Scene 1 - Fleeting Glimpse

Darkness that consumed all light...

Nena weightlessly drifted through the void. Coldness burrowed inside her bones as her sense of touch seemed to be the only feeling that assured her that she was alive. She huddled into a tight ball, clutching her legs to her stomach.

The small girl cried out in the echoing space, “Elder Brothers… Elder Sisters… Mother… Why am I here again? I don’t like the dark place. Is anyone here? I don’t want to be in the dark place again… Someone save me…”

As if answering her pleas, a door made of stardust and green jade appeared in front of her. Without much thought, Nena floated towards the door with her left hand reaching out for the handle.

She slowly opened the door only to be blinded by a light that blasted away the frigid darkness. Using her other hand to shield her eyes from the blinding light, Nena let go of the door handle and fell back on her bum.

‘Ground? But I was just floating? What’s going on?’

Nena slowly opened her crystal blue eyes, allowing them to adjust to the brightened world around her. She sat on top of a fractured mountain peak full of ravines and fractures that seemed to stretch endlessly, deep into the earth.

The sun hung high in the sky with the clouds slowly being pushed by the gentle breeze around her. Wild plants and magical herbs grew around her on the peak, where hundreds of Earth Shark corpses lay impaled, cut to shreds, frozen solid, burning brightly, rotting to mere bones, or just crushed into blood pools.

Nena stood in a daze and wondered who could have caused such destruction in such magnitude. In front of her, two dark indistinguishable figures stood, one starring with murderous intent as high as the heavens while the other stood with bitterness, smiling at its misfortune. The figure raised its arms, apparently ready to receive the other shadow’s resentment and anger without a hint of trying to defend itself.

Nena watched on as the furious figure moved forward and blasted the bitter figure’s guts apart, making a hole straight through the other’s stomach before the figure, on its own accord, fell off the cliff behind it.

Her heart, for some unknown reason, felt like it was tearing itself apart. She tried to move without avail and could only howl in unspeakable pain, “NOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Off in the distance, Nana could hear a voice, “...wake up... Nena.... wake up. WAKE UP, NENA!”

Shaken awake, Nena jolted out of her nightmare and sat up on her bed, hugging the person closest to her, Xue, while the rest of her siblings surrounded her.

Burying her head into Xue’s clothes, Nena started crying her eyes out. She hugged Xue with all her strength as she tried to forget the nightmare and make sure that what she felt was really real.

Petting her sister’s back, Xue placed her chin on Nena’s head and allowed her to get everything out, “It’s all right Nena, it was just a nightmare. Your big brothers and sisters are here for you, so will you tell us what happened?”

Nena froze, still as stone. She couldn't… She couldn’t remember what the dream pertained to, she tried her hardest to remember, but the memories floated away despite her best efforts.

Still attached to Xue’s robe, Nena stared up towards her big sister and tried to voice her words, “I don’t remember it… I can’t remember the nightmare, big sis…”

The siblings stood there, unsure what to do until Luna started moving her bed next to Nena’s and declared, “If you’re scared then I’ll sleep with you, little sis! Xue! Len! Get your beds over here!”

Sighing, Saren and Sol moved along and grabbed Xue’s bed, connecting it together with Nena’s, while Ren and Len grabbed Len’s bed and moved it over as well.

Now that the beds were connected, Luna gave a thumbs up and asked the puzzled Nena, “If you're scared, then when you dream I’ll fight off your nightmares like a big sister should!”

Moving forward, Len grabbed Nena’s hand and nodded furiously, “Let’s… Go to sleep together…”

Using her sleeve to wipe away Nena’s tears, Xue smiled at her sister, “We’re here for you little sis, so let’s go back to sleep ok?”

Nena held back her tears and nodded, putting up a strong front, and let go of Xue’s robe before huddling into her blankets. Len, Xue, Luna talked together for quite a bit before falling asleep.

As Nena drifted off to sleep, she quietly whispered, ”Thank you elder brothers and sisters…I’m so lucky to have all of you...”