World In Flames (The Lehezan Chronicles Book 1) Page 2

  “That’s what Project Rose is for.”

  “You know about the prophecy, Lucillia,” Selik glanced at the brunette, “or else you wouldn’t be so willing to make the deal with Neven and Miranda. How did you find out about the prophecy?”

  “Esme told me when she blessed her. How did you know?” She asked, perking a brow.

  “Come on, I’m on the highchair of the Faywyvern Society. I know many things.”

  “Right,” Lucillia grumbled. “She’ll be less of a threat on Earth with Miranda. Not influenced by the magics right off the bat. When she is old enough, Esme will bring her back for proper training at the age where she will understand the risks and the threats she faces. Learning the magics at a young age only increases the potential darkness that could grow on her. We knew the prophecy and prepared for up rise from the people who had the power to know, hence Project Rose.”

  Selik nodded, following along with the plan. They rode for countless miles in silence, even as the sun started to reach over the horizon. The wagon halted at the front of the large, modern building, with trees towering all around it. After informing Selik that she would be a moment, she hopped off the wagon and entered the vacant building.

  Chills floated down her spine as the frigid, empty air lingered against her skin. The shadows seemed to twist around her, so she sped up her pace. Torches with no fire at their tips lined the walls, but the skylight above the halls allowed small slivers of light to guide her way. A grin spread across her face when a sign above a pathway read ‘Earth’, and she scurried over. After powering up the station, she stared at the glowing blue portal in front of her for what seemed like hours.

  She exhaled the breath she held and stepped into the doorway.

  Someone Else

  Earth

  A prologue part two

  T he clouds above hesitantly shifted from blood orange to ash grey, mixing in with the black sky. The wind picked up, catching fallen leaves and loose dirt, which soared carelessly with it. Aside from the whistling wind, the resonating sound of chirping insects filled the air the darker the sky faded to.

  Queen Lucillia Carnwell halted when she reached her destination: the middle of the graveyard. Her brown hair covered her face, but the crown on her head kept the strands from flying in all directions. Yet, some stuck to the tears that stained her cheeks. Her fingers tangled in the curls if she attempted to swipe them away. With hate encasing her dark eyes, she held back the screams of agony and inhaled slowly, trying her best to calm herself down.

  A second woman stepped out of the shadows and froze beside a gravestone- a large, thick stone with the name Kyrazin edged into it, where Lucillia stood by. Smaller stone heads surrounded them. Tall, unwarped mountains lined the horizon. One car occupied the parking lot across the graveyard. It belonged to the second woman, Miranda.

  Shadows fell over the two as the sun sunk behind the mountains, hiding most of their appearances. Miranda’s black hair blended in with the shadows around them. Freckles splattered across her youthful, long face, and bags underlined her eyes. A navy baseball cap sat atop her head. It matched her jeans and black long sleeve shirt that had a symbol of an atom on the right side of her chest.

  She donned a jacket over her shirt where the symbol displayed on the back: two stars intertwined together. The Founder’s Star. The emblem of the Lehezan. A sword to the left swayed with every movement, and on her right hip sat an empty gun holster. In the middle of her other job, she received the distress call from her queen. She came as quickly as she could, and sure enough that put some anger in the eyes of her employer and some setbacks there.

  “I never thought this day would come. I- I never thought we’d have to do it,” Lucillia fretted with a shake of her head.

  Miranda’s eyes frantically switched between Lucillia and the twins, pondering what her queen cried about. Only one guess crossed her mind, but she could not help but ask anyway. “What are you talking about? What happened?” She asked, a concerned look spreading across her face.

  “Project Rose,” was all Lucillia replied with, eyes fixated on Miranda.

  Darkness altered Miranda’s expression at the words, and she swiftly moved back one step with a hand in front of her, shaking her head in refusal.

  “Madam Carnwell, you cannot expect me to stay here! To stay away from Theania and Kyrazin! My duty is to protect you and the king,” she panicked.

