"Grrr." Alexo growled.
"I'm a monster and I'm gonna chase you!"
I screamed and ran, tears falling down my cheeks.
"Alexo!" A harsh motherly voice yelled.
A older woman of forty or so rushes down the stairs and tried to cradle me in her arms.
"NOOOOO!!!" I screamed, pushing away still crying.
"Go to your room Alexo," she said.
"What is wrong Kara?" She asked gently.
Tears pooling in my collarbone, I gasped.
"I-it's my birthday. Mama-Mama PROMISED me that I’d have a big 7th birthday. I don’t want that now. All I want is to see my mama.”
With that I gave a little screech
The next morning I woke up in my neighbor's house was told my parents were gone and lived there for nearly a year.
I later learned three things: my mother was dead, I had a little sister, and my father had remarried.
My new mother was a woman named Caya. Caya Ciionoima. She had two daughters from a previous marriage, each older than me; the youngest, Benalina, by two years and the oldest, Analaya by four.
I can still hear Caya's sickly sweet voice as she told me a new nightmare my life was taking.
"Dear- um, what is your name girl?" Caya asked me.
"K-kara." I replied looking at the ground.
"I expect you were treated well at our neighbor's house? You even had a playmate, I recall. Alex."
I shuddered involuntarily.
"I was always hungry." I had replied.
A cruel smile gleamed on her face.
She lowers the basket.
"Well then, Cerda, here is your little sister. Her name is Poppy. But let's call her Cerdita because, you know she's a smaller version of you."
I swallowed.
"Yes, Stepmother."
That was when my new life truly began.
Of course, as all stories go, that wasn't the last bit of sadness the Zzynj house faced.
Two years after My Stepmother, Stepsisters and Poppy arrived, my father died. After that, two-year-old Poppy and I became the Stepmonster's servants. We waited on them hand and foot and while their clothes grew finer, Poppy and mine grew more frayed with each day. I found myself wishing for my life before, but with Poppy.
Would my life ever get better?
It didn’t.
Six years later Caya sent me on a assignment.
“It won’t take long,” She cajoled me. “Just go.”
Muttering silent curses I walked outside. It was cold.
COLD!!!! I though. It was never cold on Araen. The sudden cold could only mean one thing.
“FIRE-STORM!!!!!” I shouted, rushing back to the door.
I tried the handle. Locked.
Caya’s work. I thought.
I used my Majik to check all the doors and windows in the house. They were all locked.
“Oh, what a horrible Stepmother,” I muttered.
The best place to be during a Firestorm is out in the open, covering as much of you as possible, stated my old textbook on Araen.
I ran to the field surrounding the Zzynj mansion. The burning rain fell as I lay down, curled in a tiny ball. Surprisingly it didn’t hurt at all.
I slowly stood up, finding I was somewhat immune to the burning Fire-Rain. I closed my eyes, letting the warm, soft rain fall on me like a heavy wool blanket in the winter.
A bright light appeared in front of me and I shielded my eyes from the glowing, orange and red light. The rain and the field disappeared and I found myself in a orange and red room that seemed like it was glowing. With Fire.
“Hello there Miss. Majikian-Zzynj.” A harsh, male voice says, his words pulsing with power.
I whirl around. A man stands there, his black hair flowing, long. His shirt pulses a red-orange. His long pants also are the same color. His gray eyes twinkled. They looked just like mine! Only my family had gray eyes. SOOOO.
“Araen?” I asked.
He smiled.
“My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter.” Araen replied, laughing.
Let me tell you a bit the four worlds. I’m guessing, if you’ve read Emily’s, Allie’s or Kalia’s stories you already know this. Each of the four worlds have a patron god or goddess. The male Gods of the worlds were lazy and named the worlds after themselves. The Goddesses were creative and slightly changed their names so they were new and fit to name a world.
“Kara, listen to me.” Araen’s words snapped me out of my fantasy.
I turned to him, ready for anything.
“You have the power of Fire.” He said.
I squinted at him.
“Okay?” I asked.
He leaned toward me.
“Now. This is because I have chosen you to succeed me. The Fiv-excuse me-Four of us have decided that after 15 greats, we will each choose a successor. A Divine. I have chosen you. Do not fail me.”
I took a step back.
“What will I have to do?” I asked, curious.
"Be ready. In less than a years time your luck will change. A month after that you will be summoned." He answered mysteriously.
"How will I know?" I asked.
"Two girls will come to your doorstep. They are called Emily and Allienor. Otherwise known as the Water and Earth Divine."
I frowned.
"But how can a Water survive on Araen?" I asked.
It was common knowledge that opposites did not attract and could not venture on to the opposite world. I had always wished that wasn't true. I'd always wanted to see Threa, the water world and meet some Zzya.
"My siblings and I thought of that and lowered the ban."
"Sweet!" I said, overjoyed.
"Kara, it is time for you to go back to your home. Go into the first door you see and somethings you wish to know shall be revealed." He said and with a flash of bright light I stood in the field, the hot rain falling down on me.
I saw a door, I had not seen for a long time. It was the secret door to my family's old living courters seven years ago.
I pulled the key from around my neck and pushed the door open.
The stairs looked exactly the same, save a few stray cobwebs that I quickly cleaned off.
Setting foot in that hallway was like stepping back in time. I clearly remembered all the fun times in this hall, playing hide-and-seak with Daddy, playing Majik with Mama.
Tears coming to my eyes, I pushed the memories away.
The first door that had been my playroom looked a bit different. I slid the door open.
It was a nursery. Supposably for Poppy. Sad she never got to use it.
I creaked the next door open. My room, as small as it ever was. Probably smaller now that I'm thirteen and not six.
The next room was across the hall.
My parents old room. When Caya moved in, Father closed off this area of the house. In fact, I have not seen this part of the house since before Mama died.
I push open the door and it squeaks a bit.
The room was so dim I opened the dusty, red curtains.
It looked exactly the same; same bed, same windows, same everything.
Except… The dust. The dust that covered every inch of the large bedchamber.
I closed my eyes and spun in a slow circle. Soon everything sparkled.
I sat down on the bed, slightly enervated. Then I noticed the carpet.
It was bunched up by the wall.
“That’s odd,” I thought, curious.
I bent down. I slowly pulled the carpet away.
A trapdoor. Just like the ones in books and movies. Wooden door. Iron hinges. The only thing different was it was slightly ajar.
I pulled on the handle and with a creak it popped open. A large wooden box lay under the door.
I closed my eyes and used my Majik to lift the heavy wooden box out of the hole.
As it lay on the soft red carpet I thought back to what Araen had said.<
br />
“”Go into the first door you see and somethings you wish to know shall be reveled.””
I had already found what would have been Poppy’s room; what else did I wish to know?
My heart stopped.
Why had my mother left me? Why had she not told me about Poppy? Why did she never come back?
My heart started again.
Answers. I thought. That’s what I want.
I pulled open the wooden box. A sheet of pure white linen covered what ever was in the box.
I leaned closer. Majik was keeping what was ever in this box safe from dust and decay. I swept away the linen and found myself face to face with my mother.
Her eyes were closed, their lids hiding the pure silver eyes that lay beneath them. Her long dark black hair was swept over one shoulder and her arms lay on her chest. My mother was dressed in a orange and red dress that I remembered from so long ago. The party.
Memories swooped over me as I remembered those rude men and the Majik and the loneliness. The secrets.
I looked past my mother and saw three folded pieces of paper.