Raven opened her eyes to an empty darkness. Nothing in sight in any direction. It was is if she had been sucked into a black hole. An inescapable nightmare of nothingness in a dark abyss.
Raven began to worry... Maybe this was a bad idea... But then in the distance a small light appeared and began to glow. It wasn't very bright but the glow was coming off of something moving towards her.
"Mommy! Chase me mommy!" The glow began to take shape as a small child's laughter rang out through the darkness. It was a little blonde girl and she appeared to be running around playfully. The child was a toddler. Not even five years old yet.
"Terra?" Raven asked herself. It dawned on her that her attempt to go into Terra's subconscious mind was successful. It was dark and empty because she couldn't remember details about this memory. Only that she was a little girl playing with her mother... Raven realized this was Terra's very first memory.
The sun began to rise behind Raven she turned around to see the bright sunlight evaporating the emptiness like water filling a cup to the brim.
Not far away, a town grew from the ground up. It looked like an old mining town that was flourishing. Buildings looked updated even though they still had the structured look of buildings from long ago. It gave the town character like it had a good history and a bright future.
In the distance, there were mounatins shooting into the air in every direction. with endless rolling hills in between them. Lush green trees popped out of the mountains and covered every bit of them like thick blankets.
Raven looked down to her feet to see the ground change shape. Under her feet sprout knee high grass soft as cotton. It was a gorgeous day. Perfect summer weather.
A tall blonde woman, wearing summer shorts and a t-shirt was wading through the knee high grass in front of Raven with a smile on her face. She looked like she was searching the grass for something.
"Rrraaahhhhhhh!" Out of the knee high grass came the little blonde girl in her cute summer dress. She was a few years older now but still as playful as ever.
"Aaaahhhhh!" The woman fake screamed acting terrified. She fell back into the grass and the little girl jumped on top of her.
"I scared you mommy!" The little girl giggled.
"You sure did!" The woman playfully laughed with her daughter.
They seemed like an inseparable pair. As Raven watched the memories unfold in front of her she couldn't help but smile and giggle here and there. She liked what she was seeing. It made her happy to see that Terra's past wasn't just a tragic upcoming since birth like herself... but she actually had a decent life with a loving family.
The grass got shorter under Ravens feet and the sun had moved, changing positions in the sky. A river forced its way past Raven splitting the grassy field in half with a river bank of small rocks and sand. The stream followed the rolling hills into the mountains as if paving the way to paradise.
"How much further mama?" The little girl asked. She was holding hands with her mom like they were heading to a long awaited destination. They walked along the river bank as if following the stream like a treasure map.
"Not much farther, baby," the tall blonde woman said smiling down at her daughter.
The little blonde girl was still young. Not much more than a year or two older than the last memory Raven watched. Her clothing seem to have more detail now. As Raven watched she saw everything around her had more detail as if these memories were more prevalent. Terra wore a yellow summer dress with pink sandals that wrapped around her heels.
She seemed like she had matured slightly. She would dance between calling her mother "mama" and "mommy" like she wasn't sure which one sounded better to her.
As they continued walking a wide open clearing came into view and Raven had to shield her eyes as the sunlight reflcted off a gorgeous lake that glistened like bright stars in a night sky. Trees surrounded the entire lake making it look like a sports arena superdome and the lake was the playing field at the center. At the other end of the lake a smaller river formed as if the river they followed in was picking up where it had left off.
"WOW!" The little girl said in awe. She was so excited to see such an amazing sight. It must have been the first time she had ever been to this lake.
"Come on, I'll teach you how to skip stones," her mother giggled. She was delighted to see the excitment on her daughter's face. The woman was wearing a light summer dress similar to her daughters now. It was white and would drift with the most gentle breeze like a curtain on a windy day. She wore sandals as well but hers only wrapped over the top of her foot near her toes. They seemed to enjoy wearing similar or matching outfits.
They went down to the beach of the lake took their sandals off and lightly splashed in the shallows of the water. They were having a blast. A mother and daughter living life to the fullest. After they'd had their fill of splashing around they went back to the beach and Terra's mother picked up a smooth round stone. The smoothest she could find.
"Ok sweety," she said to her daughter, "watch closely." She wrapped her index finger around the edge of the rock balancing the bottom surface on her curled middle finger and wrapping her thumb around the other edge of the stone, "you hold it like this... then you throw it like this!" She whipped her hand around the side of her body letting the stone roll off the tip of her index finger. The rock went sailing through the air spinning like a frisbee and slowly came down on the calm surface of the lake water. It gently touched down on the water and immediately lifted back into the air before repeating itself a dozen more times before finally dying down and disappearing beneath the surface of the water.
