Evelyn Earth Part 15

It was unlike anything I have ever felt before. Considering my current circumstances though, it wasn’t as unique an observation as it would have been say, 6 months ago.

I was dreaming at first. The coldness of the concrete was filtering into my body through my pores, my muscles and my blood. Within me though there was nothing but fire. Hot and smouldering, close, so close.

We were standing on the street. I recognised the pattern of fallen rubble, the way the sun set in the background—its rays spilling out over the water. I shielded my eyes and tried to make out the other person. They were just out of reach, just out of sight. I took a step forward, but in dream time I walked hundreds of metres. Each step brought me closer to them, but they stayed stubbornly out of my range.

My eyes are open. I know this because the sun is rising behind me, over the city. I sit up and my back aches from the constant pressure of the concrete. How did I even fall asleep like this? The remnants of my dream linger within me and I try and pinpoint the exact feeling of it. The closest I can come to making sense of it is that it’s a mixture of anticipation and fear. As if I’m a little girl waking up on Christmas morning, unsure about whether or not there would be any presents because I’ve been bad, very bad.

Standing up I stretched out my body and did a little exercise routine. I was never the healthiest of people, but lately keeping my body warmed up and prepared made more sense than it used to. Shaking off the last of my stretches I walked over to the edge of my former perch and crouched down. Out of habit I assumed the stance that I had used all those days that I sat watching for scavengers. This time though I wasn’t afraid of being found, on the contrary I was itching for a face to face encounter. This need for conflict mixed in with my newfound feeling of anticipation making me anxious and impatient.

 I had learned that my dreams were not just dreams but messages in and of themselves. If the Earth Mother was showing me something I couldn’t just brush it aside, I had to try and understand what it was she was showing me. 

I closed my eyes and took some deep breathes. Reaching inside with my inner eye I pulled out a tiny fragment of the darkness. Slowly I inched my eyelids open until my iris’s expanded. I could almost feel them merging with the liquid darkness, filling up the whites of my eyes. A flicker of a memory crosses my mind—all demons in sci-fi shows had solid black eyes. I push the thought out of my head this was no time for nifty comparisons between what I was becoming and Supernatural.

By now I knew that my far-sight could reach up to the horizon of my normal vision. Normally I could just make out the edges of Footscray, a few scattered houses, piles of old shipping containers and the highway, but when I looked with my far-sight all of that became crystal clear. I scanned that area now, looking for anything out of the ordinary. A few trees swayed in the breeze, doors banged against walls, but other than that there was no other movement. This was the direction I had been facing in my dream. The other person was just over…the feeling of fear suddenly gripped my throat.

Almost choking I stumbled backwards and turned my head to the left. I had been looking in the wrong place. At the edge of my horizon I could see a small boat. At first it seemed to be floating upon the water, but the more energy I focused onto it the clearer it became—it was moving in my direction.

Taking a chance I closed my eyes again and delved deeper into the darkness, pulling out another fragment. I felt it spill out from my eyes and encroach upon my temples. Struggling to keep it under control I focussed once again onto the boat and pushed my far-sight as far as it could go.

Our eyes locked. Ebony tendrils lined the top half of his face. As we watched each other I could see the realisation hit him as it did me. His eyes widened as I took a step back. A surge of energy travelled between us—a surge so powerful that it knocked me off my feet and sent me flying backwards.

 As if in slow motion one concrete block then another passed me by until the edge of the roof slammed into the back of my legs and flipped me over the edge. I didn’t have time to think, but my instincts had kicked in for me. The power emanating from my eyes spread like wildfire throughout my whole body until I felt weightless. I spread my arms as I fell and I could feel the air currents amassing underneath me. It was similar to my first fall into the darkness, except this time I could control it. I let the air push me forward until I was upright and then slowly glided down onto the sidewalk. The black essence of my power surged over my skin. It was like electricity, crackling over me and reaching out around me.

All the adrenaline that had surged through my human body had awoken my inhuman abilities. Not only that, but the power surge that had come from him had somehow jump started me. This was everything that I had been playing around with in the past week. It was awake and alive inside of me and I wasn’t afraid, I wasn’t scared to unleash it. I threw my head back and screamed as hard and as loud as I could as masses and masses of surging darkness spilled forth from me. I felt like my voice was keeping me grounded, keeping me from floating away with all the energy that was escaping out of my body. I tried as hard as I could to keep my eyes open and watch the wonder that was unfolding before me. Bit by bit I was devouring the eight story apartment block.

Every piece of mortar, wiring and metal scaffolding fell prey to my power. The darkness billowed around every inch of the place and disintegrated it until all of a sudden there was nothing left to devour and I was spent. I hit the ground hard and I could feel my warm blood pool around my knees. All of the energy was rushing back inside me. I reeled it back in, every wisp, every cloud. I needed it all, the more I had the more powerful I would be. Without it I was nothing.

 As the world went dark and my mind shut down I realised with a sharp clarity that as soldiers of the earth we needed to acquire more power. We needed to consume more of her darkness. It seemed like the most basic primal instinct, but I had only become aware of it now.

That’s why he was coming here, the man in my dream, the man on the boat.—to seek out more power. Power that lay in the darkness infused factories of Footscray.

Someone was shaking me. I felt my head move up and down, I felt the smack of the ground as it hit me—or did I hit it? I tried to open my eyes, but they seemed so heavy. The shaking wouldn’t stop though and it was becoming irritating, I had to respond, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. A tiny spark of anger ignited within me. It was like a beacon of light—I focussed all of my senses on it and felt it grow. Slowly it spread throughout me until I could feel the sunlight on my skin hear the feint splash of water and smell the salt in the air.

“Evie, Evie, Evie wake up, please wake up” a voice pleaded with me. Every time I heard my name my head would lift up and smack back down. I had pinpointed the source of the shaking. The small spark of anger had steadily built into a ball of fury. My eyes snapped open and just as I was about to direct all of my energy on this source of annoyance I recognised his face.

“Oh thank God! Evie” Owen pulled me into an uncomfortable embrace. The anger seeped out of me just as my mind fully recovered from the huge expenditure of power. We were sitting in the middle of a patch of dirt. I could feel its soft texture under my hands and smell the earthy scent.

“I came running out here as soon as I saw it, the black hole must have re-surfaced here, and then there you were, I saw you just lying here and I thought, you know I…” I patted him on the back. I had to give it to him his mind could come up with plausible enough scenarios to explain the destruction of my former home.

I pulled back from our hug and brushed my hair out of my face. Small specks of dirt stuck to my black strands, but I didn’t care. This was wonderful. I looked around and took in everything that I had accomplished. The whole block that had housed my apartment building and the townhouses was cleared. Not just cleared of man-made construction though, but cleared of all man-made materiel. So much so that the earth we were sitting on could foster new growth, trees, plants, life!

“I’m fine” I smiled at Owen, “perfectly fine.”