The playground is an old one, still made of metal and plastic, instead of new plas-glass. But, it has a character, a feeling, of a place that people can stop and rest and enjoy. The swings are a little slow, and the slide gives a lot of static, but it's still a nice place.
Elysa had come to the park to play, with her father. It was her birth day, she was now ten years old! She played for about half an hour, before she noticed the figure behind the slide. She went to investigate. "Hi?" she said.
The figure turned out to be a hooded man. "Ah. Good. The first. Little girl, what is your name?" he asked.
Elysa was a bit startled by his suddeness, but answered "I'm Elysa. I'm ten years old!"
"Would you like a present, then? A small gift, but it is your birthday, is it not?"
Elysa wondered how he knew, but didn't really think about it much. "Okay!" She said.
"Very well. But, this little gift comes with a request. Is that agreeable?" He said bending down to her height. Although she didn't notice, the area around her seem to fade, replaced by a waterfall and rocks.
"Um... Okay? What is it?" She asked
"Just use this gift to help as many people as possible, okay?" He said, and held out a small blue ball.
She nodded and took it. It faded into her hand, and she gasped! "It's gone!" She looked up at the man, to find him gone. The water and rocks had already faded back into the playground. She shrugged, and ran off to her father.
Vily smiled up at her older sister, Dea, fondly, holding her hand. She was practically skipping along. Dea laughed. "You're gonna trip, Vily." she warned.
"Nuh-uh!" VIly stuck her tongue out as they stopped right outside the playground.
"Stay here until I come get you, okay Vily? I'll be out for a couple of hours." Vily nodded, hugging her sister tight, and then skipping over to the swings. She climbed into one, with a little bit of difficulty, and tried to make it swing, but it didn't want to. She pouted.
"Aw..."
She noticed him, and hopped off the slide to walk over. She looked up, and solemnly held out her hand. "Hello! I'm Vily!"
The shadowy figure turned out to be a hooded woman. "Perfect, the second." She nodded, and pulled back her hood. "My name is unimportant. I wish to give you something, and that is what is important." The background, unnoticeable to VIly, begins to change to clouds and lightning. The woman's white hair began to flow and wave wildly in the wind.
The woman smiled. "You could say that." She held out a small yellowish white orb, bending down so that she was at face height with Vily. "Here you go."
"Oo! It IS shiny! Thank you!" She hugged the woman for a moment, before taking the little ball and staring at it in wonder.
The ball fades into her hand, and the woman disappears. The world around her turns back to normal, as well.
Vily looked disappointed when the little ball disappeared. "Miss! It's go- Huh? Where'd she go?"
Elysa, unknown to Vily, but seen by the woman, had been watching them talk. She also noticed the change in scenery, despite the fact that Vily herself couldn't have seen it. "Huh." She said, and ran over to the other girl. "Hi! I'm Elysa, what's your name?"
"I wonder why they gave you a present too then! Did you see all the lightning? It was really pretty!"
"You didn't see it? But it was all over the place! And clouds! You were standing on one!"
Destiny walked towards the old playground, a place that she had spotted from around the corner when she had almost walked by it. But the playground seemed like it could be a bit of fun, a place she could do something that she wanted without having to hear, 'No Destiny, you could get hurt.' or 'Don't do that Destiny, its too dangerous for you.'
Wiping away the last of her tears, Destiny had been crying because she'd wanted to go to the waterslides with the two second youngest of her sisters and friends. But as usual her parents had said no, that she wasn't allowed to go because there was too much risk of Destiny getting hurt. They always had some reason why she couldn't go, even when she could argue it away.
They were worried she'd get sunburned, slip and fall, get a cut that could become infected, get bumped... etc.
It just wasn't fair! There was always some reason why she couldn't do a single thing that was any fun at all!
Looking to those already in the playground, she smiled softly to herself while shyly tucking strands of her silvery-blue hair behind her ear, watching them talking. She didn't know what they were talking about and they were much younger then her, but she had no friends so the idea of any friend was enough to make her smile. But, she didn't know what to say or how to approach them, so instead, Destiny wandered towards the swings.
Moving over to the swingset, she'd sit down on one of them, turning dark sapphire blue eyes away from the other girls to stare at the ground for a moment before she began to swing her legs back and forth. Although she'd do so awkwardly since she didn't get to swing at all normally, she'd eventually get her legs to move correctly as she would begin to swing back and forth, climbing higher and higher.
