The Flames of Elisira

Chapter 1 - Something Fishy

''Sera! Sera! Sera, get up it's almost dawn, you have to go the river!'' an auburn haired woman, who in her prime days would have had men fall at her feet with every step she took, was running around a dusty, mold covered kitchen as she tried to chase away the rats who were feeding on the small amount of grain, as well as tending to the small pot of porridge, which was likely to be the only food she and her family would consume that day.

''Sera!''

She shouted one more time before removing the pot of porridge off the heat. She walked up the broken stairs of their small, cramped up house which creaked with every step one took.

''Seraphina Cordelia Vaughn, you better get your generous behind up and running from that bed before I walk in, or so help me gods!''

''I'm up! I'm up!'' came a groggy voice from the behind the pine door of the small room, followed by a thump and what sounded like a small squeal. Before the woman could reach the door, it swung open to reveal what could be best described as a miniature version of herself. From the dark auburn hair to the tall, well-built frame, and the same mischievous smirk that got the woman into trouble in her younger days.

Everything about the young girl reminded the woman of herself. Everything, except the eyes. Those eyes, those incredibly beautiful, but different colored eyes that reminded her of him.

'No!'

The woman stopped herself and shook her head to get rid of her thoughts.

'It's all over now, it's in the past. He is gone, forever.'

''Mom?'' the young girl fastened her ragged cloak around her neck and took a step forward, ''Mom, are you okay?''

''Huh? Uh, yes, yes, yes, I'm fine,'' the woman managed to muster a smile and pat her daughter's head. ''Come on, we have chores to do. You need to fetch the water from the river before your father comes back from the fields so we can all have breakfast together.''

The young girl scrunched her nose up in disgust, ''he is not my father,'' she told her mother who had already turned around and did not see the flicker of fear pass her daughters face, nor the simple act of the girl pulling down the sleeve of her worn out and stained tunic to hide the scars on her upper arm.

''Stop standing there Seraphina, the water is not going to fetch itself!''

''Yes mother,'' the young girl grumbled and followed her mother, cursing the creaking stairs as well as her stepfather. Gods, she hated him, he was less of a father and more of a beast. He never saw her as a daughter, but as a personal punching bag.

As Seraphina grabbed the buckets, her anger over her stepfather intensified. So much so, that the dying flame from the kitchen stove shot up high, startling her mother who had to use her last vessel of water to kill the flame. She sighed heavily and looked out the small window at her recently turned seventeen-year-old walking down to the river, her eyes holding unspoken worry for her.

''She has it too,'' the woman whispered to herself, ''and it will keep on getting stronger unless I do something about it.''

She quickly poured the porridge into three separate bowls for it to cool down, wiped her hands on her stained apron and rushed into her room, carefully locking the door behind her.

The village of Copperfin was in the South and the least known regions of the Kingdom of Elisira. It was where the filthiest of the filthy people stayed. At least that's what Seraphina thought. She had lived here for seventeen years of her life and here's what she'd learned about the village.

One, for some reason it always smelled like fish.

Two, the richest man in this village owned a tattered run-down inn called Cod Inn. The owner, Mr. Finn whose son, Timothy had the most gorgeous honey brown eyes she had ever seen, and when the sunlight hit them, oh, she could drown in those eyes.