Different Worlds

Looking Back Through Time

Looking around at my surroundings, I suddenly felt like I was standing in a Robin Hood movie.  I saw shelters built high up in the trees with wooden ladders hanging down to allow people to get up and down.  I felt like I was in the Kevin Costner version.  People were staring at me in wonder, and the hope that  I saw everywhere that I looked was beginning to make me feel extremely apprehensive.  It seemed like everyone thought I was their Saviour.  As soon as I thought of this, I realized I was right.  All these people were expecting me to 'save them,' and I had no idea how to do that.  I suddenly felt as though an invisible weight had been laid upon my shoulders and wasn't going to be removed anytime soon.  I fervently wondered if it was too late to try and back out.

Keeping my eyes straight ahead, I followed behind Jacek and Devon as Bronson led the way further into the camp.  There were more Rebels here than I had been expecting.  Probably at least a few hundred.

We came to a sudden stop, and I noticed another man with a woman at his side coming towards us.  The man and woman both looked to be around thirty to thirty-five years of age, were both good-looking in appearance, with dark blonde hair and athletic builds, and were dressed in peasant-like clothes.  The man looked me over, his interest clear in his dark brown eyes.  He held out his hand to me, and as I hesitantly took it, I noticed the muscles he had rippling in his arm.  Instinctively, I knew that this man would have no trouble taking care of himself in a fight.

"It is an honour to meet you. . . .?"

"Sienna," Bronson quickly put in.  "This is our leader Evan, and his sister Rochelle."

I looked over at Rochelle, and saw her watching me with the same interest in her eyes that were in her brother's.  She gave me a small smile.

"Sienna," Evan repeated in a deep, confident voice.  "We cannot tell you how happy we all are that you have agreed to help us."

"That's okay," I murmured, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Evan looked closely into my face.  "There's something you want to ask, yes?"

I cleared my throat uneasily as I took my hand back.  "Jacek and Devon have told me a little of what they know of the First Traveller, and how they think that I'm a direct descendant of her.  But is there any way to know for sure?  I mean, everyone's just taken it on good faith that I am because I somehow have the ability to control magic.  But that could be just coincidence, couldn't it?"

Evan nodded.  "There is one way to find out for sure."  He looked over at his sister, and she came forward.  "Rochelle is one of the few of us here that can control magic too, but her control is limited.  She can use magic to see into the past.  If you're willing, she can look into your past and trace back through your ancestry to see if what we suspect is true."

I nodded in assent.

"Ahem."

We all looked over at Devon as he unsubtly cleared his throat.

"You make sure you tell her everything."  Devon's voice sounded unfriendly, and that surprised me.  I looked at him more closely, but he had his eyes trained on Evan, and his handsome face was very tense.  I looked back at Evan just in time to see a slight frown disappear from his face, and he gave a quick nod before turning back to me.

"Before you go through with this, you should know that when magic - this type of magic - is used on you, it can cause you pain."

"How?"

"Because Rochelle will be looking into your past, she is looking back before you existed, and that can be dangerous.  We don't really know why, but when she is tracing back before your time, pain is inflicted on the person who's past is being looked into."

I could feel the fear beginning to build up in my body.  "How bad does it get?"

"Bad."  Devon spoke forcefully.

"Not to start off with," Evan jumped in, flashing a scowl at Devon.  "To begin with it will be quite bearable.  But it does get worse the further you go back."

"And as far back as you'll need to go, it'll be excruciating," Devon broke back in, returning the scowl.  Then he turned to me and his face softened.  "It's your decision to make, but you can say no, remember that."

"But it would be good to know."  This time Evan ignored the thunderous glare that Devon was directing at him.

I made a quick decision before I could let myself think too much about it.  "I can handle it."  I flashed a quick glance at Devon, only allowing myself enough time to see the worried look in his eyes.

"Good.  Please go with Rochelle and she'll show you what to do."

I nodded as I looked up at Jacek and gave him a quick smile at his concerned face.  Then I followed Rochelle into one of the shelters that had been built on the ground.

Once inside the shelter, Rochelle pulled out a small wooden chair and placed it in the middle of the small room.  "Please sit down.  It will be easier for you."

I did as she asked.

She looked me in the eyes, and I saw an apology in hers.  "I'll try to be quick.  I'm sorry, but I won't have any control over what pain you experience."

I nodded stiffly.  "Just get it over with."

"As you wish.  Take a deep breath and close your eyes."

Doing as I was told, I suddenly felt a tingly sensation go through my body as she began.  Behind my closed lids, I began to see flashes of my life in rewind.  I saw myself running backwards just before I found the chasm.  I saw my ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend together on the street, and I felt a slight ache in my heart.  Then the gaps in my life became bigger, and the next flash I saw was of me - fifteen years old - standing beside my parents coffins after they had been killed in a car crash, and the ache in my heart became a little more pronounced.  Then I saw myself crawling around on the floor as a baby, and my mother picking me up.  As soon as this flash ended, I became aware of a slight pain beginning, and I realized that we were on the brink of going back before my existance.  The flashes continued as I saw faces of my parents, then my grandparents.  The pain began to grow slightly.  Flashes of faces I didn't recognize anymore began to flash in my mind.  I saw the faces of a man and woman in World War I.  Then we were back at the turn of the century.  I began to gasp a little, as the pain grew stronger.  The flashes continued, but I began to stop paying close attention to them.  The pain was beginning to grow quite strong now, but I thought that I could handle it for a bit longer.  My gasps became loud, and it felt like I wasn't getting enough oxygen into my lungs. Suddenly, the pain shot right up above what my threshold could handle, and I could feel my body fall out of the chair and onto the floor.  I wanted to yell out stop! but I couldn't get past the pain to try and get the words out.  Then the pain became so terrible and I began screaming.  I couldn't stop myself. 

"Stop!"

I heard someone yell the word loudly through my screams, but I had no idea who it was.

"A little bit longer!  I've nearly got it!"

"Stop now!"

I felt arms around me, but I couldn't open my eyes, and I knew that my screams were loud and piercing, but I still couldn't stop.  The pain had reached an all-time high, and I couldn't believe I had ever said that I could handle it.  And neither could my body.  I could feel my body slump and fall back as everything went black.