Rising (Beta Chapters)

Chapter One

It was coming. The darkness that consumed me was faceless but not voiceless, the air around me was filled with torments, fears and screams that weren't mine. Whatever it was wanted what I had, craved what was within me. I ran from it, pushing through the blackness, praying for light as I ran blind. I tripped and scrambled to my feet over and over, but no light came. Not even as hands reached for me in the darkness, clawing at my clothes, slowing me and drawing me backwards. With sudden clarity I remembered I knew where to find light. I was light. My fire suddenly erupted from within me, destroying the hands that touched me, cutting through the darkness that had threatened to swallow me whole. I was so bathed in light I no longer feared any dark, I was a beacon of flames.

I woke up on fire. Literally. Thudding to the floor with a curse, I drew the flames back out of existence, but the damage was done. My bed and blankets were already ashes before the flames disappeared, my clothes fared no better. They usually went first. I huffed in frustration and climbed from what was left of the bed, tugging new clothes from a stone set of shelves. I didn't bother using the mirror to check for any harm to myself as I got dressed, I knew there would be none. The flames never hurt me. Only once I was dressed did I step in front of it and stare into my green eyes, grimacing slightly.

I'd always found my eyes odd, they weren't pure jade-ish green like my siblings' eyes, instead they were littered with grey, like ashes settled on a meadow. I slid my gaze down, looking over the rest of myself in the mirror, the soft curves of my body filling the clothes I wore almost a little too well, I tugged at my tunic where it lay over my chest, loosening the strings there to give myself more room to breathe. My grimace deepened as I focused on my hair, my crimson curls having woven themselves into undefinable knots. I snatched a brush from the shelves and attempted to fix it, but it was far beyond hope, I must have been thrashing within the nightmare before I started setting things on fire. My hair would need to be wet for me to have any hope of saving it, so I instead was forced to settle for a long braid to keep it out of the way.

As I turned to examine the final damage of my nightmare, my younger brother hurtled through my door. His bright green eyes wide with excitement, words ran together as he spoke until they were almost indecipherable. "Phi! You're awake! Good. They're bringing in a boat, a mortal boat! We have to..." He drifted off as his eyes flickered towards my bed and his mood sobered slightly, voice taking on an odd tone as he did sometimes. "...Oh, the dark again. It's okay, the red is coming. It will make them brighter." He looked back at me with more knowledge glimmering behind his eyes than an eight-year-old should have. "You have no bed now though." He frowned. I moved over to him and ruffled his copper curls.

"It's fine Niko, I'll get Trae to make me a new one. You know how fast he can make them weave together, maybe he can even teach you this time?" His expression immediately bled back to one of excitement at the promise of being taught by Trae, a close friend and an earth blessed who was highly adept at using his magic to create completely natural furniture, with nothing but his magic. He'd made more than a few beds for me lately, I was starting to wonder if it was worth it anymore, perhaps I'd be better off with a stone bed and blankets above, at least then I'd only lose the blankets to my nightmares.

"Do you think he would teach me, really?" Niko beamed up at me, practically vibrating with his excitement.

"Of course he will Niko, what are friends for, if not to help out each other's crazy little brothers?" I grinned at him.

He frowned at me. "I'm not crazy! Now hurry up or we'll miss everything!" He turned on his heel and ran from my room, disappearing from sight.

A new ship was a big deal for multiple reasons, one was the Mortals on board, but another was the Reaper ship itself, that was allowed to visit mainlands and return with supplies other than that we created for ourselves. As I had been blessed with fire, there was little I could create for myself without relying on others, so I'd learnt to take advantage of those mortal amenities wherever I could as I grew older.

I looked over at the bed again. "Twenty-Seven." I muttered, grabbing a jacket from my closet, adding the bed onto the list of things destroyed by my nightmares as I headed out. The nightmares were almost always the same, I was surrounded by darkness and used my fire to get away, but sadly that usually meant literally becoming a body of flames. Trae had been there and told me the first time it had happen, explaining how the flames that covered me had been so hot they turned blue, and that everything that was touching me just vanished into ashes in a blink. I had no idea how I'd done it, but that very first time had terrified us both.

I closed my bedroom door and looked around as I stood outside, glancing towards the main house before starting in that direction. For obvious reasons it was safer for my room to be made of earth and stone, and for it to be separate from the rest of my family. It didn't bother me; my father had built the room for me around my Sixteenth birthday. Eight years later I enjoyed the separation, it meant that while I feared my nightmares, I never feared hurting those I love during one of them.

I slipped into the house and headed for the sound of activity in the kitchen. My mother stood by the bench, making breakfast for Niko.

"Morning." I greeted as I sat beside my brother and grabbed an apple from the perpetually full bowl that lived on the bench's centre, taking a bite as my mother looked up at me.

"Good morning Seraphine, how did you sleep?" I shook my head slightly as I took a bite of the apple, it was enough for her to know what I meant. "I'll have your father look into something better for you." She turned away to get herself something to drink.

"Don't. Please. I'll just ask Trae." I told her softly as I finished my apple and tossed the remains in the garbage, getting up and looking at Niko. "Let's go, we don't wanna miss the boat." He jammed the last of his breakfast into his mouth.

"I'll race you!" He was up off his seat and out the door in an instant. Shouting a goodbye to our mother just before the door slammed behind him. With a grin I got up and went after him, knowing that with too much of a head start I'd never catch him. I fell in step with him about halfway there, longer legs do have their benefits when chasing younger siblings. Just as I was about to overtake him, a root sprung from the dirt ahead of me, barely giving me time to catch myself and leap over it.

I frowned. "Hey! No magic! That's cheating!" I shouted as I pushed to catch up with him again, breathing growing heavier as I did.

As we finally slowed to a stop Niko let out a loud sigh while I caught my breath. "No one ever lets me have fun with my magic."

"Well you shouldn't be using them to cheat in games." I ruffled his hair. "You know you can use your magic to create things, that's the best way to play with it, you know that Niko."

He looked at me for a moment then sighed again, and I knew I had him, my baby brother never stayed upset for long, but he was still a kid. "I just want to have fun with my magic Phi, it's not fair, Zavier is the only one who lets me use them for fun things."

I cringed slightly at the mention of our older brother, he'd never been the best example for Niko, he had used his powers badly his whole life. "You know that Zav gets into lots of trouble for what he does with his magic sometimes, remember what he did to the town hall last year? He was in huge trouble for that for months." I rubbed his shoulder and made him start walking again. "We can figure out a way for you to use your powers for fun later, but right now we have to get going or we'll miss everything."

He didn't need any more prodding than that to hurry towards the docks that had just come into view ahead of us, I took a breath of the cool salty air as I waited while he made use of his magic to create a small vine woven ladder for us to one side of a small dock.

Once we were both up, we had a clear view of the Reaper ship coming into port, it had always stunned me, it was huge, at least to me. The ship was made entirely of living material, vines and branches woven together to form it. The vines shifted slightly every so often, as if to prove they were living, the Earth-blessed on board stood along the sides, monitoring the ship with ease.

The magic that created it was an extension of each one of them, easily controlled, managed and monitored as they moved through oceans. The sea rose around the base of the ship, pushing it through the waters, it had no need for sails of any kind as Water-blessed could move the ship far faster by using the sea itself than relying on Air-blessed to resource Sail materials strong enough to withstand the winds they created. Instead, those Elliphae with Air were taken onboard to protect the ship from storms that may threaten them, keeping their journeys smooth and safe.