Chapter 1
Fire crackled in the distance.
I stared down at the wreckage of my village. How beautiful the fire looked from far away.
How evil it was up close. The fire I started killed everyone. In my nightmares, it was coming for me. It was tearing me piece by piece.
“You started this.” A snake-like hiss whispered in my ear, cold air sent shivers down my spine.
It was here, it was here for the three hundred and sixty fifth time.
An entire year, being plagued by these awful nightmares. But the voice, it felt so much closer. It felt like it was next to me.
And maybe it was.
But the voice was still far. I heard rustling in the trees behind me.
And the second I turned.
My blood splattered everywhere.
All that was left was my carcass.
I wake with a scream.
My mother comes rushing into the room just to make sure I was still okay. Fire erupts on my nightstand and thank the gods above that I have water next to my bed to put it out.
I still need to learn how to control my fire.
“Another nightmare?” She asks, sitting down at the edge of my bed. I give my mother a curt nod, “Yes.”
“I’m so sorry, baby.” She says, patting my leg, “It’s all going to be okay once you find your mate. Possibly at the solstice in a few days.”
The solstice, where all the elements meet for one night to celebrate and drink together. I’ve finally come of age, which is twenty, to participate.
I never really wanted to, it didn’t seem like something fun because my father is an alcoholic. But one night just to enjoy myself seems like peace.
“I doubt it.” I say, looking down at my hands. I wish the fire would return, it’s been getting harder and harder to turn on.
I’m afraid that it’s going to completely disappear and I will never see it again. The thought of that is completely and utterly terrifying.
I won’t be anything, the elders will have to kill me.
A person without their element. They are nothing at all, I have to figure out what my nightmares mean and stop them before I....lose my magic completely.
But that day will not be today. I have to help my mother decorate for the solstice. We have four days to plan before the night comes.
I think that we have most of it completed, but baking and cooking does take a good long time, Along with preparing the wine for the Devil.
The Devil isn’t actually the devil. Everyone in my world calls him that. He rules over all of us. His power superior to all of ours combined.
Water, Earth, Air, Ether (Space) and Fire.
We all have our special abilities that separate us into different groups, and different sections of our world.
Earth has offered to help with transportation to Makruise, the island where the Devil lives. I do not know his true name, nobody does other than the people who live with him in his castle.
If anybody ever dared to try and take over the world, they would be sadly obliterated into pieces, and that is the most merciful thing the Devil would do.
I’ve only heard rumors about who he is, and what he does.
The girls next door, Hanna and Avery, were gossiping that a man raped his wife in the Devil’s home so he took his sweet time burning off every body part of the man until his face, leaving him charred on the ground for everyone to see, and also as a warning to others.
That sent shivers down my spine, just by them mentioning his name.
Is he even a he? What if he’s a superior being like everyone says he is and just doesn’t have a gender?
The questions I have.....
I heard that being in his presence is like seeing a god, and it basically is because he technically is a good, so says the books I’ve read so far in the library.
I took up in interest in learning about gods when my nightmares started. I could never find anything about the nightmares, but I started learning about the gods and I found many facts.
The Devil must also have a mate, if he is like us. A mate, in my world, is a partner that lasts forever and into our great heavens. You never seperate, and as soon as the bond clicks together...well, I heard that you fall in love.
But I doubt that time will come. I also heard that once the mating process is over, your magic rises. So right now I’m considered a baby even though most girls my age have already found their mates.
Disappointing, my mother once said, but she wants me to take my time finding my mate and getting comfortable with him.
My mother came from a wealthy family, she was only seventeen when she met my father and fell immediately in love with him. They were mates, but my father was less interested in her until finally, he fell.
He slowly began to lose himself after....mysisterdied.
My sister passed away from unknown causes two years ago, one day, we were sitting in the kitchen and her heart...stopped.
I remember watching her fall to the ground, her eyes going lifeless. I tried to learn more about what could have stopped her heart.
What I learned is that, possibly, her magic was too much for her and her body could not take it because she had a weak heart.
Fire is one of the most dangerous elements, and it takes lots of time to build and take care of the flame.
I might not be doing a good enough job at keeping my flame up and running, and I’m still so scared that the flame is going to disappear.
My mother clears her throat, breaking me out of my thoughts which continue to get worse and worse.
“We should get ready to go.” She says, “The dresses should be ready to be picked up by twelve o’clock, can you run down and get those for me?”
I check the clock on my nightstand. It’s eleven thirty five.
