The RisingThe Rising Book One The Darkness Series

Chapter 8

The dream seems real. The thick forest of trees, bushes loaded with berries, the sounds of life everywhere. Birds in the trees, squirrels chasing each other limb to limb, and the deer watching cautiously in the distance. There’s a hawk searching for his dinner and a fox watching a rabbit hole. The nocturnal predators are out for the hunt.

There’s a softness in the air here. A lightness like a mist covering the ground. It’s not spooky but it is mystical. There’s something magical about this place.

It’s not the forest around the cabin. Ash is certain of that. This is somewhere else, some other place in time. It’s not now. It’s not in the future. It’s before. The beginning of the darkness. Knowing that, he takes a moment to take in his surroundings before he moves.

The trail to his right is overgrown. Branches of the trees hang low overhead with twigs of fingertips reaching down to grip their prey. It looks dark and dreary and ominous. Not exactly a reassuring walk in the woods.

There’s a trail to his left. There’s a beam of light shining down on the trail. It’s obviously used by the animals around here. There’s paw prints from rabbits, hoof marks from deer. It looks like the better trail to take.

So making his decision, Asher takes the trail to the right. Cold fingers of fear stroke down his spine the moment he steps into the trail. Maybe it was a bad idea, but to Asher’s mind he would rather have a face to face fight than this shadowy bullshit.

“I’m here! What do you want?” He called out, his voice echoing in the mist.

As he moved down the trail the sound of life around him stopped. No more birds chirped. No sounds of animals scurrying about. Nothing. The eerie silence filled the air and made Ash shiver with cold.

Continuing down the trail, he came to a clearing. A perfect circle where the ground had died. The trees were gone, but for the dead twigs and rotted stumps that were left behind.

A young girl no more than five sat in the middle of the clearing. Her back was to him as she rocked, her soft innocent voice chanting something in a language he couldn’t understand.

“Hey! Are you okay?” Asher called out to her. “My name is Asher. I won’t hurt you. I’m here to help you.”

The girl spun around to face him. Her eyes black as tar, her skin white as a sheet. Her mouth opened wide, wider as sharp spikes for teeth appeared. He stepped back out of the clearing and the child took her seat again.

As she rocked, Asher cautiously stepped back into the circle. Something isn’t right about this place. It’s a nightmare from a horror movie. As he moved closer the child spun literally, her head turned 360 degrees as she got on all fours and climbed up the dead tree.

“Darkness comes to find you here,

Step in its path if you dare.

Cowar and cry for help won’t come.

You won’t be the lucky one.

Pyremius is here to take from you

Everything you thought you knew.”

As the girl finished she burst into flames, taking the tree limb with her. Asher stepped away from the fire as the remains landed in the middle of the circle. Looking around he noticed the triangles hanging from the trees, figures, and what looked like animals hanging from others. Sacrifices.

Something evil is at work here. Something that, if Asher is right, responsible for the darkness that swept over the world. Is this where it began? Or is this where it lives? Doesn’t matter, he isn’t going to let it stay.

“Is this it? You hide in the shadows and creep around spying on people! Face me like a man!” Calling out bravely into the shadows, Asher hoped he sounded braver than he felt.

“I’m not a man.” The darkness responded to him. “I’m not a shadow.”

Asher froze in his tracks. So there is something out there watching him. Looking around, deep into the shadows, he can just see the shadows shift, moving slowly circling him as a shark circles its target.

“What do you want?” He asks, not sure if he wants to know the answer.

“The destruction of all. I am Pyremius. I will destroy all you hold dear. I am your end and I am your beginning. Join my army and I will make you my knight. Join me and your friends can be my slaves.”

The trees trembled with the sound of the voice. It came from all around him and from inside his head. It was in the trees, on the wind, in his head and on his tongue. Asher didn’t know if he spoke the words or not.

“I’m not joining you! I’m not of the dark! I don’t believe in this shit!” Asher forced his bravado to the surface. Whether he believed or not wasn’t the point. He wasn’t going to be bullied. “You want a fight, get out here and show yourself! You want to hide like a coward then leave me alone!”

