Wings of Flames

Sapphire's Heat

She walked in the flat where her mom and sister immediately greeted her with big hugs.
   'I can. hardly believe you will be a phoenix rider!' Her big sister released her from the thigh hug.
   'It's not dedicated yet, I don't know if I'll pass. Besides I didn't ever write the test yet. What if I get so nervous I forget to write?'
   'You'll be fine, trust me!'
   'How would you know that?' Her sister Gina sighed and continued the conversation.
   'Lister here Stella, I know this is the biggest day of your life. The chance for you to have your fire bird. It will go perfectly, tomorrow you will be on your way to the island Stella. You have to do this.' Her voice dropped to whisper    'Don't disappoint mom like I did. I believe in you!' She put her arm on her sisters shoulder and hugged her before she went back to the school.

Every single 5th grader lined up in a wiggly line waiting to be sorted in.
As time passed the line became shorter and she got more further in. Now it was her turn, she shook the hand of the man in the door and got landed a pen. Every student who took the exam was landed a pen to write on the paper.
   'Please Write your name at the top, if you don't then you loose your chance of getting your phoenix. You shall begin... Now!' The sound of paper filled the room as everyone started to write their names and answers.

The questions were easier that she expected, they were like: "who is your favorite rider" or "What will you do if someone else's phoenix was going wild" She'd honestly expected to be given math questions on a phoenix test, naive Stella.

Some of the kids were done but some - including Stella - were still writing on the two page long paper. Last question answered, she got up from her chair and landed the paper to one of the teachers.

At home, her sister and mom couldn't stop talking about how she is going to get her phoenix in a few weeks. But what is she wasn't. What if she failed the exam... She wants to be a someone in the world and not hiding in the shadows as a no one. She must be a someone, she must, that's her dream, her destiny, to one day ride her very own phoenix. She wants to be special, more special than the others, the one person everyone wishes to be, the one in the center, the main character. But what if she won't, what if she will not hear her name? What if instead of a Blue Flame she only gets a Red flame, well non of them are bad but... The Blue Flames are more special. She wants to be the special character in the world.

She didn't even touched her food and already left the dining table without a word. She went in her room where on the was a poster of a blue phoenix with a famous rider on top of it. The feathers of the bird flamed like fire making it hard to believe the rider wasn't burnt. Small sparks of white flames were fizzling out of the birds feathers. The female rider looked brave, unstoppable and regardlessly powerful. The sides of her arms were blooming in blues, covering the poster in full blue. The Phoenix itself looked like a creature straight out of a movie or dream. The face of it was serious and unpredictable. The feathers on the forehead and the top of the head were longer making a hat for the bird. The wings were just as magical as the phoenix itself, it looked like pure fire. Just by looking at the poster Stella felt warmer, but sat down on her bed.

For a long time, she couldn't fell asleep. She wanted to know now if she is gonna be a phoenix rider, not tomorrow. Not at midnight, now! She wanted to ride her phoenix now, as soon as possible, not half a year later. She waited for the light to fill her room, but it was just pitch darkness. She wanted to see the red fill her room, but instead blue light came across making Stella jump from her bed. She immediately rushed to the window and saw the blue phoenix from the poster. Her idol - Ellen Anderson - was sitting on Sapphires Heat, slowly flapping its wings and waiting for Stella.
The women had burn mark on the inside of her arms. She was stunned to see the person she looked up to, in person. She opened the window, stranded on the sill and stared at the blue flames flashing in her eyes.
   'Why did you came for me?'
   'Is there a problem with Sapphire's Heat? Or possibly me?'
   'No- no, I mean. Weren't I supposed to be riding on a Red Flame? Like, everyone else?'
   'Stella Morales, I can see a fire burning in your heart, it's bigger than the others, you have high hopes, well at least that's what I see. I see that your special.'
   'Me? Special? Are you for real, and you are showing to be to one taking me to the Island?'
  'Not me, Sapphire, she will be the one carrying right?' Stella nodded. 'Now come on hop onto her back and let's go.' The woman said, Stella didn't hesitate and sat behind Ellen with an ear-wide smile. At that moment she felt like all of her dreams came true, her riding a phoenix and with her life long idol? And its only is going to get better when she arrives on the floating island. They flew up in the sky and she saw the lights of the New York City skyscrapers. But they didn't stop, they were endlessly flying upward until they popped out of the clouds. The stars were an unusual sight to Stella as tho the smog always blocked it, seeing it was like a dream.
With one wing beat they flew forwards like a bullet. The loud wind filled her ear and she didn't dare to move because Ellen's torso was the only thing holding her back on Sapphires back. They flew without a saddle as its only a one person ride.

It felt like forever when she saw the clouds clearing up, showing an unwritable sight. A huge island was floating with other numerous, smaller islands. A waterfall was falling down the earth, possibly into an ocean. The land had a mountain on top of it making it seem like another floor. Lots and lots of caves were on the island looking like a sponge. They flew right into one underground and took off perfectly. No wonder, Ellen won the last race and was a very skilled rider. The cave was already full of red phoenixes and kids around her age.
   'Uhm, Ellen... Why are you the only Blue Flame here?' She got off of Sapphire hardly and almost fell due to it being so tall.
   'Because it has the possibility of 12% that you will hatch a Blue Flame, making it more rare. Also they are the hottest fire know that can be found in the nature without human interaction, making her more powerful too than Red Flames, which has a 85% chance of hatching.'
   'That doesn't add up, that's only 97%, whats with the other 3%?'
   'Apparently there's a phoenix called Light Flame, one hadn't hatched for a decade. I don't know if they are still hatch-able or they already went extinct.'
   'Whats a Light Flame?'
   'Not sure, from the stories I hear it's not as hot as Blue Flames but the extra quirks made them so rare. I think there was something about healing? I'm not sure, I'm not part of that community.'
   'Light... Flames? If I hatched one, would that make the most special person here?'
   'Ah, a fantasizer.' She said to herself but then raised her voice back to normal 'Its not the thing you should expect. Even if you do hatch one it will come with lots of responsibility and to control it.' That didn't quite answered her question but, is it really special? Maybe if she would hatch one she would be special. 'But it would surely make you special as tho it's only 3% right?'
   'Yeah... Uhm one more thing, Ellen.'
   'Hm?'
   'How did you feel when you hatched Sapphire?'
   'Stella, it doesn't matter what color you get as long as your bond is strong. Okay, now I've got to go, go hang around with the other kids or do whatever you want I don't even care.' Every kid there was about her age or just a little older. And then a younger adult stepped into the cave and told them instructions.
   'Welcome my fellow riders, or not, it's not dedicated yet. But I really hope all of you would soon be training with us. You are now in an underground cave and we will be going up the tunnel to see the Islands real beauty.' Everyone including Stella had walked up the cold and dark tunnel and when they left, they knew. The second test began.