Earth, Air, Fire, Water, a simple formula

Cyrus' forehead creased as he concentrated on the trees, trying to give them his full attention. Apart from looming larger and being a bit unkempt, he saw nothing that would explain his sense of being watched.

He closed his eyes and listened. Beneath the sound of the traffic, the wind blew through the leaves. They rustled gently, a faint murmur, like they were whispering secrets to each other.

He stood still, lost in the moment, became convinced that what he heard was no mere rustling of leaves. It had sounds, patterns he couldn't quite grasp, but they were there.

"I… I hear them," he whispered. He opened his eyes, "What's happening, Anne?"

She leaned her head back, looked up at the sky, smiling. "The world is awakening, Cyrus." She turned and looked at him, frowned. "There's something different about you."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

She walked around him, looking him up and down. "I don't know, you're different somehow." Eventually she shrugged, bent over and picked the bags up again. "Help me set up and we'll talk."

As they walked towards the coffee card, Anne kept stealing glances at him. She shook her head, muttering something and put her rucksack down, stretched her back. "I'm too old for this," she mumbled, leaning over to open up the rucksack.

Inside was the charcoal burner she used to heat up her coffee. Cyrus watched as she busied herself, taking cups from one bag, coffee from another, setting everything up. She completely ignored him.

He cleared his throat, "So, someone tried to kill me today."

She stopped what she was doing for a moment. "Hmm, interesting."

"And there's this girl, Thalia, who appears and disappears. And a tree growing in my garden faster than you'd believe."

Anne turned around and looked at him, her face split by a grin. "You'd be surprised what I'd believe. I think we should have a coffee and talk."

By the time the coffee was made Cyrus had blurted out everything. Told her about the tree, Thalia, the attack by an unknown man who'd used magic and the tree roots dragging him beneath the ground.

Anne sat back, her expression thoughtful as she took a sip of her steaming coffee, the aroma mingling with the cool morning air. 

"You aren't going mad, Cyrus. And I did not put anything in your coffee. You're caught up in something much bigger than you can imagine."

Frustration began to bubble up in him again. Why wouldn't anyone give him a straight answer.

"But what? What exactly is happening?"

The old lady let out a sigh, "Where to start?"

"Thalia said she was locked away in that place as a safeguard, a safeguard against what?"

"Of this." Anne swept her hand around, indicating the city beyond the park. "The world is damaged, nearly beyond repair. And I don't just mean the pollution in the atmosphere. What I'm talking about goes much deeper.

"The Earth has a spirit, Cyrus, a soul. And it's sick. If it's not healed then it's going to get bad for us. That's why, you could say, I nudged you along a little that day."

Nudged him along…

"I knew it!" He stood up, nearly spilling his coffee. "I knew you'd done something."

She held her hands up, laughing. As if this was funny.

"I just nudged you to go out and look for something more, boy. You did everything else yourself. I certainly never expected you to plant the tree in your garden." She finished her drink and pushed herself slowly up from the bench. 

"We killed someone, Anne," he said suddenly. "I can't stop thinking about it. I don't even know who he was."

Anne looked at him appraisingly. "If what you said is true, he would have killed you, then he would have found and killed the girl."

Cyrus shook his head, "How? She is the one that protected me. I'd be dead already if not for her."

"And she would be dead if not for you. Perhaps you should think about what that means. Listen carefully, Cyrus. The only hope for a future in which the Earth isn't a dry ball of dust is that girl. Protect her, at all costs."

Anne walked over to the grass behind the bench they'd been sitting on. "Come here, boy."

Cyrus didn't know what she was doing, but came to her side, assuming she was going to dispense some nugget of wisdom.

"Take of your shoes."

She had clearly lost her mind. He looked askance at her. 

"Trust me, do it."

With a pantomime sigh, Cyrus slipped off his shoes, then pulled his socks off and placed them inside the shoes. 

The grass was cold and wet and when he first placed his bare foot on it, he felt something like an electric shock. He looked down at his foot in disbelief and Anne watched him.

"Yes, you felt it, didn't you?"

He glanced at her, then back at his feet. He'd felt something. "What was that?" He looked around, making sure there were no live wires touching the wet grass. 

"That was your connection with the Earth. Do you understand?" She was looking at him seriously. "It was the apple, it healed you, yes. But it's left something behind. You have a connection to earth now, Cyrus."

"What do you mean 'a connection'?" he asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"Well," she began, "There are five primal elements of magic, five different kinds. Earth, Air, Fire and Water you're probably aware of. Also there is divinity. Your oak tree is no normal tree. It's seeding the world with magic again."

Cyrus couldn't believe what he was hearing. He listened intently, disbelieving his own ears. He stood rooted to the spot, ignoring the tingling warmth that was creeping up his legs. "What do you mean seeding the world with magic?"

"There is magic in the world already, but it's at such a low level it's barely good for anything. It's certainly not enough the heal the World. That tree will reverse the decline."

Cyrus' mind reeled. Seeding the world with magic didn't sound like such a bad thing when she said it like that, but what did it mean in real terms? More people like the man he'd fought?

As if sensing what he was thinking about, Anna said to him; "The man you encountered, he was using Air magic against you. Thalia, she used earth magic.

"And now so can you."