Terra's little eyes went wide with excitement. To a girl her age...that may have been the greatest thing she had ever seen.
"I wanna try!" She exclaimed. Terra picked up a stone from the sand and tried tossing it the same way her mother did. It made a long arch through the air before hitting the water like a chubby child doing a cannon ball to impress his friends at the community swimming pool. Terra's excitement vanished when she couldn't get it right on her first try.
Her mother chuckled and picked up another rock,"try again baby," she said handing her the stone. It was smooth and round almost like a perfect circle. She placed it in her daughter's hand and positioned her fingers just as hers would have been and nudged her head towards the water encouraging her to give it another shot.
Terra turned back to the water and whipped her arm around a second time. The rock skipped a few times before splashing into the depths of the lake.
"I DID IT!" She screamed with joy. She wrapped her arms around her mother tightly laughing with excitement.
Raven nearly teared up from this exchange between mother and daughter. She envied them. She always wanted something like that. Someone to hold her, encourage her, and love her. It made her want to reconnect with own mother. But she and Arella weren't exactly... close... Raven blinked away the emotions and continued to observe the memories as if she recording them with her own mind.
The sun changed positions again but only slightly. Terra didn't seem to change in age this time. Raven believed this meant it was a memory that must have taken place close to the same day as the memory she just watched.
Terra stood on the beach of the lake once again. She wore the same outfit like she didn't change but her sandals were no where in sight.
She had a pile of rocks sitting next to her. All were ideal for skipping stones. She seemed to be a pro at it now. As if she had been practicing for weeks if not months.
Raven could only assume Terra had been here numerous times now. She figured this was a place they would visit often. It must have been a fair distance from where they lived but close enough to walk every day.
The stones skipped across the lake flawlessly. They danced on the surface leaving a circle of ripples with each step. Terra seemed happy. She loved life. Didn't fear anything. As long as she had her mother she thought nothing could go wrong.
"I can't believe you got so good so fast!" Her mother cried out to her daughter with pride. She was a small walk away down the beach where she was sunbathing, "you only started skipping stones yesterday!" Her mother exclaimed. She smiled at Terra giving her a huge look of pride before returning to sunbathing. Her outfit had changed. She now wore a two piece swim suit that showed off her flawless skin. She was definitely beautiful. Even Raven couldn't deny that. But something she said caught her attention.
Yesterday? Raven thought to herself in shock.This was just some kind of weekend get-away? She didn't understand. A girl her age developing hand-eye coordination like that in less than 24 hours seemed impossible. The stones skipped across the water almost too perfect for only a day's practice.
Terra walked around collecting more stones into a pile at a different part of the beach even further away from her mother. Once she had another pile she started the process over again and began effortlessly tossing stones at the water and watching them skip perfectly.
Raven looked a little closer at Terra tossing the stones this time. When she focused she could see Terra wasn't actually throwing the stones. She looked like she was... but from the moment they left her hand to the moment they hit the water the stones were not following her arms movement. The rocks were flying unnaturally as if something else was controlling them.
Raven gasped. She understood why this memory was so important now. It was the day Terra realized she had powers... but nothing prepared her for what she was about to see next.
A shadow grew on the ground behind Terra. It crept up more and more until she was completely covered in the darkness of whatever was blocking the sun.
She spun to see herself staring up at a massive grizzly bear towering over her looking down at Terra like she was its next meal. Terra's eyes went wide in horror. She screamed and fell backwards into the soft sand. She felt trapped. Pinned between a lake and a grizzly bear.
A large rock the size of a baseball came flying in out of nowhere and smacked against the bears head. He turned to see Terra's mother jumping around and waving her arms frantically. As soon as she had heard Terra's scream she jumped into action not even hesitating to risk her life.
"OVER HERE! COME AND GET ME!" She shouted trying to get the bear away from her child.
The bear let out a chilling roar. It was already annoyed from the large rock smashing against its face but seeing this little woman taunting it right after she threw the rock, made it even more angry. It turned towards her and started to charge the woman seeking vengeance.
Terra looked on in horror as the bear started closing the gap between itself and Terra's mother.
"Terra, run!" She yelled, "I'll meet you at home!" She sounded confident like she had a plan. But Terra was frozen stiff. She couldnt move even if she wanted to. Her mothers words fell on deaf ears as she continued to look on in horror.
"Terra?!" Her mother called trying to get Terra to snap out of it.
