Of Ash and Fire - Prologue

The flames of the candle circle flickered in the otherwise dark and empty room. All the furniture that belonged in the house was already sold or stolen by thieves, ransacked multiple times since the large house was secluded and rarely lived in. Within the circle kneeled a woman, her auburn hair flowed around her body and accented her white eyes. The house was all that she owned, so she offered it up for destruction. The glow of the candles danced across the walls.

Material objects meant little to her. The entire house meant little to her. What she wanted she called for, pouring her soul into the ancient words she spoke. Find me, she willed. Come to me! Shadows stretched across the wooden floors, creating too tall copies of their sources.

Windows shattered all around her from the screech of a bird that echoed down the halls of the house. A phoenix! She’d done it! Except it was angry, and she couldn’t quite understand why. Did it think she was like the others and meant to capture it? Over the ringing in her ears she could hear voices, shortly followed by her own cursing. It wasn’t free! She’d been so anxious to call a phoenix for help that she hadn’t even considered she might receive the one from Vlanv, least of all that it might help those who imprisoned it.

She'd just managed to jump to her feet when every door on the lower floor burst open. A faint orange colored her previously white pupils, creating a slight glow to her eyes. The flames of the candles parted from the wicks and rose to her outstretched hand. Before they reached her she flicked her wrist and sent them hurling into the fireplace. She rushed over to it, pausing to glance back at the entering flare and barely able to make out its bird-like form within all the fire.

Everything the phoenix’s flame touched caught ablaze, creating an inferno throughout the rooms of the house. She couldn’t control that kind of fire, only normal fire and her personal flames. She had offered her house up and now it would be destroyed without anything gained.

"Stop her!" came a man's voice, already knowing what she intended to do.

She ran into the fireplace.

"Burn it all down," the woman hissed. "I don't care." The fire she stood in swirled around her like a guardian, leaving no mark on her skin or clothes, and rushed her up the chimney.

"Follow her!"

Smoke billowed through the house. The roof and walls creaked, threatening to cave in to meet the blaze within. She landed lightly on top of the house. The fire absorbed into her skin while the bricks cracked behind her. She turned, preparing to collapse the chimney but the phoenix erupted from it first, sending a torrent of fire straight at her. She threw up her arms in a futile attempt to protect herself before it hit her. Screaming, she stumbled backwards, only to slip and tumble down the roof. The roof groaned and warped beneath her, holding long enough for her to drop over the edge before crumbling inward. Toppling to the ground, she rolled over onto her stomach racked with coughs.

The phoenix rose up into the sky. Fiery wings spread out to their full twelve-foot span and the phoenix began circling to continue the hunt. She could not stay there while they remained. With every bit of strength she had left, she dragged her trembling body down the hill to the river. There she hid in the bushes from searching eyes and fainted.

A high-pitched screech echoed throughout the night.