Ember

Chapter 14

Brightness.

Everything was covered in a bask of warm light, illuminating each crack and coating the land in warmth.

I was draped across the ground, my face tucked into my elbow.

As my eyes adjusted to the iridescent light, I was able to take in the scene.

The ground was made up of dark black, shimmering rocks, the land was perfectly flat, like clean-cut black marble.

I stretched out my hands, allowing my fingertips to spread across the smooth rock, feeling the texture. Below them, the rock glowed a bright orange.

The glow mesmerized me, catching my eye and capturing it with the flickers of different shades of the bright colour.

I gently retracted my fingers and sighed as the comforting colours faded back into black.

Pushing myself up, I looked down at myself and noticed my attire, my feet and arms were bare; I wore tightly fitting trousers of a fabric I couldn't name - it shimmered as I moved, seeming to reflect the essence of the area - and a closely fitted sleeveless top with a slight collar.

Looking around myself, I realised that I couldn't see much other than an endless expanse of black rock.

I frowned and spun around, having no idea where I was.

Aside from a few rocks that stuck out of the ground, clearly a different texture, the jagged rocks seemed more like volcanic rock than the smooth marble I stood on.

I took a few steps forward, hearing the soft pad of my bare feet against the smooth rock.

The only place that I could relate this to was the Ignis land, at the natura pack.

But it was different. Back at the Ignis pack the rocks weren't like this. They were not smooth and perfect, but like nature intended them to be. The main similarity being the colour and the way they glowed when I touched them.

I still yearned for the land, I wished to go back. But I knew that could be a fatal mistake.

A sound behind me, as repulsive as nails dragging across a blackboard, rung through the open air.

I spun around, and watched with surprise as I saw one of the out of place, jagged rocks move.

It glided across the smooth ground, if it wasn't for the torturous sound I would have believed it to be graceful.

My eyes scanned the area, nothing seemed out of place aside from the mysterious movement.

"Strange, isn't it." A voice that I recognized too well whispered from behind my shoulder, far too close for my liking.

"Mason." I whispered. The Ignis beta, the beta that wanted to mate me and take my powers.

"My, my. You have been naughty haven't you." He sneered, taking a deep breathe as he hovered over my neck. "Mating that dog."

I narrowed my eyes, turning to face him and stepping back to keep him away.

"To think, what could have been." He sighed, moving closer to me, his movements like a snake.

I held my breath as he neared, trying to keep still as not to provoke him.

"You were meant for me, my dear Seraphine." He whispered, moving his mouth to my neck and softly kissing it. It felt repulsive.

I recoiled from him, springing back like he was poison. I felt disgusted by his action, and was quick to run a flame inducing hand across the exposed skin of my neck, right above my mark, getting rid of his revolting touch.