Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sara needed to tell Ravan what was happening. Although for her it will be an hour for Ravan it would be a year for Sara. She explained how this training was going to happen within a year's worth of training would happen in an hour due to the way time flows in Alec's Realm. Ravan did not want to be left behind and Sara explained that, that may not be an option. Ravan insisted that she would be able to go and this lead to her comment, “Because, because...I'm not all human.”

Ravan’s comment gave Sara pause. She knew that Ravan was aware that she was in a facility where most of its residents were considered to be “not all human” but meta-human. This was something else, Ravan said this intentionally and certainly not a throw-away comment. This was something more. “Not all human? How so?”

"My father was...is, an Ancient. My therapist told me I'm, sort of, a demigod."

Sara's eyes widened, “What?” She slid down the wall, letting it sink in. After a minute, she asked, “How? Who’s your father?”

Ravan knelt down and bit her bottom lip. "You know how I'm from another Earth? He's, he's...that world's Eclipse."

She reached out slowly to Sara and begged, "Please, please don't hate me. I didn't ask to be like this."

Sara took a moment to take this information in. It was not only her father but the very thing they were fighting against. They talked and found that she did not know her father well, nor was she fond of him. The other people who knew of Ravan’s secret were Theonis, Silhouette, Liv from her timeline, her therapist, and now Sara. Ravan was still concerned about what Sara thought of her.

She huffed as the tears she had been fighting back broke through. "You're really not afraid me me?"

“No, no I’m not afraid.” She gave her a hug. “I know it’s been a few months, but I got to know you. I trust you. Your secret is safe with me.”

Once more, Ravan shared that she was going with her. Sara understood that she couldn’t stop her if she tried. She had realized that, like herself and others who carry the boons of the Ancients that Ravan is very much part of this and that she too needed this training.

The next day, she and Ravan attended the training together. At first Sara felt drained, however, that seemed to shake off after a day or so thanks to Alec's accommodations. Even though she was fine, it was painful to see Kerana trying to endure it, hiding it with constant healing. Even though Alec granted her the same accommodations, it took longer for her to adapt. Sara tried to comfort her as best she could, she may have her own healing factor in this place but she still could not heal others like Kerana could.

Months went by and she had found herself in this training room with Heather keeping icy cold water off of her.



Sara was focused on keeping the water off of Heather. After doing this for a while she started to wonder how long do we have to keep doing this? Then Heather's question came and her cheeks flushed, causing her to lose concentration, letting the water douse her. Sara, realizing what was going on, dropped to the floor as quickly as she could, thinking that if her concentration was disrupted by her question, surely Heather's would be disrupted by icy cold water dousing her. Sara quickly dropped down behind the chair and tried to get the water under control and even went as far as removing the water droplets from her. The water manipulated her hair causing it to twist upward and as the water was drained, her hair started to fall back to her shoulders, completely dried.

Once her hair was dried and Sara had everything under control once more and was able sit back in her scorched chair. She closed her eyes for a moment, took a sharp breath and exhaled, "What the ******** was that?!? You could have gotten instant hypothermia and I could have ended up burnt to a crisp! This is not the time nor place for such a question and furthermore… mind yah damned business!"

Heather increased her internal temperature to stop shivering and get her flames under control. She was thankful that Sara was also quick to respond.

"Sorry sorry! It's just that since we're going to be here for a bit, and I thought this would be a good chance to chat just the two of us. I've been dying to know if you two are, y'know, more than friends? Well, me and Liv, and Kerana...and Trinity a little."

Larry chimed in, "I wanna know, too!"

Smoke puffed from Heather's nostrils and she snapped, "This is girl talk, Lawrence! Turn our mics off or whatever you have up there!"

"Oh! Ummmmm...just a sec." Lawrence hummed. "It says heeere, 'Heather and Sara are to keep each other safe for one hour. If one of them dies, they will be revived and the test will start from the beginning. Larry-' oh, that's me! 'is encouraged to be verbally disruptive and do things like make obnoxious sounds, ask intrusive and/or personal questions, or talk about his current favorite thing. If Heather and Sara are having a conversation, then Larry will remain silent.'"

He then looked at a timer on the desk in front of him. "The clock is says fifty-seven twenty-three and is counting down. So I guess you guys have about that long unless you mess up. I guess I should be annoying now; unless you guys wanna chat some more?"

