Sunday, July 3rd
The cool evening breeze felt refreshing as Alana Roberts stepped into a small clearing in the forest and closed her eyes. She had learned over the years that it was much easier to tap into the eco-net when she wasn’t distracted with what she saw in the physical realm. As she stretched her hands out to her sides, palms up, and began to concentrate, the green pendant around her neck began to glow. Soon the breeze, which had been very mild when she had entered the woods, began to increase in intensity, swirling around her. The ubiquitous leaves that had been resting on the forest floor moments before began to circle her gently in the air. The branches on the surrounding trees started swaying rhythmically. She turned her face towards the sky as the wind lifted her slowly off of the ground until she was levitating almost a foot above the earth.
She was now in full communication mode, listening and watching in her mind’s eye to see what the forest would show her. A month ago, she had seen a man trapped under an ATV that had rolled back on him when he’d been ascending a steep bank. He had managed to get out from under it, but the initial fall had broken his leg, and he wasn’t able to push the ATV upright and get back home. Alana had been able to determine exactly where he was and had called the police so that rescue workers could find him.
Over the years, she had helped dozens of people. There had been lost children, hikers trapped by a snow storm, injured campers, and even lost animals whose owners were distraught when their beloved companions had gone missing. She had helped all of them with her unique gift.
Her gift allowed her to sense danger anywhere within the contiguous forest surrounding her or in the immediate vicinity of the forest for miles around. The plants themselves served as kind of ecological network and provided her with images and impressions that could be interpreted by her own senses. Her communion with the forest indicated no hint of trouble tonight, however. She smiled to herself, satisfied that everything was calm in the surrounding forest. Slowly coming back out of her trance-like state, she was lowered back to the ground. The light emanating from the pendant began to recede until it once more appeared to be simply a beautiful piece of jewelry hanging around her neck.
Being the bearer of the Testament Stone wasn’t always easy. There were times when she found it hard to balance her responsibilities in her ‘normal’ life with those of being a guardian with paranormal abilities. But she had learned to take life one day at a time over the years, taking both the successes and the occasional failures in stride. She was, after all, only a human steward of the Testament Stone – one of many in a long line of stewards stretching back hundreds of years.