Chapter 3: The Twins

Chapter 3: The Twins

                   The year is 1995 and a woman with long curly blonde hair is running frantic through the rain forest. Her name is Amelia Romero, she is young, no older than twenty, and she is heavily pregnant with twins. Amelia was down in South America with her new husband that she had run away with. They had met at an earth convention which was about saving the planet in San Francisco.  Amelia fell deeply in love with him immediately; he was handsome, charming, and had the same beliefs as she did. They stayed up all night their first time together talking about Mother Earth and the belief that Earth was indeed very much alive.

                   Her parents were against this young man whom they had never met and for some reason did not trust. When telling them his life story, he did his best to not tell too many details. Amelia was told by her parents that she was to never see this boy again, but love cannot be stopped. They soon ran away together and after almost a year of running, they made it back to her lover’s home country, South America, where they were married. When they arrived, Amelia saw why her parents did not want her to be with this man, because he was a well known drug king pin. He had gone up to San Francisco in order to take care of some business but had stopped at the convention, because he was a true believer in helping to save the planet. His kindness and charm soon faded to a darker self. He never hurt Amelia but he would remind her that she belonged to him and to never betray him every time he would kill in front of her. She was growing frightened of the man she had married, because she was very pregnant and had found out the other day she was carrying twins; a boy and a girl.

                   Today had been the last straw. She witnessed her husband slaughter an entire family down to the infant that lay in its crib. After watching him pull the trigger on the infant, she cried out and ran as fast as she could into the Rain Forest. “After her!” Her husband yelled at his men. They did as they were told and ran after her screaming at her to stop, but she didn’t. She ran with tears blinding her vision; she didn't know where she was going but she didn't care. If he could kill an innocent child, she did not know what would he do to his own?  A bang rattled through the forest and Amelia fell into a tree; the left side of her chest bleeding profusely. She had been shot. She turned her head, using the tree to stay up. Her husband stood several yards back staring at her with angry, fiery eyes; he had given the order to shoot. There was no way she was going to crawl back now so she gathered all her strength, pushed off the tree, and continued running. Her husband’s men went to pursue. “Wait,” he told them in his native tongue, “let the jungle have her.” They turned and left her for dead.

                   Amelia soon collapsed to her knees, she was unable to go any further. The world was spinning and losing color. She gently laid herself down on the hard jungle floor, weeping for her unborn children she could not save. A tree to her right moved unnaturally. No, she must be seeing things, she was dying. It happened again, then another one moved, then another. Before long all the trees limbs were moving in a conscious way. It was Earth, for her children were about to be born. Amelia could sense it was Mother Earth, the one she worshiped and she was not seeing things.

                   “Mother Earth,” she cried out, “Mother Earth, please I beg you to listen to me.” The wind blew gentle; Amelia could swear she heard a voice in it. “Mother Earth please save my children, I beg you, please save them.” The ground shook, and the wind blew in response. The whole forest became alive and vines began to slither towards her like snakes. One of the vines hovered above her with giant thorns. Amelia started to panic, but Earth blew calming whispers in her ear, settling her fears. In one quick move, the vine sliced her stomach open. Amelia did not feel any pain because death was gripping her so tightly that she was barely conscious. The rest of the vines, that did not have thorns, eased into her now open stomach and pulled out an infant boy and girl. They were softly put down on a pile of leaves and began to cry. Amelia heard her children and smiled weakly.

                   The cries of the twins echoed through the jungle; waking all living things. Out of the shadows came a female panther; her eyes focused on the scene before her. The panther gracefully walked over to Amelia and stared down at her. Amelia was not afraid when she looked into those yellow eyes, it was like they were saying ‘Your children are safe’. 

                   “Take care of them.” Amelia told the panther before her life slipped away from her. She laid there on the jungle floor with her eyes open and her face frozen in a weak smile. The panther left the side of Amelia’s dead body and silently moved toward the crying newborns. She gently licked them cleaned then laid beside them to keep them warm. The ground shook, the forest came alive with noises, and the wind blew in excitement, for Earth’s special children had been born again.

