The Fire Trilogy

It is dark. Dark and cold. The shadow envelops you like a snake, cocooning you in an inescapable, living prison. It squeezes the air from your lungs, cust off your voice, and darkens your vision until you could see no more.

“My lady,” says a voice from the shadows. It is male, deep and dark like a tyrant king. In front, the darkness seems to turn towards it, listening thoughtfully. “My pack has returned. They were defeated, but-“ 

A hand appears out of nowhere and slapps the man round the face. Suddenly, the shadows implode into a swirling tornado, bathing the room in light. The source of the voice is now apparent. A man, his skin like an American Indian, is kneeling on the coat of a black panther. He wears an odd combination of bloodstained chainmail, a red t-shirt, a leather harness and dark red chinos. Strapped to his belt is a broadsword, about two feet long. The same designs that were on the knife are on the blade. He dares not look up towards the spinning vortex, but instead stares at the feline fur he rested on. 

A slender woman, tall and elegant, strides out of the maelstrom, coalescing from the shadows. Her skin is of mahogany and her hair the shade of darkness. Fastened by a silver belt is a black dress, wrapping around her body like air. But the most surprising, and the most fascinating, thing about her is that her eyes are the colour of night. She lifts the man’s chin.

“You report failure, brother?”

 

“Kenna! Kenna! Wake up!”

My eyes fluttered open. A glowing flower that Ivy held in a tunnel, about 2 metres tall and wide, illuminated us. Calder was carrying me in his arms. 

“Thank god you’re OK. We were really worried for a bit,” Kyle had brought along his metal arms, and was clearing debris off the floor to make a path for my brother and I. Every time we reached the end of the tunnel, Owen would push forward with his hands and the wall would part in front of us. It all looked strange in the green glow of the plant, like a murky dream.

“What- what happened?” I asked, starting to regain control of my body.

“We don’t know,” commented Owen, thrusting the tunnel wall aside. “After the battle, you suddenly collapsed onto the floor. We tried to wake you up, but you wouldn’t move. Eventually we just decided to get going before more monsters arrived. Did anything happen while you were out?”

I thought about my dream. That woman had come from shadows to talk to the red man, whom I realized was the leader of that pack of bloodhounds.

“No. I just remember seeing Ivy stab the bloodhound and then waking up back here. Where are we going exactly?”

Ivy piped up. “Haven Island. It’s a safe place for people like us to train and live, without being attacked by monsters all the time.”

“How many of us are there?” asked Calder. 

“About 50.”

By now I could fully stand up and walk. It was quite cold in the tunnel, and I casually summoned a fire to warm myself up. Owen, Kyle and Ivy gasped. 

“Fire!” They screamed in unison. Owen lost concentration halfway through excavating the tunnel and the roof started to crack. Quickly, he pushed his hands together like he was squashing clay and the fissures in the roof sealed up. He let out a sigh of relief.

“Did you just summon fire?” Kyle asked, amazed. The other two wore the same expression. 

“Uh, yeah,” I replied, unsure. “But I thought that was normal for you, elemental powers and things like that.”

“Not fire! Fire’s the rarest one you can get! They come every 100 years or something! Wow!” Kyle was getting giddy now, exited that I was something special. “Friends with fire… And I found him too!”

“Kenna,” Ivy told me. “Fire elementrists are really rare. And powerful. It’s a good thing we found you, because they could easily find you first. Imagine what would happen if they did?”

“Hold on,” said Calder. “Who’s ‘they’?” 

“I’m not telling you here. Not now, in the dark. Shadows can listen.”

 

We broke through to the surface. Before us was a rocky beach, laden with stones of all sizes. The shore wasn’t far ahead and I could hear the waves sloshing on the shore. The breeze refreshed us after the journey in that long, dark tunnel. Further out to sea was a line of fog, obscuring the horizon. 

“Come on, it’s this way,” Ivy motioned for us to follow her towards the water. 

“This one,” he gestured to a large rock, but it didn’t seem any different to the others. He and Owen walked up to it, planting their feet either side of the stone. They pointed their hands downwards, grabbed the air and heaved at it. The rock shuddered, and then lifted up slowly on an iron bar. As this happened, the earth started to shudder as the sea buckled and foamed. A walkway, stretching from here to the fog bank, rose up from under the sea. Seagulls squawked and flew away from the commotion. Water cascaded off the sides. Various fish flapped about, and Calder used his powers to shift them back into the water.

