Ricobabie -> RE: Journey of the Frozen Phoenix (6/25/2008 14:22:33)
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Chapter 2 The sky dimmed as the night approached, the wind picked up speed as the clouds rolled in. Soon the moon was covered; only little streams of the light seeped through. The many trees of the forest rustled softly as the wind swept past them, dust rolled along the solemn ground, along with the dead leaves. The hoot of the howl echoed throughout the night as the bats flew above hunting for pray. Every so often, the faint breaths of a teenage girl resonated throughout the forest in a rhythmic tone. Suddenly it stopped. Mellow sounds of dried leaves and dirt reverberated as she began to move. A little groan came out then a yawn. The blue shappire eyes finally opened to the night. As I opened my eyes, I was in shock. I sat up and frantically looked around turning to each and every direction. I yelled out loud, “Mom! Are you there?” I started to panic and my breathing became heavy. With my five senses at the max level, I stared into the dark forest before me. My heart started to beat faster and faster as if it would jump out; sweat dripped on my back and my hands turned cold. Still trembling, I got up slowly and took a couple steps forward, continuing to look around. As my gaze began to shift back to the left, I suddenly saw a speck of light at the corner of my eye. I stopped abruptly and turned to the direction of the light. The light looked ever so warming, hopeful, and happy. As I continued to stare at the light, I didn’t realize the landscape around me began to change. The trees became wonky, the clouds in the sky twisted, the leaves on the ground flew in the air forming a funnel. The speck of light wasn’t just a speck anymore, it was a burst. The light exploded, getting closer and closer until I was engulfed by it. I covered my face with my arms hoping they would protect me. In a flash, I was in a completely differently place. A completely empty, dark place. It was so dark I couldn’t even see my hands if I held them in front of me. There was nothing there; blankness. Just plain old darkness. I shouted, “Hello? Is anybody there?” The only response was the faint echoing voice of what I just shouted. Unexpectedly, a lit staircase appeared right in front of me, little by little each step emerged and ascended upwards. The staircase was long, reaching up into god knows where. I didn’t know what to do. Should I go ahead? Or should I not? What happens if I don’t? I debated with myself continuously. Then the final decision. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, I lifted my right foot and slowly took a step forward up the stairs. I opened my eyes and noticed nothing happened. The stairs didn’t collapse, and I was still in one piece. Continuing up the stairway, I noted the strange images flashing on both sides. The images were shuffling quickly, flashing about as new ones appeared every so often. I watched each and every one of them as I made my way to the top. As I approached the top, a light, blue door loomed in from the bottom of the last step. I was afraid to open it. What happens if this door didn’t lead me home? What will I do then?, the thoughts kept bombarding me and worries began to arise. Once more, my heart pounded and my hands went cold. Gathering all the courage I had, I held tight onto the knob and pulled it down. The door bursted open emitting an intense amount of light. I walked in, as the light continued to blind my eyes. Thump. I turned around and looked back. The door slammed shut. Out of nowhere, another burst of light materialized and this time, it didn’t expand. Instead it stayed as a ball. Soon the wavering ball of light halted, and a clear, shiny layer formed. I didn’t dare to move closer, instead I squinted my eyes and looked at it carefully. “It’s glass,” I murmured. The glass ball floated in mid air, letting out numerous beams of light. Then, something inside it seemed to move. Something dark swooshed around the edges then back, all around. I gulped, carefully, walking closer and closer. Nervously stretching out my right arm, I reached for the glass ball as my hand shook from fear. Before I touched the ball, a voice sounded from nowhere. “Welcome Lucia.” I gasped, quickly withdrew and panted deeply. My heart was once accelerating again, I became even colder this time. I was in complete fear. Soon the glass ball liquefied, elongated, stretched, twisted, expanded, then finally took the form of a woman. My eyes widened as I saw the figure. “You’re.... You’re...the....woman...on the...cliff--” I stammered. Tentatively she spoke, “You need to find Cerbero.” I raised an eyebrow and wondered what she was talking about. Before I could ask, she vanished in thin air. The room began to shake, the walls shattered, and everything began to be sucked into the ground below my feet. As the wall smashed into pieces, I grabbed onto one of the pieces, I looked down at what it used to be. “That’s no good,” I mumbled. The ground began to rotate in circles, as a dark vortex formed below. Everything was