A little girl grinned as she and her sister sat on a grassy hill. One of the girls had dark brown hair and was blowing a dandelion in to the air. Her sister was called Eliza, Eliza had wild red hair and deep brown eyes. Eliza sighed in contentment as the sun warmed her on this beautiful day. Eliza lay back her head and watched the clouds roll by. Birds sang in the air and bees hummed from flower to flower. This was her favourite hill, it looked over her house on top of a mountain. Her house had only recently been moved to the mountain, she would not think of why. She had trained her mind not to think of it, about her failure. She had failed her sister and every moment she spent with her she thought of this failure. Her sister, Alex, didn't seem too daunted by this failure, she was only six, not old enough to realise the impact it had created. Not old enough to realise that the mistake Eliza had made would one day be her curse. Alex was loving the sudden attention her sister was giving her, it made her feel important and confused at the same time. A group of boys and girls from the small mountain village, a while away from her house, were joyfully skipping around the base of the hill. They looked around Alex's age. They were singing the song of the mountain, a lullaby from our region that was popular among the young children. " Oh, hello. What are you doing?" Alex asked in surprise as she saw the kids.
The group stopped abruptly and looked up at the sisters on the hill. " What's it to you?" Asked the oldest boy. He must have been around eight years old, obviously the group leader.
" I just wanted to join you, I'm sorry if you thought I was being nosy," Alex answered with a taken aback tone.
" How did you what I was thinking?" The boy asked.
" Lucky guess, so, am I allowed to join in? Your game looks fun," Alex said hurriedly.
The group cracked up laughing, some even started rolling along the ground with their raucous laughter. " You, join us?" They cackled.
" You're such a freak, why would anyone let you do anything? If I was your sister I would be too scared to be in the open with you! Have you looked in the mirror lately, freak!" The boy laughed again and the other kids joined him without hesitation.
" Freak! Freak! Freak!" The children chorused.
Eliza glared at the children and then looked over at her sister. Alex had a blank look on her face, her yellow eyes were wide with surprise at the comments. She was on the verge of panic. Quickly she scrambled over to a puddle of water and stared at her reflection.
Eliza tried to tell her not to look but she looked anyway. A single tear rolled down her cheek and she took in a shaky breath. When she had last looked in the mirror she had been a little blonde girl in a golden and green dress. Now that she was looking at her reflection since the mistake she was scary in appearance. Alex took in the pale skin, the seriously dark hair but most of all she took in the eyes. Her eyes were yellow, the only yellow eyes she had ever seen were on an animal. The eyes looked as if they had seen too much and now she thought they had. Another tear trailed slowly down her pale cheek and she buried her face in her hands. The children still chanted and no other sounds in the world could drown them out. Eliza watched all this as anger burned like flames in her heart, this was her fault.
" Stop it! Stop it now!" Eliza yelled sternly.
" Why should we?" Asked one of the girls.
" Because if you don't I will come for you. Mark my words, anyone who goes against my sister will feel my wrath," Eliza snarled.
Fire burnt along Eliza's hand and the children screamed for their lives. One by one they ran in to the distance. Eliza willed the flames to die down and smiled at Alex. " Forget them, they don't even know what you're capable of," Eliza advised.
" I suppose," Alex muttered.
Tears still ran from her eyes. A rock came flying through the air and pelted her face. Alex screamed in anger and covered her face completely with her hands.
" You idiots! How would you feel if this was happening to you?" Eliza yelled in to the air. Laughter answered her as the children yet again retreated in to the forest. Eliza was angry, she had failed and now the world would die because of her mistake. Because of her mistake Alex would never live a normal life, she would never fall in love, no man would ever fall for her. She would be the end of the known world, her powers would ultimately destroy all life. They were too powerful for a child. If they were ever unleashed in their full strength they would destroy the world. Alex would never be accepted by the world. She would never, ever, be beautiful. There was one option, one option that would let Alex be beautiful. No one would call her a freak anymore. There was one option, that was to make her a new face. Eliza couldn't change Alex's looks but she could give each of Alex's personalities a life of their own. Every one of those personalities could live their own life, have their own history and at the same time, know just who they were. Alex could live in ten places at once if she wanted to. This was the best thing for Alex, the best thing for her sister. Eliza took a deep breath and got in to a peaceful position. She readied her slender hands and unleashed her power. Eliza's hair whipped around her head as she and Alex were surrounded by a whirlwind of fire.
" Eliza! What's happening?" Alex shrieked as she unfurled her little body.
" Trust me! It's for your own good," Eliza yelled back reassuringly.
Her voice rose over the wind and Alex nodded anxiously. Eliza felt bad for the girl, she had complete trust in Eliza and has no idea that Eliza's mistake had caused this. Eliza's power hit her sister square in the chest and Alex let out a silent scream of my pain. Her eyes were wide and full of undisguised terror, she didn't know what was going on. Eliza saw herself standing in the centre of the fire cyclone with her hair flying and her clothes rippling in the sudden wind. Wait, how was she seeing herself? Pain was wearing her whole body and images were rushing in her mind. Then she realised something, she was seeing things through Alex's mind. Feeling what her sister was feeling. Her powers must have tapped in way to deep inside her sister.
" It'll be over soon," Eliza tried to say.
" No! You can't be in my mind, it isn't meant for other people!" cried Alex's voice.
" It's okay, I'm fine," Eliza said back.
" If you stay much longer you won't be," Alex answered frantically. An image of Alex leaping in front of a brown haired girl and being stabbed by a gleaming sword filled her mind. An image of Alex as a huge black and yellow wolf battling to the death with a dark wolf filled her mind. Blood and war was implanted on every image of the little girl that Eliza saw. This time Eliza wasn't in Alex's mind, these were in her own. Her first choice had cost Alex so much, almost her life. Now this choice would make her lose more. Eliza had created Alex's future by accident. Her idea had backfired majorly. Alex would never live a normal life. She had made everything worse. She saw a black and yellow she wolf leap away from Alex, her first face. Eliza saw a young girl with wolf's ears and a wolf's tail leap away and run in the other direction, her second face. Eliza saw two girls that looked exactly like Alex leap in different directions, her third and fourth faces. Another girl in a blue shimmering dress sprang away and ran in the direction of the closest forest, her fifth face.
" Get out of my head!" Alex's voice screamed.
Eliza let her power vanish and she stared uncomprehendingly at her own body. What had she done? She screamed and disappeared in flames. She didn't realise that the original Alex was no where to be seen. Alex was panting heavily as she transported herself to the forest. She could see different worlds already, she could already see through the eyes of her other faces. This was worse than she could ever have imagined, she was the original, the origin of all heroes of the future. She was the first.
