Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Phoebe. She was adored by everyone around her, loved by her mother and her father. Everything was good until one day she discovered her power - not a gift, but a curse. One day, at a family gathering, she had been running around. Being adorable and looking at her baby cousin, Elizabeth.
Later that evening, her Uncle approached her and tried to sneak out of the crowd. Taking her to a private room. I won't say what happened, but only say that it left her rather scared. So scared that she screamed, shouting at him. She wanted him to fear every bit of fear that she had felt. And so her wish was granted. And then some.
He tried to run, back into the crowds and the family, collapsing on the ground and grabbing at his head. Screaming. It wasn't long until, just to end the suffering, he grabbed enough courage to resist momentarily. Only enough to end his own life...
The family was devistated. They looked at this little girl. They all knew with little doubt that she would be gifted, but not like this. Some of them looked at her then, as if she were some kind of monster. Most of them were afraid to even look at her.
Her parents refused to believe that their daughter was something evil, though. Day by day, more occurrences happened. Little Phoebe couldn't control herself and her gift. Random strangers or friends, animals, and even her own mother and father fell victim to the fear.
Phoebe hated herself. Starting to believe all the others in that she was a monster. She was still loved, though, and her parents wouldn't give up. Her mother kept her at home and cared for her, giving her a gentle and secluded life - free from worry or anything that might scare the poor child.
Her father saw it a waste to try and let her grow with this gift. A genius man, he spent his days in a labratory, looking for some sort of cure. Something, anything that could save his precious daughter from this curse. To take it away from her. Days passed and gone by, though. Mother and daughter tried to live on their fragile lives while the man became more and more distant. Twisted in his goals; to be some sort of savior. He couldn't just destroy the burden phoebe carried. He had to take it. A sacrifice for his dear little girl.
And at last it was made. The perfect formula, he felt. The father came up to Phoebe's room and looked at the sleeping shape, curled up beside her mother. So innocent under the nightlight's glow. He was quiet to scoop the girl up in his arms and go down to the lab, to finish what had begun a long time ago.
As he lay her down on the cold metal cot, Pheobe started to stir away; only greeted by a bright, blinding and menacing white light.
"M-Mommy?" Phoebe choked out, "Daddy?" She was started to unsettle, her palms sweaty, her heart racing as her gaze dashed around the room. This place, unfamiliar and shiny, frightening objects.
"Hush, baby." Her father came up to her, brushing the black bangs out of her face and trying to calm his baby. She started to slow her heartbeat. That was, until, he came back with a large syringe. Filled with a strange, alien green liquid.
Pheobe's eyes grew wide and she got up to run, before realizing that her hands and feet were strapped down. "NO! NO!" She started to cry, screaming. "NO!"
Her father's screams were soon heard as well, the needle dropped at her side and shattering on the floor. He dropped down on his knees, tearing at his hair. No, he would not share the same fate as his brother.
Without thinking about it, he grabbed a glass bottle and smashed it on his daughter's head. The pain ceased.
...
Phoebe had no idea what had happened. The last thing she remembered was the cold of the metal table and the blinding white light.
Next thing she knew, she was being pulled out of water, gasping for air and looking up at several unfamiliar faces.
"She's alive!" She thought she had heard a boy with russet hair yell, but his voice sounded like an echo. The entire world was spinning. She didn't feel right.
Phoebe spent the next years of her life quietly keeping to herself. Having been robbed of her childhood, she did nothing but stray away from those who approached her, always staring out the window. No one could really tell what was going through her mind.
Her father did succeed in one thing, though. He had taken her power and gained it for himself. She, though, was left without one. Phoebe supposed that she should've been happy for this reason, but she saw these kids at this school. How they grew with their gifts and made the best out of them. Maybe, if things had been different, she could've done the same? Maybe turned it into something not so frightening?
The girl started growing resentful, her heart full of hate. For near everything, really. For her father, for her mother - who she last remembered loving her and caring for her alone, but now ignored her only to help rebuild this strange place. Those who were gifted, but seemed to have it easy, to be actually blessed; and those normal, who lived pitiful and ignorant lives.
Phoebe eventually grabbed the courage and the curiosity to travel down into her fathers newer labs under the school. It all frightened her, but her fear was nothing now. She read through the files, about what he did. The people he killed. All those gifts listed he had gained in his silly quest to become a God. She couldn't help but point out to herself the steps he took wrong.
She came across a few curious pages. A study of the origin of the blessed. How, such a very long time ago, a few humans had found a different world. They found a small cave with a pool of water and bright light, unlike anything on earth and filled with magic. They became something new with the four elements around them.
According to the papers, this was the original source of all gifts - and that those gifted who would go there to discover themselves would be greatly strengthened by this strange magic, unlike anything seen before, at a cost.
Phoebe was greatly amazed by this, though, and felt that - if she could find this place - she could not only get her gift back, but become a force to truly be reckoned with. After all, how could anyone stand in her way if they were too frightened to even face her. A world absent of courage and too her liking, she could certainly create that.