Terra kept looking from the sprinting bear back to her mother over and over. Back and forth. She was unsure of what was about to happen right in front of her eyes and it scared her even more.
"BABY!" Her mother screamed desperately trying to get Terra's attention.
The grizzly was right on top of Terra's mother now and Terra finally snapped out of it hearing her mother call out to her. But instead of running like her mother wanted she stood firm and wanted to show no fear just like her mom. She looked down at the pile of rocks she was going to use for skipping stones then looked back up at the bear getting dangerously close to her mom.
She reached down picked up a few stones and began failing her arm as hard as she could. These rocks were clearly not going to where her arm was flailing about. The rocks seemed to launch themselves at the bear by some unseen force.
One clocked the grizzly right on the back of the skull and it turned to see Terra continously tossing rocks his way each one hitting their mark without fail. One hit the beast on the forehead, followed by another that hit him on the nose causing it to shake its head vigorously to numb the pain. The grizzly was getting more angry with every stone.
The bear continued to grow more and more annoyed and stopped chasing after Terra's mother no matter how much she wailed and thrashed about. Instead, it began approaching his original target and this time seemed more angry and determined than ever and without hesitation Terra's mother gave chase on the bears heels hoping to get to Terra first.
Terra relentlessly continued to fire rocks until she found herself empty handed with none left. She then found a new passion for fear and turned to start running before it got with striking range. However, Terra was too small and too slow for the massive beast and couldn't out run it. It was gaining on her fast. It wasn't long before it was right behind her nipping at her heels.
The bear lunged, throwing its jaws at the little blonde girl trying to bite her head off but failed with a loud and empty chomp as Terra dove forward to her left landing on her stomach to avoid being eaten. The beast then over ran her studden stop, grinding to a sliding halt on the other side of Terra. It quickly corrected itself and started heading back to where Terra lay.
She rolled to her back, sat up, and began shuffling backwards in the opposite direction she had just been running until she found herself backed against a large boulder that lay on the outskirts of the beach where the tree line began. The bear raised a claw to strike and swung swiftly for a killing blow.
Terra closed her eyes and clenched her body thinking she wasn't going to survive this when suddenly a forceful pull sent her out of the path of the strike landing on her mothers body next to the large boulder she was just backed against. The brave mother quickly scanned her daughter for injuries before looking back to see the bears claws strike the hard surface of the rock leaving three distinct scratch marks across the surface. However, it wasted no time and immediately turned to face the two girls once more.
Terra's mother picker her up with one arm and stood up to begin running but her feet found no traction in the soft sand and she slipped to her knees where Terra landed on the beach in front of her with a soft thud. Terra quickly sat back up facing the massive creature and began backing away again as her mother did the same.
She had put herself in between the grizzly and her daughter. When she didn't see a way out she turned her back to the bear outstretched her arms in an attempt to make a human wall to bar the beast from her child. She stared into Terra's eyes thinking this was the end. She only hoped her sacrifice would allow her little girl to continue on living.
Terra's eyes went wide when she realized what her mother was doing. Right over her mothers right shoulder she could see the massive bear lifting its right paw yet again to strike. Terra grew desperate. She started to look around for anything she might be able to use to stop the beast. But there was nothing. No rocks. No branches. No nothing. Just a boulder she was backed against a moment ago.
Raven's eyes went wide and her face turned to sheer panic... Is Terra's past... really this bad? She thought to herself as she watched. She was expecting things to be bad... but nothing like this. Was Terra really about to watch her own mother die right in front of her eyes?
The bear's claw came crashing down and the air could be heard passing through its claws.
"MOMMY!" Terra screamed. Her eyes then lit up yellow and her hair began to float, defying gravity. The ground around them shook and a shock wave shot through the ground in every direction from where Terra and her mother sat in fear. The shock wave stopped the bear in its tracks send it back a few feet just enough for its claws to miss Terra's mother by a few inches. It began looking around confused wondering what just happened. The bear took a minute before calming down and re-focusing back on the two girls.
Terra's head started to get fuzzy like it was aching. She slowly looked over at the boulder next to her. She raised a hand to it and wished she could throw a rock that size at the bear. As she sat there looking at the boulder something caught her eye. She looked down slightly to see her rasied hand began to glow with an aura of yellow around it. When she looked back up... to her surprise the boulder was twice the size of the bear and had lifted from its place in the treeline. Terra act like she was going to throw it and sent her hand flying towards the beast and it slammed itself against the bear sending it flying into the lake with a huge splash.
The bear resurfaced instantly with utter fear surrounding it. It swam to the beach and made a run for the treeline in a different direction of the two girls, disappearing into the green vegitation.
