The Song came unbidden. Formless words implanted in her brain, colors that flitted through her mind like impotent shrapnel.

She lifted her arms, rejoiced in the power that flowed through her, down the spire, then out to the thousands, millions of people beyond.

She was her gift to them. They were her gift to her.

She looked up at the sky, the stars winking in and out, the colors of her voice weaving in cascades around her.

Her body so thrilled with the sensations that at first she didn’t notice.

She didn’t see the stars blinking out. Then she saw.

Unable to react, to break free from the Song her terror grew as the circle of Darkness grew larger. The sounds around her began to fade as IT’s presence came closer, absorbing the energy, the life she was spewing forth.

“No!” The cry was a silent scream in her mind. She’d known this was a possibility, they all did. But it had never happened for over a hundred years.

Why now, why should it happen to her…?