Rebecca was meditating. In her own consciousness. She wanted to awaken her Seed Power. She wanted to become stronger. While descending through her consciousness, she could see soft pulsating lights of various colors all around her. Looking down further, she couldn't help but see four solid colors pulsating vividly on a platform. The middle of the platform had a design, various natural disasters could be seen. From tornados to flooding tsunamis. Even a sea of flames and the earth splitting from earthquakes.
The moment her feet touched the platform, it began to light up, and something clear started to raise from below. It looked like a clear ball, but upon closer inspection, faint colors were flaring out. If one didn't take a closer look, they wouldn't see it. It would just look like some kind of odd distortion.
Rebecca looked all around her, and sitting on top of four podiums were four different orbs. One had a Red orb, another had a Blue orb, the third had a Green orb, and the fourth had a Brown orb. Rebecca began to walk towards the clear orb before her, but a massive force pushed her away when she reached out.
'Call my name...'
Words appeared before her. Rebecca was busy pushing against the massive force, which seemed like a heavy gust of wind since her hair and clothing were ruffling. "I don't know!" Rebecca exclaimed.
'Yes, you do.'
The words had disappeared and reformed with a new sentence.
Rebecca didn't know what to do. It seemed like she wouldn't be able to get any closer to the clear orb unless she called out a name. If anything, she felt like she was being forced out since she was steadily being pushed back.
Rebecca didn't want to leave. This had been the closest she had ever gotten to her Seed Power. In fact, usually, there would be nothing here. Once there was a small white light, but that was it. It faded out the moment she reached for it, yet now things were different. There was an entire stage and even this clear orb.
She didn't know the name. She had never met this thing. She recalled it, saying she always knew its name. But how would that be possible? Aside from those with her, there wasn't anyone else. Even before she was brought here, she mostly talked with Noah, Don, and April. There was no one else. But that was when it hit her.
"Wait... It can't be..." Rebecca muttered as a name came to mind. A name that only she knew of. It belonged to someone important and special to her. "Roxie?" Rebecca called out, and instantly the gust of wind died down, and the clear orb expanded into a blinding white light. Rebecca closed her eyes tightly to shield herself from the blinding light.
When she opened them, she found herself sitting in a rocking chair, slowly rocking back and forth in a lovely summer dress. She looked younger than her present self. Much younger, at least in her early twenties. She was sitting on a porch looking out at the beautiful sunset.
A small cute dog came running up to her leg and then hopped onto her lap. It looked up at her with a happy expression. "Here to watch the sunset with me, Roxie?" Rebecca asked with a soft smile, and the dog gave a cute bark. Rebecca would begin petting the dog, and it seemed even happier. It sat in Rebecca's lap, and the two of them watched the sunset.
As the sunset, Rebecca started to feel sleepy, and she ended up dozing off. When she woke up, she was in her own consciousness again. She was standing there on the platform, and sitting in front of her was a cute dog that looked up at her happily.
"Hello again." The dog barked, and its voice appeared inside of Rebecca's head.
"Roxie!" Rebecca exclaimed and instantly went down to hug the dog. Tears flooded Rebecca's eyes as she embraced the dog, which licked Rebecca's face. "I am happy to see you as well." Roxie barked, and once again, her voice appeared inside of Rebecca's head.
"I missed you so much!" Rebecca exclaimed, and Roxie smiled happily. "As did I, Rebecca." Roxie's voice appeared in Rebecca's head, although it did bark. After some hugging and a happy reunion, Rebecca asked, "How are you here? I mean... It's just... that you are... well... dead." Rebecca stuttered her final remark. She didn't want to recall that memory.
"Not sure," Roxie replied. "But, I do know about this world, this power, and everything else." Roxie would point with her muzzle towards a new podium that appeared from the center of the platform. "So, I can explain about this. As for how I got this knowledge, I am not sure. I just happened to wake up one day and have all the knowledge needed." Roxie explained.
"This Seed Power or your Seed Power is like a second soul. It connects the body to some kind of astral plane and allows the user to use special abilities." Roxie said. Rebecca was a bit taken back by all of this but decided to save the questions for later. She understood that these special abilities were pretty much the usage of Fire and Wind or Water like the others could use.
