Jordan M.

Holloman

The Rise of Fire Trilogy: Book I

The Journey

Chapter I: Prophetic Dream

It was early morning on the day that one event brought an amazing change to life, leading to the journey of a lifetime. I never really thought about it often, but that day started with a very vivid, yet surreal dream.

I woke up to a rattling that sounded like it was coming from somewhere that was several feet away. Shaking my head, I removed my hood and looked around. I was on an airplane sitting next to my dad. Looking out the window, I could see a really dense forest underneath flying by far below us.

"Where are we going?" I asked my dad, somewhat confused. We're going to your grandma's for the vacation. I know you just woke up, but it can't be that easy to forget." he responded. "Oh. Okay." I said, looking back out the window.

Suddenly, all the lights flickered and went out leaving us in total darkness. "What happened? What's going on?" I asked, confused and slightly afraid. There was no response. A minute or two after I asked those questions, the lights turned back on. I was surprised when I found that my dad was gone. No wait. Everybody that had been aboard had disappeared. I got up and went to see if there was anybody else in some other part of the plane.

The first place I went to check on was the pilot's cabin. I gasped when I saw that there was no pilot, but in his place was a monster. It looked like an upright werewolf with the upper body of a lion.

It turned around when it heard me and growled. I backed up slowly, terrified. "Use your weapons. Fight back!" a voice in my head told me. I quickly realized I had my weapons on my person and drew my sword as the thing charged at me, mouth wide open. I swung at its mouth and cut the head in half. Just for to make sure it stayed down, I then finished it off by cutting the body in half horizontally.

"What was that thing?" I asked, looking for whoever had talked to me last. "That would've been a leowolf. They may be weak on their own, but in packs, they are quite lethal." The mysterious voice answered. As whoever it was finished his/her answer, I heard more growling behind me. "Oh great. There's more." I said, sheathing my sword and bring my other weapon, the Bowmerang, out of its holster in Boomerang Form. Upon drawing it, I threw the weapon.

The first one jumped over the heavy metal boomerang, but caught the rest of the monsters behind it. As the leading leowolf landed, the Bowmerang came back, cutting it in half from behind on its way back to me. I caught, transferred it to my left hand to use its Edge Form, drew my sword with my right hand, and swiftly made my way to the creature as its cut off upper body came to the ground. In a matter of seconds, I cut up the monster's body into so many small pieces that the entire body crumbled to dust.

As I put away my weapons, I heard an alarm go off. "That cannot be good." I said, looking through the cracked front window to see a cliff face coming to greet the out of control plane. I ran to the exit and opened it, the door breaking off in the strong winds. I quickly jumped out as the plane exploded against the rocks.

I was now falling through the air really fast. "Okay. I just need to relax now. Everything is going to be alright." I thought to myself, not knowing what to do. As I fell past a really thick tree branch, I grabbed onto it, ignoring any splinters I may have received in the process. After that, I made my way slowly to the ground, going down one branch at a time.

"Now that was a close one. Now just where am I?" I asked to nobody in particular. Unfortunately, nobody was there to answer. I wandered around for a while, before coming upon a clearing with a log cabin close to the trees behind it and a large boulder in the center. "Hey! I recognize that cabin." I said, running to the door. I struggled to get it open, but it wouldn't budge. As I stopped to catch my breath, I heard that familiar growling sound, only there was a lot more. I turned around and pressed my back to the door, seeing possibly hundreds or even thousands of leowolves enter the clearing.

"Oh gods. That is a lot of monsters." I said, drawing my weapons and taking up my combat stance. I charged at the creatures as they charged at me. I cut through one or two, but even more replaced the ones I took down. I jumped on top of one and started running along the tops of the leowolves' heads, using them as very noisy and very furry platforms. As I ran along, I shot arrows at them, using the Bowmerang's Bow Form.

Eventually, I started running low on arrows, I went back to the ground and went back to hacking and slashing away at the creatures using my two weapons again. As I found myself being pushed back, I ran and climbed to the top of the boulder to get some breathing room. As the leowolves tried to follow me up, I cut those that approached down.

"Just how many of these things are there?" I asked, of course not getting an answer. Eventually, I got an idea that sounded crazy, but just might work.

"You want some?! Then come at me, you dirty hairballs!" I shouted at the monstrous crowd. Several of them jumped at me and I jumped at them. Instead of colliding head to head, I placed my feet on a couple of leowolves' heads while we were still in the air. I then used them as springboards, pushing off of them to get myself higher into the air. As I reached the highest point, I sheathed my swords, changed the Bowmerang to its Bow form and fired off my remaining arrows. Somehow, these ones were set ablaze as soon as they left my bow.

Each arrow impacted part of the mass, clearing them off with an explosion as they made contact with anything solid. When I landed, the area was clear of enemies.

Now that was something. I said, putting away my weapons.

"That was quite the performance. Well done, Jordan Freeman." the mysterious voice said, this time coming from all over the place. "Who are you?" I asked looking around to see who was speaking. "You may call me Athena, my son." The voice answered as a woman came into view, emerging from the surrounding forest. "You can't be my mother. She died years ago." I said, more confused than scared. "Of course you wouldn't remember me. You had to be raised by your father." Athena said, making eye contact with me. She had the same gray eyes that I had.

"Now there is something we must get to before you wake up." Athena said before I could even say anything. "What's that?" I asked, now curious. In response, she handed me a scroll. I unrolled it, finding what looked like something that might've been a poem or something. No wait. A prophecy. I was actually holding a prophecy. And by the looks of things, it concerned me.

"Eight warriors shall unite.

The bow, the scythe, one cold as ice.

The shadow, the fire, the thunder.

And the twins of the mirror.

One shall burn through trial by fire.

Two will rise with strong desire.

The key will open the door

To worlds beyond understanding."

I may have been a smart kid, especially for somebody at the age of 12, nearing 13, but that didn't mean I understood any of what was mentioned in theprophecy. If anything, I was more confused than ever.

"What is any of this supposed to mean?" I asked Athena. "That is for all of us to find out. Nobody can truly solve a prophecy until events have come to pass." she responded.

"Now it is time for you to awaken. It is your birthday today, after all." the goddess said, snapping her fingers before I could say anything. When she did that, I collapsed to the ground, feeling as if somebody had hit me with a baseball bat from behind and then shouted into my ear with a megaphone. As I hit the ground, everything went black.