Sparks

♕ Chapter 1 ♕

Chapter 1

I was awoken by the sound of a storm. Thunder boomed and lightning crackled, making me sit up. The only time a storm came was either when there was a war at the palace, or the queen needed to make an announcement. I assumed it was the former, seeing as it was nearly time for the queen to pick a new ruler. She was nearly 100, and she had no children or a husband. It only happened very rarely that the royal bloodline changed, and most people were hoping that someone in their family or element group would be chosen. The queen could use all the elements, so whichever one she preferred the most would most likely be the element group she chose to pick someone from.

My family was a fire element group, which was just one step down from royalty. The fire users protected the queen and all of her subjects from witches, who were dangerous because they could use all the elements of magic. The witches wanted to take over the kingdom and rule it, but that would amount in great hordes of chaos. Water users were the ones who brought water to the whole kingdom from oceans, seas, lakes, every water source they could find. Air users controlled the weather and sent messages using the air currents. Earth users were dirt poor and earned money by building walls around the kingdom and adding new structures to the queen’s palace. If she liked their work, she would reward them with a lifetime’s supply of gold. If she didn’t, they’d be stuck building walls around the kingdom, which didn’t pay half as well as building the queen’s palace.

I quickly dressed in my finest dress, an emerald green silk dress that complimented my wavy red hair, and ran to my sister’s room. “Olivia! Olivia, are you awake?” I pushed open the door and saw that she was still sleeping in bed. Her golden white hair made a halo around her head and she looked like a sleeping angel. She slowly opened her bright blue eyes and looked around.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“The queen is going to choose the new ruler today!” I exclaimed, opening her closet and choosing a light blue dress with lots of frills and sparkles. I threw the dress on the bed and skipped to the kitchen, where my mom and dad were sitting at. “Morning Mum, morning Dad!” I said with a smile on my face. My smile dropped a bit when I realized that they were in their working clothes, which were made out of thin magic-proof leather. “Are you working today?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes, honey,” he responded, giving me a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” Mom said. “No one would dare attack the queen when there’s going to be twice the amount of soldiers. It’s more for looks today,” she said while gesturing to her outfit. I nodded, but wasn’t happy about it. Knowing that every morning might be the last time I saw my parents always had me on edge, but it was their job, and the only way we could have income.

After I spooned the oatmeal into four bowls, Olivia appeared, looking like a queen with her hair up in an elegant bun and her sparkly dress. “Oh, you look gorgeous, dear!” my Mom cried out, then turned to me. “You both do,” she said with a smile.

“Thanks, Mom,” we said in unison, then grinned at each other. Although Olivia was two years younger than me, she was my best friend, and always knew what I was thinking.

In record time we were done with breakfast and started heading to the palace. When we arrived at the gates, Mom and Dad bid us goodbye with a hug and went off to their duties. Olivia and I kept walking until we reached the fire gate. On the left side was the earth gate, and to the right was the water and air gates. We passed through the fire gate without being burned, since we were immune to fire. We followed the line of fire users to a huge garden that was separated into four parts, with gates between the sections. It was illegal to have contact between different element users, since they could share powers and could cause a hurricane or other. It wasn’t easy to do that, though. The users had to maintain contact throughout the whole time they combined powers and it was like two magnets with the same poles facing each other. That’s why no one was more powerful than the queen, who could command all of the elements.