"To my knowledge, only one Seed can specialize in one power; however, for some reason, yours is special. You can use all of the basic elements. Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. Not just one at a time, but all of them at once. All you need to do is connect them." Roxie would paw towards the podium that housed a clear orb on it.
Rebecca would reach a hand out to the orb, and when she did, several lines came towards it. The Red orb shot out a red line, the Blue orb shot out a blue line, the Green orb shot out a green orb, and the Brown orb shot out a brown line. These four lines raced towards the clear orb, and when they connected, they filled the clear orb. A quarter of the orb filled with each color, and in the end, the orb looked like a mixture of four colors.
At that moment, Rebecca felt a surge of power flow through her. All the basic knowledge of how to use her Seed came into her mind. Images of storms, flooding, fires, and everything started to enter her mind as well. As if showing her what her Seed Power was capable of, and when it finished, she gasped for air. It was like she was suffocating.
Roxie looked up at Rebecca but knew she was fine. After all, the two of them were connected. Once Rebecca settled down, she would sit down, and Roxie would move towards her and lick her hand. "You've awakened to your Seed Power. It is called Pandora's Box." Roxie said, of course, her voice only spoke into Rebecca's head, and her actual voice came out as a bark.
"Pandora's Box?" Rebecca asked, and Roxie nodded. "That sounds... dangerous." Rebecca had paused for a moment to think about it. If she recalled correctly, Pandora's Box could bring furth diasters. This meant that Rebecca could do the same, which seemed dangerous to her. She decided she would need to test out her Seed Power away from the others and in an open wide space. So, for now, she pushed that aside and pressed onto another question.
"Roxie, you said the Seed is like a second soul. Does that mean you are part of me?" Rebecca asked, and Roxie nodded. "Huh..." Rebecca began thinking about how she felt about this. It was odd, but at the same time, she was happy. She was happy because she was reunited with an old friend that she had lost abruptly and without warning.
"Rebecca, there are some things you need to know, though. Just because the Seed is like a second soul doesn't mean you have a second life. Not all Seeds can communicate with their host either. I believe it is only those with a special connection to the Seed, or maybe it has to do with something else. In your case, I think it is just because we have a special connection. However..." Roxie stopped for a second. She was debating on if she should tell Rebecca about what she had sensed. There was another one who had the same thing as them. A special connection.
"What is it, Roxie?" Rebecca asked.
"I can see another one like us. She hasn't made contact with us, and I don't know if she realizes it herself. She should, though. It's the boy you saved, or well man is a better word for him now, Don. There is an awakened soul inside of him. Like how I awakened, so has that soul. It seems like he hasn't told anyone, though." Roxie said.
"Don? He also has some kind of special connection soul too?" Rebecca asked curiously, and Roxie nodded. "Yes, but I don't know what factors into those awakening and those continuing to sleep. As I said, I just woke up one day and know everything. About the Seed, Seed Power, and what we are." Roxie explained.
Rebecca sighed heavily and massaged her forehead. It was a lot of information to take in. She had only wanted to awaken her Seed Power, but now that she did, she found out her Seed Power might be too dangerous. To top that off, Roxie was in front of her, and now apparently, even Don is in the same boat as her.
Well, for the moment, Rebecca and Roxie decided to spend some time together. While that was going on, there was another person who was doing her own thing. She was in the medical bay, writing in some kind of diary. The page was filled with dates and words, and presently Natalie was still writing.
'It's almost time for me to head home. I do not know when I will next write inside of this diary, but I hope that I will at least write once more before I head back to Earth. Once again, the only reason I am keeping this log is just in case I end up forgetting about this world. I do not know what will happen once I wish to go home. I could lose my memories, which is why I am writing this.'
'Right now, our group has made a prison our home. Our Leader says he is going to turn it into a fortress, funny, huh? Even funnier, I believe in his words. If he says it will happen, it will. I do not know why, but ever since he came back to life, he's seemed more... charming, charismatic.' The word charming was crossed out, and charismatic was written next to it.
'Regardless, I know my time is almost up here. I have also decided to leave records of certain medical procedures just in case anything did happen. I doubt that there are many doctors in this world, and I wouldn't want them to die. After all, I want to see them on the other side.'
'If that's possible.'
