Chapter One

A huddled group of people was fawning over a small baby. “She is adorable! Grey eyes might not hold any power, but they sure are pretty!” A woman exclaimed. Her eyes were electric blue, and her hair was a solid black. 

“Her hair looks like yours, Natalie!” She said to the older woman next to her. 

“And she has Patrick’s smile,” Natalie responded. 

“She looks a lot like you Nora. Minus the eyes.” 

The child’s small hands grabbing at the air in front of her. Unbeknownst to the people in the room, there were in fact three spirits floating in front of the child.

“Are you sure she’s the one?” It asked. 

“Yes, I am sure. She is very probable, and her eyes are silver. That means she holds the potential of the ancients. She is definitely the one Adrielle.” A different one retorted. 

“Are you sure her eyes aren’t grey? They look very similar and there hasn’t been a child born with silver eyes in years, Nova.” The third spirit pointed out. 

Nova responded, “She definitely has silver eyes. Plus, they weren’t ever supposed to die out remember? There is no way they just upped and disappeared like that permanently.” 

“I guess we just have to wait and see, now won’t we?

The child was soon after named Ember, after one of the many great warriors that fought in the great wars. For the first few years, trouble was beside them. Life was simple and easy, but we all know that it was never made to be that way. 

“MOM!!!!!” Ember screamed for her mother, her last hope, but that hope, like her mother, was dying fast, painfully slipping out of the young one’s hands. A fire was raging around her small body, the buildings and churches blazing. Her feet were bare, and the ground was burning hot, but she didn’t care.“MOM!!! You can’t leave me!!!” She wept. Tears running down her face in an endless stream of sorrow. She kneeled next to the motionless body of her mother. “You can’t…….” She whispered. “You just can’t….” she said in between raspy cries. 

Suddenly she realized she wasn’t alone. “Come out, child. We won’t hurt you, We promise.”A disgusting creature appeared out of the blurry smoke, then more and more surrounded her. Her eyes bulged in fear, and she began to run. She ran as fast and as far as her short legs would take her, but the beasts still lingered behind her, each with six brutally long legs, and revolting wings arching from their backs. “HAHAHA!!! You think you can run from us?!” 

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After running for a few minutes, she began to get tired, but thankfully a huge wall got into view. Two soldiers were stationed on top of the wall. They both saw the silhouette of her tiny figure running, and the many beasts behind her. Shouting ran through the darkness, accompanied by lights. Arrows whistled through the air behind her, screeches of pain followed close behind. 

Ember’s body was pressed against the tall wall, heart racing. A door next to her opened, revealing a woman that grabbed her and pulled her inside. Soon after, there was only silence. Ember let out a breath she had been holding, and slid down to the ground and let the death of both her parents sink in. A tear fell down her cheek, followed by buckets more. 

In the middle, The woman that pulled her in picked the small girl up into her arms, and carried her into a bedroom and laid her down on the bed, running her fingers through her hair. In a few minutes, Ember was asleep, and the woman was gone.

“How is she doing?” The woman asked while pacing in front of a dark wooden door. 

The man answered, “stop asking Nimue. I have already told you she isn’t saying anything. You can go talk to her, but I doubt you’ll get much more than we did, but she is still quite young, maybe four, or five, so be wary of your words. ” 

Nimue closed her eyes and slid open the door while opening them again to see Ember sitting on a chair, curled up and rocking herself, her face wet from tears. Her eyes were filled with pain no person, let alone a child should have in their eyes. Her eyes were red with tears and her dress was damp as well. Nimue sat down in front of this sorrowful girl. 

“What is your name?” She asked tenderly. A few moments passed in silence.

 “Ember,” She whispered. 

“Ember’s a pretty name. How about you tell me what village you come from.” Nimue said, a bit more confident. 

“The one that doesn’t…. Doesn’t exist anymore.” A tear fell from the poor girl's eyes. 

Nimue went to the door and whispered, “Check the surrounding villages. The one that is destroyed will be the one she comes from.”

 “Can I have some water” Ember’s voice chirped from behind her. Nimue nodded to the man. He walked away. She went back to her chair. 

“Your parents,” she scrambled for words,” or, um…?” Ember looked up for a moment, then looked away again, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Nimue understood. 

“Sorry, I’m a bit blunt. How old are you? We may be able to enrol you in our school.” Her eyes went up. Shock and happiness dancing through her eyes. Though she felt no excitement, the need to be solitary overthrew her. She wanted to distract herself from the aching in her heart. “C-c-ca-can I?” She gasped. The excitement was dancing through her. “I am four years old, five in October.” 

“You just need to promise you will work as hard as you can. Then you can come with me to see the school” Nimue said. A smile was gathering on her face due to the succession of distraction from the girl’s sadness. The girl may even be a good new addition to the school. Her optimism would definitely pay for her lack of potential that her grey eyes showed. A smile was gathering on her face too. She guessed it was infectious.