I Can Show You the World

Tara looked around uncertainly at the destruction around her, it was terrible and tears stung her eyes. This was not supposed to happen, he had said he would protect us, not let Them kill everything in Their path. Or was it? Is this what he had been talking about when he had said that everything would start all over again? That we would be given the chance at new life?

"Your time will come." he had said to them the week before. "I will make sure of it. No longer will you be in Their shadow, but rather, walk in your light. Only you can build the new world, all I can do is show you the path."

And now, here we were, the survivors of the week long coup. Tara looked around, only about 200 people looked back with light in their eyes. Many were crying, others were staring blankly at the devestation as she had.

"What do we do?" a woman cried out, staring at her. "You were his friend, please, help us!"

Tara looked around and realized that all eyes were now on her, that they expected her to make things right again. She had known him, been the one to find him and they knew he had trusted her above all others. She remembered what he had told her that night after his motivational words to the people.

"You will be the only one who will be able to help them when this is over, Tara. I will not be here to help you, I will not come back from this fight."

With that he had left and Tara never saw him again except during the fighting. Her gaze fell to a little girl, no more than 5, staring at her. Tara went over and picked her up.

"We'll start over and build a new world from this old one. We owe it to ourselves and to our children." she called, looking at the little girl in her arms, so everyone could here. "We start by burying our fallen comrades. We'll clear out debris and give them a proper funeral."

The people began without question and Tara watched in awe as the streets began to be cleared and cleaned, slowly though it was. New faces began appearing as new survivors showed up and began to help. As she watched, stars began to appear, stars! They had not been seen for 3 decades, oh what a beautiful sight! Everyone stopped and cheered at the sight. Then, an even more lovely sight, the moon, and everyone cried.

That night began the new world. The people became like family. Tara took in the young girl, named Serena, and began to raise her as her own. Everyday, she was the first one out cleaning and building, and the last one to leave. It took a long time to clean up the mess the rulers before had made, but no one quit. By the end of the year, it was finished. The people looked around at their home, tears in their eyes at the beauty their hands had created. It was a world to remember, a world many of them had died for, a world so opposite from the one they had left. No longer was anyone afriad to leave theor homes, no longer was the world a playground of concrete and chrome, no longer did the animals hide. This was a world where life thrived and vegetation ruled, where birds singing woke you up and you could walk the streets proudly and unhindered.

Tara looked upon it in joy from her bedroom window as she lay dying. It had been 13 years to the day of the Great Fight, and Tara had worn herself out to fix the world. She had essentially put her own life into the world. People surrounded her day and night, but she paid no heed. She cared not for her health, but rather for her people's. Even on her death bed she made sure that they were happy and that the world was running smoothly. On her final night, a man entered the room, a man she new too well. He smiled at her as he sat down.

"You have given my people new life," he said taking her hand in his, "I believe by giving them yours."

"I only did what I knew you wold have done, my Lord. These people deserved more than what the were getting."

"That they did. You have recreated Eden, my dear, and I know that they will mourn you horribly. Yet fear not for them, your adopted daughter will take your place. Eden will not die, nor will these people ever be ejected from it. Come home with me now, Tara, come home."

That night, Tara died. It was a peaceful death, with no one around and only the hooting of the owl to sooth her passing. The funeral was huge, and the mourners were numerous. In the center of the world, the erected a memorial for her, a statue of her with a little girl held in her arms. She showed them a new world, she created Eden.