Black Raspberry #6 - Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, Pistachio #2 - Arrival/departure
Title: Fearless Ch. 2
Author: blacksheep17
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Challenge: Raspberry #6 - Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, Pistachio #2 - Arrival/departure
Rating: G
Summary: Welcome to a world of magic! Seraphine, an Arien (Born under the Aries zodiac), had just turned sixteen. The guardians have come for her, and she's more than willing to go. But now as the world of the Zodiac become more and more complicated, she wonders whether she had been too brash for her own good.
Authors note: This is the seond chapter of Seraphine's story. (see first chapter HERE )
I am partial to Aries because I was born under that Zodiac.
Chapter 2: The Mirror
“Hi! I’m Ashbel Messier!”
I was seated next to an ugly girl with a very high-pitched voice and golden eyes. She was wearing a purple dress lined with silver threads, a Sagittarian. Her dress was sleeveless and V-necked, like mine. It shaped her body well. The long slit in her skirt showed her long pale legs. Judging by her posture, I’d say she was educated. The beadwork on her chest was intricate. It looked like a centaur. And there it is on the back of her left shoulder, her sign. It was an arrow pointing to the north-east. I was right. She was a Sagittarian. The arrow is the sign of the Archer.
“Hello, Ashbel” I replied without much enthusiasm. Why am I so bitter? Fine. I’ll be nice. “---I’m Seraphine Hamal. You may call me Sera” There, I do have manners.
“Okay. Sera, then. You are a daughter of Aries.”
“Really?” Heavy sarcasm. I learned that from Adene. How can she not know? Duh. Can’t she tell?
“Yes, you are.” She insisted.
Ugh. I thought Sags are supposed to be smart. She eyed my clothing. It was pretty much like hers. It was a long red silk dress lined with gold threads. She had silver accessories; I had gold ones. In fact, I’m not just wearing these gold bands for individuality. These gold bands are actually like shackles, only their gold and they’re not for prisoners. It just looks like shackles because it’s hard like metal. It’s for combat. Uncle Airo gave it to me on my last birthday. He told me I had a strong spirit and that I, if I chose it, would become a great warrior someday.
Of course, that’s when I was first inspired by martial arts.
I’ve been training with Brenton for a while now. I’m proud to say that my clothes were grandiose. After all, I’m a Hamal. My family is the highest rank among the Arien families, but at home it wasn’t really obvious since, well, we simply didn’t care.
“That’s the Ram” she said, pointing at the mark on my shoulder. Didn’t she see that I came from a house that’s all covered with its insignia? Oh well. Never mind. Maybe if I play nice, she’ll be my slave or something.
“That’s right!” I said to her, smiling. Then, I pointed at her left shoulder. “And that’s the Archer”
“I’m Keena Regulus” the other girl said.
She evidently saw that I was in a good mood and decided to join the conversation with gusto. She wore an orange dress, just like ours and it was lined with gold threads too. Her golden eyes looked at me keenly. She angled her left shoulder to expose her mark. It was a curly line with a circle on one end. Leo.
In Veseldel, there are three guardians of the fire: the Ram, the Archer and the Lion. Legend says that we came from different planets. The Ariens came from Mars, Sagittarians came from Jupiter and from the Sun, came the Leos. How we came to Veseldel is the secret of the stars. All we know is that we guard the spirit of fire and that when we turn sixteen, that fire is awoken in our own spirits.
When Brenton turned sixteen and left, he came back changed. He was more mature and controlled. He showed his flame to me, it was light yellow and it didn’t burn his hand when I saw it. He also met new friends there. Those rascals always go out to the forests with him. Blaise and Mackenzie. They were fun. They used to bother me all the time. They said I was comical. I resented them for that. Blaise was a Leo and Mackenzie was a Sag. Maybe Ashbel and Keena will be to me as Blaise and Mackenzie are to my brother. I should be nice to them. They might just be friends who, unlike my family, is not forced to like me because I’m a relative. Even so, I shouldn’t pretend to be someone I’m not. If I’m not nice all the time, they should deal with it.
“You’re Brenton’s little sister aren’t you?” asked Keena.
I was surprised. How could she know my brother, and how come Brenton doesn’t mention her if they did know each other?
“Blaise is my cousin. I see them running in the forest occasionally. I don’t know why. In the house, they only lock themselves in Blaise’s chamber. I hear them laughing about you constantly. They say you’re hilarious. But I don’t really care. I know your brother because he saved me from the disgusting attempts of my cousin to… never mind. I got back on Blaise, anyway” she paused and smiled deviously.
I guess she was remembering a joke.
“I painted his chamber walls in pink” She continued.