As her white dress fluttered in the wind of her swinging a bright, carefree grin would spread over her lips as she would find joy in the feeling of freedom that swinging was giving her.
A shadowy figure awaits Destiny by the slide. As before, the figure is somehow very hard to ignore.
As she swung back and forth, Destiny's eyes would catch sight of the shadowy figure, causing her brow to furrow as she watched them for a few moments. Shadowy figures usually weren't good right? Weren't they the ones parents warned their children about? But if that was true... why did she feel like she should go to them? It wasn't like they had offered her candy or even seemed that interesting.
Ceasing the movement of her legs, Destiny would allow her swinging to slowly lessen until she was moving slowly. Placing the heels of her feet onto the ground she would press against it to bring herself to a complete stop, where she would sit for a moment longer, hands wrapped around the chains connecting the swing to the bar above her.
Finally unable to resist going over, she'd stand and make her way over to the shadowy figure uncertainly.
"Uhm, h-hi?" She called out to the figure by the slide as she moved forward step by step, her pace slowing until she stood right in front of them. Her dark eyes were wide with curiousity as she gazed up at the person.
"Who are you?" Destiny would ask quietly in wonder.
The shadowy figure turned out to be a rather short man. "The third is here, so it seems." He says, and bends down to the girl. "Who I am is not important. Who you are, and who you will be, is important."
"Third?" She wondered aloud, tilting her head to the side slightly. It seemed her shyness had been forgotten in place of her curiousity. Whoever this short man was had her attention.
It also seemed she had forgotten enough of her suspicion that she wasn't acting as cautiously as she had before. If the thought occurred to her, she would have found it strange, but for the time being it wasn't.
"Me?" Destiny asked with incredibility in her voice, "Important? You're weird. I'm too weak to do anything that could be considered important." Lifting a brow at him, she considered the man before her with an expression of disbelief. Even though she was only 13, she could be a bit cynical for her age.
Crossing her arms over her chest she'd watch the man with a mix of wonder, curiousity and disbelief.
The man smiled. "Ah, but physical weakness does not impact everything. How would you like... a gift? Something that could help you and others?"
"A gift?" Destiny echoed before creasing her brow a little to consider it. "W-well... ok? If it will help others, I guess that's alright." Biting on her lower lip softly as she thought, she'd finally give a nod to him as she would give her answer. Although the idea of something that could help her was appealing, she was more attracted by the idea that it could be used to help others.
Relaxing her arms so they went back to hanging by her sides, she would wonder what this gift the man was speaking about was. She hoped he wasn't lying to her, she'd been disappointed more then enough for today as it was.
His smile widened ever so slightly. Around them, unoticeable to Destiny, the world changes to a purple wist, full of odd symbols and hidden shapes. The other two girls, though, can see this quite clearly. "Ah, good." He holds out an empty hand, closes it, an opens it again. In his hand now is a small, purple sphere. "Here it is."
Destiny would watch him hold out his empty hand, before her sapphire eyes sparkled with wonder as he opened it once again to show the small purple sphere. Looking from his hand to his face, she would blink with disbelief.
"How did you do that?" She asked softly with wonder, "Are you a magician?" Remembering some of the tricks she had seen magicians do before, she wondered if that was what this man was. Was this some sort of trick, or was it real?
Since he was holding it out to her, she would lift her hand and reached out towards it. Before taking it, she'd turn her dark eyes to his face again, her hand hovering over the ball as she looked for some sort of sign that it was ok for her to take it. As long as she got that, she would gently take it into her hand, holding it up to inspect it.
"Thank you, but what is it?" Destiny asked of him, curious as to what exactly the small purple sphere was. Was it some sort of ball, some type of candy? And she couldn't help but wonder how it was that she was supposed to help other people with it.
He continued to smile. "A magician? Of sorts, I could be. This is... A gift of power. You will begin to understand soon enough. Go ahead, take it." He nods.
"A gift of power?" Again, she echoed his words and lifted up the sphere as she held it in the palm of her hand, taking a close look at it. "How does it work?" Destiny was such a curious girl it seemed, full of questions.
As some of her hair slipped forward, she lifted her free hand up and tucked the hair back again, moving her eyes back to the man that had been in front of her.
As before, the man is nowhere to be found, and the world appears normal again. As soon as she completely held the sphere, it faded into her. But, unlike the others, she could feel something new, as if there was a new aspect to her senses.
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