The RisingThe Rising Book One The Darkness Series

Chapter 2

Legend states that when The Darkness floods the earth, the human race will be divided. In this divide we find our calling. Seers and shifters, witches and fairies, enchanters and elves all will choose their side of the fight - dark or light.

Emotions are the push to all beings into power. Love, truth and compassion fortify the light, while hate, jealousy and greed feed the dark.

Some will fall for the seduction of The Darkness and its sirens that recruit its army. Some who cannot choose will remain as they are. The human race cannot be eliminated by darkness alone. In some ways, the humans will eliminate themselves.

Humans have an innate strength within them, an intense primal need to survive. Although some will get lulled to The Darkness, like the Reavers, those who have resorted to steal and kill, rape and destroy when chaos struck. Fear is a powerful force for those who will put themselves above all else.

Fear preys on the venerable, the weak. It eats away at them, stealing their souls and blackening their hearts. Those are the ones who will sink into the bowels of humanity with hate and rage to decimate all that is good in this world.

Then there are those who look to help, to create, to do better. Those humans will seek out something greater. As with darkness, those with light have an energy source that calls to them.

Those souls are strong. A strength that comes from deep within to guide those who seek shelter from the dark, who stand to protect the children, the young who are just finding their strength, the old who are passing on their wisdom. And in those with strength only two will lead.

The two must be found before the darkness surrounds them. Legend says, once one of the two is touched by darkness, it will turn on itself and destroy all it touches. Those of the light understand the urgency to find the two.

But a war must rage to win this world. Darkness struck first with its lash of acid rain and smoke filled clouds. The death toll was horrendous, the human race losses are in the millions. No count has been passed as everyone is still fighting for their lives. It doesn’t matter your position in this world. Whether you are the President of the United States or a homeless man on the street, a hundred years old or a newborn. The Darkness swallows who it chooses. Why some were spared is a mystery.

The smoke swirled around her feet as the sky turned red. She walked on what looked like soft blankets of black clouds covered in blood. Souls of the fallen around her.

“Was it worth it?” The voice came from nowhere, echoing around her in her head. “The souls you sacrificed for your rise to power.”

“I didn’t do this.” Mira’s voice trembled as she recognized faces in the horror and gore around her. “I didn’t hurt them. I didn’t do anything!”

The laugh, loud, deep and sinister rumbled through the air. He stepped out of the dark smoke, his eyes gleaming gold. She could look nowhere else but his eyes as if she held her in some kind of trance.

He circled her, as a predator circles his prey. She felt stings on her back, her shoulders and down her arms. As if he were testing her for a weakness. His power made the air hum around him, an electrical current flowing through the breeze.

“Of course you did, Mira. You did all of this.” With a wave of his arm, the smoke cleared and the bodies were unveiled.

Mira felt sick. The metallic smell in the air landed on her tongue. Her stomach clenched and rolled as she fought back the nausea. She didn’t do this. She couldn’t, wouldn’t have hurt any of these people.

Men and boys, women and girls, bodies on top of bodies, a massacre is what it was. She has never seen such a gruesome act of violence. How could one person possibly be responsible for all of this?

“I didn’t do this.” Adamantly, Mira stood her ground.

“All you had to do was give him what he asked.” The man continued to pace around her, circling her with light taps on her shoulders as he passed. Playing with her as a child plays with their food before they eat. “All you had to do was give him your gift. He would have given you their souls instead of mutilating them. But you chose your path now.”

A quick suction came for her, pulling her from the darkness, drawing her away from the pulse of his power and bringing her back into a cold sweat in her bed.

Mira sat up, shaking, sweating and shivering in fear. What had she done? Where was she now? Nothing looks familiar. The dream was too real. The pain she felt was still in her. And she felt sick.

The fire across the room held a low warmth, lighting the room with flickering orange light. Looking at her arms, Mira noticed the red burns he had made on her. He touched her in the dream and burned her for real.

What kind of world had she woke up in?

The noise from outside the window alerted Mira from her thoughts. She was in a safe house, a safe place according to Liem. The memory of the magick she had done in the truck came to mind. The loud voices outside rose in panic. Then the sound of gunshots cracked through the air.