                                                                                                 ***

                   Seven years have gone by, and the twins of the fallen mother are now a young seven years old. They knew nothing of the world outside the jungle and had been raised by Earth and its creatures. The monkeys taught them how to climb trees and find safe insects to eat. The snakes and the birds showed them how to hide in the trees, to become part of the tree, and never be seen. Their mother panther was still in the process of teaching them how to stalk and watch without ever being heard. They were young and very curious children. They were always touching things they shouldn't and had to be constantly watched by their mother panther along with the rest of the forest creatures. Earth would watch them from time to time but knew that it must be the creatures of the planet to raise them. The only thing Earth taught them is how to speak to the animals in the original language of world. This language had been dead for thousands of years, but the Twins were always taught it while growing up in every life time they lived. Along with teaching them a language to speak, Earth taught them how to use their powers. The boy, which Earth named Enlil, could call and manipulate the wind. The girl, which was named Demetria, could manipulate the ground.

                   One day while the children were playing in the trees a group of men appeared in the jungle. The Twins were very curious; they had never seen creatures that looked like themselves before, but these men were bigger then they were. The men were also carrying instruments they have never seen before. The instruments were big, black and they shined in the sunlight. They were pointing the instruments out in front of them as the men stalked the jungle slowly as if looking for something. Being so young,, the Twins decided that they would have some fun with these similar looking creatures. Enlil whistled at his sister like a black-and-yellow Broadbill, a bird very common in the rain forest, telling her that they should spread out, stay hidden, and use their powers for some fun.

                   The men crept forward deeper into the jungle stepping as silently as possible. They heard a noise so they stopped to listen. The leader of the group motioned for them to follow after they didn't hear anything else. Demetria, in a tree not far from the men, lifted her hand just slightly concentrating on a small area of the ground. It rose up in front of the leader. Unaware, he tripped over the newly  mound of earth causing him to fall face first into animal droppings. The other men in the group howled with laughter and did not hear the Twins snickering above them. "Silencio!" He shouted standing up, his face twisted with rage. He was one of the greatest hunters of his land. Known through out the rain forest as the one to go to if you want a poacher. He had never been caught off guard let alone falling flat on his face, but there was a first time for everything. The other men tried to stop their laughing but found it difficult seeing as how their boss's face was still covered in droppings. He wiped his face with his sleeve then turned to continue walking, this time checking where he was walking. The other two men followed still giggling about what had happened. After a while, the giggling among the two men died down, and they returned to finding something to poach. A twig snapped in the distance. The leader of the group signaled to move forward towards the noise. Not far from where they stood, the mother panther entered the clearing. She was looking for the Twins and was beginning to panic which is why she was unaware of the poachers in her territory. The lead poacher's eyes glistened with excitement. A black panther would pay a pretty penny to a rich American. He lifted up his gun pointing at the mother panther. She wasn't even paying attention. He wondered what she was looking for but no matter, he had her in his grasp. 'Wack!' The leader of the group was lifted off his feet and landed hard on the ground making the gun go off notifying mother panther of the strange men; she ran away quickly but still looked for the Twins. The leader poacher had been hit by a branch of a tree and the wind was going crazy.

                   The Twins giggled leaping from tree to tree around the poachers as their laughter echoed throughout the jungle. The men became frightened. One tried running but was lifted up and thrown by a gust of wind smacking him into a tree. The laughter grew louder. The third and last man standing made a run for it as well but instead ran straight into a solid wall of rock that had somehow lifted itself from beneath the ground, he to fell to the ground. The laughter grew louder and somehow darker. It sounded demonic and was coming from all directions. The men ran from the forest screaming the name Diablo. The did not stop running until they reached their village. Every man, woman, and child came out of their houses to see what the commotion was about. The men , though exhausted, ran to the only church in town bursting through the doors covered in dirt, leaves, bruises, and scratches from their ordeal in the rain forest.

