The RisingThe Rising Book One The Darkness Series

Chapter 1

When she opened her eyes the darkness felt like a dream. A nightmare Mira would never forget. As her eyes began to clear, the fog around her, still thick and dark, was lifting. She could see her hand in front of her, the wall next to her shoulder but darkness seemed to hover and block out natural light.

Cautiously looking through the glass, Mira could once again see a beam from the sun breaking through the fog. But it was like seeing it through a haze. Like the world had just been bombed and the battle done. Somehow she survived this strange dark storm that had invaded her world but what Mira didn’t know was that it was far from over.

Everything felt different. Her head spun, hurting as if she had banged it on the steps. It was possible she had, as distracted she was in pitch blackness. Rubbing her temple Mira tried to remember what happened.

She remembered rushing for the door, that crazy wind coming into the building as if it chased her, chilled her to the bone. She remembered falling down the steps. It’s more than just her head that is bothering her. She feels different.

As if something happened in those few moments of hiding in the corner, Mira wondered how that could be. But it was. Something inside her is different now. As if the darkness awoke a piece of her, like a spark, a flame, that just began to flash to life.

Pushing her long dark hair out of my face, Mira tries to focus on what she knows, the fact. She hurt her head, which was obvious. There’s a pulsing sensation inside her, beating inside her. It’s beyond her blood racing through her veins.

Everything Mira feels is amplified. She can feel the breath flowing in and out of her lungs and she knows her second rib is cracked. One she must have cracked in her fall. Breathing long and slow, Mira swears she can feel the bone mending itself.

There’s a zapping under her skin that has Mira on edge. Curling her hands into tight fists, she can actually feel an energy, powerful and dangerous, coursing through her. Not just fear, because she is afraid. Not relief, although Mira is glad it’s over. It’s an ascension inside her that wasn’t there before. Something strong and vibrant.

Uncurling her fist, Mira remembers cutting her hand. Looking down to inspect the damage there’s nothing on her hand but a pink line indicating a healing scar. She knows that she cut her hand . There is blood on her jeans where she wiped her hand off. Odd, the blood on her thigh is dried now and looks old.

Standing up, Mira presses her back against the brick wall and looks around the lobby of the library. Books have been flung from one side of the room to the other. Shelves upon shelves have toppled over. Books that were in order and neat, once sat on those shelves, are scattered everywhere. She could see where the carts had been tossed and turned on their sides on the far side of the room. The front desk computers are shooting sparks, the monitors are shattered. A battle had taken place in the darkness and she had unknowingly been hiding in the middle of it.

Looking out where the glass window once was, Mira expected to see people moving around, traffic driving by, cars parked at the light waiting for their turn, the sun shining, birds in trees. She thought she would see all of it.

But there is nothing like that out there. Shocking Mira, she questions her own eyes. This isn’t right. There should be life happening outside of this strange moment. From everything she can tell, the darkness took out the world.

There are cars, but none of them are moving. Some are stopped at the light and abandoned, others have crashed into the one in front of them as if they were trying to escape the darkness but just killed themselves instead. Some look to be tossed aside just as the books and the carts inside the library.

There isn’t a single person in sight.

There’s no movement, no sounds, no one out there. Not one single person is walking around or in any of the cars. It’s just not possible that Mira is the only person who made it through this weird storm. She assumes that people were smart enough to take cover like she did. They must still be hiding in the other buildings. They’re probably too scared to come out.

“I can’t be the only one left.” Mira muttered the words and oddly enough, there was no echo, no response, no sound at all.

Moving away from the wall, she gathered up her pack, her purse, and phone that fell out when she took the tumble down the stairs and quickly tucked it all away again. Feeling the need to find out what happened, Mira is determined to go find help. She’s a medical student, people could be hurt. She should try to help.

Walking to the stairs, Mira looked at the destruction inside the library. It looks like a war zone. Nothing is organized or where it should be. The long tube lights hung from wires flickering and sizzling. The ceiling tiles were torn apart, there was nothing left of the help desk. Mira wondered briefly if the librarian had gotten out safely.

Something very strong and strange had pushed over the huge cases of books, destroyed equipment and shattered glass inside the hall. Even the water fountain had been pulled out of the wall and the water flowed over the floor. Noticing the distance between the fallen lights and the growing puddle of water, Mira knew staying put was more dangerous than going outside.

