Eco Warriors: A New Dawn

The first time we met was in a small cave by the river. We had all heard rumours of creatures that lived within the waters, but no-one had ever actually seen one. We were all just teenagers with nothing better to do on a boring summer day.

Until we saw it. It swam slowly through the water, its body glowing and reflecting light off of the river's surface. Its eyes glowed yellow, and it seemed to look directly at each of us as it moved leisurely upstream. Eventually it turned down a side channel and disappeared from sight.

"What was that?" asked the girl who had spotted it. She was my age and wore her wavy brown hair long around her shoulders. Her name was Grace.

"I don't know," I said, "but I kind of want to find out." And so we spent the next few hours scouring the shores and banks for more clues, until an older boy found a cave entrance hidden in some rocks on the other side of the river. I led the way into the cave, followed by Grace and the others, until we reached a small cavern opening in front of us. The low light made it hard to see into the gloom, but I could make out a small rock altar at the back of the cavern, surrounded by what looked like candles or something similar stuck into holes in stones around its edge. I stepped forward cautiously as Grace called out my name: "Thomas!" she whispered loudly, "be careful!"

As I neared closer to investigate further, I felt something touch my leg: behind me stood my best friend Jeremiah, who had crept up silently behind me. When he tapped my leg, however, he startled me so much that I jumped backwards and fell into him; his arms caught me around my torso as we toppled backwards together onto the rocky floor of the cave - whereupon I accidentally kicked a rock lying nearby with my foot and sent it rolling into one of those candle-like objects on the altar. There was a flash of light from within that object as it fell off its perch; when I looked again at what remained on top of the altar, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry: there sat an old stone bottle filled with mud!

My laughter echoed throughout the cavern as Grace came over to see what had happened; while we laughed she picked up the bottle and examined it curiously before asking me what it meant. As she did so that strange creature returned again - this time swimming right up close to us before moving away again when we noticed it approaching along one of those side channels in front of us. It swam right up beside us in fact as we sat there watching in awe: then suddenly it darted forward with incredible speed and grace towards me - leaving me breathless with both excitement and fear! It paused for only a moment near me before moving back towards Grace; my joy quickly turned to anger as it left me again for her - unable to cope any longer with feeling so useless in comparison to such an amazing animal, I burst into tears.

"Hey," said Jeremiah softly after a short pause, "it's alright." He put his arm around me for support; meanwhile Grace picked up something from where she'd been sitting on her rock above us on our small island in front of her: an acorn she'd found earlier today floating downriver towards us! She held it out towards me gently - signalling for me to place my hand under hers so that she could place it inside my palm; when I did so she closed her fingers around mine and squeezed them tightly over that acorn until finally she let go - releasing something more than just an acorn into my hand! When I opened my palm once more after that strange event, there lay now also several tiny new shoots growing out of that same little acorn: they had grown without any soil beneath them at all! In total wonderment I raised them up high above my head - as if they were somehow part of some sort of prayer - until finally they broke free from their seed-pod roots and flew away from me like particles carried by wind! My friends were amazed too: how could this have happened? We all wanted answers but didn't know how to ask ...