moving much faster now and dropped in to the bottom as things approached. It sucked everything in, the wall, light, and me. Suddenly a huge piece of the wall plunged into the vortex, creating a thundering sound, then emitting a burst of light. I had to get myself out of there before I would get drawn into the vortex. I breathed even harder, my heart hammered even more, my hands sweat vigorously. I closed my eyes tightly and prepared to be killed. Silence. I fought my way back into wakefulness and the silence of the dark room resurfaced. I paused for a moment before I opened my eyes. I’m on the bed right? I asked myself, as I felt the bed cloth under me and the cozy blanket on top of me. Gradually I opened my eyes, I was staring directly into the ceiling. I sat up, looked at the room around me and whispered, “Ok, it was just a dream.” Chapter 3 Soon the sun rose from the horizon sending beams of sunlight across the earth. The sky turned from black velvet to pure orange. The silhouettes of the long, slender pines blurred and shortened as the light shifted. A light morning breeze swept across the city, picking up dust and dirt on its travel. The morning dew on the tree branches dripped and trickled down onto the ground as the force of gravity pulled. Splash. Hitting the ground, the water landed gracefully. What was that all about last night? I pondered, as I got up from the bed. Who was that woman? Was that even real? I argued with myself. Sighing one last time, I strode out of the room and into the bathroom. Grabbing my toothbrush with my right hand, I slowly held it steady as I squished the green, minty toothpaste out of the plastic tube. Shoving the toothbrush into my mouth impatiently, I stared at the mirror before me. I thought, It was too real to be a dream, but if it wasn’t a dream then I wouldn’t be here. I shook my head, emptying all the thoughts and blinked tightly. As I opened my eyes again, I felt a cool breeze running across my back, then it came closer, down my spine. I shivered, looked up at the mirror. Staring back at me emotionlessly was the same woman in my visions. She didn’t move, she didn’t say a word, she just stood there, staring. I didn’t dare to turn around but remained still, gazed at her through the reflection. She then mouthed something which took me a lot of concentration to understand. I squinted my eyes hopefully to see her more clearly in the mirror. As soon as she finished, she vanished again, leaving a several snow particles behind, floating in the air. I spit out the toothpaste, gurgled some water, and dashed off into my room. Hurriedly, I grabbed a pen and wrote out the message onto a crumbled piece of paper. It read: You must find Cerbero. When the moon is at its highest in the sky, meet me at the Forgotten Forest in front of the lake. Do not be late. I read the message over and over, raised an eyebrow. This is really strange. Am I dreaming or is this real? What is going on? Maybe I’m seeing things, I wondered, as I continued staring blankly at the paper. I debated with myself again, uncertain and confused. Should I go? Or should I not? If I don’t’ go, will something bad happen to me? If I go will she kill me? “Lucia, it’s breakfast,” my mother noted. I snapped out of my thoughts and back into reality, as the clanging of the dishes and forks continued. I could hear her walking around, setting up the table. Then she yelled once more before she placed the plates on the table, “Lucia, your breakfast is getting cold you know?” “I’m coming,” I answered. I changed into my normal day clothes, throwing my pajamas onto my bed. They dangled freely on the edge as I left my room, not caring to place them back. Throughout the day, I debated with myself on the whole situation; sitting on the couch, looking out the window as I pondered . Wondered if I should tell Mom, wondered if I’m sane. I honestly had no idea what to do, my indecisive nature always seemed to get me when these kind of issues took place. I had to make a decision soon, it was either all or nothing. I sighed out loud, and Mom looked at me. “Something the matter?” she asked worriedly, walking over as she rubbed her hands on her apron. “Nah, nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I responded. She turned around and walked back to the counter of the kitchen. “Well I hope so....” Once again for the last time, I thought to myself and set a final decision. Alright I’m going, then not noticing, I nodded. The night soon came, the sky darkened. The sun slept soundly under the horizon, the moon rose and enjoyed himself, shining away. The air was still tonight and no clouds appear either, noting the environment as I looked out the window. I planned to leave the house when Mom was deep asleep, hopefully she won’t wake up in the middle of the night. Shortly I heard soft sounds of breathing and little snores, I knew then it was my cue to leave the house. I slowly walked out of my room, quietly shutting the door behind me, peered into Mom’s room, shut her door. Then headed out the main door. Trying my best not to make a noise, I gradually turned the key, locked