The RisingThe Rising Book One The Darkness Series

Chapter 10

They took turns over the next week working with their powers. Each of them had their energy gut them out after using the power for a mere hour. Lexi took the hardest hit. Cosmo would tire but not to the point of exhaustion. Asher felt the pain in his head after his last round of training.

He worked with bringing a flame to his hand, floating a flame for light, and bringing a fire to the fireplace. The control took effort and he couldn’t do more than one thing at a time. But he was getting better.

He couldn’t get any worse than when he set the couch on fire and he and Cosmo had to rush to put it out before it spread through the cabin. They got lucky that time. Next time might not have such good luck.

Reavers came close to the cabin. The trio stayed out of sight with Lexi keeping the Reavers blind to their presence just barely. One came to the door and tried to open it only to get zapped for his efforts. He ended up unconscious in the cold dark night when one of his companions found him and dragged his body back to their truck.

They breathed a sigh of relief when the truck drove off with only a couple boxes of supplies and a flat of water. It could have been much worse. Reavers are known to loot and destroy anything that they don’t take with them. It didn’t make sense why they didn’t set the cabin on fire but they didn’t try. For that Asher was grateful.

After another grueling day of training, cutting wood and hunting up a rabbit for dinner, Asher was worn out. He wasn’t the roughing it kind of guy. He likes the luxury of everyday amenities like water out of a faucet and electricity.

Cosmo is the same way. The two complained about hunting while they searched for something they could eat. Then they competed so the other one would have to clean it. Cosmo got that duty.

Lexi took cooking duty and turned the rabbit into a stew with the last of the potatoes they had and some carrots she found in an abandoned garden. The boys were lucky they had her with them. Neither of them could boil water.

They ate in silence. Each of them lost in their own thoughts. Asher was still trying to find a way to get more information about his power without burning down the cabin or his friends.

Asher didn’t bother to change out of his clothes when it was his turn to sleep. He was beat. By the time his head hit the pillow, he was already out and halfway into a dream. A nice cool forest night, lights dancing over the creek and water bubbling in the distance.

The sexy woman waiting for him was just what the doctor ordered. The only problem was that this wasn’t a sex dream. He knew he had been pulled right back to that mysterious magical grotto as before.

It wasn’t the same woman as before. This wasn’t Solara. With all the traveling in the last few weeks, they have seen more in the way of human carnage, hatred and horrible violence around every corner they traveled. Asher’s imagination is in need of some peace. A good sex dream with a hot stranger to escape the moment would have been just the ticket but he wasn’t getting it tonight.

The grotto is just as secluded, filled with what looks like fireflies swimming through the dark purple sky. The water bubbled and frothed behind her with the occasional frog leaping off a lily pad to take a bath in the flowing water. Flowers bloomed in different colors at the base of ancient trees and a wolf howled at the moon from somewhere in the distance. The place has a natural peace that seems to indemnify this place.

The woman looks anything but peaceful despite the relaxed way she sits in the lotus position in the middle of the grass. Her hands rested on her knees, opening and closing into tight fists, then those narrow fingers flexed straight and long. Her back is ruler straight and there’s an obvious hourglass curve from shoulders to a small waist out to the flare of her hips. Long dark hair is in a thick braid and hung heavy over one of those defined shoulders.

Her face is a visual masterpiece. The dark hair contrasted with the porcelain skin, making her seem more princess than warrior as the sword that rests next to her suggests that she knows how to use her weapon of choice. Watching the exaggerated rise and fall of her breasts distract him long enough that the last thing he expected was to be attacked.

Definitely didn’t see this coming.

She moved fast, spinning from her position and lunging to attack him. Her leg swung out and swiped Asher’s out from under him before he could blink. Ash was smelling the soft grass under his back before he felt the wind push out of his lungs. Those white lights were floating around his face when he opened his eyes and the warrior queen with gorgeous dark eyes met his.

“I’m working on it! I’ve been trying to control the fire. It's not that easy! Can we just talk about this? I have questions, okay, warrior queen?” Fiercely glaring up at her, he started to push up to his elbows only to get the sharp end of the sword in his face.

“You think this is a game! You don’t look! You don’t see! The Darkness isn’t waiting for you to ask questions. He is gathering his minions and getting stronger while you play with flames.” She accuses him of not taking his power seriously. Holding his hands up in surrender, Asher slowly sits up with the sword staying right in his face.

The warrior princess doesn’t understand that learning how to control this power isn’t that easy. He’s trying, and it’s wearing him out. A little patience and some training would go a long way right now.

“Look I will fight the darkness with everything I have, but I need some training! You could help if you would stop talking in code and just tell me how to not set my friends on fire!” He makes his point but she doesn’t look away from his hands. He frowns and follows her gaze, noticing the sparks of blue flames on his fingertips.

