“Realisations”
She stood in silence on the edge of the White Cliffs of Dover, looking out across the sky-line at the tiny dark gray line of France that was just visible on this clear night across the English Channel. She took a great breath inside her chest, pumice ribs folding inside of her despite her complete inability to breath. The wind tore through the sheets of her gray hair and she felt nothing, even though she her mind felt that she should feel something. She could have flown upon the currents that were thrown up from the sea and against the cliffs, but she was unable too. She was too heavy; her powers didn’t work that way anymore. Her mother was gone, lost to her, as much from her own hubris as well as Diana’s desire to push her away. Why would you retain contact with someone who had hurt you so deeply? Someone who took away everything that made you you? Why would you allow someone, even your own mother, to strip you of your identity? Diana had come close to Godhood before, many times in fact, even realizing it on one occasion. She opened her arms either side of her, palms facing the oncoming wind and leaning towards the edge of the cliff. Goddess of Truth, she had been known, and worshipped, as. She knew what it felt like to be filled with celestial light, to never tire, to never ache, to never feel the need to sleep, or eat, or bathe. To be powered by the light of truth and love, not by earthly needs. Now she felt the exact opposite; she WAS Earthly needs, she was feeding and bathing and sleeping. She never felt rested and she always ached. She’d never felt more grounded to the Earth itself than she had now, though with very good reason. While she had inhabited the Earthly plane as a Mortal, and indeed as an Immortal, she had never been directly connected to the Earthly plane. She felt it move beneath her, every piece of sediment chatting to the other and outwards to her, expressing their displeasure at the forces exerted by the human world. Drilling, cutting, building, mining…it all hurt and she felt it all in her core. Her burning, molten core. She felt the hurt and despair of what her life had become building up inside of her. Ordinarily, Diana was a strong woman, someone others could lean on, but in this instance she felt completely alone. The other Elementals had challenged her but she felt that they had not embraced her – In fact the only one who really showed her any kind of affection, or indeed appreciation of her previous life, was the Red Tornado, who she now felt a kind of kindred spirit with. John Smith was a man’s soul caught in a robots body, whilst she was now but a body of clay caught in the soul of a woman. As her internal temperature began to rise she felt the heat coming from her body increase. The lava pores that held her intact began to swell and she felt the aches begin to worsen. She was angry and she hurt. She wanted to cry, to scream at the heavens, but all she could muster was a pitiful croak in the face of the Gaelic winds. She leaned forwards, the cliff edge giving way and letting her heavy body hurtle towards the water below. The splash engulfed her as water and super-heated steam shot into the cool atmosphere. “So, I move between lands and areas by just asking the Earth to move me?” she asked. She sat before her teacher, Alec Holland. “Yes, you have…to just ask the…Earth to move you. It’s how…I move from place to…place.” He smiled through the bark of the tree he inhabited. Every time he smiled the flowers on his chest bloomed and then died back, releasing huge plumes of pollen into the air. “And there is more that I can accomplish?” She moved her hands to her knees as she sat in the lotus position before him, as like a child learning before a respected elder. “To ask that…question, is to give in…to ignorance and…defeat, Diana. You know that…you are able to…give and achieve…more. Did you not once…speak in long contractions…like I do?” “I did, yes.” “Then you know…that you are capable…of great things, Diana. Otherwise…Gaia would not have…chosen you. We other…Elementals were not chosen…directly, by Gaia. We…were just thrust…into it.” “You were?” “Yes, Diana. We had no choice…in the matter. You did. Did you make the right…choice?” Diana paused for a long time, looking up at Swamp Thing, whose vines were crawling and writhing around his head like a wreath of vegetation. “It is something that I’ve asked myself, Alec.” She got to her feet silently and ran her hands through the long sheets of gray rock that were her hair, fragments falling to the ground yet instantly growing back each time. “I thought for a long time that Wonder Woman was all I needed to be in this world and that made me happy.” “But?” Alec asked, moving from the tree in a twisting of limbs and the crunching of bark, to stand before Diana. “But I was abandoned by my Gods. All of them left me because I made a singular mistake. Do we not all make mistakes? Have not even the Gods themselves failed. Lord knows my Mother has.” References to her family, particularly her mother, were dripping with anger and hate. She was clearly extremely hurt by the events of the last few days. “She left me, Alec. They all left me to fall and take the blame for their own mistakes and now I am here, on my hands and