                   "Devil children!...In the rain forest!" Uttered the leader of the group in his native tongue before finally passing out. The other two men fell to their knees overwhelmed from emotion and began to pray for forgiveness to their god, before joining their leader on the floor. The townspeople were soon informed of what had happened in an over dramatic tale by the three poachers. How they had barely escaped with their lives from monsters, devils, and a cursed part of the jungle. The priest told women to hide their children at night for the devil children would lure their little ones out with a song before devouring them in a single gulp. The priest then told the men of the village that the devil children were actually one being and would convince their wives that they were lost children before forming into the Devil himself and raping them. Before long, the whole village was enraged and wanted the blood of the devil children. After many days and nights of arguing on what to do, the men of the village locked their doors with their families inside, grabbed whatever weapons they could find, torches, and a few flashlights then headed to the jungle.

                   That night the Twins were playing like always. They jumped from tree to tree trying to chase each other, giggling in the process. They stopped when a loud roar from their mother panther echoed throughout the jungle. Enlil whistled at his sister telling her it was time to go and hide but she did not move. He jumped into the tree that his sister was in and looked at her, she was staring at something. Enlil asked her what she was looking at and she pointed into the distance. Lights were heading their way and they both could hear voices which were growing louder by the second. Mother panther roared again telling them to come down and follow her to safety, but they ignored her. Instead, they headed towards the voices and lights curious beyond any reasoning. They jumped quickly and silently from one branch to the next until they were right above the large group of villagers.

                   "Spread out," stated a tall man wearing a grey, button up shirt that showed off his ridiculous muscular arms. "And look for those devils. If you find them scream for back up and try to kill the little bastards." Enlil turned to his sister with his usual mischievous look on his face. Demetria knew exactly what he wanted to do but was more grounded then he was and knew whatever he was planning wasn't good. Before anyone could spread out, Enlil dropped on the forest floor in front of them breaking twigs on purpose to get the groups' attention. Demetria hesitated for moment but then joined her brother quickly to moss ground below. Every man in the group gasped, the muscular man screamed, at the sudden appearance of the devil children they were hunting. No body moved petrified by their sudden appearance as the Twins stared at them with intrigued eyes and the mob villagers did the same.

                   "Move!" Shouted a man from the back. The mob parted to let him through, it was the priest. He took out a small bible, flipped a few pages, and began reading it. The Twins just stared at him confused they did not understand Spanish or any other language other then the dead one that was taught to them by Earth. While speaking Latin, the priest pulls out a little see through bottle filled with a liquid. He pulls off the brown top with his teeth then starts flinging the liquid on the Enlil and Demetria. Unaware of what it was, they flinched at first. This made the male villagers happy thinking that the holy water was working, but their smiles soon faded when the supposed devil children licked the liquid off their bare skin and realized it was nothing more than water. When the Twins giggled at the fact water was being thrown at them, the priest grew angry. He threw the now empty vial away and took out a cross with a crucified Jesus on it continuing  his chant of Christian prayers. Enlil saw how shine the cross was and quickly snatched it out of the priest hand. This shocked everyone including the priest, who stopped his prayers baffled by the fact the devil standing before was not bursting into flames at the touch of such a holy object. Enlil looked at it for a bit, his sister taking a look at it too before shrugging and handing it back. Once he realized that it did nothing of importance, using his unique abilities, he threw it into a tree then stared back at the very shocked villagers with a small smile hoping that his abilities would impress his new friends. Instead, they become frighten and out of their fear, hate appeared.

         "No one but God Almighty should have that power! Burn these little demons!" Shouted the priest. The men roared in agreement as they slowly stepped forward towards the young children. The Twins became frightened and did not know what to do they just stared at the angry men who were closing in on them. An angry roar was heard close by making the men jump as it echoed through the forest. The mother panther jumped in between her babies and the angry mob showing her teeth. They backed away in fear at first, more out of surprise then anything. But once they realized that they had power in numbers and the few weapons they did posses, the group of villagers stood their ground prepared to kill. Enlil and Demetria sensed the danger and each used there powers for defense. Enlil summoned a wind storm which blew some of the men off their feet while Demetria raised the ground beneath them making some trip and even fly up in the air. As the angry mob was being blown and thrown out of the way, they dropped everything in their grip including their lit torches. The torches hit the ground causing flames to erupt and soon spread through the forest. Out of fear of the devil children and the now burning inferno swirling its way around them, the angry mob retreated to the safety of their homes. However, Enlil, Demetria, and the mother panther were stuck in the middle of the burning forest. Mother  panther told her young children to jump on here back, they listened. She ran with all her might through the flames, ignoring the burns her body had developed . Yet she could not seem to run fast enough, so Enlil called for the wind to hurry their pace. Before long. the flames were long behind them, and they were safe. However their home was gone. and they now wondered through the forest searching for a safe place to live out their lives in peace.