Taking her chances Mira left the library, figuring the odds of finding help were better outside than in the building. The air was thick, as if a volcano had erupted or a building had collapsed. There seemed to be a lot of smoke in the air or ash making it hard to breathe. The air is heavy, and so, so quiet. No traffic, no music, no birds singing, nothing. As if everything else in the world is just gone.

Going out to the street, Mira looks down one end to the other. Cars piled on each other, some just blocking the road but no people moving around. She can’t tell if there’s anyone in the cars but most look deserted. Even the traffic lights are off. The businesses nearby look vacant. No lights are on in any of the buildings, no traffic lights are working, no signs are lit up. And no people at all.

“Where did they all go?” She asked getting silence in response.

Turning to head down the street to the diner, surely there’s got to be someone in there, Mira determined she could find someone there. The diner never closes and there’s always someone working the counter.

“Hey! Where you going, cutie?” Spinning around quickly in relief of hearing a voice in this deafening silence, Mira sees the guy walking up behind her.

He looks like he’s been in a fight. His clothes are torn, his face bloody. He looks pretty rough. Not that Mira looks better. After running through a dark library and falling down the stairs. She’s banged and bruised up herself. Noticing the amount of dirt or ash covering her, Mira is leaning further toward the volcano theory. Still there’s something about the way the man is coming at her, something about the look in his eyes that makes Mira step back once, twice.

Deciding it’s better to just get out of there, she doesn’t answer him but turns away to head off in the opposite direction. Still not understanding what happened here, Mira is smart enough to know when she is about to be attacked. This guy is coming after her for a reason. One she doesn’t like.

“Why? The only other person around here and he looks like he wants to kill me or worse.!” Talking to herself Mira begins to run. Looking back she sees her new friend is doing the same thing.

What happened to everyone?

Mira just wants her family. Just to know they’re all okay. Looking at her watch, Mira sees the face is shattered and the whole watch is ruined. The others should be home by now and her mom should be on her way. Mira reminds herself she needs to get back to the house to get dinner started anyway. The two little ones are probably freaked out by that storm.

Hurrying off, Mira can hear the heavy footsteps coming up fast behind her. The weirdo is following her. Knowing she can’t lead him to the house, Mira has to take a chance at going in a different direction. She won’t let anyone hurt her family. Risking slowing down, Mira looks back and sees the guy is gaining ground and catching up to her. Turning back and now going at a full run, she stumbles back, just as a gun fires from in front of her. The bullet barely missing her going right over her shoulder to its target.

“Holy shit!” Falling down, Mira rolls away from the line of fire, looking behind her to see the guy that was following her is on the ground bleeding.

Shaking in fear, she isn’t sure which is worse, getting chased or shot at. Her lungs burn, as she tries to catch her breath. Watching the man who hasn’t moved himself or his gun from the man he shot.

“Have you lost your mind! He was going to kill you!” The blonde brute with the shotgun finally moved. Resting the gun on his shoulder, he walked over to drag me to my feet. “What are you doing out here alone? The fucking sun is going down and there’s gonna be a lot more like him out soon enough!”

“What do you mean like him? What is he?” Mira asks as the man hauls her to her feet and drags her toward the trunk he must have come from. “Wait! Who are you? I’m not going anywhere with you! I need to get home to my family.”

Stubbornly Mira pushes at his hands to get them off her but it’s no use. The bully only grabs her again and throws Mira over his shoulder. Beating on his back and kicking her feet, she tries to fight back but to no avail. She is unceremoniously shoved into the truck.

“He was a Reaver. The ones that have taken over this area. I’m Liem and trust me, there’s no one left in this place but them.” To end the conversation he slams the passenger door closed.

“I’m not leaving with you!” Trying to open her door, Mira spots a group of people come around the corner from where the crazy dead guy had come from.

There had to be twenty of them. Raggedy looking, dirty and thoroughly pissed off. The men all have scraggly beards and mangled hair. The couple of women with them look tougher and rougher than the women she knows. They’ve got handguns and baseball bats, really long knives and a bow.

“Holy cow! What twilight zone did I wake up in?” Dragging on her seatbelt, Liem gunned the engine. Spinning his wheels in the dirt, he created a wall of dust and floored the accelerator. Heading off down the street at top speed. “I’m dreaming. That’s it, I hit my head and I’m in a nightmare.”

