ANEW ||

Summons

** Image of Mari done up by @po-jainter over on Instagram!

She drove to the side, flames kissing the ground where she once stood. Easy for her to do this, avoid and jump and bound out of reach of her considered sister.

Easier for her than the others. She was liquid cunning, fast and swift; a challenging target to strike down for all except one...

Sure her opponent was fast but not the fastest. Not even close.

Strike after strike she avoided, the white-hot flames missing her just barely. She didn't strike back, not just yet. She had to wait for the perfect moment.

Another blast of white-hot heat scorched near her arm, but she was gone again in an instant, melting away and into the sand. It was as if she had never been there in the first place, nothing left to show that she had once stood in the sand.

She was solid then, the blue gleam turning into the full height of a woman. Not that she was all that tall. She was the shortest in their group, small but deadly.

Before her opponent even blinked she was drenched in water. The flaming girl flailed, arms flying out to strike where she stood.

It wouldn't work, this was the only way she couldn't win. And then a figure on the edge of the ring stood, a muscled male, chocolate hair like his youngest sister, sapphire eyes like the other.

She had won. Typical. April always left her one side open like that, natural for Clair to slip past her defenses and soak the raging flame like a damp rag over a candle.

"She always does that," April seethed shaking her head. Water droplets fell from her hair.

"Good thing she does," Ranger said moving towards them at a steady pace. "Otherwise you would never learn any better. Be thankful it's Clair and not anyone else."

What he meant was better Clair than Mari.

April was dry in the next moment, flames licking away the last drops of water. She grinned at Clair though, all sadness gone from her face.

"I'll get you next time," her grin was unwavering, bright white teeth gleaming.

It had been 107 years since they had faced Hades. 107 years of peaceful bliss in this world, or as close to peace and bliss as they could have gotten... They had watched their loved ones grow old and pass on without them, and then when they were well, and ready, they moved, each to there own pace, to the island of Olympus.

Rayne had been the first to resume life on the island entirely. She kept to herself mostly, ruined by the memories that haunted most of them. Rayne hadn't had it easy, no. She had been closest to Mari in the days after, had watched her die from the inside out like a poisoned tree.

No one quite understood how awful that had been for her. Oh, the terrible things she must have seen.

None of them had escaped without scars of some kind; whether they were in the flesh or on the soul.

Lexi had murdered her parents. On accident of course, but murder all the same. They had tried to adopt a child after Lexi had left, a small girl with dark ringlets. She couldn't let that happen, have them brutalize another child as they had destroyed her.

Ranger had to drag her away a mere five years into life after the war. She had never been back. Choosing to remain on the island was probably a better idea anyway.

She stood now, off to the side and glittering in and out of visible light. She was grinning as well, watching April with dark eyes and even darker lashes.

The youngest of them, Rayne, was souring over the island like she usually did at this point of the day. And then she was falling, ivory wings tucked in close to her sides as she let herself be dragged closer and closer to the ground.

In the last second, they opened, a great gust of air throwing everyone to the ground. Rayne landed with ease as everyone, including Ranger, picked themselves off the sand.

Lexi spit dirt from her teeth. "Seriously?" she chastised running her tongue along her lip.

Rayne just let the tips of her wings dangle on the ground, leaving trails in the sand as she walked toward Clair.

"I can't help it," Rayne said her chocolate hair tied up in a braid. It was long, pulled over one shoulder like a rope. "It's just so amazing to watch Ranger be bad at something."

Ranger scoffed, obviously not enjoying his little sisters bantering.

"Like standing upright?" Clair asked shaking out her sun-kissed brown hair. Sand sparkled in the sun as it fell from her.

Ranger rolled his eyes.

Under any normal circumstances, no soul in history could ever sneak up on Ranger. He was the islands best tracker, best they had ever seen. His senses were like a broken dial on a microphone, everything was loud and clear, ringing in his ears like a woman's screams. But Rayne was another story; she was the only person he couldn't track, couldn't sense. It drove him mad. Sibling intuition...

Ranger leaned down anyways, kissing his little sisters cheek and smiling at her. She smiled back fluttering her wings.

Lexi stretched, those deft fingers reaching up to the midday sun. "Who's next?" she asked cracking her neck. They were all here now, the legendary council standing in the sand like beacons in the light as well as the dark, monsters for an island of savages and refugees, protectors and death bringers.

Clair, the second to the dividend, stood in the center facing April, the woman who could see more then any of them wished she could. Lexi with her palms raised to the sky as if she could relocate the sun, perhaps she could. And Rayne, cloaked in ivory, electricity lighting her fingertips.

"No one," Rayne said watching Lexi. "Mari sent me."

They all stiffened.

This wasn't normal, being called during an afternoon game of 'beat the piss' out of one another. Let alone being called at all.

People watching them all around even stiffened. They usually had an audience for these afternoons, people eager to watch the legendary council of the dividend. Even generations later they were unmatched.

Unending wells of power, raging infernos and white lightning crackling all the way down.

"Why?" April asked confused.

Rayne turned her bird-like features to them entirely, eyes narrowing like a hawk.

"She didn't say, just sent me to get you."

Ranger slipped away silently, knowing he was not being summoned. His mate would be happy to see him early anyway.

"Alright then," Clair said slipping away into the sand. She was gone in an instant, beginning the race.

April was gone in the next moment, flames leaving a trail behind her, turning some of the sand to glass with the heat.

Lexi and Rayne just shook their heads. These two were always battling. Fire and water forever at odds.

Rayne swept her wings out, pushing off the ground is one beat. Lexi signed, barely getting the breath out before Rayne swooped back down, looping her arms under Lexi's and sweeping them into the air.