Immortali: The Rising

Chapter 1- The Phoenix

Hey guys,

So here it is, Book 2. Yay! I know the covers not the greatest, so if anyone wants to make a new one, that would be fantastic. My only condition is that it would have to follow the same style as the cover for book 1 (for consistency and all).

Otherwise, here we go.

Happy reading.

Raina stared out the window. Outside, it was a bright, sunny day. Arriana's green garden waited temptingly outside. It would have been magical sight for anyone, but it was wasted on Raina. She couldn't see any of it.

She was somewhere else. Somewhere outside of her body.

In her mind's eye, she was at the maple tree. In real life, the tree was dead. Her magic had killed it. It was a reminder of the day her world had been turned upside down.

But, in this dream world, the tree was alive. And, by the tree stood her dead sister, mother, brother and father. They too, like the tree, were also alive in this world. They beckoned to her, shouting her name, practically begging for her to join them, but every time she tried, she hit an invisible barrier. She banged on the barrier and screamed for them, but they never seemed to hear her. They just continued to wave at her.

She knew it wasn't real. She knew there was no way it could be real, but that knowledge didn't make her want to leave.

The dream world was both her torture and her bliss. She got to see her family. She could see them as vividly as they had been when they were alive, but she could never touch them. Never speak with them. Never approach them. That was the torture: to see them and hear them, but never be with them.

Still, as frustrating as the dream world was, it was better than reality. In the real world, she couldn't even see or hear them. She was just subjected to the daily reminders that once, a little while ago, they had lived and breathed like everyone else around them.

And that was why, the few times that Arriana, Isa, or even, Alrick (once), had tried to talk to her, she had ignored them. It was easier to slip back into the dream world than it was to listen to them.

***

Pyra sat on a couch in the living room of Arriana's house. There was another Immortali, a blonde one (whose name she'd already forgotten) on the opposite couch.

Blondie didn't seem too eager on a conversation with Pyra, and Pyra could only guess that it was because she was shy.

Weird.

It was then that Arriana emerged from the kitchen, a tray of drinks balanced on the palms of her hands.

"Do you like the house?" Arriana asked.

Pyra nodded. "Yeah... it sure is... classy."

The immortal woman shook her head, a strained grin on her face. "You always manage to make things sound like an insult."

The girl shrugged. "Old habit."

"Actually, I think it's just a Phoenix thing," Blondie muttered.

Arriana shot Blondie a look. "Isa," she hissed. "I know that you and the Children of the Flame do not always... see eye to eye, but Pyra is a guest."

Isa! That's her name, Pyra thought. Hey, wait a sec, who the hell are the 'Children of the Flame'?

"That's another name for your kind: Phoenixes. Sometimes we call them the Children of the Flame, or the Children of Fire," Isa explained, spitting out the word 'phoenix' like it was dirt in her mouth. Pyra glared at her, not liking her tone, but something else nagged at the back of her mind.

"How the hell did you know what I was thinking?" She asked the blonde Immortal, her arms crossed haughtily over her chest.

Isa regarded her with cold dislike. "Because I'm a telepath. I can read your thoughts."

"So, you were just reading my mind? Invading my privacy? What about that sounds ok to you?"

Isa didn't shift her gaze, nor did her expression change. "If it makes you feel better, there wasn't much to read."

Pyra wrinkled her nose. She stood up, feeling the heat of her magic in her blood. Flames danced on her skin.

So that's how Blondie wants to play it, eh? Well, bring it on!

"Say. That. Again."

Isa raised an eyebrow. "Do you really want me to repeat it? Exactly as I said it? Or would you prefer me to use smaller words? I can do that if you want."

Practically tearing her hair out with rage, Pyra leapt at Isa, but was instead thrust back in her chair by a blast of icy air. She closed her eyes, feeling pain sear through the back of her head. When she opened them, a very sharp icicle had grown from the floor and was threatening to pierce her neck.

"Enough!" Arriana's accented voice cut through the air. Instantly, the icicle disappeared in a flurry of snowflakes. Pyra sat up and glared at Isa, but finally had an idea of why the blonde Immortali had been less than hospitable towards her.

Pyra was a Phoenix, a creature of fire, and Isa was clearly the opposite. Whoever said 'opposites attract' was kidding themselves. Fire, very clearly, in this case, did not like ice. At all.

Arriana glared at Isa, who did not shrink away from her gaze.

"I thought you were better than this, Isa. You speak of peace and pacifism, but would openly attack a young Phoenix who was invited into our home?"

Isa glared at Pyra. "I love all species of magical beings, but there is an ancient rivalry between Phoenicians and... my own kind."

I thought she was an Immortali...

Isa fixed her gaze on Pyra again. "I am!" She snapped, but then her face softened. "Well... sort of. I'm altered."

So... does that mean she's like Psycho Fairy Vampire...? Pyra wondered, remembering Maven, the Leanan Sidhe, with a shiver. She relaxed, however, when Isa regained her composure. When the Blonde Immortali looked at Pyra again, the Phoenix girl saw none of the hostility that had previously been there. Isa's eyes were clear and calm.

What the hell?

Arriana sighed. "Now that that's been resolved, we can move on tour next order of business."

Pyra nodded, leaning back onto the couch and propping her feet up on the coffee table. "Yeah, you want me to help your apprentice snap out of some kind of... daze?"

Arriana nodded, but Pyra noticed Arriana's eyes tracking the movement of her feet on the coffee table. Clearly, this irked the immortal woman, so Pyra propped her feet further on the coffee table, just to see how far she could get underneath Arriana's skin before the woman said anything.

So far, Arriana said nothing. "Yes, that's right. I need you to try and get through to her, and, if you do, be there for her. It would be good for her to have someone her own age and going through similar... changes, around.

Pyra shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I'll give her a go. When did you want me to start?"

Arriana grinned, and Pyra could only guess that it was out of spite, because the next words that came out of her mouth were: "Right now."