CHAPTER EIGHT
For the weaver of this reality,Shredder's claimed prize, now was the time for punishment.
There she was, shackled to a strand of metallic webbing spun together and attached to a platform hovering just above the pull of the Technodrome's dimensional portal as it's g-forces pinned the individual at the centre of the web to wall.
"Comfortable my dear?" Shreeka said with spite, approaching the infant girl and stroking the edge of her chin with her prickly fingernails.
Her captive didn't utter a word in response.
"The silent treatment? If you think that'll do you any good, you don't know me as well as you think you do, I'm not some fairy godmother, I'm a most wicked type of witch, and in my profession, the best thing a child can do in our presence is do as they are told, and I will tell you now to speak!"
The girl that had given Krang and Shreeka dominion over reality shook her head; she would continue to resist all calls for her to break her silence.
The child reflected on what had been her form before. The days where she was a prize to be won, a gift to be bestowed.
The gift of knowledge, a most inquisitive entity curious about the universe, what shapes it, why it channels it's every decision through love and hate, through right and wrong, good and evil in their purest forms.
She had changed the game, changed the very skin of reality, to answer that question, and then, she would let go, return to her inanimate form, having tasted a world and been content to spend another lifetime absorbed in nothing but the memory.
But those in possession of her did not want things to reverse...and why should it, they ask?
For life, evolution and continuous change of the landscape around them was key to it all. This was how it all began.
Shreeka fawned over a piece of jewellery Krang had given her, studying her reflection in a miniscule mirror made up of studded diamonds.
"Do you like it?" she asked.
Her captive had yet to speak.
Shreeka slapped her across the face, demanding the silence be broken.
"Don't you want to know any longer? How this all begins? Or perhaps you're wondering what truly begins for you going forward? I can promise one thing, it will start with a scream. Your scream"
She left the room, soon it would be time.
Time for the sharp shimmering energies of the dimensional portal to tear through the fragile form of the individual tethered to it, and channel her power to Krang's suiting.
She was, however, about to receive one other visitor.
Now was the turn of Oroku Saki, approaching her with confidence and a soft touch, picking her chin up and tilting her head so her eyes matched with his.
And then he pinched her right cheek fiercely, as if checking to see if she would react to real pain.
Perhaps he was trying to fulfil Shreeka's prophecy to the girl, who was only now beginning to show fear.
She would show fear now because it had become all too clear Saki possessed something Krang did not past his intended endgame.
Saki had a long-term plan for the universe, and what frightened her the most was that it was for reality not as it presently stood.
He intended to begin an altogether different phase, one he could control, one where he was there so much more of it. So much more of him.
He pinched her cheek so viciously that he was able to squeeze a little of her blood out of it, it trickled down the edge of his fingertips.
He gathered the stream to form a pool into the palm of his hands and squeezed it tightly, compressing the pool into a diamond.
Now he was ready.
As he walked away, reality's reshaper felt absolute defeat wash over her.
What could she do?
She was but a pale shadow.
And then it hit her.
She was but a shadow, but she was also the substance.
Time was still at her mercy.
This was a game to her, and she had allowed it to control her for too long.
Now she was tired of the endless side-scrolling, tired of all the second chances.
Now there was but one chance.
She had but one coin to play, and she would insert it directly into the heart of the battle, where the war needed to be won.
Her chosen warriors would fly fast, fight hard, and be swifter than ever before.
There was only one way forward.
Fast forward.
A speed run.