Natalie finished writing, closed the diary, and then put it into a drawer in the desk she was sitting at. She would take out a binder. The binder was labeled Medical Guide for Dummies. She opened it, and there were several organized tabs of various procedures and what to do in case of this and that. How to detect this and that, and so on and so forth.
All of the pages were handwritten neatly. "I hope this will help them. I know Ion has a healing Seed Power, but still... there are things Ion can't heal." Natalie said, recalling the time Don and April had drowned. She closed the binder, left it on top of the desk, and then got up from the chair. "Maybe, I'll ask Don about finding a replacement for me. Just in case..." Natalie muttered to herself and reached for a coat she had laid over the chair. She put it on to cover her frame and left the Medical Bay.
As she walked through the halls, she felt the building rumble. At first, she thought it was an earthquake, but then the rumbling stopped. "What was that?" Natalie inquired, then she recalled Noah talking about renovating the prison. She decided to make a trip to the workshop, and when she arrived, she saw Noah and Dillian looking over some things.
"So, if we apply the supports here and here, then take the wall, it should be fine. Of course, we'll need to add new supports to make sure the building doesn't crash in on itself." Noah said, pointing to spots on the blueprints, and Dillian nodded.
"Was that tremor, you guys?" Natalie asked, and the boys looked up from the table to Natalie. "Yeah, my bad. Didn't think it would cause the entire building to vibrate. Then again, there isn't much in this place either." Noah explained. "For now," Dillian added. "Can we help you?" Noah asked after agreeing with Dillian.
"No. I Just wanted to make sure nothing bad was happening," Natalie said. When she turned around about to leave, she could see others had come to make sure that the rumbling wasn't anything terrible. Everyone had the same thought as Natalie, but after Noah repeated himself for the fourth time, he eventually gave up and gave them a dismissive wave.
Natalie left with the others, but Alice and Sarah made an announcement for the intercom system before she did. "Dinner will be ready shortly. Everyone needs to wash up and come to the mess hall," Alice said before the intercom went off. "Well, guess it is about time to take a break," Noah said. "Yeah." Dillian agreed with a much-needed stretch.
Everyone was to report to the mess hall after washing up, of course. When they arrived, food was brought out on a cart, and everyone enjoyed the lovely food. However, there was one person who wasn't present. "Where's Jake?" Sarah asked since she noticed Jake was missing. "He said he wasn't hungry," Josh answered. "I see. Is something bothering him?" Tyrone asked.
"Not sure." Josh shook his head. "I think it's moreover just something he has to deal with," John answered. "Not all things can be dealt with by talking with another person," John added. "So, something is bothering him," Tyrone said. "Yes, but I don't know what. I asked him, and he said he was fine." John replied.
"Well, it is something he wants to overcome on his own, then we should respect his wishes." Don pitched in. "But, if he looks like he needs help, be sure to help him," Don added, and everyone agreed.
Speaking of Jake, the man was outside. It was still raining pretty heavily. It hadn't stopped for a while now. Jake was huffing and panting. It was hard to tell, but he was actually sweating, even for how cold it was outside right now. There was a gray flare in his eyes that was flicking. It looked like he had been training for a while now, considering how fatigued he seemed. "I need to get stronger. I have to create powerful undead. An army... I need an army..." Jake said to himself.
He was about to bring forth his undead, but then he felt something shoot past his cheek. It felt odd and slightly sharp. He placed a few fingers to his cheek, and when he looked at them, he saw blood on his fingers. His eyes went wide, and instantly he began to look around.
"What was that?"
"Where did it come from?"
"I didn't hear anything..."
Jake thought to himself as he quickly looked about. Nothing but heavy rain could be seen. When he recalled it, a certain type of undead enjoyed coming out in the rain. Don had warned them about it and how troublesome it was. He even recalled seeing it in the packet. "I have to warn the others!" Jake exclaimed and turned around to race back inside, but he felt a sharp pain in his right thigh and another in his left calf before he could. His body tumbled, and he collapsed onto the ground.
Looking down, he saw blood coming from his legs, and he screamed in pain, but the rain drowned out his voice. Then he looked in front of him and he saw it. A slim figure with hollow eyes and rotting flesh. It had this creepy smile as it looked at him. "Hu....man?" The undead spoke slowly as if it were trying to speak. Jake's eyes went wide. "A stage three!?" He exclaimed in his head.