A younger Thea lays in a pile of viscera. Dead bodies strewn about the room she stands in. A clock on the wall ticks by.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Thea seems accustomed to the gore. Ahead of her, a tall figure is cannibalizing one of the corpses.

Thea chews on her fingernails.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

The figure turns slowly toward Thea and stands up, walking over slowly. It crouches once more, this time right by Thea.

The figure speaks with gnarled teeth.

Thea looks around at the corpses. She picks up some sort of stuffed animal.

Thea's never had trouble pronouncing her Rs, but -es was hard for her back then.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Tock.

The dream switches places.

Now, Thea stands in a kitchen, still young, but older than the previous dream. Thea chops carrots evenly and quickly. Too quickly. She nicks herself with the blade, blood pouring from her finger. She almost screams, but holds her tongue for fear of her guardian's wrath. She looks at her bleeding finger. It reminds her of something. She tastes the blood-stained carrots.

The dream switches places again.

Thea is in a lab now, but she is the same age. She looks into a glass tank as her mother converses with some glasses-wearing black-haired woman. Thea taps the glass, and orange eyes suddenly burst from the foggy water. Thea jolts backward, but remains curious. The orange eyes flash a strange blue, and then recoil as well.

Thea turns to go back to her mother, but she is pulled backward by a grey hand. Something yells at her, then she screams, then her mother screams.

Thea is pulled into the tank. She sees two grey figures near her and another grey figure cowering in the corner.

The two figures lunge at her. She attempts to crawl out of the water. Her mother is at the water's surface, but she does not extend her hand to save Thea.

Thea feels teeth sink into her leg. She kicks the head the teeth are attached to, then grabs it and bashes it into the glass. She feels herself thrown into the glass by an unseen force, and she lunges at the other figure.

She is attacked from both sides. She screams from in the tank, looking up at her mother as her lungs fill with water. She hits the two figures into the glass, red and blue liquid staining the water. She keeps hitting the two figures until she can't breathe anymore. She goes up for air.

She crawls out of the tank and falls into the floor. Something cracks underneath her. She's in so much pain.

She hears someone say "you raised a tough'un, Coeus." Her mother walks over to her and crouches down.

Tears stream down her face as she looks into her mother's eyes.

Thea forces a grin.

The dream switches places.

Thea clutches the bleeding stump on her arm. She forces out the word "heal." Her hand grows back. The grey-skinned person, holding their hand to her back, looks at her hand, amazed.

Thea is far older now, almost old enough to drive. She is learning too, having learned that, as a person destined to battle "the Lord", or whatever that means, she has powers beyond what normal humans have.

Her mother watches her carefully as she trains against numerous adversaries.

Thea grows back her hand into a person's heart, and then snaps another person's neck. She's been told these are all convicted murderers, so their deaths are justified. In reality, most of them were framed for drug possession.

Thea looks at her mother expectantly as she kills her last opponent. She wonders if her mother is proud.

Her mother answers by getting into the ring and instantly tearing Thea apart.

Thea is too busy being dead to react.

The crowd looks at her body, horrified. Her mother points at a random person and tells them to say the words "Thea Tian Coeus." The person does, and Thea arrives back from the dead. The person explodes, covering both Thea and her mother in blood.

Thea's mother tilts her chin up.

The clock on the wall ticks.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Thea nods.

Tock.

The dream switches places one last time.

Thea is her current age now, sitting in her office. She is receiving a report from the OIRV, about the location of a meteor and a man who transported the world to another medium.

The pendulum of a clock behind her swings back and forth. She takes a sip of her coffee as she examines the report.

The clock strikes 12, and the ringing of the bell is inescapable.