Prologue
The land of Ursurla moved around her as the wind struck a chord with the moonlight playing on the reddened grass before her. The night cracked and sparked as a sudden storm dissolved the stars and unleashed its force upon the moon, hiding it beneath thick clouds, layers and darkness. Serine felt her breath move in and out, in and out of her chest. Her heart beating. Her hands clenching. Something pulsating at her back. Thick raindrops hit the crown of her head, and a high-pitched squeal echoed beyond the wind.
Howling … something is screeching in pain. She tried to grasp her ears, to cover them, and to hide from the pitch force of scream that lashed at her mind. She felt the ground suddenly hit her knees, the soaked grass piling around her and the world spinning.
The screeching seemed to match the rhythm of her breathing.
She gasped, and it stopped.
She pulled at her drenched hair and realized the wild keening came from her. Her mouth, wrenched and hollow with grief.
Her fist punched the ground, as intense pain blinded her sight.
Or was that lightning? She couldn’t be sure.
The pain screamed at her; her voice echoing and the clothing on her back ripping.
Where am I?
Ursurla howled and raged around her… But it wasn’t Ursurla. The grass was red… Ursurla’s was green. Only one place was flush with reddened grass. She grasped the grass piled around her knees and ripped it from the ground. Through the rush of rain and wind and darkness, she managed to see the red gleam, a color she had only seen in pictures. Somehow, despite the storm around her, the red glinted and shined, defying the darkness.
She gasped as the pain seared through her vision once more.
Fear. I feel fear.
Abruptly, light tore her vision from the reddened gleam grasped in her shaking fist. She saw the clouds rip open and a bright light shine through… yellow, blue, and white all at once. She stared helplessly, the rain rolling in thick streams down her cheeks, from her eyes.
Was that rain?
She tried to wipe it desperately.
Something about the light in the sky, something about its gleam and its warmth made the wet ground feel less so, and the wind seemed to calm. She let go of the bent and broken grass, just as the pain in her back ripped through. She screamed again, but rose to her feet, meeting the light and the breech of darkness. Her soul felt warm, her heart fluttered. Her wings stretched on either side of her, precipitously blasting the ground with strong gusts, raising her beyond the tree line and towards the light. She understood her pain.
She was reborn.
* * *
Serine sat up swiftly in her bed. She whipped her head to look behind her, trying to grab her back in an absurd show of nightmare stricken emotion. “What?” She asked herself, as she threw the covers from her legs, placing her feet on the cold, wood floor. Her sheets were soaked, and she shivered with the cold creeping in despite her nightgown. Her golden hair fell around her shoulders, hiding her face.
That dream again, she thought. It is pretty cool to fly… but that pain though. She shuddered. It has to do with the move. She nodded firmly to herself.
The red grass… the scenery matched Obilius. Her father had recently landed a job, something they desperately needed, in Obilius. Obilius. A place of extreme mystery. Only those who worked there lived there. She had only seen pictures, pictures of the red grass and foliage, clashing with the blue of the sky.
It was a great honor to work there. She knew that, but something inside of her whispered warnings, and her dreams…
She shook her head. Tomorrow, we are moving tomorrow. She shouldn’t focus so much on a dream. Tomorrow, her mother, Gleesa, her father, Dracus, and her brother, Darien, would be moving to a dream world. One, big, happy family on a grand adventure. She smiled to herself, letting her mind drift pleasantly back to sleep.
Her consciousness faded.
The nightmares spoke prophecy to her soul, one she would know soon, but for now a smile graced her young lips, a peaceful sigh escaped, and sweet memories of growing up in Ursurla embellished her dreams.
Part 1
The Arrival
