Chapter 1

My name's Phoenix. My whole life changed when I was 10 years old. Lemme tell you what happened. I was just hanging out at the campfire pit, when I was about to put it out, it flashed blue. I stopped and stared at it in wonder.

"Blue? But how?" I leaned closer, then it became blue again, but this time it stayed blue. I could see blurry images. I furrowed my brow in confusion. I brought one of the chairs closer to the fire and sat in it. The images were still blurry, but as time went on, I could see them getting clearer and clearer. I could see many, many people. Those many, many people were fighting against... 4? Wait, what? The images went away and the fire went back to normal. I sat back in my chair, wondering what the heck I just saw. My Mom came up to me.

"Phoenix, what's wrong? You look lost." I described to her what just happened. "It sounds like you just read fire. Phoenix, come with me a second." I followed Mom to the living room after extinguishing the fire. I sat on the couch as she took out a book from the top of the bookshelf. She sat next to me as she flipped through the pages.

"What are you doing Mom?"

"There's a prophecy in this book about someone who will become the first Priestess to the fledgling gods. There are 4 gods who were born into this world. They are your age actually. Ah, here it is. 'Alongside the 4 gods there will be a Priestess. One who works with fire.' It might just be you Nix. Let's take you to the gods' residence. I wonder if their mother, Angrec, would know any more?" Mom stood and put the book back and I followed her to get Dad. He was working in the tool shed. "Xavier, Phoenix has shown some fire reading abilities. We need to go to the gods." Dad turned to us.

"You might be the Priestess huh? Well, let's not waste any time then." The gods reside on the top of the cliff behind our village. We three climbed the cliff and made our way to the gigantic building waiting for us at the top. As we approached the door I started to become nervous. As the doors opened, I took Mom's hand and got closer to her. We went in to see the 4 fledgling gods and their mother, Angrec.

"Who have we here? The child, what is her name?" Angrec asked.

"Phoenix ma'am," I replied very shyly and scared.

"Phoenix huh? I like it. Nice and strong. Come here child." I looked at Mom and Dad and they nodded. Tentatively I made my way over to Angrec. She took my hands in hers. She went into a trance, what's happening? It lasted a few minutes, then she looked at my parents. "Your child is the prophesied Priestess. She read fire before coming here, right?"

"Yes, she did," Mom replied.

"What did you see Phoenix?"

"I saw lots of people fighting against only 4 people. I think the 4 might have been Aianite, Ianite, Dianite, and Mianite."

"A war huh? Do you know how far into the future?"

"I think they were older adults. So not for another many years."

"I see. Parents, what are your names?"

"I'm Lily."

"I'm Xavier," Mom and Dad both answered at the same time.

"Lily, Xavier, your daughter will need to live here and train to control her Priestess powers." Mom and Dad looked at each other, then me. Dad knelt down.

"Do you think you can live away from home Phoenix?"

"I can do it Dad, I'm 10. I'm not a baby anymore."

"No, you're not. But you're our only child."

"That doesn't mean I'm still a baby though," I pouted.

"If you keep pouting like that, you'll be treated like one. That's what babies do, isn't it?" Mom pointed out. I sighed. She does have a point...

"Fine. You're right. If I'm gonna be a big kid like I am, I gotta stop pouting. I also need to be good for Angrec. I gotta do better. Dad, I can do it. I can live away from home. Plus, it's not like I'm never gonna see you guys again." They both smiled and nodded.

"Brave girl. Optimistic too. You're gonna do great things child. Go pack your things and be back here in the morning. I would like you to officially meet your future gods whom you will serve under when you're bright eyed and bushy tailed."

"Yes ma'am. Thank you. I'll see all of you in the morning." Aianite and Ianite smiled at me and the boys inclined their heads. I went back home with Mom and Dad and as soon as I got in the door, I got to packing everything. I'm very excited to be able to live with the gods and Angrec, their mother. This is going to be super fun! Little did I know, it wasn't going to be all fun and games. After I finished packing, it was most definitely time for bed. I got changed and went to say good night to Mom and Dad.

"Good night Nix." After kisses good night, I went back to my room and into bed. I was too excited to sleep though. I wanted to sleep though, so after a lot of tossing and turning, I finally fell asleep. In what felt like no time, Mom was waking me up. I took ages getting out of bed. Eventually I made my way to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Well good morning there sleepy head," Dad commented.

