Contents
VI. Determinism — Reina
Overview
Bleeding and cornered by police, Reina offers everything to a young oak tree, triggering a powerful resurgence of earth-magic. The park transforms into a grove heavy with pomegranates, the cops vanish, and the heat breaks. The moment reaffirms Reina’s bond to the earth through sacrifice and changes the battlefield.
Summary
Reina lies injured in a chasm she opened, disoriented and bleeding after a cop throws her. Lacking healing ability and feeling numbness in her limbs, she resolves to give whatever remains of herself to the adolescent oak that tried to protect her.
At first there is only silence, which feels like defeat. Then her power surges back like spring, accompanied by petrichor and a blinding bloom of life. A handgun lands near her feet; recognizing it as the policeman’s, Reina kicks it away, rejecting violence.
As her vision clears, she sees not sky but a canopy: a circular grove has sprung up, petals the color of fresh blood. The oppressive heat dissipates to a cool breeze. The police are gone and the park stands quiet, transformed.
Fruit hangs heavy from the newborn trees. Reina, bruised and exhausted, pulls one down and recognizes pomegranates. Overwhelmed by the life she has called forth and the danger passed, she collapses to her knees and weeps.
Who Appears
- ReinaWounded and cornered, she sacrifices her remaining strength to a young oak, unleashing a life-giving grove.
- Police officer(s)Antagonists who injure Reina and toss her a handgun before vanishing amid her magical bloom.