Badeea: Journey Through the Sands of Fate

*Badeea,* the woman whispered to herself as she stared into the mirror. Her mother had given her that name, meaning "good," when she was born. But Badeea was not good; far from it. She was a thief, an outlaw of sorts. She lived on the outskirts of town in an old shack and stole whatever she could get her hands on to survive. It wasn't that she needed the food; she could go days without eating at all. She simply loved the thrill of stealing, of sneaking past guards, of taking what wasn't hers.

But today was different. Today she sat alone on a small stool surrounded by candles with a small knife in her hand and one thought in her mind: sacrifice. The sign above the town square had said there was something wrong with the women in town. Their breasts were growing larger and larger without end and no one knew why.

"We need help," it had said, "and you're the only one who can do it."

Well, that was true enough. No one else wanted to steal from *them.* Badeea sighed and pressed her thumb against the blade of the knife until it pierced her skin and drew blood. Then she reached up towards her breast, making sure to keep her heart perfectly still and steady as she did so, and placed the thumb in between two of her ribs.

"For answers," she said quietly as she drove the knife into her chest as hard as she could manage. At first nothing happened, but then after a moment's rest Badeea felt something awaken inside her body, some sort of power that had lain dormant for years suddenly wake up within her soul. She looked down and saw that where once there was a hole in her chest now there was a bright blue light shining out like moonlight over ocean waves at night.

She got off of her stool and began to dress herself quickly; there wasn't much time before someone came looking for "the crazy girl living on the edge of town." The knife would be easy enough to hide, but there really wasn't anywhere else to hide such a bright light so instead Badeea ripped a piece off of her dress and wrapped it around the wound in an attempt to cover it up a little bit more than it already was.

When she finally got outside into the sunlight Badeea took a deep breath of fresh air; for once it didn't make her wonder how many lives she might have taken just by breathing it in because for once something good had happened to this place that always seemed so dark and sinister even during daylight hours. As soon as she closed her eyes though Badeea noticed something very strange happening around town - every woman who looked to be around sixteen years old was surrounded by a faint blue glow that lasted only as long as they remained standing upright before fading away again and being replaced by another young woman with the same glow around them moments later.

"It works!" Badeea shouted happily to no one in particular as she began running through all of the streets towards home with great big smiles on both faces all along the way. Finally maybe things would get better around here! Maybe they wouldn't have to worry about thieves anymore! Maybe they could live their lives free from worry!