Emily, Master of the Four Elements (Book One) Chapter Sixteen

Emily visited the hospital with Heather.  A minutes later, Emily was in Diane's room.  She looked tired.

"Hey there, Diane," Emily greeted.

Diane looked at Emily. "Hi, Emily," she said in a weak voice.

Emily grabbed a chair and sat next to Diane's hospital bed. "Are you feeling fine?" she asked.

"I'm ill and I have a dead brother. I'm doing great," Diane said sarcastically.

Emily sighed.  Maybe she shouldn't have said that. She wanted to apologize, but Diane interrupted her by saying, "I'm sorry. I've just been depressed lately."

Emily sighed again.  Tears came to her eyes when she thought about David.  Diane noticed. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"I miss David," Emily answered.  She wiped her tears with her sleeve.

She didn't want to come to make everything depressing, but after a while she began to notice that talking to Diane about David seemed to a topic Diane quite enjoyed talking about.

"Emily, do you believe in life after death?" Diane asked.

I know there's an after-life. It's called the Spirit World Emily thought.

"I never really thought about it," Emily said.

For the first time in months, Diane smiled.  "I believe that when I die I will see David again," she said. "Thinking about life after death doesn't make me worry about dying.  It makes me ready."

"What do you think will happen?" Emily asked.

"I think I will be in a happier place.  A place where I can be with my friends that are dead and wait for the ones alive. I watched on TV a few days ago that when you die you're in a better place.  I'm not sure what it will look like, but I believe it's true," Diane said.

Emily knew a little how life after death will be like from the deities.  Without revealing herself as the possible chosen one, she explained what the after-life is like, claiming that she heard this from a guy on TV who died but came back to life.

"He said that when you enter there, you can be involved with changing the weather," Emily said.

"What?" Diane said.

"He says that there is this evil deity that sends natural disasters to Earth.  The spirits in the Spirit World protect the Earth," Emily said.

"I thought of the after-life as a peaceful place," Diane said.

"The Spirit World is a lot like Earth, except that the spirits are immortal and can't be seen by humans.  But there is a prophecy that both the Spirit World and the Earth are going to live peacefully forever," said Emily.

"Really? What's the prophecy?" Diane asked eagerly.

Emily wasn't sure if she should say the prophecy.  The reason why she came to see Diane was to get the prophecy off her mind, but she also wanted her to get a glimpse of the after-life will really be like. She decided to tell her the prophecy.

"There will be a chosen one who will have the powers of the evil deity.  The chosen one will use her powers for good, and to defeat the evil deity.  If she stops him, the Earth will be at peace forever.  With him out of the way, the Light will make Earth and the Spirit World collide. He will make peace after the chosen one does her duty," Emily said.

"What a minute, what's the Light?" Diane said.

Emily didn't want to tell her everything. Although Diane will know eventually who the Light is, she didn't want to talk too much about the prophecy that she'll accidently tell her she is the chosen one.

"Uh, he created the deities that made the Earth," Emily said.

"This is really interesting.  Tell me more," Diane said.

"Uh, I don't remember the other stuff the man said," Emily said.

Diane smiled. "I think the guy is right.  I hope the chosen one saves all of us," she said.

Diane's smile made Emily smile.  Diane's smiles have been very rare ever since she got sick.  One day she recalled David telling a story of a day he had in the hospital.

He said that Diane was crying because she thought she was going to die.  David tried to get her mind off death by talking about good times they had together as little children. He joked about a time where he and Diane pranked their dad.  His joke actually made Diane laugh. It was so rare when she looked happy.  He loved it, and he talked about that moment as if it were big news like a mother being pregnant with her first child.

Now Emily was having a similar moment with Diane.  That made her happy.  The girls talked about good times for several minutes.  When it was time to go, Emily told Heather how Diane looked happy.

"She smiled, Mom. She really did.  It was almost like for once she had her mind off her illness," Emily said eagerly.

"That's wonderful, Emily.  That's exactly what Diane needs.  Her mind off her troubles," Heather said grinning.

Emily's smile turned into a frown. She thought about what she told Diane about the prophecy.  What if the chosen one was her?  If she was who the prophecy predicted, then she was giving Diane false hope.  Saving the world would be a tough thing to do.  She needed advice, but she didn't want anyone to know about her secret.  She could ask for Leah's advice, but she doesn't understand what she's going through.  Knowing Leah, she would probably give her an answer she doesn't want to hear.

Back at the Spirit World, Rock was having problems of his own.