Sparks and Shadows (Book One of the Nyte-Fyre Prophecy)

Chapter One: The Magic in Myth

... Twenty Years Later ...

Fate is a double edged sword: casting us the most glorious of destinies or driving us to the lowest edges of the earth.

Yet even if the mischievous woman of fate herself deals you the worst hand in the deck, one always has the ability to turn it around. It is all in how you play the cards.

Even those with the most dire of futures can make a name for themselves.

The woman at the front of the room smiled as she spoke with bravado, flourishing each and every word as she carefully read them from the page that sat open on her lap.

Running her hand across the gilded binding of the old tattered book, Miss Mayvel Surrei knew she didn't even need to glance at the print to tell the tale. It was one of her favorite stories, one that she could remember hearing in her own school days when she had been a mere child, and one that she knew by heart, deeply ingrained into her brain and the very fiber of her being.

"It was in this mindset that the fabled Sect of Seven came to power," she continued. "In a far away land, full of mystery and magic, seven individuals were elevated to a king-like status by an ancient and powerful council. But, this was no ordinary line of command. Chosen for their hearts, these seven were plucked from the citizens of the land, not much different than you and I, and granted great power for the promise that they would use these magics to make the land that had fallen into disarray at the hand of greedy kings a better place.

"Each of these seven were proclaimed a Lord of One and were brought to power by an ancient magic long since lost.

"In the statute it was deemed that there would be one Lord for one area, one minority – many of them echoing the natural elements they held so dearly. These individuals both complemented one another and served as a contrast, each of them created to remind the others of what had already transpired and what could be. If they moved forward in planned harmony, all would be well and the prosperity of the land would continue into eternity."

"How many times do we have to hear this load of crap?" a young boy suddenly shouted from the back of the small classroom, disrupting his teacher's intricate tale.

Miss Surrei peered up through the fringe of her mousy brown, side-swept bangs to the back of the classroom where she knew the challenge had originated. Slouched back in his seat, with arms crossed over his chest, sat the offender. The deep scowl that was etched in the set of his mouth told her the last thing he wanted was to be here.

"It's curriculum," the teacher reminded him.

"We already know it," the same boy shot back snottily, the glare of his eyes stealing through the shock of blond hair that fell over his face.

"Do you?" the teacher challenged.

"Like the back of my hand. Doesn't mean I believe it."

The teacher sighed. It felt like only yesterday that her role had been reversed and she had been the one on the opposite side of the room, sitting in the uncomfortable desk, hardly caring as she had been wide-eyed and immobilized, listening to her own teacher tell the tale of the Sect of Seven.

That feeling alone had been one of the reasons she had pursued teaching as her own career – wanting to be able to give children that spark of imagination to sweep them away with her into other worlds. Worlds of high fantasy where magic and heroics truly existed. Only now there was no amazement, no glitter in the eyes of the children as she swept her gaze across the classroom. The fifteen students were noticeably fidgety, itching to leave as they waited for the final bell of the day to release them from the stuffy room.