“So that’s your power,” Kyle said, exhausted from the strain. “Water.”

“Is it rare?” asked Calder, curious.

“Not really. We have about 6 of them at Haven.”

“And the other elements?”

“About the same, 6 or 7 kids, more or less.”

We strolled along the walkway. It was high enough up that the sea didn’t touch the top, even though it was high tide. The rocky floor was uneven, but seemed to have iron underneath.

After about five minutes, we came to the fog. It was really thick, like the clouds themselves had decided to come down and enjoy the view. They obscured my vision and I couldn’t see what lay beyond.

“You’re going to get wet after you go through this,” commented Kyle.

“Did you really just say that?” I said, grinning.

“Yes, yes I did.”

“You know,” said Calder, casually. “None of us need to get wet at all.” He walked up to the mist and breathed. Placing his hands in front of him, he put them palms together and parted them. The fog mirrored his movements, blowing outwards to clear a path for us. I had only seen Calder’s powers once or twice before, so even for me this was new.

“Impressive,” remarked Owen, raising both his eyebrows. “Not many people can do that first time.”

Passing through the now-clear fog, we emerged on the other side. Before us was a large island, at least a few miles wide, resting in the middle of a ring of cloud. Mountains ringed the east shore, with ice atop the northern range and lava flowing down the south. A jungle bloomed on the slopes of the centre mountain, and a rocky desert between that and the volcano. Between the sand and the shore was what seemed to be a small city, complete with aerials; steel buildings and what seemed to be vehicles. On the northwestern shore was a glistening bay, and a woodland area separated that and the jungle. It was beautiful.

“This,” announced Ivy, turning round and spreading her arms dramatically. “Is Haven Island.”

 

Stepping onto the shore, we noticed to two teens, one my age and one Calder’s. The one my age was a boy, with blond hair and green eyes, waved at Kyle when he saw him. He was wearing a blue ‘element’ t-shirt, purple hoodie, tight fitting jeans and a scarf. The one Calder’s age was a girl, but had the same blond hair and blue eyes as he did. She had a blue skirt and a light blue vest, along with a yellow flower in her braided hair. Her wrists were adorned with all sorts of bracelets and bands.

“Hey bro!” Kyle said as he fist bumped the one my age, pulling him into a bro-hug. It might have been my imagination, but I think they lifted off the ground slightly. I noticed Ivy going over to the blond girl.

“You survived! We thought you’d be a smear on the ground somewhere,” Kyle’s friend clapped him on the back and noticed Calder and I. “And you brought back two of them! Brothers?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed, walking over. They separated and I introduced myself. 

“Ben North, Air Prodigy. I’m gonna be showing you around Haven. And you are?” 

“Kenna Keahi, and this is my brother, Calder.” 

I turned to call him over, but he was staring at Ivy and the blond girl. They were kissing. Locked in an embrace, they hugged and occasionally connected their lips together. I heard them whispering to each other.

“Oh yeah, that’s Phoebe,” Ben explained, seemingly fine with their actions. “Phoebe Baker. She’s Ivy’s girlfriend.”

“Cool,” I said. “How long have they been together?” 

“Around a year. They don’t care that people know they’re gay. Neither do we, really.”

Calder came over, eyes wide.

“Uh, did they just-“

“Yes.” We told him in unison.

“Phoebe Baker,” explained Kyle.

“Ivy’s girlfriend,” added Ben.

“They’re lesbians,” I concluded.

“I guessed that,” Calder replied sarcastically. The girls walked over to us, holding hands happily and giggling.

“Hi,” said Phoebe in a jolly tone, her skirt waving in the breeze. “I’m Phoebe. Are you our new recruits?”

“Yeah,” answered Calder, smiling. “We’re brothers.”

“We have some sisters here. Both kinetic. Are you two the same element?” she asked sweetly. Her smile was warm and comforting, like the Caribbean Sea. She looked like she wanted to take me under her wing, even though she was a lesbian.

“No, he’s water,” I supplied. 