I like this girl. We’re going to get along very well. I laughed. I didn’t mind that she said I was hilarious anymore. Ashbel was stunned. Her face showed confusion and then, I think I saw fear in her eyes. She composed herself though, when she heard me laughing even louder at her bewildered expression.
“Mackenzie brings his friends over too.” Ashbel shared. “I chat with them infrequently. Blaise is very loquacious but he never mentioned anything about a cousin and Brenton was always terse. I have heard them say ‘Sera’ at times. At first, I thought it was some rock they’re trying to find or something since they always went to the woods and stuff.”
A rock? ‘Sera’? Hmph. Never mind.
“Hmmm…” I said approvingly. “Sounds like those idiots have a liking for things…people that are dangerous when annoyed. I shouldn’t have been too nice.” I added. Ashbel’s laugh was incredulous but Keena’s sounded sympathetic.
The carriage stopped. I hadn’t noticed that we were in the forest. That wasn’t such a bumpy ride. I didn’t even jump on my seat like one should have when travelling in the rock-bedded forest. How suspicious.
“That’s odd. We should’ve felt the rough road.” Keena whispered. Observant. I really like her. The door opened. The usher gestured us to step out of the carriage. I followed and so did my other two companions.
I’ve never ventured this far to the forest before. There were oak trees everywhere. I mean, I think it’s an oak tree at least. I can’t identify the others, only that there were magnificent shades of green and mahogany covering the sky above us.
There were beautiful flowers around the place. Now, I’m sure that those are marigolds over there and those are violets. Kari was standing beside some blueberries. What a sight! It’s so colorful and the rocks were big and concealed in moss. The ground in the road we came from was, surprisingly, rid of rocks. We were in a clearing and the trees encircled it. There was a gently sloping area at the middle. And there was something else.
“Where are we?” asked Ashbel. Her voice was hard. I don’t know if she was scared and trying to hide it or just condescending. I have no idea.
“We’re in a sacred place.” Antaeus said. “That---” He pointed at a rectangular-shaped thing. It was covered in a grey blanket of a sort. “---is the door to Ilona.”
Wow. This is really it. I’m going to Ilona. I’m going to… hang on. Nobody told me the door was right here! Can’t I be trusted not to go there? Well, no, not really. But, someone should have hinted me. Brenton never told me about this. I’m going to beat it out of him when I get back.
We approached the thing that Antaeus pointed at. Ymir and Kari took the grey cover off.
I was shocked. I could see, from the peripheral, that the two other girls were too. All three of us looked away, wide-eyed. It was a mirror. We were forbidden to look at one. I’ve never seen my own face. Our reactions must have been amusing to the three men.
“Ymir, Kari, that was rude.” Antaeus said to his companions and gestured them to cover it up again. They followed obediently.
“This is what we call a mirror, girls. It is forbidden to look upon one because it is a prison.” Antaeus said. All three of us were horror-struck.
“It’s not an exact science, really. No one has ever done a study. Actually, if it were possible to study it, someone might have already. But, mirrors are tricky little fiends to mess up with.” He continued.
“Then, why did we just look at it and not be trapped?” asked Keena.
I could tell she was having difficulty trying to frame a coherent question. I, myself, have been tongue-tied. I’ve always wondered how I looked like--- if I were pretty or ugly. But, I settled for the comments of other people. I believed every criticism and compliment. They said I was pretty so, I’m not really bothered by the fact that I didn’t exactly know why. My mom simply said, don’t wear blue. And that was that.
So, mirrors are cages, huh. Cool. Hmmm… I wonder. What if, like, I get trapped in a mirror and be like, ‘oh my god! Help me!’ and then, people will find ways to get me out. They’ll all go crazy and stuff. Whoah. And then, I, for some unfathomable reason, got out and became the first person to EVER escape the inescapable prison. I’d be the most famous person among the worlds!
“Sera!”
Oh. I was day dreaming again. I’ve got to stop doing that. I’d missed the whole conversation. Apparently, the mirror that we’ve seen wasn’t one of those trapping mirrors. It was a door. Antaeus said that there are only eight mirror-doors; one for each world and four in Ilona, the bridge-world between the element worlds. This mirror will transport us there where we will meet the sixteen year-old guardians of the other elements and be put to The Test.
“Are you scared?” Suddenly, I didn’t even nortice, Ymir was in front of me, just inches from my face, staring straight into my eyes.
“No, I’m not!” I almost shouted, blushing. I looked down. That was weird. That has never happened to me. Oh my god. I just realized. I’m sixteen! I’m so over the legal age which means… I could… fall in love now. Hmmm… I want him to be strong and gorgeous and---
“Sera!”
