A Crown of Flames: A Storm of Tears

Chapter 1

With the simple blink of an eye, an eye made from bits and pieces of light from the universe, a teardrop fell, onto a planet drenched in blood, upon a kingdom, bathed in lies. Stars, they cannot shine without darkness, or so they say. Bright things, cannot exist without living alongside the dark, and so light and shadow must coexist. Sometimes, this coexistence is peaceful, other times, this idea of harmony is the opposite of a harmonious situation.

Eons upon eons ago, time was created, and so was the rest of the universe. And so came the light and the shadows. The first fragments of light and shadow naturally became the goddesses of their existence. They existed in a calm peace, an acceptance of an atmosphere most limiting to emotional waves.

Like a cloud about to release a hoard of droplets, the flash of lightning before the roll of thunder, the teardrop that builds up on the edge of one's eye before it relentlessly rolls down one's cheek, like blood waiting to be spilled, the bubble burst. Light had been praised century after century yet the Shadow was scowled at and everything fled from her presence. Emotions spewed and so the dragon was created. Angry creatures made of rock that light seeped through and blinding fires when the majestic rocks roared. Then came the griffins who flew the closest to the brightest stars, with screeches that rang through the cliff tops on which they dwelled, but with hearts as cold as ice. There were the kirins, creatures who had the most beautiful and gentle voice and mystical magic, but turned into flaming creatures when they couldn't control their anger. In the oceans that surrounded the land there lived the sirens, whose beauty stunned the general crowd but their hearts were dark and their voices sharp as daggers.

These fascinating creatures were all magical, and they could all shapeshift into human like figures. But because they were so similar to humans, they had human emotions. And so came the great war. Blood spilled into rivers and the ground was stained with blood. Tears salted the magnificent oceans, and darkness rose in the distant sky.

Screams and battle cries rang day and night, a never ending melody like chimes in a river of wind. The goddess of Light had had enough and conjured a majestic bird of fire, the Phoenix. With their plumage lighting up every corner of the sky they touched, voices as gentle as morning air, they settled high in the mountains, a kingdom of tranquility. But with everything herd of social creatures, every school of marine life, every cloud of rain, a hierarchy rose, and so came a monarchy.

With monarchy came a struggle for the throne. And so the great wars for power had begun. The goddess of shadows had weaved her magic into the deepest corners of their hearts and soon, the Grand Palace became a bloodbath. The goddess of light, was torn as she watched her precious creations self destruct.
Then she blinked, her eyes full of sorrow, and a tear had fallen. The salty glimmering substance formed into an orb of glass. The orb was tiny but when the goddess of light placed it upon the world, it was larger than one's head.

"And this is how the Throne Orb came to be." A soothing graceful voice finished.

"Mother, when will we get to see the orb?" A voice asked.

"Soon, dear children. The orb has very strong magic and you are too weak to face it." The mother coaxed.

"Let's go to the hatchery, your little sister is about to hatch!" The mother remembered.

A flock of magnificent creatures piled into a silent, bright room. A single egg, stashed in mounds of bedding, rested peacefully.

Crack. In a split second a rainbow ray of light fell on the egg as a tiny bird like figure made its way into the world. The gathered crowd stood, stunned by the quickness of it all. A great phoenix was born.