Dracia

Chapter 1: Katera

 Katera Mure Narsisune could remember only three things. 1. Basic facts, about both her and the world such as her likes, dislikes, name and why you're not supposed to steal a power tool from Home Hardware (aka common sense). (Despite this Katera could never quite understand politics). 2. Her beloved family, Bianca, Saverio and Carlo Narsisune. She couldn't quite grasp at their voices but their faces stood clear in her mind. 3. Whatever her life was like before she ended up up here, she knew it was an absolute nightmare.

Katera was a dazzlingly good-looking 16 year old Italian girl with delicate features. The one exception were her cheekbones which were as sharp as knives. She had abnormally long, thick, fiery orange-red hair that unlike in many classic books she had read, did not match her temper or personality. No, Katera's nature was shy, kind and gentle. But even at sixteen she had a strong childlike charisma. She had a rare, unique sense of humour and a great sense of fun.

Katera was in a large moor with tall, yellowed corn, thick towering tall grass and flowers of colours she didn't realize were in the spectrum. Above her in the open, sapphire sky much different from the condo filled, semi-polluted city skies she was used to (yes, she remembered that too) was a creature that was so amazing that beautiful sounded like an insult to the animal. It was an unearthly coloured golden bird that shined brighter than the sun. 

After Katera's eyes stopped burning she realized the bird was ablaze. The fire however, was not a controlled gas flame you may find at a barbeque. No this bird was a untamed inferno, sweeping forests and stealing their existence. Terrifying as it was, there was a wild beauty about this bonfire of a bird. Yes it could burn you to cinders, but Katera was starting to wonder if those same flames that could be used to scorch could be used to heal. It would explain the singed patches of ground to the south and why their was not a dead tree in sight. As the godly feathered creature passed over her, one of its golden, ember like plumes floated down, charring the ground next to Katera.

Katera made the mistake of reaching out to touch the inflamed feather. The second her hand connected with the smoldering shaft intense heat shot up her arm. Her hand was instantly scorched by a now growing fire. With an angry cry Katera batted at the flame speeding up her arm. The only thing this resulted in was the other arm being engulfed by the growing blaze. With a hiss of pure frustration Katera spat at the fire, desperate to douse the hungry flames. Judging by the deafening hiss, Katera was amazed that the excruciating heat had not already left her another circle of ash left by the ablaze bird. "Weird" Katera speculated. "I am able to have rational thought at a time like this". Katera ignored the musing and searched desperately for something that could extinguish the agonizingly hot embers. Katera breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of a river. This sudden overwhelming hope of finding a river was lost just as fast as it came when she realized just how far the river was away from her. "Killed by a feather" Katera sighed again but this time it was a sigh of genuine acceptance and futility. "What a stupid way to die".

Katera lay there, drained of all hope as she let the hellish inferno consume her. As she lay in the meadow dying, She heard a deep voice laughing. The laugh Katera heard though, was not at all the cheerful giggle one might express when spending time with their friends. The voice was heartless and cold. The laugh was so incredibly chilling if it was the current temperature where Katera was sprawled, the flames engulfing Katera would of been doused right then and there. Unfortunately, life had its own way of doing things.

Before she could succumb to the smoldering flames, something sparked inside of Katera. She could feel the long lost strength returning to her body, wonderful sight reappear in her eyes and spirit reviving her diminished soul.

After the astonishing revival, Katera's confidence knew no bounds, She could climb every mountain, defeat each opponent and ace every unfairly difficult math test. Katera was not on fire anymore, she was the fire. She took absolute delight in charring the ground below her with her pure silver flames. So this was what is was like to be invincible, diving at the ground below her and hearing the rocks bounce of her skin with a satisfying "plink" as if she was covered in a weightless iron armour. Katera just wanted to stay the way she was forever, never leaving her indestructible state. But, once again the universe had a mind of its own.

As Katera came back to her normal, non invincible, non smoldering state she realized what a fiery mess she had created. The area within a quarter kilometer range range of where she had first come into consciousness was a ring of charcoal. She could detect the intense scent of smoke all around her, the excess heat was giving her blisters and surrounding her she saw smoldering wheat , enkindled with an eerie silver flame. The one thing that was unchanged by the wildfire was the accursed, fiery feather

It was almost funny how a feather was the cause of mass destruction around her. As she walked over to the beautiful, fiery plume she heard a "caw" overheard. She looked up to find the same, blazing, mythical bird she saw when she first woke up circling the infinite heavens above her. As it encircled the field, Katera swore it gave an angry glare, though did it give the dirty look to her or the feather she wasn't sure.

Like any human, Katera was curious and on the verge of collapse. No regular human could of experienced what she just had without the questions rolling in. Nonetheless after the incident with the feather, Katera got the hunch that she was maybe not a commonplace human. Still that didn't stop her from inquiring on what just happened to herself. Where was she? Who was she? How did that bird resist being burned? How did she resist being burned? These were just some of the questions her mind was building. Overwhelmed by the theories flowing through her brain, Katera decided to focus her mind back on the glowing feather.

Katera lay there sometime, speculating on how the the thing right in front of her had nearly destroyed her. As Katera leaned in to get a closer look at the plume, something completely derailed her train of thought. A voice spoke behind her "Careful, it's very hot.