the door and dashed out of the apartment building. The streets were even more quiet than in the day time. There were exactly no people, no light, no sounds at all. You can probably hear a pin drop at this time. Walking forward in the empty streets for about ten minutes, I took a right turn into a narrow thin alley which was damped with shallow water puddles. The alley had a peculiar smell to it, accompanied by dripping water from the roof. Opened garbage cans and closed ones stood quietly in their place, as I moved through the alley, making splashing sounds while stepping on the puddles. Near the end of the ally, I took another sharp turn to the left, entering into another main street. The only light of the night was the moon which lit up the upcoming destination, the Forgotten Forest. Making my way down the road I paced myself. As I approached the end of the road, trees appeared larger and came closer. I was getting to the forest fast. Soon another smaller path intersected the city road and led straight into the forest. The path was more like a dirt path rather than one made with concrete. Coming up to the dirt path, I started to run instead of walk since it was soon to be midnight. I didn’t look around this time, instead I focused at the path in front of me and just ran. Taking a right turn, I could see the lake flash by me behind the trees. Getting closer and closer the lake emerged and the whole thing appeared. Slowing down, I stopped. Started panting, and bent down, placed my hands on my knees, staring into the ground. A sudden cool breeze swept behind me. My eyes widened as I gasped, and immediately stood up straight. The cool breeze whooshed beside me, then in front of me, then as it passed over the lake, it crystallized it into tiny ice particles. Materialized. Aggregated at one place, the woman appeared, floating above the water. Before I could start speaking, the woman began her talk. “Welcome Lucia, to the Forgotten Forest. This is a place where many secrets lie, a place that no one ever had the heart to look for.” “What do you mean?” I asked curiously, as I carefully walked closer. “You’re a very special person Lucia,” she continued, “You have a special bond with a Cerberian, a bond that was formed long, long ago, a bond that was hidden forever.” “Who are you and how do you know these things?” I questioned once more. I stopped walking and stood quietly as I waited for an answer. “Sit down and I’ll tell you the story,” she stated. I sat down on the ground, crossing my legs and placed my hands on my lap and listened. She began, “About three centuries ago when the two clans were still at peace, something unexpected happened, something so shocking it was hid away forever. There was a cross between the two bloodlines, the Flaming Cerberus clan and the Frozen Phoenix clan. The cross happened between a gentleman named Pyrrhus and a woman named Chrystal. They had two children who were both hybrids. One took in the Cerberian form, the other, took in the Phoenixian form. The high councils of both clans were afraid to have this news break out.... So they hid their bloodline from the rest of the word for centuries by the help of a secret association called Culte profond. Their job was to keep the hybrid bloodlines underground but yet to preserve the bloodline. They were not to be harmed but monitored forever, even the future generations.” She paused and looked at for about ten seconds. I looked down, then at my hands and finally back at her. “So I have something to do with this?” She nodded and smiled. “I’m the Gardien de glace, the one who watches over our clan for eternity. I predict there would be something coming so I came to you, hopefully you will help. You, Lucia, are one of the descendents of the hybrid family. You have a job to do...you need to find your distance brother, Cerbero in the Flaming Cerberus clan and unite the two clans to face the upcoming threat.” Once I heard the news, I was in shocked, unbelieved, scared and mostly confused. I stared out into the lake for the next few minutes, not saying a word, but trying to absorb all this. The woman in turn, looked at me waiting for an answer. Looking up at her I finally spoke, “So all this time, my mother, and my ancestors were in this bloodline?” I was still in disbelief. She nodded. I inquired again, “And nobody knows about this except for you?” She nodded once more. I looked down and place my hand on my head, took a deep breath, sighed again. Once more I didn’t say a word for the next couple of minutes. Quiet. “So what do I exactly have to do? And can Mom know about this?” I asked softly. “Your mother can know about this, since she is also part of this bloodline. But no one else can. With my guidance, you need to cross the Frontière stérile, cross the land of the Flaming Cerberus clan and find Cerbero. It’s not going to be an easy task, but with my training you’ll be ready.” With that being said, she disappeared yet again into the night and I was alone. Alone in the Forgotten Forest, debating with myself one last time.
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