Blooming Rose (Book 1): Memories

Chapter 9: Obsidian

Henry was hanging onto me as if his life depended on it, which it did. He gripped me so tightly that his knuckles were growing white. Then I saw a figure falling out of the sky. Rose.

I forgot all about Henry. My main priority was Rose. I flew under her and yelled at Henry,"Get her!" I felt Rose fall onto me and heard Henry yelp in surprise. "How is she?" Henry hesitated before answering. "She's unconscious, bleeding, and umm....is that an arrow?"

A dragon flew towards us. His rider had a sword at hand. I thought about Rose and anger consumed me. I didn't hesitate and blew fire at him. I raked my claws across his dragon's snout and they retreated. I fought viciously, spewing fire at every enemy in sight, clawing any dragon that got close. Then I heard a man yell,"Retreat!" All of the enemy scattered until it was only us left. Beauty pointed to Rose,"We have to land."

We landed in a meadow. The Oracles lifted Rose on to ground and I took a look at her, Her wings were sticking at awkward angles, she was growing paler, and there was an a arrow lodged into her shoulder. I panicked,"What do we do?! Someone heal her!" Wisdom held up her hand,"Calm down. Panicking will do nothing. Someone help me pull out this arrow." I shook my head,"That could make it even worse!" Wisdom sigh in exasperation, "Well, we have to try. And besides, I have healing powers, just help me with this arrow." Agility stepped forward,"I'll do it."

They grabbed on to the shaft of the arrow and were about to pull when I screamed at them,"CAREFUL!" They looked at me in annoyance. How could they be so calm? I looked at Henry to see his reaction and was surprised to see genuine concern. I heard Justice say, "Now!" When I turned back to Rose, the arrow was gone and blood was seeping out of a wound in her shoulder. Beauty immediately jumped to her feet,"Someone get a cloth or something!" Wisdom fired back,"I know what to do!" She grabbed a cloth from Agility and pressed it into Rose's wound. Then after keeping it there for a few minutes, they removed it. Wisdom's delicate hands hovered over the wound. It started glowing a brilliant, blinding golden light. When it faded, the wound wasn't exactly healed, but it was better than before.

I gaped at her in astonishment. Honor chuckled,"Forgot everything you learned after all those years." I declared defensively,"Not everything! Just almost everything!" He smiled, "Then let's review. Henry, you come over here and listen as well."

Henry walked over and Honor continued,"Each Oracle develops a special power once they are accepted. To be accepted, they must have devotion and strength. They face the moon and say their oath. When the moon glows gold, that means that an someone was accepted as an Oracle. They develop a special power or skill. Beauty is a Summoner, Wisdom is a Healer, Agility is an AuraSeeker, Justice is a Teleporter, and I am a WaterBender. Some Oracles receive different skills, some don't even have special names. There are FireBenders, AirBender, EarthBenders, LightBenders, ShadowManipulators, and others. There are people who receive ultimate strength, telekinesis, the ability to talk to animals, or something else. They are powerful, but there are powers that are far more rare, powerful, and dangerous. What you do in your life, your personality, your strengths, weaknesses, and past determine what type of power you recieve."

Beauty walked over, "Honor, you should go rest. You are also injured and more severely than I. Go see Wisdom, I'll tell them the rest." I noticed that he had cuts and bruises. His lip was bloody and his robe was tattered. He nodded gratefully and walked away. Beauty sat down,"So once an Oracles recieve a power, they must practice to master it. Oracles are not just the people who see your future, we are also warriors. We don't just sit around and wait for a prophecy. We fight for what is right. We fight for justice, and I'm not talking about her," she pointed to Justice,"Oracles play a key role in society. We are the glue of civilization."

Henry interrupted,"Honor mentioned some rare powers. What did he mean?" Beauty's eyes grew dark and more serious,"I used to envy Wisdom. But I soon learned that too much knowledge is dangerous. The rarest and most dangerous are Elementals, FateSeekers, and Guardians. Elementals can manipulate elements. They have control over fire, water, air, earth, light, darkness, and nature. FateSeekers can see into the past, even if it is not there own. They can also see the future, but it was a dangerous task, and if they trained hard enough, it is possible that they could possibly even control fate. Guardians receive amazing combat skills, clever in battle, and can manipulate and hypnotize the enemy into doing anything. Most of them protect the innocent with honor and nobility. And they," she hesitated,"They could even possibly drive people mad."

Beauty gazed off and seemed as if she was in deep thought. Henry sighed,"There's more, isn't there?" Beauty sighed,"Yes. There are Oracles that receive semi immortality. Meaning that they couldn't die of age, were very powerful, but could die in combat. Long ago, before I was born. I believe maybe five centuries ago, there was a young man. His name was Amosi. When he decided that he wanted to become an Oracle, he was accepted. But when he received his power he was an Elemental, Guardian, and received semi immortality. However, he did not want an Oracle name, which was fine because it has happened before. He claimed that he wanted to be Amosi, nothing else. He was very wise and clever and he made a great Oracle." She paused.

"But then he grew ambitious. He started to wonder what he could truly do with his power. One day, he confronted the other Oracles and said that he was going to rule over everything. The others laughed. Amosi grew angry and unleashed his power. Someone was killed. Amosi realized that he liked it. He decided to try something else. His powers were very strong and he could control them well. He decided to try to drive someone mad and it worked. He continued to attack the other Oracles. Then he left." She closed her eyes. I wanted to know more,"Then what?" Beauty took a deep breath,"He marched to every kingdom and took over. He took over Fantasy, Terra, Lennox, and Sycamore. All four countries. He was not a king, he was the Overlord. He also gathered an army. Some of his army were men he hypnotized or drove mad until they worked for him, others volunteered. But Oracles, warriors, fairies, dragons, overthrown king and queens, and soldiers gathered together to fight him. Among them was a FateSeeker named Gaethaa. Together, they defeated him. But most people fighting died. Including Gaethaa. But peace was restored to all four kingdoms. Amosi was overthrown and and banished."

I thought about that. So this wasn't the first time an evil has tried to overcome the kingdoms. If Amosi was that powerful and it took all four kingdoms to defeat him, then was what we were facing any worse?