Sitting silently on the park bench, Amie closed her eyes in meditation. Practicing what her mentor had once taught her, she slowed her breathing listening to the sound of her breath as she inhaled slowly through her nose. Once her lungs had filled with the smog-filled air, her breath paused for just a moment and began to exhale slowly through her mouth. As she exhaled, she reached out, imagining the tentacles of a thousand jellyfish exploding from within her. They flowed outward chaotically, writhing across the ground and through the air almost as if in pain. Despite years of training, she still struggled to control the tentacles. They lashed out with their own purpose. A purpose they had yet to reveal to her. It took all of her concentration to tame the oil-slicked tentacles. She could feel them resisting, probing for a weakness in the mental wall she built within her mind.
She could feel her concentration slipping when suddenly she felt what she was looking for. It was faint, but it was definitely there, somewhere to the east beyond the Great Divide. There was water nearby and the smell of sulfur in the air. The remnants of fire lingered somewhere across the water, embers still flickering with life. She pushed further, the tentacles sliding with resistance across the water. She suddenly realized it was a lake and kept pushing the tentacles harder, trying to force them to move faster. As they reached the shore on the other side of the lake, they became erratic, no longer following her directions. She knew what she would do next would cost her, she knew there was always a price to be paid using her ability, but too many people relied on her.
Taking another deep breath, she pushed her mind to the brink of losing control. With incredible determination, she forced the tentacles forward towards the glowing embers. Her mind was filled with eagerness and fear of what she may find. She almost let go, afraid that she may not be able to handle what lies on the ground shrouded in the dissipating heat from the campfire that she just reached. With her last ounce of energy, she felt with the tentacles’ tips and peered into the fireside bundle and sighed with relief. She sent out a message that rippled along the tentacles like electricity that simply said, “I am coming for you.” With that, the tentacles snapped back almost instantly, collecting their toll from her. A slash appeared across her body from her right eye, down her cheek, across her neck, terminating just below her left collarbone. It was a price she was more than willing to pay. She found the child, and there was no force on this planet or any other that would stop her from getting him back.
Tragic Words 