Shaking his hands, Asher puts out the flames. Frustrated, he rakes his fingers through his hair and grumbles to himself. “Figures I have a great start to a sex dream and my sexy warrior doesn’t like me.”

It’s no longer a frown he sees but a glare. “Did she just read my mind?”

“I’m not a warrior queen, you moron! I’m Blythe. And yes, I can read your thoughts just as you can read mine. Why don’t you know what your power is? You are the Frostwing. There’s only one, you. You are a legend.”

“I don’t know anything about this power. And If you would just explain this to me without the games and riddles I might be able to understand what I’m supposed to do!” Pulling his feet under his knees, Asher waits for an explanation.

“You are the Frostwing. The one of two who are meant to defeat the Darkness. This is a safe place. Dewin’s grotto is bespelled with charms, no one can come here who wants to harm. Dewin is the ancient one who’s charged with taking care of this forest and the two Firebirds. You are one of them. Your mate has not come to me yet.” She gracefully folds herself up to sit cross legged in front of him.

“I’m a Firebird. Like a Phoenix?” He repeats her words.

“A Firebird. They are the most powerful of the magical creatures. We’ve been waiting a long time for the arrival of the two. You have been given gifts from the Goddess. She’s gifted two humans the power of the Firebird. The new magicals who have the sight and know their worth searched for the two and picked them based on their moral compass.” Her head tilts to the side slightly as she listens to the air around them. “You do not understand your part of the prophecy?”

“Uh...no. I played baseball in college. I didn’t have anything extra until that dark storm hit. And only after I saw you the first time did I realize I had fire in me.”

“The darkness is the end of the light. The end of your world if you do not train. You managed to survive for a reason.” A slow smile came to her face. Getting to his feet, Asher thought about her words and paced anxiously in front of the water.

“I didn’t ask for this responsibility. I’m not turning it down but I need to understand it. I don’t want to hurt anyone. Why can’t we just negotiate with this Pyremius peacefully?” Stopping, he already knows the answer to his question. The darkness won’t stop until everyone is dead.

“Cosmo and Lexi aren’t your friends. They aren’t waiting for you.” Her voice doesn’t sound so sweet now. There’s an acrid smell in the air. The smell is what he would associate with what hell must smell like. Her overly sweet voice continues to tease him but Asher has seen the truth and is not even tempted to believe that this is real now. “You should stay here with me, Asher. I can train you for what you will face.”

As he turns the glade spins around him. He is no longer in the peaceful grotto but a fiery pit of hell with flames shooting up from the bowels below to lick at his feet. It’s enough of a shock to make Asher jump back and stumble, falling against a body behind him. Turning his head, Ash sees a man’s face literally melt off his skull and he couldn’t restrain the scream that came out sounding like a frightened girl. But who wouldn’t scream at this?

Jerking away from the melting man, a sword flew out from behind him and landed right between the siren's eyes. “What the ….!?”

His head spun around to see the green glade behind him and the fiery hell in front. It’s like being in two worlds at the same time and getting ripped apart from the pull.

From behind, Ash heard rustling of the trees. An old man walks out pausing at the scene before him. There’s a little girl by his side, who takes his hand frightened by the sight. Her hair is the color of the bark of the tree and eyes as gray as storm clouds that stare right through Asher. Believing this is all a nightmare, Asher rubs his eyes because it looked like the girl stepped out from the tree itself.

“Get him back to where he belongs, Willow. His time will be here soon enough but our second isn’t ready to train just yet.” The man stayed back, his purple robe and hood hiding his face. Raising his voice he spoke to the woman. “Pyremius won’t be taking the boy today, Blythe!”

“Perhaps not but he isn’t fit for battle either. You will lose, Dewin! You cannot win this time, not with warriors like this one!” The woman yelled over the noise.

The fire grew as the girl stepped closer to me. Suddenly with a push from the old man’s hand, the flames moved away from me. He waved his arms and spoke softly in a language Asher vaguely recalled as Irish. He repeats the words three times before there’s a crack in air and the two worlds split apart. There’s a bright white flash of light and the fire gets swallowed by a dark mass.

Kneeling in front of him, the girl mutters some soft words and in taking his hands, Asher feels his eyes grow heavy. She opened her eyes wide as he stared into them with heavy lids. “Don’t worry, Asher. Your time will be here soon enough. I’ll see you again.”

Then in a blink of the eye Asher was back in the cabin. Laying on the floor in front of the fire, Cosmo stood over him, his hand flexed with the big cat’s claw ready to rip Asher apart. His eyes were hard and cold looking at Ash with a confused expression.

“You scream like a fucking girl, man! A twelve year old girl, too! Lexi has bigger balls than you do. What the F is wrong with you? It’s your shift!” Cosmo shoves a shotgun at Asher and walks away making him wonder what just happened.