“It’s a nightmare, sweetheart but you ain’t sleeping. It’s been like this for a week now. Ever since that weird ass storm Tuesday afternoon.” Liem explains calmly, although Mira is anything but calm. “The darkness rolled in out of nowhere and wiped out more than half of the population.”

She couldn’t believe it. There wasn’t time to even question what he was saying. Mira held on for her life as Liem took corners without slowing down.

He drives like a maniac. Swerving left and right around the remnants of cars and wrecks, up on empty sidewalks and over medians. Taking a turn too fast, the truck goes up on two wheels then bounces back down as Liem kicks the truck into four wheel drive and up a dirt road.

“Wait! Today is Tuesday! That storm just happened today!” Mira adamantly tells him.

When she thinks they could slow down, Mira looks behind them and doesn't see anyone there. “I think you lost them. Look, I was in the library studying for my final. The storm literally came out of nowhere and ransacked the library. I hid in a corner until it passed. I was just there, it just happened!” Mira’s temper began to rise when Liem didn’t respond. “I need to find my family! My mom will be looking for me, my brothers and my sister... I need to get home.”

Liem glanced over once. There was sympathy in his eyes for a brief second then his jaw tightened. He looked in the rearview mirror before slowing to a reasonable speed. “They aren’t following us.”

“Did you hear me? I need to get home!” Grabbing his arm, Mira tried but failed to get his attention. Liem isn’t not listening to her.

Speeding up again they took a sharp turn onto a dirt road and into the forest. Mira wondered what strange dream she had fallen into. Part Fast and the Furious, part Night of the Living Dead. None of this can be real. Pulling out her phone, Mira looks at the screen. It’s cracked and the battery is dead.

How could it be dead?

“How can it be a week later? I don’t understand what happened!” Fear, panic, anger and confusion built inside her, all mixing together. Underneath that fear, under the anxiety, Mira felt something else. Something rising inside her. “What the hell is going on?!”

With that there’s a shooting pain in her head. Grabbing the sides of her head, Mira closes her eyes. It immobilizes her and feels like her head is about to explode. There’s a loud crack, something that reminds her of ice breaking then smaller cracking noises as the truck stops. Softly Liem touches her shoulder gently.

“Ease down now, breathe slowly, and just relax.” It was a voice in her head but it was his voice. Liem was talking in her head.

Turning to look at him, Mira thinks the question. “How are you doing this?”

.

“I’m not entirely sure. I can communicate to some this way. After the darkness, it seems some of us were given gifts. Powers of some sort. We’re still trying to figure it out.” Liem spoke quieter this time. “You’ve been given a gift too, it seems.”

He motions with his head to the windshield, now shattered into a spiderweb of cracks. Pushing herself back into the seat as far as she can get, Mira stares at the damage she’s done to his truck.

Taking her hand, Liem closes his eyes and focuses on her. The amount of tension the woman is holding in is overwhelming. Trying to help ease her anxiety, Liem rubs pressure points in her hand.

“Try to fix it.” He urges her.

“I didn’t mean to… what do you mean fix it? I don’t know how I broke it!” Mira panicked with this new turn of events.

“Focus, Mira.” Liem whispers in her head again. “Calm your mind and see it as it was.” She doesn’t know what to do. Frustrated, Mira fights him in her head. “You have to calm your mind. Focus on my voice. Relax.”

Closing my eyes she gives it a try. His hand is still on hers, Mira feels a warmth in her hand run up her arm and through her body. Almost like electricity running between them. Powerful and strong and… bright. A light, a light of power that they can feel.

“Good, now feel your surroundings, everything has energy. Feel it, mend it.” Liem guides her.

Opening her eyes Mira looks but doesn’t see. Her eyes are soft, relaxed, opaque as she looks at the broken glass in front of her. Somewhere deep inside the words flow into her head. Something opens inside her and Mira says the words.

“What was shattered is now replaced

Through this light it’s now encased

Heat the glass and now to fuse

To see the world in perfect view.”

They watched in awe as the spiderweb cracks slowly melted and fused together across and down the entire windshield until it was clear and not a single chip in it. Liem raises an eyebrow at her and smirks. “See, we’re all changed.”

“How? I don’t know how I did that. I don’t know how I knew what to say. What happened to me? Where have I been for the last week!?” Mira felt that panic begin to rise again.

