Mirror of Embers (Book 1)

p r o l o g u e

Seven Years Earlier

SOMETIMES I WONDER ABOUT THE COLD. The unyielding cold that threatens to consume me. It starts with my eyes, scaring away anyone who so much as looks in my direction. My icy gaze makes others uncomfortable. It alarms them. But, it's all I've ever known. The cold. It's always been there, it's quite comforting actually. The cold and darkness go hand in hand with one another. They complement one another. It's ironic, I just so happen to be both. The darkness should scare me, but it doesn't. I've lived in it my entire life, it's what I've always known. They say the darkness is dangerous, I think it's thrilling. It calls to me. Beckons me to play with it. I always oblige. I would be a fool not to. Oh, if I could, I'd spend all day in the abyss. The dark purple and bottomless blue colours swirl around me, encasing me in its beautiful labyrinth of colours. The man is here to greet me, as usual. His curly stark white hair hangs in his face, his icy gaze meets mine. He extends a hand to me, his long delicate fingers stretch out, waiting for me to grab on. I skip over to him and take his hand. He smiles at me.

It lights up his face. It's the smile that makes me so happy.

He leads me through the beautiful darkness, guiding me through the purple and blue maze. We stop in the center, he puts his delicate hands on my shoulders. I stare into his beautifully chiseled face. The face that reminds me so much of my own. The sharp cheekbones, the full mouth, the ice eyes. Especially the freckles, we both have so many of those. But, the only difference between us, is our hair. His hair is as white as the Moon himself, whereas my hair is as dark as night, but not fully. It's dark brown, but it could pass as black in the darkness. The man gently turns me around, so my back is to him, he's showing me something. I squeal in excitement as I see who is trotting towards me.

Gatsby.

He trots over to me, I throw my arms around his neck and hold him tightly. My shadow wolf nuzzles the side of my neck, his wet nose tickling my throat. I giggle and pull away. I look to the man behind me, he smiles sweetly. I turn back to Gatsby and gasp

He vanished. I whip around looking for my wolf, but he's gone. I turn around to face the man, only to find him gone as well. I can feel the tears start to prick my eyes. I turn around and around and around. Looking for anyone to help me. To guide me. But no ones here. I'm alone.

I jerk upright. I blink and blink and blink.

I'm in my bedroom. I glance to my left, Faune is beside me. My lovely, bright sister is beside me. Sleeping soundly. I slowly lower myself back on the bed and snuggle up beside her. Hoping to share some of her body heat. It's so cold in here, it also doesn't help that her cold toes are pressed up against my bare legs. My body is trembling. I can't tell if it's from the cold or the dream. Usually, the man leads me through the abyss and spends time with me. He tells me of his life and asks me questions about mine. But never, has he left me before. As well as Gatsby. They've never done that before. It scares me.

I shiver and pull the blanket up and over my head. Faune stirs, I freeze and stop pulling on the blanket. I wait for her breathing to change, to signal sleep has taken her once more. I keep still and watch her chest move up and down. I watch it for a while, and at some point, I calm down. My breathing changes as well, it starts coming out more even and smooth. I sigh and remove the blanket from my bed. I guess I'm not going to sleep anytime soon. I don't really want to anyway. I don't want to enter that dream world alone.

I stare up at the wooden ceiling of our cabin. It's pretty, I can see all the grooves and whorls of the wood. Trees always seem to have stories to tell, their skin tells tales. I like to imagine it's of the things they've seen in their long lives. They must see a lot, they stay in the same place every day, and watch. They watch everything. They never speak, they remain silent and observe.