  Her hand rested on her stomach as it churned with uneasiness and anxiety. The thought of Lushine shutting down, and her not being able to visit the planet she considered home did not settle well with her.

  “Now, your first duty is not to protect me and the crown, nor is it to work with the Lehezan. As the Representative of Earth, you must protect Earth, but you made a deal with me and Representative of Liurus about the protection of the twins. Did you not?” Lucillia hissed, barely audible for anyone but the two women. She added, “Finnik is dead, and they could be next if you do not follow the protocol.”

  “I,” Miranda hesitated, looking down at the children with a gulp, “I’m so sorry, Lucillia. I should have been there. I-”

  “Please, just take them. If there is anything you can do now, it is to protect them. Their lives depend on it. Kyrazin depends on it,” Lucillia implied. “Karlile might kill me, but at least I know my children will be safe with you.”

  “Karlile? As in Pomeroy?”

  Miranda’s face paled when Lucillia nodded.

  “That son of a bitch. I am going to kill him the next time I see him.”

  “Miranda, you won’t be seeing him anytime soon. The Lushine will be closed, and he doesn’t know anyone with enough magic to jump worlds yet.”

  “What about Lusio?” Miranda questioned.

  “He’s old enough that he can train and grasp his water ability better. If he comes here, he will not be able to use his water, and knowing the kid, he will throw a fit or reveal such power to someone, like the Lehezan.”

  Miranda wanted to deny taking responsibility over the children. It meant lying to them their whole lives. It meant risking the Lehezan finding out about the alliance, the magic, the relics, and the guardians. It meant putting them both in danger. In her line of work, she never knew if she would come home alive at night. Despite what she thought, she had to respect the queens demands, and the agreement, and take the children.

  “Okay,” she caved in and promptly took the children from Lucillia.

  She spotted the branding of a rose on Lucillia’s bare wrist. She knew what it was. The same one branded her own wrist, but she knew it was only a target after that night. She needed to plan on covering it up somehow.

  “You’ll need to change their identity. They are no longer Estienne and Everly Carnwell, so they will need a new name to go by. The Representative of Liurus will find you and go from there in Estienne’s sake. When the time is right, Esme will take Everly back to Kyrazin to learn the ways of the neutral magic in hopes to save Kyrazin from such darkness,” Lucillia explained and closed her eyes. “By then, I’m not sure if I’ll be around as I have some things I need to do. Please, make sure they are happy,” she pleaded with one last look at her children. “Miranda, they cannot know who they really are and where they come from, whatever you do, or else it’s all over for everyone.”

  Miranda watched Lucillia back away into the white portal disguised as a gravestone,[1][2][3][4] leaving her speechless. Her hands shook, her lip trembled, and her heart fell to her stomach. She did not know what would happen to her queen once the last portal closed, and she certainly did not know what would happen with herself. She did not know how to take care of children! She spent her life fighting and protecting.

  The memories of the last few weeks flooded back to her mind. She spent a lot of her time on Earth, working hand in hand with the Lehezan, that she forgot her actual job, and then in her absence, things unraveled, and she lost everything.

  Everything but two sleeping children, in which she possessed no idea what to
do with them.

  The light from the portal vanished in moments, leaving Miranda and the twins standing alone in the darkness of the evening.

  Until someone behind her spoke.

  “What the fuck was that?”

  >>>
  L ucillia scanned her hand on the pad beside the doorway, and when it asked for a passcode, she punched it in. The machine requested a few other procedures for authentication in order to proceed with the shutdown. When she succeeded, and the systems began their shut down, the Queen fell to her knees. The blue frame of the portal flickered behind her until the light disintegrated and ashes fell to the ground. The doorway to the other world closed. Her crown slipped off her head as she cried in her hands.

  She quieted down when the soft crunching of stone resonated by her side.

  “Madam Carnwell, it is time,” a deep, gentle voice said, speaking with an accent of some kind.