“Yes!” I say, needing to get my mind off of my nightmare, “I would be glad too.”
“Oh, thank you so much.” My mother gives me a big hug, “I’ll give you some extra money to buy yourself something pretty, like a ring to go with the dress.”
My family doesn’t have that much money anymore. My father made an excellent income years ago, before my sister, Alisabeth, died.
But now, it’s only my mother and I working. My mother has worked for much longer than I have, working and breaking her fingers with a needle for hours a day.
I started working to bring in extra money when my mother was so sore sitting at her knitting chair that she couldn’t get out of bed.
I run errands for people around town, and they pay me a well amount, not enough I can make a living off of it, but I enough I can pay for bread and food for my animals.
“No need.” I say, “I have plenty of jewelry I can wear.”
“Are you sure?” She asks, “You deserve to get a little bit of a break.” My mother reaches for my hands and I let her take them.
My father was not the only one who drifted away from the family.
Mother never likes to admit her wrongs, she likes to avoid things that happen around her, and she likes to get over the past.
When Alisabeth died, she fell into a depression, not getting out of bed for days at a time. That was the worst of all of my days.
I was alone, my best friend and my sister was gone. I had to find a way to bring in money. My grief came around as soon as my mother mustered up the courage to get out of bed.
I was so wrapped up in keeping my family fed and alive that I forgot completely to mourn my sister whilst shoving every emotion I had into a small little box in the corner of my mind.
“I’ll be fine.” I say, “I have my own money saved up.”
“And you never thought to share it?” She asks. I look at her with a low expression on my face, my mother is only a few inches taller than me, but not by much.
“It’s just a few cents...” I say.
“Huh. So is it okay if I don’t share my money with-” My mother cuts herself off, realizing her wrong.
“I’m sorry.” She says. My mother can sometimes have narcissistic tendencies, and she can be very overreacting at times.
I still love her, in a way. She is still my mother, and it is my job to keep her safe.
“It’s okay.” I say, “I’ll make sure to share next time.”
“Don’t worry about it, you work hard.” She says, patting my shoulder, “You deserve to have money of your own, even if-”
“I’m going to go.” I interrupt her before she can say something self centered, “I think the dresses might be ready a bit early.”
“Of course.” She says, handing me a pouch of coins, “Be safe!”
Mother leaves and I change out of my night clothes, which is sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt. I change into trousers and a long sleeve white blouse.
I put on my boots because there is still mud outside. Even though the Devil is the ruler of all, we have government in each of our sections.
It seems that the Water section got a little bit mad, and ruined our entire day. The rain ended last night, there hasn’t been any forest fires in a very long time.
I think that’s because we don’t want to upset the Earth section and make the water section have to put out the fires....again.
A few years ago was very different from the way we are know. Chaos erupted because of random murders and disappearances of many girls, over ten I counted.
But that’s over now, and we are better people then we were before.
I take a step out of the house, looking at the picture of Alisabeth that hangs on the wall and the empty beer cans my father litters off all over the house.
I close the door, leaving my house behind as I walk down the slim dirt path leading to town. I’m quite close to the market, but not to where I need to go.
My boots are already making my feet ache, or that might just be me trying not to go tumbling down a hill.
I wish I had taken the horse, this is going to be a very long walk.
I finally arrive at the dress shop ten minutes past twelve o’clock.
I step into the shop, the bell dinging behind me. I close the door softly. An older woman with her graying hair tied into a messy bun, wearing a pink and blue floral pattern dress steps towards me, a tape measure in her hand.
“Oh!” She exclaims, “Are you here to try on dresses? Get sized? A pick up?”
“Pick up.” I say, putting on my best smile, “My name is Alexima Prokarus.”
She smiles, “It’s always so nice to see another fire bender come into this store.” She says, “I always get the tourist earth girls.”
“Well, I’m not an earth girl.” I say.
She nods, “I know, I can see it in your eyes and your posture. You are much more poised.”
I smile, “I suppose that is a compliment.” The woman walks behind the counter, pulling out two boxes. She unfolds a dress from one of the boxes.
I look at the dress, it’s stunning.
Gold gems embroidered on the corset with no straps, a long flowy gown with red flowers etched into it.
“That is absolutely beautiful.” I say, stepping towards the dress.
“It will suit you beautifully, dear girl.” She says, smiling softly at the dress, “One of my most beautiful creations.”
It certainly is beautiful.
“You know what.” The woman says.
“What?” I ask her.
“This is fit for a woman, who is going to be rule the world one day.”
