Reign Of Fire

Town of Evarenna, somewhere in Belgium.

The small town of Evarenna was occupied by the population of some different kind of people who dressed differently, talked in weird terms, and had equally odd rituals. Other towns near it’s province remained wary of them and never really tried to pry into the town’s inside machinery, and even if they did it was of no avail as they always found themselves back to square one with bits and pieces of memory altered and missing.

Dark clouds were crowding up in the sky with the promise of heavy downpour. Cold winds started to whistle through the darkening streets taking the gathered dry leaves from the side lane and again scattering them allover. Given that it was 3 o’ clock in the afternoon not many pedestrians or cars can be seen in the roads, and the ones that were there were starting to hurry up to there destinations.

Enara found herself sitting at the windowsill of her room in the first floor and staring at nothing in particular as if she were in a trance. A trance of heavenly yet dark spirits. Whatever it was it felt liberating, she didn’t want it to stop. She thought she could faintly hear her mother shouting downstairs, probably at her sister, she guessed. It was getting dark outside almost as if it was late dusk.

Enara wished she could fly. Even though air dominants like Enara could levitate above the ground till few feet, she didn’t mean that kind of flying. She wanted to fly like the birds which were now seeking shelters under the shades and in their nests. She wanted to fly high above in the sky where she held the power and she knew she would not fall.

Elementals like Enara and her family and many others in this town and around the world could gain Angel Wings with the utmost devotion and understanding of their own powers. But it was not that easy as it sounds, after all only five elementals in the whole of Europe had Angel Wings which gave them the status of royalty, or something similar to royalty as the species of elementals didn’t have royal families like werewolves and vampires. Which was of course a good thing.

The door of Enara’s room slammed open jerking her out of her reverie.

“I have been calling for you since past ten minutes. Are you deaf by any chance?” asked her mother, who wasn’t looking particularly happy about her daughter’s lack of response.

“Oh.” responded Enara without shifting her gaze from the window which infuriated her mother even more.

“What are you even doing? Why haven’t you switched on the lamps? It’s so dark in here. Are you even studying? You know you have to pass this term’s examination and secure a place in the the annual galvanic auror training camp. Are you even listening to me?” snapped her mother. Frustration clear in her voice also her expression reflected her displeasure at the whole setting.

Of course Enara was listening to her. She heard this everyday. She had this memorized now. Somehow Enara’s soul was being torn into two and she could not tell it to anyone. She herself did not understand what was happening to her. She knew her attitude was aggravating her mother but she did not know any other way.

“Dark is peaceful, let it be. Look how beautiful it is outside.” Enara spoke in her rough yet calm voice. She called this her ‘home’ voice. According to her everyone had their unattractive home voice.

Enara’s mother Emily Drachus was an earth dominant herself and was known for often counselling children into identifying their true dominant and she was quite good at it. But the only times her counselling never worked was on her two children, Enara and her younger sister Eloise.

“You are going to disappoint your father so bad.” murmured Emily while shaking her head. “For nature’s sake! You failed in your trial exams for charging practicals.” said Emily, as if lamenting a great loss. Enara thought she should get it inked on her forehead that she had failed her trials.

“Why were you calling for me?” asked Enara monotonously, partly wishing it would anger her mother even more.

“Honestly, you don’t feel anything. Do you?” Emily scoffed at her.

“No.” replied Enara. A lie. She felt too much which ultimately turned her numb.

“A fire message arrived from the Academia an hour back. You have been summoned back to Highcrest as you are expected to train with other failing students so that you can make it past the final examinations.” Emily said in a displeased manner, and with a hint of shame perhaps.

“But my holidays aren’t over till next couple of weeks.” said Enara, completely confused.

“Exactly. You leave tomorrow for that. Pack your bags. Be quick.” Emily said dismissively and prepared to leave the room.

“But...” breathed out Enara. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to say. She felt and looked utterly dejected and lost. She always feared this. Being an underachieving student.

“Wait until your father hears about it. Who would believe daughter of renowned galvanic auror Mikhail Drachus is being summoned back to Academia for remedial training.” Emily gave out a humourless laugh and left the room leaving the door ajar. Much to the displeasure of Enara.

Enara knew no matter what, her mother loved her more than her own life. She was just disappointed with her. Hell! Even Enara herself was disappointed with her. What she could not seem to explain to anyone was that that her galvanic powers were slowly leaving her and she could do nothing about it.

The worst part was it was oddly relaxing and soothing. An elemental losing their powers was the worst thing that could happen to them. She could feel her powers abandoning her but also at the same time she was being filled up a foreign charge which was beyond the knowledge of Enara.

By now it was heavily showering outside and few raindrops were slapping against her face like sharp spikes.

Enara wished she could go back to being her old self. Someone she was a year back. Her powers under her control, excelling the examinations, making her parents proud. Well maybe not the last one, her parents always wanted more from her. Always asking for more and to be best. But what was best? Enara never knew.

She didn’t want to go back to Highcrest. Not yet. She had not figured it out yet how she was going to survive rest of the term until the final examination which would seal her fate as well as many’s. The Academia was becoming suffocating for her with the passing of days.

Enara’s door squeaked open. She sat up straight half expecting it to be her mother, again.

To her relief it was Eloise. Possibly the only person in this house who wasn’t disappointed with her. Or maybe she was wrong. Eloise looked exactly like her sister but had their father’s deep brown curly hair which was cut in a short bob, quite opposite of Enara who took after their mother, had straight black hair which reached her waist. Surprisingly, Enara never really liked her hair this long in fact she found it to be quite irritating.

