Evmor: The Calling

Chapter 1

Aaaaaand the story finally starts. Most of you can already tell Aviara is something special. That means there's lots of interesting stuff to come her way and you'll find out if you read more. Well that's it for now. Have fun reading!

Chapter 1

Fire. Its unbearable heat and the smoke suffocated me and my eyes burned from the polluted air. Cries of help echoed through the space but I was powerless to aid them in any way. As I took in my surroundings, lethal flames covered every available surface. I tried to summon any strength that I had left to extinguish the flames but I was immediately met by a wave of dizziness. I collapsed on the floor, overwhelmed by despair.

A strong pair of arms hauled me up by my armpits and set me back on my legs. A youthful face framed by a mess of blonde hair came into focus and stared into my eyes with a pair of green ones. He seemed to be shouting something at me and he shook me gently by my shoulders but all sound was muffled to my ears. I tried to read his lips to understand what he was saying but the only words I could decipher was dangerous and safety. These two contradictory words didn't do anything to improve my understanding of the circumstances, and then suddenly, a burning sensation overwhelmed all my senses.

I jerked awake, panting and sweating from the nightmare that continued to plague my dreams every night. I checked the time and swore quietly, upset that yet again I had woken up at 2:37am. I sat up and buried my face in my hands, feeling the sleepless nights catching up to me. I would feel completely at peace and fall asleep just like any other day, but since precisely a week ago, this nightmare had presented itself and made it impossible for me to ever truly rest.

I had considered talking to someone about this, but I was honestly too afraid to find out what these nightmares might mean. I knew enough to know that these continuous nightmares were considered unhealthy. I tried to puzzle out what these visions could imply; if it was some traumatic event that I didn't remember or if it was just my wild imagination. However, these nightmares were much too vivid just to be any other dream. I could still taste the bitter smoke, the way it flowed into my throat and lungs and made it difficult to breathe. How it stung my eyes and how unbearable the heat was, especially the pain at the end that always pulled me from these nightmares. As usual, I met another dead end and gave up trying to figure out the meaning of these nightmares; that was, if they had any meaning.

Instead, I lay back and stared up at the ceiling. When I was left alone with nothing much to think on, I tended to revisit the memories I had of my parents. They had passed away only three years ago and their loss was still a fresh wound. However, no matter how much it hurt to think about them, I did as often as I could so I wouldn't forget. I read somewhere and knew firsthand that the less you thought about something, the more faded the memory would become, and I refused to let my parents fade away into the back of my mind.

I pulled out a picture of my complete family: my dad Jared Skye, my mom Helen, my older brother Nate and my younger sister Emilie, with me standing between them. I was the only one of my family that had inherited my mother's dark hair and I was always reminded of the difference whenever I spent time with my siblings and caught a glimpse of our reflection. Nate and Emilie both shared amber hair inherited from our dad as well as his warm, brown eyes. Apart from my dark hair, I was also the only one with my mother's blue eyes, and old family friends always commented that I looked just like she did in her teenage years.

Looking at how happy we looked in the picture, a lump formed in my throat and pressure built behind my eyes. My life now wasn't unhappy per se but I would do anything to have my parents back in my life. I didn't even know whom to blame for taking them away from me. All I was given was a call from the hospital, informing me that my parents had gotten into a tragic car accident and were killed on the spot. I had a hard time coming to terms with it—all three of us did. I didn't understand how a person's life could be turned completely upside down in a matter of minutes and I denied their death for some time. I had continued to visit the place where the accident had taken place as well as the police station to look for any clues as to what had happened, but all I found out was that my father had somehow lost control of the car, driving it straight into a tree. The impact as well as the fire that erupted after were the cause of their death.