Clarissa- Clary -Morgensten was just about to fall back to sleep when she remembered something. Today i am going to start training. She jumped up out of her bed and ran over to the draws pulling out her gear, stele, and first seraph blade. Her brother, Jonathan, had started training a year ago. It was mandatory for every Nephlim to begin proper training at the age of 6- although most, including Clary, had already been trained at home. Since she was 3, Clary had been training every day with father, Valentine. One night he told her and Jonathan that they were special because they had more angle blood in them. Whatever that meant. The Morgenstern family were known as the most powerful and influential families in all of Idris. Keeping up that reputation was going to be difficult, and Clary knew it.
Looking in the mirror Clary's bubbly mood quickly evaporated. She was short, there was no light was of saying it. Her gear was tight on her, but was that only made her look smaller. That wasn't what got Clary down though. Her normally, fire-red frizzy hair had decided to be difficult. Sighing inwardly she bradded her hair and swung it forward, over her shoulder. She pushed and poked at it until it was neat and then let it dangle by her waist side. Smiling again Clary went to leave the room.
"Clarissa! Hurry up!" Jonathan shouted from the kitchen. She could hear the irritation in his voice and decided not to answer. Their was only one word for Jonathan's feelings for Clary -embarrassment. Ignoring the urge to sarcastically shout back, she hurried down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Morgenstern manor was more of a mansion than a house. There were around 9 bedrooms- each with an ensuite bathroom -5 offices, 2 games rooms, a library, and indoor, and outdoor pool, an onsite chapel, a large dining room and 2 kitchens. The second kitchen was mainly for if Jonathan or Clary had friends over.
When she walked into the kitchen, the smell of fresh waffles immediately penetrated her nose, and made her mouth water. She looked up and saw her mother, Jocelyn, cooking at the stove. Her auburn hair was rapped up in a messy bun and a few stray strands cascaded down her back. She was wearing her pyjama bottoms and a white tank top which rested on her hip, exaggerating her curves. Looking at Clary, everyone knew she was Jocelyn's daughter. Clary could only hope she looked like her mother when she grew up. Turning around, Jocelyn smiled down at her daughter.
"Good morning, my brave little shadow hunter. Would you like some breakfast?" She ruffled Clary's hair affectionately, before turning around and continuing her work. Clary hop-skipped over to the breakfast bar and sat opposite Jonathan. The only thing that made them noticeably siblings, was their eyes. Emerald green. Apart from that, Jonathan was a mini Valentine. White-blonde hair. Angular features. Marble white skin. They ever acted the same.
"Clarissa, we need to set some ground rules." Jonathan spoke with the same convincing tone their father used. Clary knew this was coming. Whenever Jonathan's friends- Jace, Alec, Raphael and Sebastian - came over Clary got the 'stay-out-of-my-way-little-sis' talk. Honestly, she would have anyway.
"Oh really Jonathan. And what might they be?" She questioned him sarcastically. Leaning forward slightly to study his face, she began to pick at her nails. A sure sign that she was nervous.
"Whenever you finish a class, wait for me to come and pick you up to take you to the next one. I also want you to sit with me and the guys at lunch." What the hell! He wanted her to be around him at lunch?
"Who are you, and what have you done with Jonathan Morgenstern." She gaped at him open mouthed.
"I'm not trying to complement you or anything, but you are quite pretty, and i don't want anyone staring at you the wrong way." He answered quickly looking down at the floor. She could tell that he was really embarrassed at having said this, and had to stifle a giggle. Her brother, embarrassed, something really was wrong. Before she could say anything more, her mother plonked her waffles down in front of her.
5 minutes later, after finishing her breakfast, Clary bolted outside the door and waited for Jonathan. Only moments later, Jonathan walked out holding his and Clary's saddles.
"You know, you could have just bought your own saddle out." He said sarcastically, planting the saddle in her hands and walking towards the stables. She shrugged his comments off.
"That would have required effort, and would have been boring."She retorted smartly. Opening the door to the stables, Clary pulled all the riding gear from the walls and went down to the last compartment. The 6 horses all lent out of their stalls to look at the pair. The two horses at the end, the black Friesian's, belonged to the siblings. Clary's horse, Adele, was whining and kicking lightly at the stall door. Clary had originally named her after her own middle name, but later found out the names meaning- noble, kind-matched her horse perfectly.
"Shut that mutt of yours up! She's frightening Thanatos." Jonathan spat at her whilst preparing his horse. Unlike Clary, Jonathan had chose a name that meant death, literally. Sometimes Clary wondered if Jonathan had any angel in him, let alone more than usual.
After they prepared the horses and filled their saddle bags, they set of into Alicante, and toward Alicante elementary school. When they got their, Clary noticed that many people were staring at them, pointing, and whispering.
"Hey Jon, why are they staring at us?" Clary asked her brother. He chuckled deeply and pulled Thanatos to a stop.
"Clarissa, they are afraid of us." He answered before trotting of again. Clary took a moment to catch up to him.
"But why?" She asked innocently. People couldn't possibly be afraid of her...could they.
