Elementals

Prologue

Elementals

Prologue

Seraphina

Sera wakes up to see complete darkness in her room. She looks around to see where the light from her bear shaped light is, but doesn't see the pink glow from the bear. It's as if the light is gone. Darkness scares Sera, she is afraid that the beast her cousins were talking about would come for her. Sera is afraid of the beast and she is afraid of the dark just like any four year old would be.

The four-year old child has the idea to reach the lamp beside her crib in order to get some light. Sera tries to reach the lamp but her arms won't fit through the bars around her crib. She is afraid to try harder because she does not want a repeat of yesterday. The child decides to just close her eyes and wait in misery until the morning when her parents would come and shower her with hugs and kisses. They would reassure her that the beast would not come for her and how they would always protect her. Throughout her constant whimpering the girl hears scratching and it seems to be coming from outside the window. Sera closes her eyes and thinks of light because darkness is where evil resides.

Meanwhile upstairs, Seraphina's mother, Agnes is trying to pack anything and everything that she could find into her family's trunk. The trunk has been in her family for generations and it was this very trunk in which her mother gave her the necessities that she would need in order to start a new life with her husband, Robert. Agnes feels so heartbroken to be leaving this house, the house that Robert built for their family. She wanted to raise her daughter here. Agnes wanted her little girl to learn of her people and of their traditions. But alas that would not happen and it is hopeless to dream of it. Agnes and Robert both knew what would come from Seraphina's birth and but they could not do it. How could they kill their own baby and there was a chance that the seer might be wrong. Agnes wants to believe that it could be any other child but hers, she is also tempted to believe that the old woman was insane. But Agnes knows that is not the case, she knows that there is some truth to that old woman's nonsense saying.

"Agnes! Agnes! Are you done?" Robert yells as he walks into the room and sees his wife on the floor.

Robert sees his wife on the floor sobbing and he understands. Just the mere sight of her brings tears in his eyes. Robert cannot believe what their lives have come to. Robert finds it so unjust that he has to leave this town, this city and this world, where he grew up. He feels like a part of him is breaking and what breaks him even more is that the realization that his daughter would not experience any of it. She won't know her heritage and she won't know her grandparents.

"Robert... I cannot do this. I cannot leave our home, our parents and our world. There-" Agnes stands when she sees her husband enter. Agnes tries to change her husband's mind but knows that it will not happen.

"No! Listen to me Agnes. Think about Seraphina, they will come after her. Our parents will be fine and home is wherever our family i-" Robert tries to explain to his wife why they are doing this in the first place.

A scream cuts Robert's explanation and it was coming from their daughter's room. Both parents rush to Sera's room and notice the smoke around them. The black cloud of smoke is coming from their daughter's nursery. The mother immediately opens the door, not caring about the almost red doorknob or the burn that she gets right after touching it. Agnes does not care because only has one goal in mind and that is saving her baby.

The sight is shocking, not because there is fire in the room but because of the fact that the child is crying in the corner of her crib. She has surrounded herself with fire and there was no way to get to her without being burnt. The mother starts to cough wildly when she inhales to breathe. She feels as though the smoke has gripped both of her lungs in a very tight grip. Tears well up in her eyes with the sheer intensity of the smoke and she realizes for the first time how hot it is in the room. The temperature in the room makes her feel as though she is trapped in an oven.