                                                                                                                                                                             ***

                   The year 2010 slowly made its appearance after eight long years of searching for a new home after that horrible night of the fire. Their old living place was just starting to heal and was still not safe to return to, since it had become known as a place that is cursed by the devil himself. As the children grew and wondered, they also honed their skills. Daily they would use their powers by mostly playing, but their mother panther taught them how to hide and even appear to disappear in thin air when needed. In the year 2008, the Twins found a way to put their powers and skills to a test. As the Twins were scavenging for food one day, they came across men with odd looking contraptions. They were big and yellow like the sun, but underneath  they had round things that were as black as night. Not only were they big, they were so loud that the ground shook, and the trees would sway with their power. Curious as always the Twins got closer, Enlil leading the way.

                   As they got closer, the sounds of the men working grew louder. Shouting, machines hammering, and of course, the sound of trees falling. The men were from a logging company here to take several acres of trees back to the factory to be made into paper. Both Enlil and Demetria stared in wonder at the sights and sounds but soon noticed that these men were a destructive force. They watched as every tree quickly fell, even crushing some of the creatures. Yet the men did not care, they would cut up the fallen trees and kick away the dead bodies of the animals. Enlil looked down at the ground and saw that it was dead; the men had destroyed everything in that area even killing the soil by the oil seeping from their machines. Death was everywhere, and the Enlil would not stand for it. His sister, though upset, thought it best that they leave. The men had things she had never seen before, and she was rather frightened so they argued.

                   "Ennay bac yootou!" 'We must stay!'

                   "Nah! Ennay bac bah! 'No! We must go!'

                   "Tey ennay bah, muo kaki fuwwenah!" 'If we go, they will destroy everything!'

         Demetria looked into her brother's eyes and knew the words he spoke were true. However she was still frightened as she looked out at the men and their strange equipment. Demetria was one who was very set in her ways and did not like stirring up trouble unlike her brother who enjoyed being as free as the wind itself. "Yeh, how fee ennay a' fateh foo leyust tyst? 'But, how are we to defeat all those things?' Enlil smirked , "Tetooah leyata et messa teh too." 'Because nothing has power like us.' He slide down a hill that was in front of them and Demetria followed quickly. A big yellow machine roared just past the Twins who were hidden behind some brush. It was headed towards a group of trees; it was planning on destroying them all. Enlil went first; he raised his hands shoulder length, palms outwards, concentrating on calling the wind and pushes a man in front of the machine. The driver sees this and slams on the breaks, parks it and rushes out. Enlil looked at his sister, communicating that it was her turn while everyone was checking on the man. Demetria looked hard at the ground concentrating, imagining the ground rising. She lifted up her hand with her fingers slightly curled, and a large part of the ground rose quickly underneath the yellow machine lifting it into the air then crashing on its side. All the men ran for their lives, startled by the sudden flying machine. Enlil then focused his energy on a smaller machine that was in the process of cutting down a tree. With a wave of his hand, it flew out of the hands of the man holding it and was flung towards many of the needed supplies, cutting the food to shreds and destroying the bottles of water they needed. All the men were running around,  frightened from all the commotion and still unaware of the presence of the Twins. Demetria saw a long metal sphere on the ground; she did not know what it was, but it looked like it would be fun to destroy. So with a fast movement of her arm, a large rock was pulled from the earth underneath the sphere and sliced it in half as it went through it. A dark watery substance started pouring out of it and spreading through the forest floor. A large number of men had witness the giant rock going through the gas tank and dropped their tools then fled into the woods. The rest of the men yelled at them to come back and tried to figure out what was going on. No one noticed that the leaking gas had found its way to the giant machine that Demetria and Enlil had knocked over first. The machine was still running and there were some protruding wires that were sparking. Within moments, the gas was lit by the spark and was being led back to the gas tank from the trail of gasoline. An explosion occurred, "Let's get out of here!" screamed one of the men, and without any disagreement, all the men fled for fear of their lives. Once the coast was clear, the Twins came out from the brush admiring their handy work. They looked at each other smiling and then nodded. Enlil quickly extinguished the flames with his powers that were getting rather close to the forest.

