Imagine a world consumed by war. With the nuclear bombs, pollution, and radiation we have burnt scars into our planet. The damage was great. People exploited natural resources and left the planet used up. Acid rain will blister skin while smog choke the lungs of anything that is alive.
Mother Nature held the Earth in her arms seeing up close the devastion we caused. Carrying her broken child in her arms Nature wept silently. The pain she felt was unbearable and as she cried her body shook ever so slightly. Her sorrow took all of her attention.
She did not hear her husband approaching behind her. A slight gasp of surprise left her lips as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek.
"I told you humanity would be a virus." He looked down on us with utter distain. The beautiful creation they had crafted was riddled with spilt blood and radiation from the human's wars. We had dropped bombs and poison on each other. Our nations leaders had lead us down the wrong path for far too many years. Famine, cancer, and low birth rates of even the wildlife was the result of the ongoing battles.
"How do we fix this," his wife asked him?
Father Time creased his brows and rubbed his beard while he pondered over this. Despite what they had done, his wife still held out hope that people could change and breathe new life into their environment.
The disciplinary action had to be fitting of the crime, but he knew Nature would not allow total death to all of humanity so he decided to do what only he could do. "I will stop the flow of time. No more trips around the sun. The moon will remain the same and so shall Earth. The seasons will not change. The plague of humanity will know eternal night or an neverending day. No longer will I grace them with the beauty of a sunrise or sunset."
Nature sighed deeply and nodded her head in agreement. The people had to be punished for what they did. No longer did they believe in anything besides their machines, and had grown deaf to her voice in the wind long ago. "For some of them I want to leave them with a gift."
Father Time looked at her completely shocked, "Why would you do that? The people deserve nothing but death for what they have done and you want to give them a gift!?!? I know you have a soft spot for humans but they are not worthy of more than what we've already given them. They are insulate children who break everything they touch with their small hands."
Nature understood his anger, but her gift would only be given to those who had a pure heart. "Those who protect others and respect their world will be given an ability to harness spirit. I will give them the power to fight those who seek to destroy. Humanity is a virus, but it is also it's own cure. I will make shifters. If an beast finds a human worthy it can choose to let the person be able to take its form. Only once will any one person be given this gift. They will forever be linked to the creature who chose them. I will whisper this into the ears of all of Earth's animals. May they soon find worthy people so that a change can l be swift. I want for men to ince again feel the spirit of their world. That planet is of our making and I want them to know and love her again!"
Time looked in her eyes and saw in them strength and determination. Only the strong can forgive crimes such as these. It is her strength and beauty that have always held him so captivated by his wife. "So be it. I hope you're dreams for humanity come to fruitation. I will go stop Earth's trip around the sun. This will be a shock to them I'm sure. If, and only if, you're gift creates healing I will once again let the world dance around the sun."
That is the day our planet stopped spinning on its axis around the sun. That is the day seasons ended and half of our world was plunged into darkness or neverending day. As promised, Father Time reached out his hands and held the Earth still and unable to move. This became known as "The Event".
As weeks went by many of Earth's inhabitants just gave up. They were afraid because of what was happening around them. The unnatural night and eerily long day created mass panick across the nations. Conspiracy theorists added fuel onto the fire by claiming the apocalypse was here. Many stopped living their lives and just faded away. People were too afraid to face what they thought was the end of the world.
The conflicts and wars between the nations did stop at long last. It seemed people had bigger things to worry about. Despite the cease fire, chaos still ensued. A new kind of chaos as some of the world's most vile of men saw this as a way to profit.
Meanwhile, far from the busy cities a wise older woman was setting up UV lamps in her greenhouse and watering her plants in the dark where she was visited by an owl. She never let herself be bothered with politics or the news for that matter. She and her late husband lived off grid for many years until cancer claimed his life. Being a widow was a slight bore since her children had already grown up so tending her garden was her daily dose of fun.
The owl had been watching the woman since he had heard a voice in his dreams. He tilted his head to the side and decided to fly down near the entrance of the green house. He felt compelled to watch her, and he felt great pride in her. "Come to visit again my feathered friend? Even in this darkness I can see you creeping around. Is it the garden mice who strike your fancy or do you just like to watch old women work?"
The owl lifted his head and listened to her. Despite not knowing the words she spoke he knew they were kind. Flapping his big white wings he flew up to the table she had been leaning on and gazed into her eyes. The woman seemed shocked but took her chances and reached out to stroke his feathers. As she had her hand upon him he let his spirit link to hers.
To her bewilderment she felt a strange connection with the bird and she became the very first shifter. Nature watched this moment with glee. She herself had sent the owl to her. This woman would lead so many others down a path to peace and recovery. The Event was just the beginning, not the end.
As the years went by the woman, Adelaide, found that she was also gifted with longevity. Her aging was paused just as the planet had been paused. She had always been active and had a healthy life style. At 57 she looked 10 to 15 years younger than she really was. She has such long pretty white hair (the only indicator or her age) flawless skin with very minimal lines around her mouth from years of laughter. There were also some age spots here and there but overall Adelaide was beautiful.
As the very first shifter she took on the task of teaching other shifters about their links. Over the last 50 years Adelaide has aged slighty, but not so much that she has lost her wits or enough to cripple her with brittle bones and arthritis. In fact Adelaide is extraordinarily preserved. Able to watch the new generations of her bloodline be born. She is able to continue her teachings even now to this day.
Before her husband passed on he and she had 3 daughters, and from these daughters she has several grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Little did she know that one day it would be her own great granddaughter who would help the world spin again.