I’ve got to stop day dreaming. Okay, Sera, focus. “Sorry, I… I..” of course I won’t admit that I was day dreaming. “…I” they were staring at me now. What could I say? Ummm…
And then, Keena roared in laughter. They were laughing at me. The others, especially Kari, chuckled irritatingly. Keena went by my side and put her right arm on my shoulder.
“We’re going to have a lot of fun with you around. Blaise was right” It was obvious with her tone that she was amused. Fine. I guess it was funny. Just a little bit.
“Come on, silly girls!” Kari bawled. “or we’re going to be late” he continued.
“Who’s silly?” I countered, annoyed. He just sniggered even louder. Why isn’t anyone taking me seriously? “Why are you laughing?” I asked, really annoyed but I was side tracked. I didn’t notice somebody had already removed the covering of the huge mirror. And I saw my face once more. And Antaeus, that old man, walked through it, like he was drowning vertically.
Ymir looked at me. “Don’t be scared. Kari and I will guide you” Then, he looked at Kari. “I’ll take the back. You lead.” he commended him. Kari obeyed.
“I am NOT scared. Why do you guys always think you know what’s going on in my head?” I exclaimed.
“Because we do know what’s going on in your head” Ymir muttered from a distance.
“It’s pretty obvious with your facial expressions you know” said Ashbel, speaking for the first time.
“I bet it’ll be a good experience for you, looking at yourself for the first time.” Kari said, smirking.
Hmph. I’m not going to argue anymore. There’s no point. These people have already decided on my character. It will be pointless to debate. I scowled in exasperation.
“Ugh. Fine. You guys win. Are we going to Ilona or not?” I wanted to hurry already. Maybe I’ll get better respect on the other side of that mirror than I do here at my home world.
“Geez… lighten up” Keena teased. And then, we were all there lined up. Kari was in front carrying his things and the three of us came after him. Our servants were beside us and Ymir was at the back. I watched as Kari entered the mirror.
That was when I saw myself clearly.
Brilliant golden eyes were gazing back at me. I had a heart-shaped face and a small mouth. There was a certain stubborness in the was my cheeckbones were structured. I smiled, suddenly feeling very relieved. I was surprisingly very pleasant to look at.
And then, I stepped through the image I saw in the mirror.
#
Anyone interested to beta?
Author: blacksheep17
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Challenge: Raspberry #6 - Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, Pistachio #2 - Arrival/departure
Rating: G
Summary: Welcome to a world of magic! Seraphine, an Arien (Born under the Aries zodiac), had just turned sixteen. The guardians have come for her, and she's more than willing to go. But now as the world of the Zodiac become more and more complicated, she wonders whether she had been too brash for her own good.
Authors note: This is the seond chapter of Seraphine's story. (see first chapter HERE )
I am partial to Aries because I was born under that Zodiac.
Chapter 2: The Mirror
“Hi! I’m Ashbel Messier!”
I was seated next to an ugly girl with a very high-pitched voice and golden eyes. She was wearing a purple dress lined with silver threads, a Sagittarian. Her dress was sleeveless and V-necked, like mine. It shaped her body well. The long slit in her skirt showed her long pale legs. Judging by her posture, I’d say she was educated. The beadwork on her chest was intricate. It looked like a centaur. And there it is on the back of her left shoulder, her sign. It was an arrow pointing to the north-east. I was right. She was a Sagittarian. The arrow is the sign of the Archer.
“Hello, Ashbel” I replied without much enthusiasm. Why am I so bitter? Fine. I’ll be nice. “---I’m Seraphine Hamal. You may call me Sera” There, I do have manners.
“Okay. Sera, then. You are a daughter of Aries.”
“Really?” Heavy sarcasm. I learned that from Adene. How can she not know? Duh. Can’t she tell?
“Yes, you are.” She insisted.
Ugh. I thought Sags are supposed to be smart. She eyed my clothing. It was pretty much like hers. It was a long red silk dress lined with gold threads. She had silver accessories; I had gold ones. In fact, I’m not just wearing these gold bands for individuality. These gold bands are actually like shackles, only their gold and they’re not for prisoners. It just looks like shackles because it’s hard like metal. It’s for combat. Uncle Airo gave it to me on my last birthday. He told me I had a strong spirit and that I, if I chose it, would become a great warrior someday.
Of course, that’s when I was first inspired by martial arts.
I’ve been training with Brenton for a while now. I’m proud to say that my clothes were grandiose. After all, I’m a Hamal. My family is the highest rank among the Arien families, but at home it wasn’t really obvious since, well, we simply didn’t care.