                   While the Twins were slowly leaving the place they had now destroyed, a man from the lumber company was running at full force. Sweat was already pouring down his face, and he was filthy from not just working but from running mindlessly through the jungle. He thought he heard something and turned to look; while not looking where he was running, he ran hard into something, making him flip and land on his back. He was dizzy, and the leaves in the tree were spinning as he opened his eyes. His back was now killing him he was sure that he  landed on some nice sharp rocks that were hidden under nice pointy fallen branches. He swore loudly as he tried to get up quickly, he was still horribly frightened from his experience at his work place. He had saw that rock slice through the gas tank; nothing human could have done that. He had heard that these jungles were cursed; the locals called it 'La maldición de los niños de Diablo' meaning 'The Curse of the Devil children'. He didn't believe a word of it until this day. He froze suddenly, he heard something moving from behind him. He turned his head slowly to see that what he had ran into was no rock or tree stump but a living thing; a black panther was trying to get up on it legs. He shrieked, and backed away into a tree. He had a weapon, everyone that worked out here did just for this situation, but he could not remember where he had put it. While the creature was still trying to push its way of the ground, the man was frantically trying to find his pistol. The panther finally got up and looked at the man. He had found his weapon and was pointing it directly at the panther. It was shaking he was so frightened, he promised he would never return to this place or anything like it ever again, if he even made out of here alive. The panther also seemed to look frightened, the man thought he was crazy, because in the eyes of the panther, he swears it knew what he was holding and what it had the power to do. They both stayed frozen for a moment, neither willing to move out of fear of the other. The panther finally had no choice, it had somewhere more important to be and went to turn away. The man screamed and fired five shots into the chest and side of the beast. After seeing the creature fall, he ran for all his might.

                   Demetria and Enlil were laughing about their play time they just had when the sounds of the five shots echoed throughout the jungle. They both knew that noise and what it came from. They look at each other; fear and worry reflecting in their eyes. Without a second thought, they burst into a run towards what they believed to be where the sound originated from. They ran for several minutes expecting to see a person, a gun, anything really that would explain the sound of shots fired. After running for straight ten minutes, dodging tree branches and uplifted roots with ease, they found a horrible sight; they found the slain black panther. But they knew by just a mere glance, it wasn't just any panther; it was their mother. Demetria fell to her knees into the pool of blood, tears already streaming down  her face. She gently petted the fur of the only mother she had ever known; she felt cold already. Unable to contain her emotion, she flung her body on top of her mother sobbing into her fur. Enlil stared at his mother, the only thing that had raised him, loved him unconditionally. Tears seeped out of his eyes, and the anger came boiling up from the pit of his stomach. When the rage met his throat, he let out a scream of pure anguish making the wind blow as if a hurricane was on its way.

                   The man was rather far away by the time the Twins found the body of the only mother they had every known. He was still scared out of his mind. First his job blew up literally, then a man eating panther tried to eat him! Well though he thought. All that was on his mind at the moment was to keep running, no matter how badly his lungs ached for air, and his legs burned. He knew all he had to do was to find his way out of here, and he would be safe. He felt the wind pick up but thought nothing of it, but then it started to blow so hard he was having trouble staying on the ground. The wind stopped and so did the man. He looked around; either he was going crazy or someone was watching him. He heard a noise; it sounded as if the wind was picking up again, but it was different. A gust of wind hit him square in the face, the force was so strong he flew in the air momentarily and landed hard into a nearby tree. He felt a warm substance trickling down his face and onto the jungle floor; the force of the wind itself broke his nose.