Frightened at what she had gotten herself into, Mira went to the window and looked out. The clearing where they entered was filled with blood and smoke. Men laid on the ground, others were defending themselves while more were rushing from inside below to help the wounded on the ground.

Liem stood in the middle of the clearing, his feet planted wide in the dirt as he aimed his hands at the shimmering wall where bullets rain through. A woman with long blonde hair and pale blue eyes stood by his side. Her arms straight in front of her as her mouth moved silently.

A wind whipped around them as others ran around them helping and fighting a faceless foe. Liem looked possessed, his body moved but not on his own will. The woman worked her hands, creating symbols and motions that didn’t make sense.

Mira began to open her window. Perhaps she should come down to help. Maybe Liem could help her use her power like he did in the car. Unlocking the window she pushed it open only for the glass to slam shut nearly missing her fingers.

“Mira stay put!” Liem’s voice sounded in her head. As if thinking about him brought him into a conversation. “We have this, just stay there.”

She had no plans of going anywhere but remembering what she was capable of with the windshield, Mira wondered why she couldn’t help from where she stood.

As she had done in the trunk, Mira focused her mind on what laid just beyond the clearing. The dirt road, the overgrown trees and brush that covered the sides of the road. She opened her eyes, opaque and looking beyond, seeing what they were fighting against for the first time.

They looked like animals, the way the men were clawing and throwing themselves against the barrier. Some stood in the back of trucks, blasting the barrier with their guns, others threw grenades, hitting their own men and killing whatever was in their path. Not all of their weapons broke the barrier.

Singling out the ones that were, Mira let her power rise. Not knowing how to use it, not having a shred of control, she released her blue fire on the few and watched them burn.

There was a frantic response below her window as those defending the barrier ran for cover. Her fire was out of control, burning trees and bushes around them. Several of those inside the barrier were injured as well.

“Stop her! Liem! Do something!” The blonde ordered as she stayed in place, fighting the flames with her own newly birthed power.

“Mira! Stop!” Liem ordered in her head. “Damn it, Mira! You’re killing them!”

His voice got through the haze of the kill. Realizing the damage she had done, Mira blinked several times quickly, finding her own eyesight again. She was appalled by what she had done and pulled everything inside herself.

The flames below began to disappear, the spread of the smoke circulated through the air around the blonde as Liem stood next to her, looking up at the bedroom window and Mira crying, staring down at him.

It was an accident. She didn’t mean to do the kind of damage she had. Her sobs and apologies echoed in Liem’s mind. It broke his heart to hear her pain, so openly and honestly obvious. It was then he realized that Mira didn’t know she had opened herself to him. She hadn’t knowingly allowed him into her thoughts.

Closing the contact, with tears in his eyes, Liem turned to his sister. Raine said nothing, she felt it for herself. Closing the barrier and keeping everyone safe was her primary concern.

“Deal with her! I’ve got this. Just keep her from striking out like this again.” Raine hurried to the edge of the barrier with the other witches and began chanting the words. Sealing the breach and keeping them safe for the moment.

They will be back, sooner than later, to try again. And knowing that one of the two have been found, will only heighten their desire to get through. They will want to get to her now more than ever. Even with her powers uncontrolled and uncertain, she is dangerous. More dangerous than even the seer had predicted.

The worst over they doubled their posts watching every way in. The Reavers got by them once, it can’t happen again. Liem breathed relief knowing that they hadn’t lost anyone yet. Yet. There are a few that are touch and go. It will take something they don’t have to get them through - time. They have just run out of it.

Coming down the stairs after checking on the children, Liem made his count for the third time since the attack. Everyone is accounted for. Seeing his sister in one of her tempers, it’s not a guess to know where she is heading.

“Let her rest, Raine.” Taking hold of her arm, there’s a spark against Liem’s palm. Stopping Raine from going into Mira may be harder than he anticipated.

All of them saw the power Mira holds and she hasn’t even awakened her light fully. They were lucky to have gotten to her before the Reavers did. It was a close call - too close.

