Elemental

I stare at him dumbfounded. My father is dead. Why is he in my dream?

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions but there isn't enough time right now for all your questions and for what I need to tell you. So for now, I need you to listen. If there is time after for any questions I will happily answer them after that. First, your power. If you want to be able to protect yourself you are going to need to become stronger. When you were born I placed some of my power in you. I knew you would end up with your own power but I wanted to ensure that if something happened to me, that you would have some form of protection. Now its time for you to learn and strengthen your own power."

"Wait! You cant just show up in a dream and start throwing all this at me! What makes you think that I want anything to do with your power?! Isn't that what got you killed! Why mom might be-" I cant finish the sentence. I don't want to believe that she could be gone. That I have no one left.

"That is exactly why you need to learn to protect yourself! They wont stop coming for you. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them. I thought I could reason with them. So pay attention to what I am telling you. You are very powerful. If you can practice and learn your gifts well you may be even more powerful than I was. For this you are going to need to practice breathing. Feel the energy around you and focus. Start small. Work your way up."

"You want me to meditate? Seriously?"

"Not just meditate. Feel the energy around you and use it. Your special Cas. You can use the energy around you. If you can learn to harness it and protect yourself then you should also be able to live longer with Wilder. Your not just human. You're an elemental. Even if you don't learn to harness all this you would typically live longer than most humans but with those people hunting you, that's no longer the case. I wish you didn't have to face this but you do. It was always a worry I had when I started a life with your mother. Now its almost time. Until next time, my little firecracker."

"NO! I haven't had a chance to ask you anything! This doesn't explain anything to me! NOO—"

"Cassidy!" I woke up when she had started tossing and turning but when she started saying no in her sleep and getting louder I started to worry.

"I'm not done with you!"

"Cassidy! It was just a dream! What happened?! Breath." Her saying that made me worried that she had a nightmare and was reliving something. Maybe what had happened yesterday morning when she had run for her life.

"That prick! How dare he just unload all that on me and disappear like that!"

"What happened?" To my surprise rather than being scared like I had thought she was, she seems angry. Why though?

Taking a moment to calm down I look at Wilder. He seems concerned and confused. I take a deep breath to further calm down before explaining to him. "I met my dad. I'm not sure how he did it, maybe it has something to do with what he said about having given me some of his power? He basically showed up, tells me who he is, then tells me I should meditate to control my power. Since when does meditation help someone become stronger huh? More calm and less stressed yeah, but more powerful? Even said if I could do that that I could even live as long as you."

"Wait, what?! You could live with me that long? Not just for another 80 years?! How? Arent you human? Humans cant live that long!"

"Why aren't you thinking I'm crazy for saying I just had a talk with my dead father in my dream?"

"There is a lot of unknowns in our world. Just because it seems strange doesn't mean it wasn't real. So did he mention why you would be able to live longer than other humans?"

Wilder's easy acceptance of this whole thing threw me for a moment. His calmness about it, like its an everyday thing to talk to a dead relative in your dreams. "Oh, yea. I think he said something about being an elemental? Whatever that means."