“Like me!” Phoebe grinned at Calder as if she’d known him all her life. “And you?”

I started to answer. “I’m-“

“Kenna, Ben’s your island guide,” interrupted Owen, strolling over. “Have any questions, ask him first. Calder, Phoebe’s yours. They’ll stay with you for the first week. When you wake up each day, meet them at the arena at 8:45. They’ll show you where that is.” He jogged up a path, heading towards the desert. “Make sure they know about Kenna!” 

He disappeared over the hill.

“Why?” asked Ben, turning to face me. “What’s so special about you? No offence.” 

I placed my flaming hand palm up in the middle of the 6 of us. “None taken. I never did say what element I was.”  

 

 

 

Hello! I’m in the process of writing a book, up to about chapter 5. If any of you want characters in it, please ask! This book is about a 14 year old boy, Kenna Keahi, who has the elemental power of fire(Kenna is a girl’s name, but it means fire and sounds cool). There are other kids with powers as well, and they are all called Elementrists(Fire elementrists, water elementrists etc) The elements are Fire, which is rare; water, earth, air, ice, metal, flora(Plants), fauna(animals), and kinetics(movement and sound). The reason for their powers will be explained later in the book, so don’t ask! No one can have fire or air powers ,as fire is unique and Masie and Ben are already air. The rest are fine, so enjoy! Any other questions, ask at school, by Facebook, or on here. 

 

Fire danced in the palm of my hand.

I sat on the end of my bed, at 12’o clock in the morning, watching the flames twirl and twist. They mirrored the people downstairs, moving to whatever obscene and rude song was blaring out of the speakers. Vibrations resonated up through the floor and into my feet. My dad had organized yet another summer party and had invited all adults: hence the late night dances. With the exception of my glowing palm, my room was cloaked in darkness, and I could barely make out anything beyond half a metre. I could, however, see my reflection in my mirror. Brown hair and –unusually, dark red,- eyes, all tinted orange by the flame. It was unusually cold on this summer night. The flame warmed my hands and face, it was comforting. I always found flames calming.

I don’t know why or how, but ever since I was 12, I have had the ability to create fire. Impossible. It goes against the laws of physics and chemistry. Fire needs heat, fuel and oxygen to burn. Oxygen- check. Heat- made for no reason. Fuel- my own willpower? I wouldn’t have believed it before it happened. The same went for my older brother, Calder. He could do similar things, but with water. Move it, breathe it, and even melt ice. He had discovered his powers at school, when his friend John had gotten soaked; his drink had simply exploded all over him after, coincidentally, he’d kicked Calder in the shin. 

I’d found out about my abilities in a much darker way.

 

Footsteps punctured the music, so I quickly extinguished the flame and slipped back into bed. Pulling the covers up over my shoulders, I closed my eyes and started snoring. The wooden door opened and in stepped in a drunken man. It was probably, hopefully, one of dad’s work friends, not one of the random men that so often wandered in on the party and didn’t leave. “Hellooo there shunshine,” he said in a slurred, broken voice. The stench of alcohol, vodka by my reckoning, carried itself across the room and made my stomach churn. I had to fight the urge to cough or throw up. Eugh. 

“Err you awake?” The drunkard banged into my desk, letting loose a string of swear words with it. Did he really have to come up here?

“Shh, quiet now. It’ll all be over SOON,” suddenly his voice became much raspier and throatier. It sounded like a chest infection talking. I heard the shiink of steel. My heartbeat started to rise. I whipped round, but in front of me was nothing. No, not quite nothing. An afterimage, like what you see in a dark room after looking at a lightbulb, hung in the air. It vanished. A clunk on the floor startled me. Swinging off the bed, I looked down to see the glint of metal amongst my cream carpet. My hand burst into flame and illuminated the carpet and I with a warm red glow. The tinkle of steel flashed an angry crimson, and I bent down to pick up the object. A knife, larger than any I had seen before, rested in my fingers. It wasn’t a normal kitchen knife, but one with a much bigger blade. It was curvier too, and had strange designs on the handle. Shaking and confused, I climbed back into bed, staring at the scene of my attempted murder.