"Well think about it Clarissa. I' m the best student in my year, today you start in the year bellow. Together, we ride in on a pair of the most prized horses in Idris, sporting the. Morgernsten symbol, and our own weapons. What's not to be afraid of." She stared at him in ore. He did have a point. Pushing the thoughts aside, she trotted adele into the school stable and placed her next to a bay coloured Arabian horse. The bay horse lifted it's head over the gate and bumped Clary's cheek affectionately. She giggled and petted the horse lightly.
"I see you have met Finlay." A voice spoke from behind her, making her jump. She spun around and saw Jace stood in the doorway to the stables, leaning against the wall. His blond hair was sat messily on top of his head, whilst his gold eyes locked a gaze with her emerald ones. He smirked as he noticed her staring at him. Clary quickly turned around and tended to Adele.
"I didn't know you had a Friesian horse. What's it's name?" His voice was closed now. She turned back around and saw him striding towards his horse.
"Her name's Adele." She mumbled, going to walk out of the stables.
"Like your middle name." He spoke quietly, almost to himself, but she had heard him. Blushing she ran out of the stables and into the school.
The rest of the day was mildly uneventful for Clary. Jonathan did as he had promised, and walked her to everyone of her classes. In her 'runes and their meanings' class Clary met two shadow hunters called Simon Starkweather and Isabelle Lightwood. She quickly made friends with them, as they noticed that they had all their classes together. All through the morning people had been giving her sideways glances, and had been murmuring things like 'she's the girl with the rune power.' I mean they weren't wrong. A year ago, Clary had discovered that she could create new runes. Her power had already helped many Clave members. Clary guessed this power was a side effect of the angle blood. It wasn't until lunch that things began to get interesting.
Clary walked out into the front of the school with Simon and Iz at either side of immediately spotted Jonathan and walked up to him. All of a sudden Isabelle froze beside her.
"What's up Iz?" Clary asked concerned. She noticed that Izzy had lost much of the colour from her face. To Clary, Isabelle was gorgeous, even at their age. She had raven coloured hair, which fell almost to her waist. Her brown eyes were large and were rimmed by a small amount of eyeliner. Compared to Clary, Isabelle was massive, at least a head hight taller.
"T-That's m-my br-brother over there." She pointed towards Alec. Of course, his name was Alexander Lightwood, Clary had completely forgotten. Simon stared at the pair, slightly confused.
"And that's a problem because..." Little did Simon know Alec Lightwood was a complete and utter ass. He was a complete idiot, always talking bad about his family, and especially his sister. Trying to be supportive she linked arms with Isabelle and smiled up at her. At the gesture, Isabelle began to regain some of her colour. Simon stared on still confused.
"Your right Si. It's not a problem." She was now back to her confident Izzy. She strode forward practically dragging Clary, whist Simon ran to keep up with them. When they reached the group Isabelle plonked herself down right next to Alec, unintentionally pushing Clary right up against Jace. Clary felt her face redden and looked away, hoping to avoid being spotted. Luckily Alec and Izzy's argument was much more interesting.
"Izzy! Why are YOU here!" He spat the words out like they pained him to say. Clary stared on in shock as they began to bicker, throwing all sort of words back and forth until eventually Jonathan broke them up.
"Alec, they are here because i told Clarissa to stay with me so i could keep an eye on her. I suppose she must had befriended Isabelle." Always the diplomat, Clary thought harshly. Soon the lunch hour was over and everyone was retreating back inside.
The next, and last lesson of the day was the more physical aspect of shadow hunting. Or as Izzy called it, ' the kick ass part.' Walking into the main gymnasium Clary's breathing hitched, as did Izzy's and Simon's. the whole gym was outfitted to be a perfect training grounds. In the centre of gym was a square of thick, plush mats. At one end of the hall their was a large rock climbing was and at the other end, an entanglement of balance beams and blocks. The walls were decorated with all kinds of swords, daggers, arrows and whips. From their earlier conversations, Clary had learnt the Izzy favoured the whip, whilst Simon, favoured a bow and arrows. Clary tended to be good with just about anything, but she had a special talent for the bow staff. For her 5th birthday she had gotten a special on which was sharpened at either ends.
"Alright class, settle down." A young man called from his spot in the corner. As he got closer Clary began to recognise him. Blonde hair, golden eyes. Oh my god, this is Jace's dad.
"Hello, My name is Stephen Herondale, but you may call me Stephen. I am covering today for you usual teacher. Hodge." Mr Herondale spoke kindly towards his students. Running his gaze through the class his eyes landed on, non other than Clarissa Morgensten. Clary was slightly worried when she saw him staring at her, but soon enough his gaze pulled away.
"Today will be your first assessment day. I want you to come out here, pick a weapon, and give it all you've got." Clary looked around and saw the determined faces of her classmates. But who were they fighting?
"Umm...Mr Herondale, sir, who-who will we be fighting?" A girl asked from the front row. Her mousy brown hair and curvy physique told Clary that this must be the infamous, Aline Penhallow. At her question Mr Herondales lips pulled up into, a classic Jace smirk.
