Her subconsciousness formed the world. The valleys, mountains, great storms, and floods, were beckoned at her thought. Floods would wash over the land and destroy trees and villages. Anger spiked bellowing hurricanes and happiness shone rainbows, illuminating the sky. Terra, she was called. Earth could not be controlled, nor did it want to. Her emotions came and went as they pleased. Terra supposed she was now only a myth, nothing of importance. ‘Mother Nature,’  the earthlings called her.  She loved her earthlings, she loved the little things about them, and the beauty they added. Her earthlings added magic to her perfect world. Divine beauty occupied every space. The world was hers to see over, it was her responsibility to care for them.  Earthlings used to follow her, used to admire her, used to smile and laugh with her. She missed that part a bit. She had favorites, of course, over the span of millions of years. The plants and the animals were her children, and she their caretaker, their mother. Maybe that was where ‘Mother Nature’ evolved from. Terra had formed a bond with her earthlings, something that could never be broken. Her earthlings had changed, evolved, slowly had forgotten. Her earthlings didn’t walk with her or listen to her old stories. That was okay. She supposed they were too busy creating and thinking and whatever her earthlings liked to do.  That was how she left them. After millennia of creating peace and plentifulness, her eyes felt heavier and heavier as time passed. She knew that the Earth would be taken care of, that her wonderful earthlings would care for the life that flourished there. Then, she slept.  

As she slept, time lapsed around her, thousands of years shaping and molding the world like wet clay, changing everything Terra knew. Humankind evolved. Terra dreamt of her earthlings, her beautiful humans, good feelings and warmth. She dreamed of them running across the hills and the beautiful fresh waters that pooled the earth. She dreamt of their happiness. There was also bad feelings that sparked fear into her, overtaking the happiness. What if they needed Terra? What if something happened? Her fear spiked terrible weather, grueling storms and droughts that swept the earth of its resources. She once slept peacefully, but now nightmares haunted her, every move seeming like a bad omen. She twisted in her sleep and her hands grasped the air around her, her breathing was fast and unsteady. She was scared. What had happened to her earthlings? Were they safe? Terra felt sick, like something was infecting her mind, preventing her from freedom of her own subconsciousness. She was chained to her slumber. She violently tried to escape, to help her children, to protect them. Terra tried to force herself into the real world, and with one final push, she screamed as her mind slowly awoke from its mighty slumber.  A deep stirring clouded her mind, and everything felt sluggish, thoughts moving like Jello. Painfully slow. She slowly rose from the shadows that had become her dwelling, away from her nest of sleep.  She attempted to take a step, only to find that every step she took was exceedingly painful.

Then, her mind erupted, the memories of what had happened over the course of her absence bellowing into her thoughts. Emotions and feelings she could not comprehend, swirling in her great mind, each one trying to dominate the other. Fear, anger, pride, hatred, revenge. She wailed a sorrowful scream. She clutched her hands to her head, pulling at her hair, trying to stop it. What was happening? Her face contorted with her eyes closed in pain, visions of what the world she had once loved had become. Visions of humans taking the earth, stripping it of its resources, pollution that smogged the air, turning it a sickening gray. Animals being mercilessly killed, being bred to die at the hands of humankind. Choosing to forget the consequences of their actions. Murder and deception spreading through the world. It was like a disease, slowly infecting every human, young and old alike. The poor plummeting while the rich and the famous overtook. The forests, the oceans, the trees, gone, gone, gone. Everything, everything was wrong. What had her beautiful earthlings become? Terra felt bile slowly rising to her throat. Why, why, had her earthlings done this? She took a slow, shaky breath, willing herself to calm. Why. Why. Why. Had they forgotten the beauty of earth, the beauty of life? They had forgotten her. She was now nothing to them. Maybe, maybe she was never anything to them. Terra’s face turned to a dark rage and her eyes gleamed dark. She had trusted them, she had trusted the earthlings to take care of Earth. She was always quick to forgive, Terra always looked past their mistakes and wrongdoings. They had used her. They had taken her kindness, and turned the planet into something ugly.

Rage bellowed in her mind. She could only think of the betrayal, the damage they had done to her, her creation. She felt a growl in her throat. She felt power and adrenaline rush through her body. Any weakness had now vanished, replaced with vengeance. Her knuckles turned white and she stood quivering with a silent fury. Her hair whipped around her, like vicious vines, as she rose to her full power. Her vision turned a dark red. She willed the earth to move with the movement of her legs. The earth’s plates cracked like shattered glass, earth slowly caving in on itself. The oceans shook and crashed into the land. She was relentless, her mind and emotions taking over any remorse she could feel. They had done this. Great winds bellowed from every direction, whistling as they caused buildings to quake. The great statues and historic monuments built toppled one by one. The whole earth burned as Terra unleashed her built up wrath. She could hear their screams, but they were not crying for her mercy. They looked to no god or refuge, they only looked to themselves. The earthlings were no longer hers, they created their own destruction. These were not her earthlings, her earthlings were gone. She crashed mountains together and tumbled them down onto the earth, lodging chunks of ice on it as it fell. She thrashed her arms and grit her teeth, swirling elements together to wipe the earth. No regret came into mind, she only could think of their betrayal. Her eyes were pure fire, like hardened ice, showing no compassion. They deserve this for what they did. What they did to me. Her onslaught continued, until she no longer could hear their pitiful, pathetic cries.

Her mind had at last cleared, she no longer felt their presence amongst her mind. She fell from the sheer exhaustion, her breath slow and laborious. The oceans returned to its depths and the rocks sank to the ground. The skies cleared as the dark storm melted into nothingness. The planet had returned to what it once was. And she felt a slow smile creep upon her face as she exhaled, her eyes bloodshot. She had killed them, every last one. Should she feel regret? It was a strange sensation, like she was cleansing her world of a plague, a disease, something unwanted. They should feel gratitude for what she had done. Not that there was anyone to thank her. She didn’t need earthlings, she didn’t need companionship or love or admiration. None of it lasted, not that she cared anymore. Her earth was pure, free of evil. Her mind at last felt soothed and clear. She was free. She was Terra, the earth, everything, the wind, the air, the rocks and trees. Terra was beauty.