MAEGYA | i. "THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS." A SHATTERED DUALITY
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THEADORA RHAENERYS VALARYEN always knew she would die young. Practically, a child like her could think so. No other kid may think about death but she wasn't like other children. There was an innocent honesty that those children possessed and constituted that honesty carved the facets of their mind, making them believe the dreams of their sleep was real.
For Thea, experience became reality before dreams could. The truth of the world came out like a sword in the darkness, waking her up and forcing her to locate the line between what is real and what isn't. Dreams became real to her—the birth of her dragons, the crown of the ancient Sovrani empire upon her head, the defeat of the Mad Titan—it was as she had foreseen it.
Reality was hers, it could bend to her will. Yet, reality bleeds, dripping through her fingers and leaving a scorching burn on her skin.
It hemorrhages and seeps in sanguine ink into the corners of her own mind. The woven threads of clarity are stained, dunked in a cold ocean. All she was left with was a murky cloud of brain fog, too thick and choking to swim through. When she could lift her head above the poison waters filling her lungs, she asked questions when her screams of help went unanswered. She found herself wondering what was happening.
Was she trapped in a dream or did the world really just find out the identities of Spider-Man, Illyris, and Azura?
She didn't have time to ruminate before Jameson continued his tirade.
"That's right, folks! Peter Parker, Theadora Martell, and Rebeca Ortega, 16 and 18-year old high-school delinquents, are harboring a homicidal—"
The sounds of murmurs, clashing with frantic car horns made Thea look down at the sea of citizens holding up their phones and engulfing Bex and MJ. She could hear screams and see people pointing up at her and Rhaegon, who growled at all the ruckus.
Quickly, Thea curved her fingers and rose them at her side. She was engulfed in wisps of flame before she magically transported herself onto the ground. The lead-head feeling was nearly dizzying but she found herself being shoved and pulled out of disorientation. Her wrists prickled furiously, veins glowing and sparks flying from her fingers as she tried to get to Bex and MJ.
"The dragon's going to kill us all!" a woman shrieked while a man bellowed, "go back to where you came from!"
The world slowed in Thea's vision. She could only hear her shallow, labored breathing and suddenly, there was nothing around her but jostling bodies ready to swallow her like quicksand. They were prodding, grabbing, touching them like they were aliens. Questions and demands became a suffocating onslaught that was stripping her of her senses, of the ability to breathe.
"Stay back— please!" she begged but they didn't listen. Someone's camera flash was inches away from her face and she blinked rapidly as her eyes burned. Her fingers sparked again and several people jumped back, clearing some kind of ragged path for her to start running.