"Why, me of course." Their were many audible gasps. Some of the students now looked terrified, whilst others looked more determined that ever.
"Okay...how about you Mr Blackwood." The trembling Blackwood boy wove his way out of the crowd, and towards Stephen.
"Weapon of choice?" He asked the cowering boy.
"Umm...Seraph blades." The boy walked over the wall and pick up two blades. When Stephen pulls out his blades, they both donned their fighting stances and their off. Clary could see that Mr Herondale was holding back, but that still didn't take away from the intensity of the fight, until finally it was over.
"Hmm, i'll hive you a 6 out of 10." Mr Herondale scribbled down the number and proceeded to ask all the other students to fight. Clary had zoned out until she heard her name.
"Clarissa Morgensten." Clary froze at the mention of her name. Luckily Izzy and Simon manage to push her forward enough to get her to snap out of it.
"Ah, Miss Morgenstern, weapon of choice?" Stephens voice echoed in the sikent hall. Clary scanned the walls, until she finally saw what she wanted.
"Bow staff." She spoke clearly and confidently, despite the butterflies in her stomach. Many people, including Mr Herondale, looked taken back by her obscure weapon choice. Striding towards the table with the Bow's on, Clary tried to ignore the obvious staring of her classmates. She picked up two Bow staff's and handed one to Stephen.
Clary took two deep breaths and donned her fight stance. Stephen mirrored her position.
"Ready...go!" Stephen shouted. Unlike most of the other kids, Clary didn't attack straight away. From observing Mr Herondale fight, she noticed he was weaker on his right side. Twisting to face his right side, she sent a quick suggestion of jabs, before quickly moving away. All of her shots hit the target. Stephen smiled at her, obviously realising, she was more of a challenge than the others. He stepped forward, attacking Clary's left lighting fast. Before he had a chance to hit Clary had blocked his move, and intwined their staff's together. Flicking her wrist she disarmed Stephen. Everyone in the class was watching her in complete ore, but she wasn't done. She did a front flip straight over Stephen, and slashed at his knee's, making him fall. She then stood above him with her bow pointed at his heart, and a girly smile on her lips.
"Hmm, Clarissa, i think you deserve...a 9." She stepped off of him still smiling and walked over to her friends. In the end Clary had the highest score of 9, followed by Izzy, Simon and Aline, all on 7. When the end of day bell rang everyone jostled their way out of the classrooms, and either into the stables, or outside into Alicante.
When Clarissa arrived, she noticed that Thanatos, and Finlay, were gone. They have probably gone home without me.Clary thought. Deciding bot to wait and find out, Clary saddled up Adele, and began to canter home.
She was just on the outskirts of Alicante, when she heard a voice.
"someone, please help me." It was little more than a whisper, but Clary still heard it. following she pleas she came into a large clear meadow. Their was a small pool of water in one end, and a large cave, connected to the mountains at the other. Clary scanned the tree line until she saw it. Dragon demon.
"please come and help me. Someone, ANYONE." Clary watched in shock at the demon tried to pull it wing from underneath a boulder. It was clearly broken in more than one place. Cautiously, Clary pushed Adele forward, until they were only a meter away from it.
"Ah! Shadow hunter! Help me please. She going to kill me." That's when Clary realised, it was the dragon calling for help. Jumping off of Adele, Clary pulled out her stele and approached the beast.
"Calm down, i'm not going to hurt you." She cooed gentle. At her words the dragon seemed to relax slightly.
"You mean...you can understand me?" The dragon asked curiously. Clary had now figured our, that this particular dragon was a girl.
"Yes i can understand you. Now I'm gonna help you out of this, but you have to promise not to kill me." The dragon did the equivalent of chuckle.
"My dear, if you can understand me, i have no reason to kill you." Taking this as a sign of hope, Clary leant on the rock, and placed one of her destruction runes onto it. Once she had walked away from the boulder, it exploded, and shattered in a million, tiny pieces. The dragon rose up, and shook it's body slightly.
"Thank you! thank you so much. I'll always be indebted to you." Clary took a moment to admire the dragons beauty. With it's head as high as it could stretch, it was about 10 foot tall. It's scales were a silvery black, which reflected into the afternoon sun. It's wings stretched out and revealed a line of feathers which, stretched from the tip of the wind, to the base. Looking at it's face, Clary saw that it's eyes were a silver colour, surrounded by coal-black scales. The dragons chest was radiating a dim orange light. That must be where her fire comes from. The dragon cautiously took a few steps towards Clary, with it's head bowed. Something urged Clary forward, until she was face to face with the dragon. Slowly the leaned forward until their foreheads touched.
"Clarissa Morgenstern, my name is Nyx. I am now tied to your life source. If you die, i die. If i die however, you do not." The dragon spoke in a clear voice. All of as sudden, Clary felt, what she thought was, a cord wrap around her heart and pull her towards Nyx. Clary was now connected to the most fearsome type of demon, in the world.