Crack... ... crack... ...
Crack... ... crack... ...
Crack... ... crack... ...
Beat.
Again.
Hard.
Like a drum.
A drum?
A pulse.
Repeated.
BeatBeat.
Not from my head, like before, but from my chest.
My heart?
The cracking is getting faster, like my skin is flaking.
It's spreading everywhere... up, down, over, under, across. I feel it on my stomach, and under my arms, and across my toes.
My toes?
My toes!
I can kinda feel my toes.
They twitch like claws of some lizard or a scary bird.
Birdboy?
And then suddenly, it peeps in.
Light.
Lights from the carnival.
Dull rays of dirty light around and through the cracks spread sparsely across my face. There's a light that grows faintly brighter at the corner of my vision, seeping through and touching up my face, warming up the crazy numbness that spans my entire being.
Then it stops.
Why can't I move?
I'm held like a patient in a full body cast, blinder than a bat and stiffer than the Tin Man.
Tin Man...
Whatever has me held is strong, strong enough to prevent me from shifting positions or even flexing. And it keeps my eyes trained on the same patch of brown.
Chocolate?
Mud.
Why am I covered in dirt?
BeatBeat.
BeatBeat.
BB. BB. BB...
I feel my heart beat rhythmically and begin fidgeting along with it.
I hate standing still. And I get the weird feeling that I've been standing still for a real long time...
A satisfying crunch pops from my shoulder, and I try my best to smile. I try to push backward and immediately feel the hard press of the mold pushing back on me.
But I don't stop, I only push harder and struggle more violently. Like some kinda drowning kid in a mudslide.
Who the hell comes up with a metaphor like that?
A clod brakes off at my face.
A piece at my thigh.
A sliver at my elbow.
Flakes from my back and dust from my chest.
My body is on fire. Everything burns, my body aches and my muscles feel like they haven't moved in ages, but somehow I still fight. Fight the cracking cage and the noisy claustrophobia that's spinning in my head like a heavy stone wheel.
A Ferris wheel?
"AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!"
And suddenly... I'm free.
Free all over the dusty floor.
My eyes are maladjusted, I can't see a single blinkin' thing, but I can sense an emptiness in each direction around me.
Alone.
Where am I?
Underground.
How did I get here?
Apprentice.
Who the hell is answering my questions?
Trailing rocks echo in the cave, and I stand stupidly by, apparently waiting for an answer from a little voice inside my head.
Yeah, cause I have a conscience...
I inhale deeply for the first time and feel the dank air fill my lungs and dust them out like rugs.
My eyes suddenly focus on the stone structure from which I seemingly emerged, picking up hazy shapes. I struggle to string together the letters into understandable phrases, engraved neatly on the platform where I stood.
Terra.
A Teen Titan.
A True Friend.
I exhale.
Who's Terra?
—
Lyrics by... Tara Markov