Willow was in a field. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon to the East, and the grassy knolls seemed to stretch on forever to the West. There were no flowers or trees in the field, just lush green grass blades stretching on for what could have easily been miles. No roads in sight, and she didn’t really know how she’d gotten there.
The sky was blue, with no evidence of clouds, puffy white or otherwise. The day was clear in its beginning, and looked to be about to remain clear. Willow looked around, shielding her eyes slightly from the brightness of the sun. She knew she should be worried, since she had appeared in the field out of nowhere, and there didn’t seem to be anyway home, but all she felt was a blissful calm. That, and power.
The power in this place was vastly immense. It flowed through her in waves, it seemed, and she could feel magic tingling in her fingertips. The power both jazzed her and calmed her.
Of course! It was a dream. That had to be it. After all, in real life, there weren’t any fields like this that didn’t end. In real life, you didn’t magically appear in said nonexistent field at dawn, and in real life you didn’t wear white flowing gowns of gauze. And straw sandals. And in real life, straw sandals hurt your feet a lot more.
So Willow was dreaming. Of an endless field. Interesting. So…what was the dream going to be about?
In answer to her unspoken question, the sun suddenly dipped back below the horizon, leaving her in the dark. The air immediately grew cool, and a strong wind began to gust, causing her gauzy skirt to billow around her calves in earnest. Rain began to pelt at her, the drops thick and hard, pounding into her head and arms. She began to look for shelter, knowing she wouldn’t find any. But in front of her when she turned around was a tiny gray wooden shack. She knew that the gray color came from age, and that the shack probably wasn’t much safer than being in the rain, but she was getting cold, and the rain was hurting her pale skin. She quickly slipped the heavy door open and stepped gingerly inside. Tara was standing in the middle of the room, wearing a long red robe. The sleeves hung to the floor, and the neck was high, so it covered everything but her head. She stood stonily, no emotion on her face.
“Tara? Baby?” Willow said shakily, the sight of her girlfriend so quiet unsettling her. Well, Tara wasn’t exactly a chatterbox, but when Willow came into the room, she tended to perk up a little, and this kind of quiet wasn’t really normal, because normally Tara’s silence wasn’t so…loud. “Look at me, I even babble in my dreams,” Willow muttered under her breath. She looked at Tara again, waiting.
“You are not one,” Tara said. Only it didn’t sound like Tara. It sounded like three or four Taras. Not quite an echo, because the voices were all in unison. It was strange.
“I…yes I am, Baby. There’s only one of me. See? One Willow!” Willow replied, laughing nervously.
“You are many.”
“I-I am?”
“You soul will be bound.”
“Well, I should hope so, because, you know, we’ve all seen what can happen when someone loses their soul!” Willow was getting nervous. What was the meaning of this dream, anyway? Willow usually had bunny dreams! Or at least Tara dreams, but those were really private. Her cheeks warmed just thinking about them. Then she remembered that THIS was a dream, and Tara knew all her Tara-dreams anyway. She shook her head, clearing it.
//Your time will come// came the booming collective voice of a thousand Tara’s, only it was distorted, and Tara’s mouth didn’t move. Suddenly, the shack, the field, the night sky, everything disappeared. Willow was suddenly alone, floating in the night sky. Only it wasn’t the night sky, because there were no stars, no moon, nothing. Just blackness.
//Be ready// said the voices again, and Willow suddenly felt as if she were being shattered into a tiny million pieces as her skin began to crack. Blue light pulsed form the sudden rivers in her skin, and she screamed in pain as the pieces broke apart and she exploded. Willow shot up in bed, gasping for air. Tara immediately shot up beside her, concern covering her sleepy face. “Willow? Honey? You okay?” Tara said gently, rubbing her back. Willow continued to pant, remembering every vivid detail of her dream perfectly. Especially the pain she felt when her body exploded.