Chaos' Shadow

Chapter 1: Ruined

 "Is everyone alright?" Elena called out, coughing on the amount of dust in the air. Her clothes were in ruins and she could almost smell the destruction of her city. There was a pounding in her head making it hard for her to think.

"Report!" She heard someone yell in the distance. Maximum, it had to be.

Elena didn't bother answering, Max wasn't asking for her, only the flock.

The dust was thick and Elena could barely see. Even with her advanced vision, she could not identify the dark shadows looming all around, but she had an idea. The pain in her head made her memories all jumbled together and she began wonder what could have happened to cause such carnage. Trees were broken in half, causing a look of ominous dark figures protruding from the ground. The tunnels were collapsed, causing deep ravines where someone could easily get trapped.

Elena stumbled around, she was already weaker than usual. She needed water, food, and a millennia of rest and relaxation. She smiled sadly at the thought.

"Elena?" a small voice called from underneath the rubble. Elena froze, her senses on high alert. She heard someone struggling somewhere below her and to her right. Elena crouched down and peered among the rubble trying to figure out where the person who spoke was. The dust hung heavily in the air and with night falling she could barely see anything.

"I'm here." She called out gently. "Where are you?"

"My arm." the tiny voice wavered, threatening to break.

Elena found the source. A tiny boy with pale skin and dust coating his black, shaggy hair. His blue eyes blinked rapidly behind his wiry glasses, holding back tears.

"Oh Max." Elena murmured gently, kneeling next to him. No, this wasn't Maximum Ride who had yelled out before, this was Max Lightwood, a young shadowhunter who adored Elena and Sebastian almost like family, a very messed up family.

Her eyes traveled to his arm which was pinned underneath a thick tree branch. Elena slowly lifted the branch making sure she was not hurting the little Lightwood underneath her. Max tugged his arm on top of his chest, cradling it with his other arm.

"What happened?" He asked his blue eyes wide staring at Elena as he would his own mother.

Elena's head was pounding so much that it was painful to think. "I don't-" Elena started then froze as the flashbacks started to come back.

"It was Gaea who would destroyed us."

"Are you sure?" Elena questioned, an eyebrow up as she glared between the ex-vampire Aphrodite and her old friend Angel.

"Yes I'm sure." Aphrodite confirmed. No, she wasn't the goddess Aphrodite. When she picked her name she didn't realize that all Greek gods and goddess's existed. It was embarrassing to have the same name as such a superior being like Aphrodite, but the mortal Aphrodite had too much pride to change her name.

"Well, this changes things, doesn't it?" Elena muttered. It wasn't a question.

It was night, almost midnight, the cool air drifted through the wind, but no one was cold. Adrenaline ran through everyone's veins. It had almost been a year without a vision from any of the three main prophets: Elena, Aphrodite, and Angel. It scared everyone when Aphrodite and Angel received violent visions nearly simultaneously.

Elena was seated at the head of a long table made of a fallen log Taylor had found the day before. Many people were seated around it. Angel was sitting right next to Elena and at the other end of the table was Aphrodite. She glared determinedly back at Elena and the others, daring them to ignore the potential danger in her new vision.