The Phoenix Stone

Chapter One

"I had a dream."

My grandmother looked up from where she was stirring the porridge. I could see the interest in her eyes. "Really? Tell me about it." She walked across the creaky floor and sat down across the table from me.

I sighed. "Okay. I dreamt that I was walking through the woods. I didn't recognize the path until I came out of the woods. I was standing outside Gloomglen. There was a man standing near me. His hands were raised and he was chanting spell words. A sudden burst of lightning struck the wall causing a hole to appear and I saw lots of figures coming out of the hole and gathering around the man. When the dust dissipated I could see the figures more clearly. Their skin was dark blue, their hair was every imaginable bright colour, and all four of their arms waved in the air as they talked to the man. They talked for a while obviously discussing something but I couldn't hear what they were saying. Then they all disappeared in a puff of smoke. Do you know what the creatures were? And no, before you ask, I didn't recognize the man."

"The creatures have to have been Enchantiss because that's the only species we have ever and will ever imprison in Gloomglen. Did you at least see what the man looked like though?" My grandmother demanded. "The more you see the better you understand."

"He was wearing a cloak so I couldn't see what his face looked like but I did see that he was very tall and had unnaturally yellow eyes." I shuddered. Absent-mindedly I stroked the unique phoenix shaped birthmark on my cheek. "They were glowing in the dark and seemed to stare straight at me."

"Interesting. Did anything else happen?"

"Yes...but I don't really want to talk about it."

"Nyx. You have to tell me. If you had a dream about the Enchantiss I need to know so that I can do something about it."

I sighed again and my eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Take a deep breath, Nyx," my grandmother said. "Don't let it upset you."

"I can do this," I whispered to myself, breathing slowly. I had known deep down that she wouldn't let me get away with not telling her. "I saw her."

"I figured," my grandmother said. Her face gave away no emotion as she waited for me to continue.

"She appeared after the Enchantiss and the man left. She led me through the woods around Gloomglen and showed me to a doorway carved into a huge boulder. It was a passageway that led deep into the earth. We took a few turns until we got to a cavern. Deep inside the cavern, in the very middle, was a bright orange gem sitting on an intricate stone pedestal. The gem looked like it had a live fire inside of it and it was lighting up the cavern with an eerie light. But when I looked at it more closely I saw that it was actually a very small Phoenix in its fiery nest." I leaned back in my chair and folded my arms. "She was gesturing to it. I think she was telling me to find it but I'm not sure."

"Anything else?"

"Nope, nothing." I said with a shaky sigh. "I woke up."

"Are you sure that was it?" I could tell that my grandmother was anxiously trying to figure out who the man in my dream was and what the dream meant.

"Yes, Grandmother, I'm sure! I promise nothing else happened."

There was silence as she got up to stir the porridge. She stood there for a long time stirring absentmindedly. She was concentrating so hard that soon I could smell burning. "Grandmother! The porridge is burning!"

"Oh! Sorry, Nyx." She dished up a bowl and put it in front of me. "Did you recognize what kind of gem it was?"

"No, but that bothered me so I looked it up." I said between spooning mouthfuls of porridge into my mouth. "It's very convenient that one of the books I'm currently reading is on all of the different kinds of rare gems. The thing is, I didn't find anything about it until I found a page near the back of the book about the one-of-a-kind stones. That's where I found it."