Pondering my near death, I walked down the road towards school with my brother Calder. A cloudy sky had let loose it’s contents a while after we had left, so unfortunately we had no coats. I had taken the knife from last night with me, though why I had no idea. I’d probably show people; say I found it in a skip or a bush somewhere. We strolled along the river and chucked stones in the water. I managed to skip a couple across the surface, but Calder upstaged me by sending almost every one to the other bank. He was always better at water things than I was. Leaves on the bank danced, as the waves passed, like supporters cheering a runner. 

My elder brother, Calder, didn’t seem bothered, even though I had told him about it. He just kept on creating a bubble of rain around his hands. “Don’t worry about it, Kenna,” he said reassuringly, his blond hair in a sideswipe across his forehead. “It was probably just a dream.”

“Then how did the knife get there?” I countered. He shrugged.

Calder looked like the typical ‘surfer dude’: medium length sandy hair, blue eyes, and my tanned skin. We often went on holidays to hot countries with big waves, and he would grab his board and ride the waves. He actually made our red school blazer and golden tie look good.

We continued onwards, and the rain went from buckets to a clear sky in a matter of minutes. Calder dried himself with his powers and I warmed myself by creating a flame under my jacket. We had to go into an alley to do it though, because I think it would have raised a few questions if one teenager had a flaming hand and the other completely dry were strolling down the street after a downpour.

I flicked a stone into the river. The ripples spread from the impact point and fizzled out of existence.

“Calder,” I said in a questioning tone, striding with my hands in my blazer pockets to keep my flame going.

“Yeah?” He replied

“Do you reckon there are more of us out there? I mean, people with powers like us?” I kicked another stone into the flowing water. 

“The X-men”

I grinned at the attempt. “No, seriously, what do you think?”

“Uuum, I think that there must be some others. It would go against everything for there to be 2 from the same family if we were the only ones. I-” Calder stopped. His eyes narrowed as he looked up. I suddenly did the same.

“Why did you just do that?” I asked. We’d both looked up for no reason at all, towards the steel building on our left.

“I don’t know, I just felt an urge to look up- why are those windows red?” He pointed. “5th floor” 

Sure enough, a red stain was seeping through the glass on the offices above us. The flame in my blazer evaporated. The stain started to spread. I could see now it was liquid, and some dripped down onto my arm. The same happened to Calder’s left shoe. I wiped it with my finger. “It’s… blood. What in-“

Suddenly a huge grinding noise wrenched my ears. And the building exploded.

 

Metal and glass rained down everywhere. I crouched down by instinct to protect myself, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Calder do the same. Looking up at the building, the entire 5th floor on our side had been burst open, with steel twisting away from the opening. People ran in all directions, fleeing the chaos and destruction.

What I saw next surprised me. A boy, about my age, leapt from the opening, and smashed down into a Porsche. I winced. Such a good car! Then my mind reminded me that a fall from that high would kill anyone that jumped. “Come on!” I shouted, pulling Calder to the crash site. The car had been demolished; a crater the size of me was embedded in the metalwork. “No one could have survived a fall like that,” said Calder. “C’mon, let’s get ou-“ 

Suddenly, the metal in the car made a screeching sound. The bodywork groaned, and then pushed outwards, ripping itself open to make room for the boy that climbed out.

“How the hell did you just do that!” I screamed. The boy leapt out of the car. He wore a grey hoodie, a sliver t-shirt and dark jeans. Pulling the hood down, he revealed a mop of brown hair and matching eyes.

“Just like you can, now run!” 

“How do you know that?”

I would have stopped and interrogated him for hours, but the sight before my eyes stopped me. A tidal wave of blood, more than any one body could contain, splashed down onto the street from the ruptured building. I stared in horror as the running people spasmed and convulsed, and watched their blood split open their skin and join the crimson flood. Their bodies fell to the ground, lifeless. 

“Oh my god…” Calder uttered under his breath, horrified. We sprinted around the corner and ducked behind another car. 

Calder grabbed the boy by his shoulders and spun him round to face him. “How do you know we can do that? Are there more of us out there? Who are you? Answer me!” 