“That’s the Ram” she said, pointing at the mark on my shoulder. Didn’t she see that I came from a house that’s all covered with its insignia? Oh well. Never mind. Maybe if I play nice, she’ll be my slave or something.
“That’s right!” I said to her, smiling. Then, I pointed at her left shoulder. “And that’s the Archer”
“I’m Keena Regulus” the other girl said.
She evidently saw that I was in a good mood and decided to join the conversation with gusto. She wore an orange dress, just like ours and it was lined with gold threads too. Her golden eyes looked at me keenly. She angled her left shoulder to expose her mark. It was a curly line with a circle on one end. Leo.
In Veseldel, there are three guardians of the fire: the Ram, the Archer and the Lion. Legend says that we came from different planets. The Ariens came from Mars, Sagittarians came from Jupiter and from the Sun, came the Leos. How we came to Veseldel is the secret of the stars. All we know is that we guard the spirit of fire and that when we turn sixteen, that fire is awoken in our own spirits.
When Brenton turned sixteen and left, he came back changed. He was more mature and controlled. He showed his flame to me, it was light yellow and it didn’t burn his hand when I saw it. He also met new friends there. Those rascals always go out to the forests with him. Blaise and Mackenzie. They were fun. They used to bother me all the time. They said I was comical. I resented them for that. Blaise was a Leo and Mackenzie was a Sag. Maybe Ashbel and Keena will be to me as Blaise and Mackenzie are to my brother. I should be nice to them. They might just be friends who, unlike my family, is not forced to like me because I’m a relative. Even so, I shouldn’t pretend to be someone I’m not. If I’m not nice all the time, they should deal with it.
“You’re Brenton’s little sister aren’t you?” asked Keena.
I was surprised. How could she know my brother, and how come Brenton doesn’t mention her if they did know each other?
“Blaise is my cousin. I see them running in the forest occasionally. I don’t know why. In the house, they only lock themselves in Blaise’s chamber. I hear them laughing about you constantly. They say you’re hilarious. But I don’t really care. I know your brother because he saved me from the disgusting attempts of my cousin to… never mind. I got back on Blaise, anyway” she paused and smiled deviously.
I guess she was remembering a joke.
“I painted his chamber walls in pink” She continued.
I like this girl. We’re going to get along very well. I laughed. I didn’t mind that she said I was hilarious anymore. Ashbel was stunned. Her face showed confusion and then, I think I saw fear in her eyes. She composed herself though, when she heard me laughing even louder at her bewildered expression.
“Mackenzie brings his friends over too.” Ashbel shared. “I chat with them infrequently. Blaise is very loquacious but he never mentioned anything about a cousin and Brenton was always terse. I have heard them say ‘Sera’ at times. At first, I thought it was some rock they’re trying to find or something since they always went to the woods and stuff.”
A rock? ‘Sera’? Hmph. Never mind.
“Hmmm…” I said approvingly. “Sounds like those idiots have a liking for things…people that are dangerous when annoyed. I shouldn’t have been too nice.” I added. Ashbel’s laugh was incredulous but Keena’s sounded sympathetic.
The carriage stopped. I hadn’t noticed that we were in the forest. That wasn’t such a bumpy ride. I didn’t even jump on my seat like one should have when travelling in the rock-bedded forest. How suspicious.
“That’s odd. We should’ve felt the rough road.” Keena whispered. Observant. I really like her. The door opened. The usher gestured us to step out of the carriage. I followed and so did my other two companions.
I’ve never ventured this far to the forest before. There were oak trees everywhere. I mean, I think it’s an oak tree at least. I can’t identify the others, only that there were magnificent shades of green and mahogany covering the sky above us.
There were beautiful flowers around the place. Now, I’m sure that those are marigolds over there and those are violets. Kari was standing beside some blueberries. What a sight! It’s so colorful and the rocks were big and concealed in moss. The ground in the road we came from was, surprisingly, rid of rocks. We were in a clearing and the trees encircled it. There was a gently sloping area at the middle. And there was something else.
“Where are we?” asked Ashbel. Her voice was hard. I don’t know if she was scared and trying to hide it or just condescending. I have no idea.
“We’re in a sacred place.” Antaeus said. “That---” He pointed at a rectangular-shaped thing. It was covered in a grey blanket of a sort. “---is the door to Ilona.”
Wow. This is really it. I’m going to Ilona. I’m going to… hang on. Nobody told me the door was right here! Can’t I be trusted not to go there? Well, no, not really. But, someone should have hinted me. Brenton never told me about this. I’m going to beat it out of him when I get back.