“Mira, look at me.” Liem’s ice blue eyes look deeply in hers. It brought a calm into her, a warmth that made her feel like he could see into her soul. “You have power. Beyond the rest of us. You’re untrained and a threat to all of humanity if you don’t learn to control it.”

“Power? Threat? Learn control over what?” Mira doesn’t understand but can’t look away from the glass.

She has power, maybe, something cracked that windshield and something fixed it. Not feeling like she is a threat or that she is in danger anymore , Mira just feels confused.

“The power of the fire is in you. It’s your choice. The light or the dark are a choice, which you follow is up to you. Only you can make the choice of what will guide you on your path.” His eyes look like blue waves of the ocean that have frozen in the setting light of evening.

“The light is the good side, right? The dark, that storm, was the dark, right? I don’t want to be in the dark. I want the light.” If what she had already seen is anything that relates to the dark, Mira doesn't want anything to do with it.

“Good.” Liem puts the truck in gear and with a swipe of his hand, it’s like a curtain has been drawn back.

What looked like trees in front of them a moment ago is now a gravel drive. There are men standing on either side of the road with guns under their arms. As if they arrived at some kind of military base that magically appeared before their eyes, Mira rubbed her temple not understanding what had happened to the world she knew.

They drove through the gate and when Mira looked back, the curtain once again was drawn against the world. She could see the road but it shimmered as if she was looking through water.

“It’s a protection spell to keep out the dark and the Reavers. This place is safe for the moment, but we’ll have to move on soon.” Liem explained.

Pulling up to the house, he turned the truck around so he could just drive straight out when needed again. Opening the door Liem jumped out then waited for Mira to follow. As they walked to the front door, he told her more about her new surroundings.

“The first rule of Magicks is: harm to none. We don’t use our gift for personal gain, or in anger or as a way to punish. If you must fight, it’s done in defense, not offense. All magic comes at a price. Always remember that.” Opening the front door, Liem ushers Mira in.

“But the magic I did back there…”

“Was a correction spell. You fix your own error. No harm was done. Now using your magic for protection of yourself, and others that’s different and it costs energy. A lot of energy.” Liem motions to the stairs and they head up. “Feeling tired yet? You did a simple spell but you were pushing out some pretty impressive currents.”

He understood what she was more than Mira did. He couldn’t be that much older than she is. Wondering how he knew so much, the questions began to come to her.

“What are you? Are you a sorcerer, a witch or what?” Stopping on the stairs she waits for him to answer.

Exasperated, Liem turns around, mira was familiar with his expression. She saw it many times on her mother’s face. “I told you, I’m Liem.”

“No, not who are you. What are you? You were able to talk in my head and when you looked in my eyes, I felt like I was in a trance or something. So what are you?” Mira wasn’t ready to believe that all this is real. She really isn’t ready to believe she’s a witch or whatever. It’s just not possible.

“I’m a healer, a witch to an extent . I’m able to help with healing others physically and here.” Liem tapped his temple. “My sister Raine is a fairy. We’ve got a little of everything here. Elves, witches, fairies, seers. We even have a siren.” Turning Liem continues up the stairs then down the hall.

“No werewolves or vampires, huh?” Mira smartassed. Liem didn’t appreciate her humor.

“Second lesson. The light is a gift. We’re all going through this change and we’re all learning what we have. I can feel what’s in you and I know you’re one of the two. You’re a firebird. An elemental witch, powerful enough to bring down the darkness. At least that’s the legend. So we’ve found you but we still need the second one. There’s only two that can end the darkness and it has to be done together.” Liem opens a door then steps back. “Get some rest. We’ll talk later after you get settled. Just call.” He taps his temple. “I’ll come.”

Leaving Mira in a bedroom, she wandered in and looked out the window. Her family is out there somewhere and Mira is stuck in fantasyland. A witch, ha! The hot hunk with the gorgeous clear blue eyes is a healer. Everyone she saw outside the house looked normal.

“I’m normal!” With a thought the fire roared to life in the fireplace.

Jumping back, Mira stared into the dancing flames. Going over slowly, she knelt down and focused her thoughts on her family. Just as she did in the truck. Searching for her family Mira tried to calm her mind as Liem did for her. It wasn’t working. All she is able to find is darkness and emptiness everywhere where she looks.

Maybe she isn’t a witch after all.