Heart of Fire

Chapter 1:

7 years later...

Emberice walked through the Ice Kingdom with her friend, an IceWing named Skua, steam pouring off of her scales as usual, which Emberice had always found a little unusual, but never gave much thought to. "Hey Ember! Wanna go try and tease some nobles?" "No! That'll drop my Ranking!" "You suuure?" "Yeah, you can go on ahead, Skua. Father told me to be back at our house in a few minutes anyway. I think he wants to show me something." "Ah. Guess I'll just go on ahead, then." Skua said, smiling, trying to hide the resentment that was seeping through her voice. Skua was a pale blueish purple color with pale blue scales on her arms and back legs. Her eyes were a dark blue gray, like the arctic sky during a snowstorm.

Skua ran off down the street, and Emberice headed down to her house. She walked in and shut the door behind her, seeing that her Father, Dominus, was already there. Dominus was a silvery gray color overall, with pale blue around his horns and spikes. He had dark blue eyes, almost black. "Ah. Hello, my daughter. How is my little spark of fire doing today?" "Just fine, Father. And you?" "Just as well." Dominus smiled faintly, then sighed, and a melancholy look crossed his features before quickly being chased away by a smile that looked almost fake. "Well, my daughter. Today is your hatching day, is it not?" "Yes, Father!" "What would you like to do?" "I'm not sure. I never get to see you that often. So maybe... we could just stay here?" "Are you sure? Because we could easily-" "Father, I would like to stay here." "Ah. All right. So it shall be."

Dominus got up suddenly, and said, "Emberice... I have something to show you. Come with me." Dominus led her to a back room with a ton of boxes in it that Emberice recognized as her father's study. "Father... why are you taking me here?" "There is something I want you to see..." Dominus sighed, and continued, "This is what I wanted to show you..." Dominus dug around in one of the boxes, which was labled with a name: Sheer.

Emberice wondered who Sheer was. The name didn't sound like an IceWing name. Or if it was, it didn't sound like one she'd recognize. Dominus was a merchant, so prehaps Sheer was a customer of his that had stuck with him over the years, but Dominus never mentioned a customer named Sheer, so maybe the customer had asked Dominus not to talk about her or him.

"Ah, here it is..." Dominus muttered, his claws digging something that looked like a very thick, old scroll, or something like that. The scroll thing was bound in leather and held together by a lot of tied leather thongs and things like that. Dominus handed the thing to her, and Emberice noticed that it had no title or anything on the cover, save for several things that looked like claw marks on the cover, and a name, Sheer. The same name on the box that Dominus had pulled the thing out of.

"What is it?" "It's a... a... oh, what was it called... a book. It's for writing stories, and for putting drawings and stuff in." Dominus smiled sadly at the book, and shooed Emberice out of the room, shutting the door behind him.