“I can't find the other one without her power. The darkness is a lot stronger than I am, Liem. She’s proven to have her strength.” Raine tries again to push past her brother.

“And it knocked her on her ass. She’s not awake. I checked.” He has been checking on her consciously since Mira passed out.

He understood the urgency of the situation. The creatures had found them. Only a fool would believe that they wouldn’t be back. But moving the injured, moving Mira right now wasn’t wise either. They just needed more time.

Raine has been trying since they emerged from the shadows to find others like them. Those who were lost, with power they don’t know how to control. She and the few other witches and seers they had found over the last few weeks were trying to find a sorcerer to help guide them to find The Two to lead.

Turning around, Raine gave in again and walked with her brother to the map room. “He has to be hiding or in the darkness like she was.”

The Darkness had her in its grips for a week. Mira remembers nothing from it. When she does, when her full power opens and allows those memories to surface, Raine hopes to have a better idea of what they’re up against. Beyond legend, none of them have been around long enough to know what will happen.

What they need is a true sorcerer who’s lived for centuries and has witnessed the calling through his own eyes. Someone who knows how to call on the Gods, the firebirds to awaken their power and train them into warriors.

Hell, each one of them needs to be trained.

Regular people who suddenly have been given gifts of sight, gifts of power, gifts of change, all of them know nothing of this kind of war. Sure they might find a soldier to help with basic training with guns but without true training or real magical leadership, they will fail.

The Darkness picked and chose who would be left behind. It selected its warriors, magical and none. It found those with strengths that were needed for battle.

The first days were the worst. Coming out of the acid rain and smoke, finding the dead or not finding loved ones. The loss, the pain and confusion that surrounded everyone kept people from trusting others.

The way powers opened, wildly for some, hysterically for others. Each one dealing with this new part of the world and the pain of loss. Then having to do what comes next. Having to do what is necessary to survive and keep going without getting a chance to really grieve the loss.

Those who were found bonded together. They can’t be alone. Together they created a spell to hide, to protect and in hunting parties to gather food, supplies and others.

The group has grown to twenty with the help of Raine using her power and doing what she can to search and find where people are hiding. Thanks to the witches who opened and understood quickly, they studied from books and created the barrier. Only those with light can locate them. Occasionally a regular human with no abilities have stumbled into the area but those are few. And the others are fewer.

They have a seer and a couple that dream, getting premonitions as the group tries to seek out a sorcerer and the firebirds. It was luck finding Mira. It was too close when the Reavers found her that one of The Two were almost lost.

“That was too close! We aren’t safe here!” Raine quietly argued, furious with the situation. They had taken every precaution and they were still found.

“I get that but you didn’t see her little power outage in my truck. You didn’t feel her fear and pain when she realized what she was doing to those creatures! She saved our asses, Raine!” Liem tries to explain the connection he’s made with Mira. The poor girl was worn out and needed to recharge, body and mind.

Raine looks at her brother with the same ice blue eyes as his own and reads his mind. “You thought she was hot! Seriously?”

It was bad enough for his twin to be able to read his mind before they got their power but now it really sucked. Liem hasn't mastered blocking out his thoughts and some come through better than others.

“No! I just lost Hailey, Raine! She’s got power okay and yeah, it’s impressive but my focus is Jonah and making things safe for him. Everyone is going to be starting from scratch. We need to figure out what we do when the electrical goes and the water. What happens when winter hits. Food supplies are going to drain. We need a plan.” And in Liem’s case, a distraction from what he knows is a completely off limits conversation with his sister.

At least, for now, there’s food but people that are left, the Reavers, they’re pillaging all over. As a group they need to start stockpiling what they can, and decide what to do when the time comes when supplies run out.

“I’ll let her rest up so you can help her. You said she kept wanting to find her family, maybe one of them is our missing bird.” Raine knows her strengths in this area. There’s too much she still doesn’t know how to do. “But Liem? She needs to learn control fast before she kills one of us. She’s dangerous to everyone until we find someone who can teach her how to be one of The Two.”