By Raven
I was sound asleep when I felt my wife sit upright in bed, and begin screaming in terror. I knew what that scream was for, and I prayed. Salem was on the bed in a flash, but it had already started.
�Hopefully nothing would get broken� Salem said.
�Put her out, quick!� I shouted, holding on to my wife.
�I�m trying!� Salem yelled. Then she folded, the last thing coming from her mouth was one word, a name- Legion.
Memories flooded me like a river in full spate. The nightmare that was Legion was the only thing that could rouse the powerful psychokinetic gift that Raven now possessed. A curious after effect to the DNA graft she had done to have Sky. It had been passed on to Gareth, but Raven had no control over it whatsoever. Doc had surmised that she would never control it.
It had started as a simple Black Hand operation. She had gone with Alex, Lefty and the others only because she knew where to find what they were looking for. The world they were on was dense with all kinds of life, including a strange parasitic tree. They were leaving under heavy fire when one of those trees let loose its seed barb. The tree would act like a pungee stick, puncturing the chest and leaving its seed in the chest of the victim. That would eventually kill the host and a new tree was born. The thing was, the damn trees were semi-intelligent. Not much more that a shark, but intelligent.
The group returned to the Guild. Everything was okay for about a minute and a half. When she stepped away from the group and handed over the item she had acquired, she looked at Robin, and said to him, �Something is horribly wrong, isn�t it?�
Robin turned to her, and as he did, he turned absolutely white. �Yes, Mother, it is, isn�t it.� He then hit the alert button and called for a hazardous medical unit. �Don�t touch her, you could get contaminated!� he shouted.
Raven collapsed as Doc and the medical team arrived. �Helena, get her and the team to an isolation unit. Just don�t touch her!� Dr. Harris commanded. Why Stephen always called Alex �Helena� when they working together medically, I never did find out. Robin and I, along with the med team, were at the iso-unit door in a flash of light.
Zander was standing next to Alex- he was her male counter part. She opened the door to the bay and teeked her in. Everyone looked at Robin and asked him what was going on. His answer came in the form of his time sight.
The tree seed had mutated into an organism that wanted to reproduce, and it was rapidly gaining sentience. It was attached directly to her heart and spinal column. As we watched it, it attached itself to the brain stem.
Julia looked at them. �We need to induce the little death to remove it.� she said simply. Alex moved her to a tank, set a containment field, then started the temporal compression. �We will be able to begin once she stops thrashing.� Julia stated.
I watched in horror as it looked like she was possessed. It took fifteen seconds for her to stop moving. That meant she had been starving for fifteen years. When she was removed, she looked like she was asleep. Her eyes opened, and a voice that was not hers said, �I am Legion. I will not be destroyed. You will kill her if you try to remove me.�
�That is exactly what I intend to do.� Julia replied. She called up a table and told Alex and Zander to hold her there. My wife was placed on her side. Then, Julian began using a laser scalpel at a distance.
The thing inside Raven struggled the entire time Julian cut away the clothes that she had been wearing. The clothes were placed in a bin. Robin temporally accelerated the rags until their atoms decayed into elementary particles. Julia then looked at Julian again, and he started again with the scalpel.
He opened the skin and removed the ribs to expose the heart. What was in her chest was a mass on fibers resembling roots. He then did the same to the spinal column. The parasite was wrapped about the spine and all throughout the brain. Penny, Doc and I could only stand there in horror. More so because of the cold, efficient way the four of them were doing this. Then, to my horror, she began to place wooden flechettes into her exposed body parts.
�Stop!� I screamed. �You�re killing her!�
�I know.� was all she said.
I was going to attack her when Robin placed his hand on my shoulder. �Father, no. They must do this to save us all.� He was crying when he said that, and I knew he was right.
As the tissue died, the creature detached and finally retreated into a seed the size of a walnut shell. A stasis box appeared, the seed was placed in it, then the lid was shut. �Zander, take this to the void. Place it in the center of the largest asteroid you can find, then return.� Julia ordered. He walked out the door.
They put her back together. Placing a supply line in her chest and an additional one in her spine, they then placed her in the tube. The compression meter read three thousand years had passed within before there was even a twitch. When they brought her out, Julia went over to her and placed her hand on her. �The body lives, but the mind is gone.� she stated.
�What do you mean?� I asked her.
�Simply put, her body lives, but the soul has left the body.� was her reply. I collapsed, numb. Robin was ashen and puking in the corner. I was getting ready to tell everyone else that she was dead when somebody opened the door to the compression room.
Sky was standing there with a big, black Sumatran Tiger. �Take us to her.� she said.
We walked into a room of grieving people. �Touch her.� Sky told me, the tiger placing a paw on Raven�s body. She then touched us. �You must call her back to you.� she directed. I called with my whole being. That was when I felt something enormous.
�I will not let my daughter pass in this way. Your love is what will bring her back to you. Be patient, and know I love both of you. Haslem, this form is your reward. Take it in the protection of her and hers.� this powerful mental voice �said�.
I opened my eyes and saw that we were surrounded by a pale lavender glow. When it was gone, Raven opened her eyes. �I love you, dark angel.� were the first words out of her mouth.
Then I heard her mind speak to Sky, �Please don�t go.�
�I must, Mother. My place is not here, it is with Tajani.� Sky replied. The tiger shrank and shifted, turning into a large, black house cat. It was Salem.
Sky looked at me and said, �She will sleep for a while, and be weak for many months. She will always have nightmares of this. I could not fix that- she was trapped with the creature�s madness too long. You too must sleep, Father.�
Raven did get better, and it did take time. The nightmares were not as often now. Maybe once a year or so. When they would happen, Salem would contain her telekinesis and her magic. She would sleep for the next day or so, and while she did, when I was not there to hold her, a Black Tiger Would Guard Her From Her Own Demons.