A Will of Fire and Darkness

Chapter 1

The sun shone through the small window, casting rays of gold over my face. The dark wood of the ceiling greeted me as I opened my eyes, squinting at the light. My room was intricate, a simple bed and shelves of trinkets and books, drawings and maps covered the empty space of the walls. The floor had supplies of paper and mapping utensils stacked against the small desk beside my bed. I walked over to the wardrobe of my clothes, changing into my daily wear, a simple cream shirt with the sleeves rolled up to my upper arm, my usual dark shorts with a brown corset over them and my shirt. I pulled on my boots and snapped my arm bands in place on my forearm. Adjusting my earrings, I heard a knock on the door downstairs.

I quickly stepped down the stairs and was met with my grandma making breakfast in the kitchen. "Is that your friends? Do you want to invite them in for food?" she asked, putting out the fire under the oven and setting down a pan of bacon.

My grandma has raised me since I was a year old. She often tells me stories about my parents and how she found me at her doorstep. She's not my real grandma, but she knew my mother very well so she's basically the only family I have left, aside from the dragon that brought me to her, I consider him family too. She tells me how I'm the only surviving Eltrey from the Great Massacre, but I find it hard to believe. Surely there was someone else like me that was hidden away.

I quickly grabbed a small paper bag and shoveled some of the bacon inside. "Yeah, but we're not staying, thanks for breakfast!" I grabbed some fresh bread and hopped over to the door.

I tucked my wings in behind me as I opened the door. The faces of my two friends greeted me, a fist raised as if he would knock again. "Damn, what took you so long?" said Ren, his electric spiky yellow hair sizzled with zaps of power. "You didn't grab me any breakfast?" He pointed to the bag in my hand.

"Don't be greedy, Ren. You had half of mine just a bit ago," said the soft voice of Mayra.

They've been two of my best friends since I was a kid. They've known each other longer than me. Mayra is a hydrokinetic, meaning she can control water and heals to some extent. She's been here her whole life and never bothered to leave. Her bright blue hair is off putting to her reserved quiet personality, she often wears very feminine attire such as skirts and frilly shirts, she always wears the same coal colored hat that looks like a mushroom on her head. Ren, however, moved here from Naurdeik when he was less than a year old, his mother leaving the red city in hopes to find peace. He's a type of electric elemental being, we call them "Master of"- whatever their element is. His skin is yellow like his hair except you can see the occasional zap of power in his veins. His hair is cut short on the sides, but he spikes it up in the front, Mayra and I thought it was a phase... until he never changed it. He often carries daggers on his sides and practices daily with them.

"Listen, I just woke up let me eat," I groaned as I grabbed some bacon from the bag.

We walked to our usual hangout spot in the woods, it was far enough away to not hear us shouting and destroying stuff. We come here to practice our power or to simply get away from the town. The clearing is near the wall of a mountain that is to the west of the village. Stones and boulders scattered the clearing and broken tree trunks. I hopped onto a rock that jutted from the mountain, using my wings to boost me up. I warmed some of the bread with my hand, letting the streams of lava between the cracks of stone on my hand expand to let out heat.

"Hey, I thought Shade was supposed to train you today? I want to see you get your ass kicked again," said Ren as he looked around.

I took a bite of the bread, savoring the herbs flavor. "He said he would be here. He's probably obsessing over his books again." I chomped down on some bacon and offered one down to Mayra.