“I am not the coward. I am the darkness, I am your deepest fear, I am your worst nightmare. I will come for you and yours and destroy all the light stands for. The darkness will surround you, fill you, and devour your every speck of hope. You refuse me now, but you won’t survive without me.”

The cold air blew through him, chilling his bones and making his teeth chatter. The mist lifted from the ground but all remained silent. Placing his hand on the tree next to him, Asher felt for life in its trunk but all he found was death. Nothing lives there now. Nothing would live there again.

He moved through the forest, searching for the cabin where Cosmo and Lexi slept. Asher knew he couldn’t be that far away. He hadn’t walked that far, had he?

He hiked deeper into the trees until he felt life fill him again. He walked until he could hear water flowing and hurried through the bushes to find himself in another clearing. An eerie green mist lit the pond across from him. Lightning bugs flew in and out of the mist.

It felt safe. The light pulsed, strong and powerful here. Sitting down for a rest, Asher leaned back against a rock and watched the bugs' lights flicker in the mist. It calmed his pounding heart. Relaxed and calm again, Asher looked around the grotto. It was the only word he could think of to describe it.

“You’ve traveled far.” A sweet voice came from the water.

“I don’t know how far I’ve traveled. Who are you?” He sat up straight, his defenses back in place.

“I’m Solara Tempestwing. This is my home. You are Asher Fields. You come from the light. And you search for your spark.” She introduced herself as she sat hovering over the water.

Magicks live here.

“Solara, I’m a little lost. We’re staying at a cabin, me and my friends.”

“Yes, Cosmo, the panther and Lexi, the seer. They are safe. As are you, Frostwing. You have nothing to fear here.” She assured him but made no attempt to move from her spot over the water.

“What are you?” Asher scooted closer to the water’s edge to get a better look at how she was doing that.

“I’m a guide for you to find your spark. You won’t find it here.” She smiled when Asher started to look around the grotto. “This is a sanctuary for the light. A place to find peace. A place to meditate. It is not a hiding place.”

“Do you know there’s a clearing not far from here where the darkness waits? Pyremius, he said his name was.” Asher questioned the floating guide, not sure what to expect.

“I’m aware of this place. Nothing lives there. The Darkness has taken it. It slowly eats its way through the forest here. Killing and mutilating everything in its path.” The sadness in her voice gets Asher’s attention.

“Can it get here? Can it eat through the grotto?” The thought twists in his mind, in his stomach.

“It can if the two are not found and their sparks ignited.” He doesn’t understand that. What two, and what’s this spark she keeps talking about?

Determined to find out as much as he can, Asher keeps asking questions. “Who are the two?”

“The firebirds that are meant to ignite the darkness and fill the void with light.” That doesn’t really answer the question.

“Okay… how is a spark found?” Maybe he needs to start there.

“The spark is inside you. It’s been dormant since the beginning but when The Darkness came out of its shadows it has been waking each spark. To find your spark, you must look inside yourself. It’s there, deep, resting for its time to shine.” That still isn’t helping him understand any of this that has happened.

“I look inside. Okay, how? I’m new at this.” Asher hopes she has notes he can follow or step by step instructions like putting together a bed or something.

“Close your eyes, Frostwing. Relax your mind. Let your breath flow in and out. See your spark as a match in the dark. Draw your breath in deep, deeper. When you release light the match.”

He followed her instructions. Closing his eyes, relaxing his mind as best he could with all the questions rattling around in his head. And saw the dark, the single match stood cold, unlit waiting. Seeing it, watching it, he drew in his breath deep, deeper and when he blew out the breath he lit the match with a loud roar, a cold blue flame burst to life in him.

Sitting up in his bed, Asher looked around the dark room and saw ice on the windows, the crunch of ice on the blanket and the panic on his friend’s faces who are standing in the doorway.

“What the fuck was that?” Cosmo cursed, shivering from the cold. “You roared, like a lion roar kinda roar but louder bigger. We rushed in here and… you had blue flames coming out of your mouth! What are you?”