I raise my hand to knock. The sky went dark. Clouds eclipsed the sun. fog rolled in. Here I was with my best friend on the porch where no one wanted to even step near. The kids at school said don't. I dared. I could feel my hand shaking in fear. My head said the only logical thing that could be said, "Turn back" but my heart longed to know what was beyond those doors. Those dark, black ominous doors.
It all started on summer break. Well, to be precise, August 29. We were just a few days away from the beginning of the school year and I had just moved to Solaris from the town of Burnsley. I have been to many towns before but none felt as eerie as Solaris. Despite its sunny name which means "Of the Sun", Solaris rarely had sunny days. Which in my opinion is weird because Burnsley was just 30 minutes away and was always sunny. Solaris however, had gloomy, dark, and cloudy days. The kind of days where it looks like it's gonna rain, but it doesn't - the worst kinds of days. I moved into an old house that almost looked like it came out straight from a fantasy movie. I had so many boxes to unpack! I went up to my room and started to take my books and clothes out of the box but as soon as I did, I heard the doorbell ring.
"COMING!" I yelled as I ran down the stairs.
The doorbell wouldn't stop ringing.
I flung the door open to find a guy around my age running right into the house without giving me a chance to talk. He slammed the door shut, locked it, and sat against it panting, out of breath.
"WHAT THE HECK!," I barked while being completely stunned. "WHO THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"
His face jolted up and started turning red.
"I... uh... I'm so sorry! My friends were chasing me cuz I may or may not have done something incredibly stupid to make them want to kill me."
He paused for a quick second and got up.
"I haven't seen you around... are you new here?"
I replied hesitantly "... yes, I got here a few hours ago"
"What's your name," he asked
"Aera"
"Oh I'm Leo," he said cheerily
"Hi.... Um you wouldn't by any chance go to Shadow Creek Uni, would you?"
"OH! You're the new transfer! See, that makes more sense." he said
I just stand there bewildered
"How do you know?" I questioned.
"Even Ms. Windershire knows, and she's the oldest teacher and most out of touch with what happens around her." he chuckled
"Didn't even step into the school but I'm the talk, huh?"
"Yup!" Leo chirps
I didn't know what to say. What about me was so special?
"If you don't mind I'm going to get back to unpacking," I said
"Can I help?" he asked.
I mean can't say no at this point so I just nodded
On the way back upstairs, I kept thinking about this kid.
Is it even smart to let a person in your house when you just moved in and you don't know them?
I mean..... He sounds like a nice guy, but can I trust him? Seems like I'm going to have to keep the Box a secret until I know for sure.
"Hey Aera, which room do you want me to drop this box in?" he asked
"Uh, Hm, maybe the one study room next to the library?" I replied "It has a bunch of, uh, school stuff and books"
Yeah no I lied - sorta. You see, the box he was holding had books but only I could read them. They were all written in the language of the Aquignis Terra Manuscript, which was Fulminare. To my luck, before my mom went missing she taught me the entire language and how to track the movement and shifts in the letters. (Yes, the letters on the pages move but only every few days.)
Now I'm the last person in the world - that I know of - who can read Fulminare. The Great Prophecy has it that whoever is the last person to be able to read Fulminare will either have the great unknown in the palm of their hands or they will be the destruction of the world. Nobody other than my family knew I could read Fulminare but one day the people of the Red Dragon found out.
Before I knew it, my entire family was either dead or missing. Before she disappeared, my mom told me something, "relinquere praeteritum tergum et tolle in orbem circum vos, that is the key to finding yourself." The problem is... I have no idea what that means! Every day I go through each and every manuscript, doctrine, and old crimson text to figure out what it means but nothing. All I can do now is wait for the answer to appear.
"AERA!!!"
YOU ARE READING
ONCE
Fantasía2 Best friends, a seemingly haunted house, a blood thirsty vampire, some crazy lore, and a gang ready to kill the girl...What could possibly go wrong?
