Michael gingerly stepped into the store and made his way around the counter to the back room, where the light was emanating from, “Hello there”, he said as he pulled the curtain back a little and peered around it, finding Sabrina, who was peacefully finishing off a small scale version of one of her most popular designs. It was a symbol she had created one day, it represented all of the elements/ forces within the world, and it was a very intricate and delicate piece.

Sabrina stopped and spun around on the spot, her hands still glowing a faint gold-yellow and gasped a little. “Oh, gods! Please don’t scare me like that!” She relaxed a little when she saw it was Michael from yesterday.

“Oh!...ahhh..I, knocked, but then the door opened and well I saw the light….I…I’m sorry...” Michael stuttered as he turned to leave, but felt a hand lightly turning him back around on his arm.

Turning around, his eyes met directly with Sabrina’s large bright green eyes, immediately Michael swallowed as his breathing hitched a little, he felt weird, something he had never felt before.

Sabrina smiled widely and stepped back a little. 

“Hey, ah, Michael right? It's okay, if the door opened then it wanted you to come in here…. wood, trees, plants, nature and the earth talks you know? They think and understand deeper than humans do sometimes! Haha!...and you are staring at my hands……I…you can’t tell anyone…but… I'm what they call an el--” Sabrina was cut off by Michael who stepped forward staring in awe at Sabrina’s glowing hands.

-emental…..you are…hmmm wood? Your co-worker guy is earth yes? I have to tell you something then, since we are all the same, I'm an elemental too, I’m metal though!” Michael carried on, he felt a weight he never knew he was carrying lifted from his shoulders. 

Sabrina gaped as Michael rolled his eyes and smirked a little. 

She gestured to a small table and chairs further into the room, “Come let’s sit and talk and drink tea! I just brewed a pot! I knew you were special when I met you yesterday!”

Michael smiled a little and followed the woman with a bright personality. She was like no one he had met before, and yet, she seemed somehow familiar to him, like someone he knew, once upon a dream. 

-_-_-_-_-

Lilith had mounted her steed and had a handful of her most loyal troops with her, they set off at a sedate pace, heading for the Earth Protectorate’s capital, Gaia City. Bloodlust was evident in her eyes at every step her horse took. Michael’s power would soon be hers to hold and bend to her will for dominance. ‘I will have your talents for myself, child of metal, I shall have you all, children of the elements’. She smiled darkly at the thought and pressed onwards.