Immortal Fire - Book One

“What is that?” I all but screeched. A strange light blue, luminescent mark was forming on my palm. The mark was that of swirls that looked like flames, as well as tiny figurative flowers and vines that all came together in one flowing mark.

“Let me see.” Hayden leaned over and grabbed my hand for inspection. He stared at it for a long time but said nothing.

“What is it?” I asked shakily.

“I don’t know. I have never seen that before. Everything about you is a mystery. We will have to ask the elders when we get to Lunzos. It’s about another three hours’ drive from here.”

Not saying anything further, Hayden sped us away from the wrecked gas station and onto the highway. Not being able to stand the silence anymore, I decided I would make use of the time we were going to be stuck in this car to get some answers.

“So, what happened between you and Hunter that caused you to hate each other so much?”

“You mean besides his charming personality?” Hayden never took his eyes off the road.

“You know what I mean.” Sighing, he dropped one hand off the wheel and placed it on his lap.

“He has always wanted power, been competitive his whole life.” Taking a deep breath, he continued. “In our community, the Elves, we train our whole childhood and when we reach seventeen, we take part in the Selection. The Selection is basically like a warrior contest. Anyway, when we reached the final rounds in our selection, Hunter and I were to go against each other in a combat challenge that would decide who is to become one of the Lunzos new guards. Hunter always wanted to become a guard. I beat him in the challenge…”

“So, he didn’t become a guard and you did?”

“Yeah, and as you can imagine, he didn’t take it lightly that he was not going to ever be a guard and that he lost his dream to his twin brother.”

“You guys are twins?” I could not believe it. They looked nothing alike, and their personalities were total opposites. Hayden laughed at my shocked outburst.

“Yes, we are twins.” He was still smiling. Now that I thought about it, I could see the faint resemblance. They both had that tall, athletic build. Their cheekbones were both beautiful and pronounced as well as they both had that bronze skin tone.

“But aren’t twins supposed to look exactly alike?”

“Well, yes and no. Elven twins don’t look alike - ever, like human identical twins. Anyway, getting back to the point of why we hate each other…” He was starting to get that gloomy look on his face again. Hayden was silent for a while as he gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands that his knuckles had started to turn white.

“Hayden?” He glanced at me, and then back at the road. He was clenching his jaw as he fought some internal torment. “He killed our parents.” I did not know what to say to that. How was I supposed to comfort him?

“Why?” I whispered.

“After The Selection, we went to our family home and our parents had set up a party to celebrate my victory and my becoming a guard of Lunzos. Hunter lost it when he saw everything. He started throwing things around and shouting at everyone. My mother and I tried to calm him down, but he ignored us. Eventually, my father tackled him to the ground and told him that he was an embarrassment to the family and that he would never be as good as me; that he and my mother agreed that I was the better son. I couldn’t believe that my parents would say that no matter how upset they were…” He paused and I waited for him to continue.

“As soon as the words left my father’s mouth, Hunter spat in his face and shoved a knife in my father’s stomach that had landed on the floor during the commotion. My mom and I rushed to my father’s side to help him, but we were too late. Kneeling over my father’s cold body, we did not even see him come up behind and stab my mother in the back. I was too distraught and in shock to do anything besides hold my parents. When I eventually started thinking straight and tried to look for Hunter, he was gone, and I could not find him anywhere. He had just left.”

“I’m so sorry Hayden. I don’t know what to say.” It was terrible what Hunter had done to his parents, not only to his parents but to his twin brother. How could anyone be so cold and remorseless?

“It’s not your fault so don’t apologize.” Clearing his throat, he looked at me. “I haven’t seen him since then until now, with you. I have no idea what he wants with you Aria, but I will not let him hurt you like he did our family. I promise.” he said solemnly.

“Thank you.” was all that I said in return. What else was I supposed to say? I looked down at my hands. But Hayden started talking again. “After that, I did not want to be near Lunzos, so The Elders granted me two years’ sympathy leave and sent me to Parma. Do you even realize what school you are going to?” Not understanding his question, I turned toward him.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked. Looking baffled he scratched his head in a nervous gesture before answering.