  The madam raised her head. Black eyeliner found its way down her cheeks, swirling in with the foundation she wore. Her blue eyes sparkled as tears flooded them.

  Selik stared down at her before kneeling and holding out a hand, offering to help her up.

  “The last gateway is closed. There is no way he can get to them, correct?” She choked out in only a whisper.

  “Fate falls hard on us all, and those twins are getting the majority of the storm, but they will be safe for years to come,” Selik spoke with a crack in his voice. His chest ached as well, but he knew he had to stay strong for the sake of his queen. “Besides,” he added, “legends never die, and they were born to be nothing but.”

  “Thank you, Selik,” she muttered with a soft smile, “Faywyvern is lucky to have you on their council.”

  She stood, snatching her crown from the dirt, and walked towards the man.

  She made up her mind that she would never surrender to Karlile Pomeroy, even if that meant being on the run for the rest of her life. If it promised the safety of her children. She had to keep her head up high and move forward, find new ways to take him down, and resolve the issue.

  Even if she failed, she knew her children would grow up to overcome his rule and take his place. At least she hoped they would. However, one thing kept nagging at her mind, something she feared within the whole story and the prophecy containing her children. According to Esme and Selik, her children were supposed to be legends. Heroes. Save the world somehow.

  However, the hero does not get the reward. The hero pays the price.

  PART ONE

  THE ARRIVAL

  III

  Seventeen Years Later in Morgan County, Utah, United States of America, Earth

  “ It was only on fire a little bit, plus you can still use it!” The Eighteen-year-old boy insisted beside me. His fingers tugged at his light blue and white Baja hoodie. He added in a grumble, “technically, it wasn’t even on fire.”

  I removed the hand from my face and turned towards him with a scoff, “of course, it wasn’t! You completely blew it up!”

  “Hey, it’s not my fault my lab partner passed out in the middle of the project when I wasn’t around to watch it and when I came back, it was on fire,” he retorted.

  “Yeah, but you don’t throw water on Sodium, Khalib,” I whispered.

  The dirty blond laughed with a shake of his head and only grinned in response, his almond tan skin wrinkling at the corner of his eyes. My eyes narrowed. If it were not for the High School’s principal standing on the other side of the desk, I would have slapped the kid upside the head for his idiotic actions. He peered at me with his hazel eyes glistening in the light. I knew those eyes were not all filled with fun and games. He only wanted to cheer me up.

  “I don’t care what you two kids were trying to do,” the principal growled lowly as he scribbled on a piece of paper to file the report, “but if you pull anything like that again, you will be suspended for the remaining month until fall break. Now, if we are at an understanding, you’re excused.”

  “Yes, sir,” the blond and I both hummed before standing and leaving his office.

  Once the door closed behind us, I gave him a friendly push and called him an idiot. “Who taught you to put water on Alkali Metals? You’re going to get yourself killed one of these days.”

  “I'm sorry, my mom is making her favorite carnitas huevos rancheros and tamales tonight. We know how that turned out last time, and I just wanted to get out of it,” he remarked, then grinned. “Actually, you know I’m not a chemistry geek like you. You know where my passions lay.” He held up his hands in surrender.

  It was not the first time our teachers sent us to the principal’s office, and it probably wouldn’t have been the last had things gone the way they should’ve, but they never do, do they? Things never go the way we plan them, because life is a bitch, and then we die.

  I thought the weather was supposed to be good the day of the funeral. All weather channels, and even my weather app revealed that the day would be beautiful, but I guess it meant a different type of beautiful. A darker type of beautiful. It was not my funeral, but a close friend who could not bear the weight of the world on his shoulders anymore. Heaven would be lucky to have him.

  Smiling small, I glanced up at Khalib Cummings - who stood half a foot taller than I - [5][6]then to the clock behind him. The bell rang moments before, and we were free to go home. There was no way in Hell I planned to go back to Chemistry, especially after that incident. Neither did Khalib. The last thing we needed was to be scolded by our professor again.