Terra couldn't believe what she just saw. Her vision may have been fuzzy and her head may have ached but she was absolutely sure of what she saw. She knew it wasn't possible but she didn't care. Her mother was alive with her and that's all she cared about but when she looked at her mother she found herself staring a a woman filled with fear. Not from nearly getting mauled by a bear... but from what she was looking at. Fear of her daughter.
Her mother looked deep into Terra's yellow glowing eyes,"no. No, please. Tell me it's not true," she whispered under her breath, "not you too."
Terra looked up at her with her glowing yellow eyes and gave a confused expression. Raven was also confused. What does she mean? Not her too?
"Mama-" Terra stopped short and her hands shot to her temples. It felt like her head had spikes trying to come out of it and she was trying to use her hands to keep them from exiting her temples. She began to scream in pain. Louder than any sound she's ever made. It was so loud any birds that were in the trees nearby were startled and went flying off in every dircection.
"Terra?!" Her mother said concerned.
Immediately after her mother said that, another shock wave pulsed underneath them in every direction and everything around them began to shake. Terra was causing an earth quake. A big one. The lake next to them started to show large pockets of air rising to the surface as if they were coming from the bottom of the lake. It almost looked like the lake was boiling. Large waves started forming in the center of the lake but they never reached the shore. Something was happening to the lake and something was happening to Terra.
Terra started crying from the pain as her mother watched helplessly. Neither of them knew what to do.
"Mommy!" Terra struggled to say over her sobs of pain, "Mommy help me!"
"I'm right here, baby!" Her mother tried to comfort her, "I got you. You're gonna be ok!"
"It hurts!" Terra screamed, "Mommy my head hurts!"
Terra's mother began to tear up. She thought her daughter might not survive this after all. She looked up at the lake to see the waves and air pockets have stopped but a giant whirlpool had taken shape at the center of the lake. Any tree branches or debris that had fallen into the water from the earthquake was spinning around in the water at an impressive speed. If anyone were in the water they had no chance of getting out. As the spinning whirlpool continued Terra's mom noticed the surface level was going down. The water was draining somewhere at an alarming rate.
Terra continued to scream as the lakes surface level continued to lower. When the lake finally went dry the pain in Terra's head finally fade and she lay in the fetal position breathing heavily trying to catch her breath. Her yellow glowing eyes fade back to normal and her hair no longer fought gravity's pull. She was back to normal.
The lake was bone dry. The river that lead into the lake was now a weak stream that poured into the gaping crater of earth that was once a lake. At the bottom of the lake was a massive crevasse. It looked as if someone had torn open the ground on command just to demonstrate their raw power. But this wasn't a raw power that could be controlled. This power seemed to have control over whomever held it.
Raven flew high over the lake bed to see just how extensive the damage was. It was unbelieveable what she was seeing. All the trees within a 3 mile radius were bent and leaning towards the lake. Towards Terra, to be precise. The further away from terra the less intense the bend in trees would be. It was almost as if gravity had shifted the ground underneath them to a new central point. This was the kind of power Terra was trying to contain? The power that could obliterate land mass for miles? This brought a huge understanding to Raven. She knew exactly how this felt. Containing that kind of power is not easy to control.
Raven couldn't believe she had so much in common with Terra. It almost crushed her that she didn't see it earlier.
Terra finally caught her breath and sat up looking at her mom. Her head was still slightly aching but completely manageable even for a small child.
Her mother continued to stare at the empty lake bed in shock. She couldn't believe that the lake was gone. She couldn't believe Terra saved their lives from a giant grizzly bear. She couldn't believe Terra had this strange power she has seen before. She couldn't believe any of it. She didn't want to believe any of it.
Terra followed her mothers gaze and she too fell into shock. All that time in pain she never paid attention to what was happening around her. How could she? She just now realized the lake was now dry.
"What happened to the lake Mama?" Terra asked ripe with worry in her voice. Terra's question was met with a short silence. After a moment her mother finally respond.
"It's gone baby," Terra's mother said softly. She sounded like all hope had gone. She didn't take her eyes off the empty crater in front of her. She just stared straight ahead with dead eyes. Like her worst fear had come true. Her face held a lifeless expression as if she just entered a nightmare.
Terra could see the pain on her face and grew more worried. She had thought maybe something happened to her during all the running and fighting against the bear, "Mommy, are you hurt?" She asked.
Her mother's eyes began to water even more and a single tear fell down her cheek before she smiled, wiped it away, and looked at Terra.
"We need to talk, baby."