“Calm down!” the teenager said forcefully, pushing Calder’s hands off his body. “I’m Kyle Ferrowe, and I, along with other kids, have powers just like you. But different, I mean, I have metal and you have different ones, probably. We’re called elementrists.” He glanced back behind my shoulder and gasped slightly. “Move, move, move!” He practically dragged Calder and I along a couple more cars, then shoved our heads down when we tried to take a peek. I still saw through the windows though. The blood tide, made from the fluids of living people, was swirling and shaping itself into what looked like a pack of wolves. They had crimson fur, teeth dripping blood and piercing red eyes, and prowled around sniffing for us, leaving bloody paw prints wherever they tread “Damn, Bloodhounds,” Kyle swore. “They can smell blood from miles away. Anyone got any cuts or -ah.”  

The falling glass had parted my skin in more places than I could count, and ruby liquid was trickling out of the holes. The same went for Calder. One of the bloodhounds, the largest, snapped it’s head in my direction and growled. The sound resonated through my body and sent a wave of fear up my spine. 

“Well, that answers that question.” Kyle announced. “I guess we’ve got to fight. Where the hell are Ivy and Owen?”

“Fight?” I exclaimed, taken back at the suggestion. How could we fight them? They were dogs made of blood, for god’s sake! “How can we fight five bloodhounds, whatever they are, at once!”

The bloody monster started to move towards us. The other four followed suit. Kyle winked at me and grinned. “Like this.”

 

He punched the car. I mean literally, full on, whacked the car with both his fists. However, instead of reeling back in pain and screaming, his eyes gleamed as the metal spread up his fingertips. The steel folded and crumpled, bending to become the shape of Kyle’s arms. The doors of the car had by now spread up to Kyle’s shoulders, and he pulled his hands off the vehicle. Just in time, too! A bloodhound leapt over the car, fangs showing. Using his ironclad arms, Kyle battered the beast away, sending it over our heads and into the river. It crashed down into the current and turned back into the blood it was made from, turning the waters scarlet. A second bloodhound dived for us as we started to run. Once again, Kyle smashed it between the eyes and it let loose a howl of pain. He clamped down on the creature’s face, and the metal on his forearm spiked up. An iron shard pierced each of the monster’s eyes and it dissolved into rosy liquid, melting away like its brother. Kyle resumed his pace and caught up with us just as we rounded the corner. “That… was… amazing… but there’s still three more,” I panted, wheezing from the run.

“I think he knows that, Kenna,” Calder said sarcastically.

“So that’s your name,” Kyle piped up as he shed his iron arms. “And yours is?” He nodded towards my brother.

“Calder”

“K or C?”

“C”

“Aw, you ruined it.”

We looked at him strangely.

“Kyle, Kenna, both begin with K? No?” He sighed “Never mind. I never was good at jokes”

“I think we have more important things to worry about right now,” I commented. “Like not getting eaten by those bast- WATCH OUT!” I screamed as two bloodhounds leapt towards us. Suddenly, a huge slab of earth rose from the tarmac and blocked the creatures’ strikes. Blood spurted out of the sides.

“Kyle! I told you to stay with Ivy!” a male voice shouted. From below us… 

For the second time today, a kid burst out of nowhere. The road next to us started to swirl and twist, and then it exploded upward as a 16-year-old rose up on a column of earth. 

“How many times have I said stick together? You know what could happen if we got caught alone!” The boy, presumably Owen, towered a couple of feet above us on the rock pillar, his emerald eyes staring only at our newfound ally. A green checkered shirt, rolled up at the sleeves, covered his torso, and jeans and trainers covered his legs.

Kyle retaliated. “I went because I felt them, Owen! Ivy was following me, but she disappeared-“

I heard a crash, a sound like a thousand worms breaking out of the ground, and a sudden howl as another bloodhound sailed over the earthen wall that had killed its brethren. This time, however, it didn’t attack, because it’s legs, jaws and claws were bound together by thick vines. 

“Hi honey,” Ivy said as she walked around the slab of stone. In her simple green dress she looked quite innocent, if you ignored the fact that she had two green daggers and vials of poison on her belt. She crouched down by the tied up beast, which tried to bite her. A strange looking plant grew out of the ground, and Ivy snapped off one of its large thorns, plunged it into the monster’s neck, and watched it dissolve into blood. 

“I got us a dog”

Lucas Robin