Risen From The Ashes

III) The Experiment Catalogue

From the balcony which spluttered with flames, Embers watched intently as another human was pulled from the wall of flames.

This was human number six of seven, a young girl with dark brown hair that fell to her waist and innocent hazel eyes with beautiful thick lashes that were slick with tears. In human years, Embers guessed that the girl looked about 10 years old, though Embers never really paid attention in all those classes her parents forced her to attend.

As the daughter of the Pompeite leaders, a lot fell on Embers shoulders. She was the heir to the throne, even though she was female, and even though she was no where near to inheriting the throne, a lot was expected of her. One of these things, was cataloging the humans and introducing them to the world of the Pompeite.

Finally, the last human was pulled through the famous 'Wall of Ignis', quickly followed by a very bedraggled and confused Toa, who'd been responsible for gathering the humans in the first place. She had a similar hair colour to the human whom she'd just retrieved - jet black - though unlike the human, she glinted with a yellow-ish light, which confused the humans a lot more than before.

The human on the other hand - a boy of seventeen - looked fairly displaced among the Pompeites with his athletic appeal and his laid back attitude, despite what had just happened.

Humans, she thought. So ignorant.

However, Embers couldn't help but look at the boy, even though her head told her not to.

Embers walked down the stairs from the balcony, to the ground floor where her seven human experiments sat huddled together, looking terrified. She didn't want to do this. Embers just wanted to hang out with her friends like a normal Pompeite girl of her age, yet her parents thought otherwise.

As she walked, her blonde hair streaked with sparks, and her skin flourished a faded red, representing her fear of humans. Embers didn't know why she was so scared of the humans. For centuries, the Human and Pompeite have been working in harmony with each other, and she'd met many humans before, but none like this. These humans were different - going to be different - and they had no idea.

When she reached the ground floor, Embers stopped momentarily. She could feel the surges of lava and magma flow beneath her and flow through her, tickling many corners of her form, yet, unlike most, it didn't make her feel better. Her mother - who happened to be named after the magma beneath her - often thought that Embers wasn't like the rest of Pompeite. She wasn't proud like she others and she wasn't the sort that liked to lead either. Embers liked to stay hidden, away from everything, and just keep to herself. She liked to be alone and away from attention, but that wasn't as easy as it sounds when Embers was well, Embers.

She took a deep breath, and walked forward. ''Welcome, humans. As you have gathered, you are not on Earth anymore. You are in the realm of the Pompeite.''

Embers never had much skill in socializing, but by the look on the Experiments' faces, she thought she was doing pretty well considering the circumstances, so she continued.

''Each of you are here for a reason. Whether it be for your strength, your wit, or your level-headedness. You are each here for a reason that will benefit you all greatly when the time comes. My name is Embers, and I am the daughter of our leaders, Cor and Magma, who are now your leaders. Effectively from this moment in time, you are regarded as Pompeite citizens. You will be taught our ways, our history, and everything you will need for when you are called for.''

From the corner of Embers' eye, she saw someone enter the room. When she looked up, she was relieved that it was Dasta - the leader of the Human Experimentational programme for which these were the first 'Experiments'. Even though she was relieved, Embers had never much liked Dasta. She was very narrow-minded, and in Embers' opinion, was too driven by revenge to be regarded as a 'nice' Pompeite. Despite this, Dasta was quite a high member in the Pompeite hierarchy, and wasn't born into that position, so Embers respected her, despite her distaste.