Renewal
How long have we been slumbering, in rest as our home crumbles?
It is like a miracle that life is given to us once more.
We did not deserve it.
We failed our entire world.
And yet, we feel our hearts beating again, we feel light streaming into our eyes.
Life.
Light.
A new beginning.
She awakens curled into a ball in a place she does not recognize. Bright eyes scan her surroundings, but still she finds nothing familiar about where she is. It is warm, and the sunshine beats down on her skin as if rousing her. She accepts its greeting, basking in its warm, fiery light.
Fire.
Her body has changed. She stands and walks, examining her tan skin, her shimmering red hair. She is a human, who feels like part of her is missing. It is not, surprisingly, the fact that she has no idea where she is or how she got there.
She has forgotten who she is.
As she walks in the mountains, the sun warming her with every step, she contemplates this. While her mind works, five more humans are awakening.
One finds himself in a secluded ocean cove. He has blue hair and pale teal eyes, like the ocean reflecting the sky, and he dives into the crystalline water. His soul is joyed at the feel of the ocean zipping past him as he swims, and it doesn't take long for him to discover that he can breathe beneath the surface.
Water.
She lays with her head on a soft patch of grass, her body curled comfortably as she welcomes nature's soft scent. With skin the colour of rich earth, and eyes the colour of the evergreen trees that tower above her, she surrenders her mind to the natural world and the peace it has given her.
Earth.
The soft, cool breeze on his face causes his pale azure eyes to open slowly. Fluffy white hair, resembling a fine cloud, falls into his line of vision, and he brushes it away with slender fingers. He stands, taking in and welcoming the fresh mountain winds in his face.
Without warning, he leaps off the cliff face, concentrating on the winds. As if commanded, they raise him into the sky, and he relaxes, without any doubt in his power.
Air.
It is the light that summons him to stand, bright eyes changing from cloudy dark grey to pale ice blue at the sight of the glorious sun. He stares at it, eyes unmoving, as if in awe - as if he hasn't seen it in many thousands of years.
He follows the sun, his joy simply radiating from his face. While the light causes great joy in his heart, he realizes something amiss. He scans his mind for remnants of his past life, silently wishing.
A shadow.
A sister.
Light.
She awakens in darkness and smiles. It caresses her with its cool, soft touch, and she allows it to overtake her as she summons her power. This young woman knows she has power. Amid the darkness, she transforms from a darkly beautiful human to a darkly beautiful dragon, whose black eyes are untamed with shadows.
The dragon-girl remembers with the change. She remembers a dark shadow looming before her, and suddenly the blackness, and awakening with a darkened heart. It took years for it to be lifted, and now she had some of its power.
Shadow.
She knows herself. She knows her past, and she knows her name.
"Umbra."
The sound of her own voice was soothing to her. It had been so long since the Catastrophe struck, and finally peace was in her mind and she could live freely once more. Something tore at her heartstrings as she remembered. The final effort of her... and her siblings. The one that had killed them.
She had never felt alone like she did at this point. Umbra closed her eyes and looked deep inside herself for some sign that her siblings were all right, and some sign that they were safe.
Umbra's black eyes opened and her smile was joyous.
Her siblings were alive.
She remembered how, in her past, she would call them to her aid in times of desperate danger. Reaching once again into her mind, she takes her power and uses it.
A whisper in each one's mind, like a soft shadow, calls them by name.
Ignis.
She remembers. Fire, her powers, her past, her siblings. The Catastrophe. Her sister lived, and she needed her. Ignis, not knowing quite how she managed it, closed her amber eyes and teleported.
Aqua.
Surfacing above the clear blue waters, he hears his name called. Aqua, water. The voice is so familiar to him, and it continues to echo in his mind. He begins to recall past events.
How did we survive it? he asks himself as he teleports himself to the voice's source.
Terra.
That was why Terra was so earth-bound. She leaps up, and her joy in hearing her sibling's voice once more is so overwhelming that she summons gorgeous flowers from the earth's fertile soil to surround her.
"Life!" is her joyous shout into the air as she, too, teleports, leaving her creations behind to the forest.
Aeris.
Upon hearing his name called out to him, Aeris stops his flight. He gives a great whoop of joy and transforms himself in midair into his former self. A lithe dragon, a manifestation of the wind on which he rides, spreads his wings and careens through the skies.
He will soon see his family once again.
Lumen.
The final name summons him, his eyes radiating through the spectrum as he hears her voice.
Umbra!
Lumen... I have been torn from you for too long.
I am coming, Umbra.
He reaches her finally, and seeing her in her draconic form, he shifts as well. His eyes are still ever-changing as his soft glow of light brightens the room.
It illuminates four other beings as well.
Ignis, Aqua, Terra and Aeris smile widely, their human forms giving way to draconic versions of themselves as they cry out in joy.
This was the way they were born.
This is the way it was always meant to be.