“It’s a school for the ‘supernatural’ if you want to call it that… I get the impression that you have no idea about any of this…”

My face paled. “Excuse me?”

Hayden shifted in the seat uncomfortably. Smacking his arm, I glared at him. He was not going to ignore my question.

“Do enjoy hitting people all the time or are you just trying to sneak a feel?” He was grinning at me. My face flushed.

“Answer me,” I spoke.

“I think you just like touching me, to be honest…”

“Hayden!” I exclaimed, starting to get annoyed as well as flushed.

“Fine; it’s a school for supernatural beings like I said. This means that vampires; werewolves, witches, fairies, etc. go there. Elves are not allowed in because we are meant to be at Lunzos, so that is why you cannot tell anyone about me. They all keep guessing and the teachers are told that I’m a warlock.” He said, still looking at me.

“But I’m not supernatural!” My voice squeaked as I shouted in absolute horror.

“Okay, then explain to me why you can shoot people with a blue flame that comes flying out of your hand like your own personal flame thrower. Please, go ahead and explain that to me and tell me that you are not supernatural.” He mocked with an eyebrow raised. Touché - but I wasn’t about to admit that thought to him…

“But I was normal, boring, and human before I even came to that school. If I were supernatural, wouldn’t I have known before? I am eighteen now. I’m sure I would have noticed something in all those years and my parents would have told me.” Hayden seemed to think about that.

“They would not have let you into the school if you weren’t supernatural.” He said, faking certainty.

He still seemed to be thinking about the fact that before the past twenty-four hours, I had been as normal as normal could be. Deciding to change the subject before I drove myself insane, I took a deep breath.

“What is this Angelis Mortis that Hunter was calling me?” We were driving past a small town now and people were starting to move about as the day progressed.

Most of them stopped and looked at us. It must have been the matt red Jaguar we were driving in. It was a sexy car and not one that you saw often. I did not understand how my previous clothes would have caught attention when we were driving in this car, but I didn’t say anything.

“Angelis Mortis is the Angel of Death as you know. In Elven culture, there is a legend of one being brought forth from the heavens to destroy an all-powerful evil. I always thought it was just a myth that The Elders taught us all as kids so that we all toed the line. But after seeing what you could do and what Hunter called you, I started to believe.” He looked at me and then back towards the road again.

“The last time one was apparently in existence was two thousand years ago. The myth also states that the Angelis Mortis would be able to wield Angel Fire and the elements. There was also a myth that the Angel would not come into their full power until they turned twenty-one.” he spoke.

“But I’m eighteen, not twenty-one so I can’t possibly be the Angelis Mortis.”

“That’s what I also thought. We will figure it out when we see The Elders Aria. They know what there is to know about all of this. I never really paid attention as I should have. I always thought that they were just teaching us a bunch of bullshit, which I guess they weren’t.”

Looking at my hand again and touching the mark tentatively, I couldn’t believe my life had become this mess in just under twenty-four hours. Looking at the road ahead of us, I could not imagine where it was leading to or rather where my life was heading. Sneaking a glance at Hayden, I could, however, see that he was going to play an important role in everything. Making myself comfortable, I rested my head against the window. My parents are going to freak out. My body and mind were exhausted, and I could feel my eyes start to drift closed as sleep took me.

***

I was running. I had to find someone; someone important. All around me, flames were licking the walls and windows were shattering. I was running down a great hall and people were screaming, screaming in horror and agony. My feet just would not move fast enough. Running around a corner I entered a magnificent aviary. The flames had not reached here yet, but the birds lay dead on the floor. I could not stand the sight of so much death and destruction. Falling to my knees, I let out an anguished hail. Wiping my face whilst standing up, I looked around once more for whomever I was searching for. I ran for the doors I had just entered and stopped; in the doorway stood Hunter. “You will be the death of him and all others.” He then threw a body in front of me. Looking back in horror, he was gone. Sending a silent prayer, and with shaking hands, I rolled over the blood-covered body before me. It was Hayden.

***