Immortali: The Rising

Chapter 2- The Spark

Pyra waited outside the room Arriana's apprentice was supposed to be in. For once in her life, she was genuinely nervous. After all, what could she possibly say to bring this girl back down to earth? Arriana had told her Raina's story, and, in all honesty, Pyra couldn't blame her for wanting to shut everyone out.

I mean, her whole family was brutally murdered by some Immortali prick. How the hell do you just snap out of that?

Pyra sighed. She didn't know.

She'd always been quite sure of herself in her life. She'd never been able to rely on anyone else. Everyone else had let her down. Foster home after foster home. She'd never seemed to be good enough, so why try to be good enough for them when they couldn't even shape up for her? That was her philosophy: never try and impress people who don't care about you. It was a waste of time and energy.

After that, she'd done everything she possibly could've to be herself. To do what she wanted to do.

And then this crazy magic thing had happened. Suddenly, Pyra was a Phoenix.

Perhaps if she'd been someone like Raina, who had people to love and care about, this might have been a devastating discovery, but, the truth was, Pyra had no one. No parents, no permanent family to speak of, and certainly no friends.

At least, that's the way it used to be. Ever since she'd found out who she really was, Pyra finally did have someone she could care about, and who could care about her in return.

Nyssa. The fairy who'd run a café in the last town she'd been in.

Nyssa had been the one to teach her basic magic and defence in the last few days, and then Arriana had showed up. Apparently, the two were old acquaintances.

As soon as they'd been introduced, a crazy vampire fairy named Maven had attacked. Having killed Maven and evaded some demons, Arriana had offered to look after Pyra. She'd also asked Pyra for her help, telling her a story about her apprentice, a girl named Raina.

It was in that moment, a moment of actually giving a damn about another living thing, that Pyra had agreed to try and help.

She kind of regretted it now.

Come on, just open the bloody door and speak to her! She told herself. Taking a deep breath, Pyra placed her hand on the doorknob and quickly opened the door as though it would blow up if she was too slow. She dashed into the room and slammed it shut. Leaning against the door and inhaling a breath of relief, she noticed a figure curled up on the window seat on the other side of the room. Long, red tresses of hair dangled over the edge of the seat, and a pale arm wrapped around tightly tucked in legs.

The girl was motionless. She didn't move. In fact, Pyra didn't even think she was breathing, but... then again... she was immortal, and, supposedly, not breathing was normal for them, right?

Pyra crept towards the girl, but stopped halfway across the room.

Why was she even trying to be quiet? She was here to snap Raina out of her daze, not just tread on broken glass around her.

But... there was something wrong with the atmosphere in the room. Something didn't quite feel... right.

Pyra didn't know how to describe it, but there was a stickiness to the air, a sort of hush that had fallen over the world as soon as she'd entered the room. It was as though life had ceased to exist. There was no sound, no faint whisperings of another living thing. Just deafening silence. Pyra took another step forward.