Heather made a face and looked desperately to Sara. "We need to talk about something...anything! His little brother pest energy knows no bounds, and that was back when he could only say one or two words at a time."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eutha nodded and replied, "I expected as much. What happened was awful. I wonder what you will do in the face of such tragedy."

Suddenly, and without ceremony or warning, the world around Kerana changed into a lush world of green grass, clear skies, and trees of all types as far as her eyes could see. Her ears were treated to the music of life all around her. The flow of water over stones, the serenade of birds, and the passage of wind through the leaves were in perfect harmony. Although Kerana had never been there, she had read of such a place many times. It was the first garden.

Eden.

Thoughts and memories flooded Kerana's mind. Though her mind was still her own, the experiences of Ilex were made known to the kitsune so that she knew recent history. The garden had been created by Ilex as an experiment of sorts to raise children in a place of peace. Eden was a sanctuary where people could learn how to live with the land and grow into kind, responsible parents who would pass on what they had learned so that the mistakes of the first and second ages would not be repeated.

It was during this period that Ilex had accepted a name that had been given to her by her "children." They called her Gaia, the mother of nature.

The chattering, laughter, and singing of children could be heard from a an area not too far from where Kerana stood. There, dozens of familes were scattered throughout a picturesque valley that could have been ripped from the pastoral symphony of segment of Fantasia. The people were engaged in all sorts of activities: singing, play, dancing, interacting with the plants and gentle animals, bathing, creation, affection, and living off of the bounties of the garden. It was paradise.

A group of small children ran up to Kerana and greeted her with bright eyes and rosey cheeks. A boy, who Kerana would recognize as Aryl, held up a flower crown to her.

"Mother Gaia! A gift, a gift in your light!" he squeaked enthusiastically.

Another boy, Shen, scoffed, "As I told, Mother has many such gifts. Look, she wears the one Meriam offered yesterday!"

Shen realized his folly and sheepishly put his arms down. He cast his eyes down from Kerana and sniffed.

At the edge of the tree line, hidden in the overcast, Alec stood and took in the sight of the brilliant garden. He watched as Kerana entered the light of the grove and somehow seemed to make the sun more warm and welcoming. He chuckled to himself. He knew it was his undying love for her that made the world more welcoming.

The way the children fawned over Kerana reminded him of the kids in Valhalla looked up to her as a big sister. He hated that he knew what was to come. It was Crosis' curse, and it had passed onto Alec. He had something important to tell Kerana, and what came next would be what they were "graded" on.

Once Kerana was done with the kids at her feet, Alec pinged her mind with a soft, "A natural as always, Kay." Once he had her attention he waved her over to the shadows.

Freya was about to take his hand when he mentioned the next time. She blushed and withdrew her hand. She crossed her arms and huffed, "Hmph. Next time might be a ways off. I think I made a big step today, and I'm gonna need some time to process and recover. Time and meat. Beef brisket. Smoked over oak with a Texas style dry rub. You may want to get started now cuz that s**t takes like half a day to do properly."

She hoped he would take her up on her "suggestion." She really did need time to go through what had just happened, and with Trinity indisposed until the end of the hour she would go ask Willadene for some girl time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The mouse stood on it's hind legs and looked up at Theonis, pointed at him, and then began to scream bloody murder like a grown man. Dozens of mice burst from the sand and all began to point and scream at the siblings.

Theresa covered her ears to try and block out the horrible sound when she felt the ground shake. Her powers allowed her to zero in on the source of the impact. A massive rat, the size of an elephant, barreled toward them from deeper in the cave. She leveled her right arm at the thing and fired a trio of rounds at it's head. The the thing's head turned to sand, softened, and absorbed the stones before it reconstituted itself. Theresa lowered her arm and turned to Theonis

"It's made of sand! Someone else's sand! I can't control someone elses sand! We need to run!"

Theo initially went to cover his ears but used the wind for form a barrier to blow out most of the screams from the....mice. What the ******** was that?! Seriously? Mice?! His eyes followed the projectiles shot out by Theresa.

"Really missing Heathers fire right about now!" He almost shouted as he fired a continuous stream of wind at the massive mouse. He could at least keep it at bay, giving Theresa a chance to create more distance .