Souls&Wings

c h a p t e r 4

Within seconds I got back to my room and closed the door. My chest heaved with each breath as my heart pounded twice as fast as it should. Nemesis knew exactly how to push my buttons, and he was doing it with relish. I could feel the memories clawing their way to the surface, the ones I swore I'd never think about again. The ones that made me feel like I was drowning. But it was too late to push them back down now. They were here, and they were tearing me apart. I was furious that Nemesis was right, that he had the power to make me feel like this. That was the problem. I knew that I needed help, but I was trapped in my mind and I didn't know how to escape.

After a few moments, my breathing finally calmed down. I looked around my room. Well, the room I chose to stay in because it was never really mine. Some of the ridiculous rules of Pavrax was you never had a home. You shouldn't be attached to things and certainly not people. It was exactly why the high knights in Pavrax made one very important rule. A knight can only mate with another knight. It was the only way to keep the bloodline pure and clean. And so that we did not die out. Which already happened a few times since the rise of Liontara. I looked around my room. The tower was very old and so were the rooms. I allowed my magic to surface and fired up the candles.

''ignis''. You could still see the old paint on the walls. It used to be beautifully decorated by old stories. It reminded us of why the knights were important. Now you could only see the small traces from the paintings that are slowly vanishing. I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. When I was gradually drifting to sleep it looked like the old paintings were coming to life. The lion who defeated the dark knight set to destroy the six gods. And the ninth generation from the League of Knights who disappeared into the unknown. I closed my eyes as dark memories started to reappear in my dreams.

I was walking a dark path between the stars. I could see no light and I could smell no trace of others. ''Where am I?'' Suddenly I heard a small voice. ''I am here Nova. Here.'' Spoke the voice. ''Where? I can't see you?''

The voice kept silent but I could still feel its presence. ''Who are you? Show yourself!'' I yelled. The voice spoke again.

''When he falls Nova, four of you will rise from the ashes of the phoenix

and bring hope and light back to the dark days.''

''Aaahh!'' I gasped for air as I woke up from my nightmare. ''Shit,'' I mumbled to myself. The nightmares became more frequent over time and messed up my head. I heard a knock on my door.

''What?'' I yelled. Still in bed. ''Nemesis wants us with the meeting in ten minutes.'' I heard Dax say behind the door. ''Fine.'' I responded. I knew he could hear me although the door was still closed. I yawned. I only got an hour or two of sleep and it did not make my mood any better.

I got out of bed when Dax started to walk away. I went to my morning routine without any focus as I was still curious about what my nightmare was about. I hadn't seen anyone when most of the time I could see my father or mother and sometimes even people I don't know. But this time, it was different, it felt different. I shrugged. Just my head messing with me.

I arrived at the meeting at the top of the tower right on time. All of the knights were there. I stood still behind Dax. Just to make sure I was unnoticeable.

''Okay, good. Everyone is here.'' Nemesis spoke. 

''So, We got a mission from Axlan.'' So that was the name of the head phoenix we saw at the council meeting, Axlan. 

''I am going on the mission because that is most logical at the moment. I'll take Dax and Nova with me.'' I rolled my eyes. Dax was right. Unfortuatly.