  Once we exited the school office, we ran into a female. She folded her arms over her maroon sweater and frowned. “Could you two cause any more trouble on a day like this? I am sure April would like you alive for,” she muttered with a pause, “tonight. She’ll really need your support.”

  Khalib rested a hand on the woman’s shoulder with a smirk as he whispered, “Oh dear Kimberlin, I know you don’t like me, but you won’t be able to get rid of me that easy. Don’t get your hopes up.”

  My nose scrunched up at the words with an exasperated sigh before smacking Khalib’s arm softly. Her brown eyes gazed from me to Khalib before she raised an eyebrow while fixing the black headband atop of her dark copper hair.

  “Hey, I’ll be there,” I assured with a trying smile.

  I had to. If anyone owed it to April to attend her boyfriend’s funeral, it was me. She blamed me and I blamed myself for what happened. He didn't text her that night. He texted me. Why? I was not sure, and I would never know.

  One other person he could have texted was my younger brother, Ryan. The two grew close and kept a tight bond with Gavin Walker. I had no clue what Ryan felt about the situation. He did not say a word ever since he found out his best friend passed. School days came and went, and he did not show up. He rarely left his room, and the one time I visited, papers scattered across the floor like he searched for something. Clothes littered the other spots, and dirty dishes sat in corners. I never saw a single piece of clothing on his floor before that day.

  Despite Ryan and his friends being two years younger than me, we all became friends. Perks of living in a small town, I guess.

  I turned to Khalib as I pulled my dark hair up into a ponytail. With a shake of his head and an eye roll, he slid past Kimberlin and walked faster. His fingers fixed the chain wrapped around his neck. The spearhead pendant that hung from the chain dangled, and I caught a glance of the ‘K’ engraved in the charm, and I knew exactly what it stood for: Khalib Cummings. As his name crossed my mind, I recalled how people in school bullied him due to the last name. The constant high-pitched voices as they spoke it, the cat calls, the faces, and jokes. I remembered it all too well.

  I pondered how people could be so inhumane in that manner.

  “His older brother wanted me to give you something,” Kimberlin informed, dragging me out of my thoughts.

  When Khalib paused to see Kimberlin digging through her backpack, he popped open the lid on his water bottle and drank it from the co
rner of his lips. She pulled out a folder.

  “In the letter he left, he mentioned giving you this music. He knew how much you loved it all, and he hoped someday you would understand, whatever that means, and make something out of it.”

  She handed it over to me gently, and my brown eyes stared intently at the folder. After opening the top flap, I picked up the first page titled The Stopwatch. When I realized my lips turned into a frown, I set the page down and closed it before slipping it into my bag.

  “When is your next open mic night, CJ? Maybe you can play it,” she suggested, making me turn my eyes to her.

  My answer was simple. “Tomorrow.”

  I avoided the thought of the open mic night where I performed with my guitar and songs. Sometimes, I dueted with Gavin. Either way, he always arrived and supported me with the group sitting behind him. His grin flashed through my mind as I pictured him sitting at the table closest to the small stage. He, Kimberlin, April, Khalib, and Ryan always showed up to the performances. They constantly asked when the next one occurred so they could meet me there. However, I did not think I would be attending my next one.

  Wanting to change the subject, I leaned in closer to her and spoke softly, “I’m assuming you know what happened in Chemistry? With Khalib blowing up our workstation?”

  “Oh, yeah. The whole school knows you went dark and he blew it all up. Some are saying you did it yourself,” she replied with a snicker. “What was it about this time? Typical dark figure?”

  I tapped my chin as I compared my recent vision to my past ones. I saw things other people could not, for example, the most common was a dark figure or place, and then rarely a glimpse of the future or past. Going dark never meant anything good for me or anyone around me. At times, people almost died from me losing my control. Psychotic, yes, but the doctors confirmed it to be nothing to worry about. ‘Childhood trauma’, they diagnosed. I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling the imprint of the symbol,[7] at the thought.