of time, as does yours. Our realities have a fragile co-dependency. An imbalance as serious as this could cause complete disorder. The ball must be returned to Demour, the guardian of space-time, as soon as possible. My time here is very limited. Please do as I say and get the ball to the one named Jesse for he will know what to do.”
Just then, a loud shriek filled the elves’ cave and the fairy distorted and vanished. One of the elders broke the silence thereafter.
“We should do as the fairy says. We should find the one named Jesse, and give him the ball.”
The crowd of elves did not argue. They knew what had to be done. This saddened the elves, for they did love the ball.