                   "What is going on here?" he thought to himself. He heard a scream of pain coming from the distance; he looked up and saw a naked teenage boy running at him, his eyes full of rage. It was Enlil, he had found the man by following his trail and caught up with him using the power of the wind to speed up his run. Enlil was blinded with rage. All he wanted to do was get revenge for his mother. He grabbed the man and lifted him to his feet. The man's eyes widen, surprised from the amount of strength this young boy had. Years of running, climbing, and lifting had made Enlil unnaturally strong for his age. Enlil started choking the man as hard as he could squeeze. The man started to gag and gasp for air; he was still in panic mode and didn't what to do in this situation. Things were starting to seem hazy; he went to his knees, but Enlil did not let up. With one final hope, the man searched for any object on the ground he could find that would help him. His hand swiped over a rather large rock, and with what strength he had, slammed it in the side of Enlil's head. Enlil was knocked over, blood started protruding from his head. Enlil beat his fist on ground in anger and pain, but it was not going to stop him. The man was doing his best to catch his breath while getting to his feet. Enlil was slow to get up since the ground was spinning. The man remembered he had a gun, so he started reaching for it only to find it was stuck in his pants pocket. Enlil had regained his senses and had gotten a weapon of his own; it was a rather large stick thicker then his leg.

                   The man finally got his weapon unstuck, but it was to late; as he raised it, Enlil came from his right side and clobbered the arm that had the gun in it. The man's arm broke, and he dropped his weapon. Enlil went to take another swing, but the man dived out of the way at the last second. Enlil chased after him swinging down at the man as he kept rolling out of the way. Enlil got close at one point, and it was close enough for the man to kick Enlil right in the ribs. Enlil fell to his knees; grabbing his sides that were now very likely broken. The man pushed off the ground and ran with all his might to the gun. He turned ready to fire, Enlil stood before him with the giant stick in hand. The man tightened his grip on the trigger preparing to fire when a soft voice came from behind the boy. "Enlil." said Demetria gently. Her brother turned and looked at her with rage still burning in his eyes. She walked over to him quickly; her face was stained from all the crying she had done. She grabbed his face to make him look right into her eyes. She shook her head, he tried to pull away to look at the man, but she pulled his face back to hers and shook her head again now with tears swelling in her eyes. Enlil looked at his sister, saw she was in pain just like him and that she needed him. He dropped the stick and took his sister's hand as they started walking away together.

The man was pissed. He had a broken nose and arm, like hell he was going to let that little demon walk away. So he raised his arm, aimed right at Enlil's back and pulled the trigger. Demetria pushed her brother out of the way and took the bullet right in the chest. The man dropped the gun; he never meant to hit the girl. Enlil raced to his sister's side who had fallen to the ground and was covering where she was shot. Enlil pulled her hands away, crying out of fear of losing another he loved, but the wound was barely bleeding in fact, it was barely a scratch. Her skin had hardened to protect her from the bullet almost like a rock. Enlil smiled at his sister and helped her up and left without even turning to look at the man. Once they were gone, the man stood himself up and looked around to make sure he was alone. "What the hell is going on in this place?" He murmured to himself. The man eventually escaped the jungle and told stories of the Devil Children of the Rain Forest.

                   Now after that day, the Twins lived alone in the forest and though they missed their mother panther dearly they survived none the less. On this day of 2010, there seemed to be a sense of excitement in the air, and both the Twins could feel it. So Demetria stayed and kept an eye out for any danger while Enlil went to scavenge for food for the day. When he got back, they sat in a tree and ate breakfast together talking about how the animals in the forest seemed oddly wild that day. While half way through breakfast, crunching noises could be heard from a distance. Enlil and Demetria put down their food  and climbed down the tree ready for anything. From afar, the Twins could see two figures slowly heading their way.