We approached the thing that Antaeus pointed at. Ymir and Kari took the grey cover off.
I was shocked. I could see, from the peripheral, that the two other girls were too. All three of us looked away, wide-eyed. It was a mirror. We were forbidden to look at one. I’ve never seen my own face. Our reactions must have been amusing to the three men.
“Ymir, Kari, that was rude.” Antaeus said to his companions and gestured them to cover it up again. They followed obediently.
“This is what we call a mirror, girls. It is forbidden to look upon one because it is a prison.” Antaeus said. All three of us were horror-struck.
“It’s not an exact science, really. No one has ever done a study. Actually, if it were possible to study it, someone might have already. But, mirrors are tricky little fiends to mess up with.” He continued.
“Then, why did we just look at it and not be trapped?” asked Keena.
I could tell she was having difficulty trying to frame a coherent question. I, myself, have been tongue-tied. I’ve always wondered how I looked like--- if I were pretty or ugly. But, I settled for the comments of other people. I believed every criticism and compliment. They said I was pretty so, I’m not really bothered by the fact that I didn’t exactly know why. My mom simply said, don’t wear blue. And that was that.
So, mirrors are cages, huh. Cool. Hmmm… I wonder. What if, like, I get trapped in a mirror and be like, ‘oh my god! Help me!’ and then, people will find ways to get me out. They’ll all go crazy and stuff. Whoah. And then, I, for some unfathomable reason, got out and became the first person to EVER escape the inescapable prison. I’d be the most famous person among the worlds!
“Sera!”
Oh. I was day dreaming again. I’ve got to stop doing that. I’d missed the whole conversation. Apparently, the mirror that we’ve seen wasn’t one of those trapping mirrors. It was a door. Antaeus said that there are only eight mirror-doors; one for each world and four in Ilona, the bridge-world between the element worlds. This mirror will transport us there where we will meet the sixteen year-old guardians of the other elements and be put to The Test.
“Are you scared?” Suddenly, I didn’t even nortice, Ymir was in front of me, just inches from my face, staring straight into my eyes.
“No, I’m not!” I almost shouted, blushing. I looked down. That was weird. That has never happened to me. Oh my god. I just realized. I’m sixteen! I’m so over the legal age which means… I could… fall in love now. Hmmm… I want him to be strong and gorgeous and---
“Sera!”
I’ve got to stop day dreaming. Okay, Sera, focus. “Sorry, I… I..” of course I won’t admit that I was day dreaming. “…I” they were staring at me now. What could I say? Ummm…
And then, Keena roared in laughter. They were laughing at me. The others, especially Kari, chuckled irritatingly. Keena went by my side and put her right arm on my shoulder.
“We’re going to have a lot of fun with you around. Blaise was right” It was obvious with her tone that she was amused. Fine. I guess it was funny. Just a little bit.
“Come on, silly girls!” Kari bawled. “or we’re going to be late” he continued.
“Who’s silly?” I countered, annoyed. He just sniggered even louder. Why isn’t anyone taking me seriously? “Why are you laughing?” I asked, really annoyed but I was side tracked. I didn’t notice somebody had already removed the covering of the huge mirror. And I saw my face once more. And Antaeus, that old man, walked through it, like he was drowning vertically.
Ymir looked at me. “Don’t be scared. Kari and I will guide you” Then, he looked at Kari. “I’ll take the back. You lead.” he commended him. Kari obeyed.
“I am NOT scared. Why do you guys always think you know what’s going on in my head?” I exclaimed.
“Because we do know what’s going on in your head” Ymir muttered from a distance.
“It’s pretty obvious with your facial expressions you know” said Ashbel, speaking for the first time.
“I bet it’ll be a good experience for you, looking at yourself for the first time.” Kari said, smirking.
Hmph. I’m not going to argue anymore. There’s no point. These people have already decided on my character. It will be pointless to debate. I scowled in exasperation.
“Ugh. Fine. You guys win. Are we going to Ilona or not?” I wanted to hurry already. Maybe I’ll get better respect on the other side of that mirror than I do here at my home world.
“Geez… lighten up” Keena teased. And then, we were all there lined up. Kari was in front carrying his things and the three of us came after him. Our servants were beside us and Ymir was at the back. I watched as Kari entered the mirror.
That was when I saw myself clearly.
Brilliant golden eyes were gazing back at me. I had a heart-shaped face and a small mouth. There was a certain stubborness in the was my cheeckbones were structured. I smiled, suddenly feeling very relieved. I was surprisingly very pleasant to look at.
And then, I stepped through the image I saw in the mirror.
#
Anyone interested to beta?