“You got scolded.” said Eloise. It wasn’t a question, but a statement. She crawled up on her bed and sat beside Enara.

Eloise was nine years younger than Enara and probably an earth dominant like their mother. They weren’t sure yet.

“When am I not?” smiled Enara.

“You are leaving.” murmured Eloise sadly. It clenched Enara’s heart.

“You are following after a fortnight.” Enara tried to reason out.

“Still... I will miss you.” sobbed Eloise and hugged her elder sister.

“I will miss you, too.” Enara felt like sobbing, too. But she didn’t.

Lost in the embrace none of the two seemed to realize that the temperature of the room had suddenly gone few notches down.

The heavy storm outside long forgotten.

Later that evening the atmosphere of the house was as somber as it could be. Nowadays it always felt like the members of this family were in mourning, Enara thought. It increased her sense of guilt even more. This was all caused due to her poor performance in the Academia.

The news of Enara going back early was broken to her father during the dinner, to which he did not really seem to react.

He has given up his hopes regarding me, Enara mused to herself.

Everything had been packed and Enara’s room looked vacant, now. The lights of her room flickered and again stabilized just when the door to her room gently opened. No one had the decency to knock in this house except for Enara herself.

It was her father, Mikhail Drachus. Which explained the flickering. As Mikhail was a galvanic auror, his emotions often seemed to control the electric sources around him. Given that, she did not want to know what her father was thinking. Enara tried to avoid any kind of confrontation with her father these past days as it felt more like a criminal being inquired than a father-daughter conversation. And no doubt the criminal here is Enara.

“Kremwell Academia has been attacked and set on fire by the rebel spirituals.” her father began. “I want you to maintain distance from the spirituals in Highcrest. Nature knows what goes on in their twisted minds.” Mikhail wore a dark look on his face, giving nothing away. He did not enter her room any further and stayed close to the door.

“But you yourself said that it was done by rebel spirituals. Not all spirituals are rebel or bad.” Enara retaliated.

Just like other elementals who were dominant in earth, air, water, and fire, spirituals were dominant in spirits. Which meant they dealt with emotions of peoples, aura of nature, could judge one’s true intention by looking into their eyes and had the power of manipulation. What made the spirituals dangerous was that their powers weren’t defined. It all depended on how they manipulated their own mind which sometimes made them go mad and hence declared rogue. Some spirituals were known for practicing with the spirits of the one’s who are dead which was against the supernatural law. If caught they would be brutally punished by the Guild.

“I did not ask for your opinion. The students of Kremwell will be coming to Highcrest as the attack has severely damaged their property. Don’t end up making a fool of yourself in their presence.” her dad gritted out.

Kremwell was the academy for elite students with elevated status. The students of Kremwell were always the ones winning the major trophies in different tournaments. Let’s just say you did not want to cross them if you are not sure of what you are actually doing.

“Fine.” hissed Enara.

“And I want you to have this. Don’t take it off from today onwards.” Mikhail stepped further into the room and handed over a necklace with a large oval pendant to Enara who was sitting at the desk on her chair.

“Why?” asked Enara while inspecting it’s pendant.

The pendant was pure silver and was relatively heavy. It had a ruby stone fitted in the middle which appeared like it had fire swirling inside it. It was majestic.

“Because I told you to. That’s a family heirloom, don’t lose it.” Mikhail replied gravely.

Family heirloom.

Enara did not bother asking from which side of the family this came from as she was enchanted by the beauty of the ornament on her hand.

“Thank you. It is beautiful.” Enara made her gratitude known to her father without looking up.

Mikhail made a hmph sound of acknowledgement and said “Good night”.

“Night”

Then he left closing the door behind leaving Enara alone to fawn over the necklace which she still hasn’t put around her neck.

The electric pull she felt towards the elegant piece could not be ignored. She could feel it getting warm on her palm but she was too engrossed to notice. The necklace felt right. Suddenly she felt like she should have thank her father more properly for this.

Enara got up and walked towards the full length mirror on the wall and stood before it. She held up the necklace and undid the clasp which was situated at the hook of the pendant in a designer manner. She locked it around her neck and inspected herself in the mirror. She felt like a queen. The queen.

The warmth of the pendant was burning the skin of her chest. But the warmth felt right. Like it was supposed to be like that.

For the first time in the day she felt rejoiced. Long forgotten was the worry of leaving for the Academia the next day. For the first time she felt powerful. And she wanted it to be like that so she shut out all the diverse questions and doubts that started crawling into her head.

Deep inside Duninshen forest, near Highcrest Academy.

“So... we have replaced the Heart of Blood. The Drachus girl will be back at Highcrest tomorrow. It appears like we are done here. What do you say, Chormia?” asked the red-headed albino spiritual to her companion sitting in front of the hearth beside her.

“Done? It has just got started. We have a long way to go, silly Janice.” replied Chormia as she gave out a throaty laugh.

“You are right. There’s still a long journey ahead.” mused Janice.

The sisters clinked their wine glasses with each other and went on celebrating the victory of their first important hurdle.

******

So there you have the introduction to this story. I tried not to reveal much as I would be doing that in the following chapters.

If you enjoyed the prologue I want you all to please like, vote and, comment on this and leave your point of view of what you think of it.

Till then, lots of love,

Manan.

P.S.- Please do point out the mistakes if you find any. I tried my best to make this error free.