knees scrabbling for what I can get. I am not the woman I once was; there is no Wonder to me anymore…there is barely a sparkle. The only light I give comes from the anger and hate that is bursting to get out of me.” She looked up at him, eyes brimming to molten rock that threatened to spill over and ruin the makeup of her carefully carved face. “Sometimes if we are to find ourselves….Diana, we must…let go of what we…were before.” “I appreciate the wisdom and advice, Alec, but do you ever feel that those words are hollow of the meaning they’re supposed to carry?” She wrapped her arms around herself, clinging to her scapula. Alec moved to speak and then reconsidered, simply stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her, even though his chest and shoulders burst into flames. Diana pushed her face away from him and tried to push him away, but her hands simply moved through him. She looked up at the Swamp Thing and realized that in the short time she’d known and ‘worked’ with him that he was a truer friend than many she’d known. She buried her head into his chest and let him burn with her anger. As part of her job as the Earth elemental, Diana had to move within a world that didn’t necessarily make sense to normal humans, which was still how her mind approached things. Underneath the surface of the world were so many other civilizations and confluences of ideals that it made the variance on the Earth between mankind seem simple by comparison. The lava flow was pushing itself towards a small town at the base of the volcano and Diana stood in the center of it. She’d been told by the rocks around her that the Lava had recently received sentience. Not only was it freaked out it was also scared and lost and worried. It had come from the blackness of unconsciousness into a world where everything was different, it was aware of everything but knew nothing. That, as Diana knew, was a terrifying event, to suddenly become aware of all that is around you. She cooed softly and knelt down as the lava flowed around her ankles, steam rising from her joints as they were slowly eroded by the liquid rock. This was very different to the world that Diana had known. As bioluminescent insectoid people flew around her head, she pushed her dense and solid hands into the flow and lifted a small pool of lava to her face, which instantly grew a hard, black shell. “You’ve found a mind and you’re looking for your place, “ she whispered softly, holding the lapping liquid closer to her face as she gently set it back down into itself, settling down to her upper waist in the lava, cooing again as she gently moved her hands in an undulating motion through the cooling waves. “It’s scary to be new to this world, don’t think I don’t know what it’s like. I’ve only been a part of this world, this geological world, for a short time. I know what it’s like to lose your bearings and find yourself in a new situation, but you don’t have to do it alone.” A few bugs landed on her shoulder and gently sidled up to her flowing sheets of hair. “Come on. Let’s do this together.” She splashed her hand through the pool before her, the image of Diana crying intermixed with the image of Diana sitting in a pool of lava. Her lavender locks fell around her shoulders as she ran her soaking hands through her fringe and sighed heavily. How could she hurt this new Wonder Woman? As she looked around her new abode the large glass mirrors showed her the elements of the world. One showed a blonde woman who was of special interest to Circe, running across the rooftops of the cities, her white clothes carrying her away from the iridescent glow that permeated the fabrics from her stomach. There was a man slamming his fists into the ground repeatedly, gauntlets quivering with excitement with every slam into the ground, his knuckles bloody and broken with fragments of rock and silt grinding inside the wounds, adding to his anger. Still more images flooded in, the images of the Cheetahs moving through the Forests of Africa looking for something important, something that could tilt the anger of their God in their favor, the hand of a modern master, a Modern God. Another man was drunk and lying in the mud outside of his trailer park home. He was something once, a villain and a hero in one, now all he had achieved was another night of drunken stupor, holding himself and trying to relive the glory days. One mirror was now black, as though coated in Oil. Circe stood before it, holding her hands behind her back and letting out a long sigh. “Modo,” she said softly to herself, removing the clasp on her right shoulder and letting her cloak drop to the floor. The oil coated Goddess had come to Circe, to seduce her with promises of power and how it would all be different if she would only join in Modo’s great plan. Expectantly, she waited for the pitch and the idea that Modo had to destroy Wonder Woman; instead it seemed more like a business proposition, which ultimately led to Circe denying the Goddess, much to her chagrin. With those thoughts and these visions pushed to the side of her head, she moved back to the pool to return to her thoughts on Diana. How could she hurt someone who was already so very, very broken? To Be Continued... Previous Issue | Next Issue |