"Mornin'," I replied groggily. I sat at the table and Mom put a plate of breakfast down. I dug in, hungry. After breakfast I got my shower, now fully awake and ready to go to train. I grabbed my bags and brought them out.

"I'm ready!" Dad helped me load my stuff onto the cart and wheeled it up to the top of the cliff with Mom's help. I tried to help, but I was still too small. As we reached the top, the fledgling gods were all outside playing under Angrec's supervision. As we approached, Angrec looked our way and smiled.

"Welcome back Phoenix, Lily, Xavier. Good morning to you all."

"Good morning," we replied.

"My, you've packed your whole room, haven't you?" I giggled.

"Yeah. I mean, I'll be living here now, so why not?"

"Fair point. Children, could you help us unload Phoenix's belongings into her room?" The fledgling gods all looked up and came over. Angrec showed us all where my room is going to be. It was rough going up the stairs, but we made it. We had to take a breather before continuing. It seemed my room was going to be next to Aianite and Ianite's room. Interesting. The boys are just down the hall on the opposite side and Angrec's is next to the boys' rooms. I'm kiddie corner across from Angrec's room and the girls are kiddie corner across from the boys. The cart stayed outside my room as everyone helped me bring in my belongings into the room. It didn't take that long, we had a fair amount of people helping. After we finished, we went back downstairs, but to the sitting room. The cart stayed outside of the room.

"Phoenix, now you may meet the gods. Lily, Xavier, you as well. Aianite, Mianite, Dianite, and Ianite, in order of birth."

"Nice to meet you," we said. They inclined their heads.

"Can we play today Angrec?" I asked.

"You may, but tomorrow you'll be working on your Priestess powers." I grinned and bounced in my seat. I stood up.

"C'mon guys, let's go outside!" The girls seemed more eager than the boys, but the boys came out too.

"So, what can we play with 5 of us?" I asked.

"Hmm, well... we like to use our powers a lot. Do you have any powers Phoenix?" Aianite asked.

"I can read fire, that's about it."

"Right, do you think you could show us?"

"I could try." The fledgling gods led me to their campfire pit and Dianite used his fire power to light it. We all sat around it and I gazed into the fire. What could I see? The fire turned blue and grew in brightness. The young gods were surprised. I could see images, blurry, slowly coming into focus. I saw two people bestowing more people with something stick-like. What? The two people then waved the stick things they had and one made blocks appear and one made fire appear. My fire died out. Confusion was written all over my face.

"What did you see?" Ianite asked. I told them what I saw. They all looked at each other.

"This sounds important. Let's tell Mother," Mianite said. We all nodded and got up, rushing to tell Angrec.

"Angrec, Angrec, I just saw something that might be important." I relayed what I told the gods to Angrec, and after she took on a thoughtful look.

"It seems you just witnessed the first wizards of the world. The Dragon Architects must have found some people who are showing signs of being magical. Those sticks are called wands."

"Magic, huh? Dianite did magic. He made fire out of nothing, doesn't he need a wand?"

"No, he can make his powers appear with just his hands. Aianite does need a trident for her power over the ocean, Mianite doesn't have any powers, and Ianite can also bring forth her power through her hands."

"Whoa. Well, I guess it makes sense. They're gods. Gods are higher power than wizards, right?"

"Yes, they are. Gods are the highest power."

"Whoa... so... I'm the Priestess for the highest power beings in the world?"

"You are. Think you can do it?"

"Of course! I'm strong! I will work hard and be the best Priestess ever!" Angrec smiled.

"Good, because tomorrow, you'll need to get up early. You'll be training long and hard."

"Bring it on." The adults chuckled.

"Well Phoenix, we should get going back to the village. Be a good girl for Angrec, ok?" Mom said.

"I will." I hugged my parents, but didn't want to let go. Sure, I say I can do this, but it's going to be weird and different not having my parents around all the time. They noticed.

"Phoenix, are you sure you can do this?" Mom asked. I took a moment to think. I decided.

"Yes, I can. I need to. The gods need me. I'm their Priestess."

"Alright, and you did say yourself that it's not like you won't see us again. We believe in you Phoenix," Dad encouraged.

"Thanks Dad, Mom. Good bye, have a good day. I love you."

"We love you too Nix." They let me go and Dad grabbed the cart and they went down the cliff, back home. I turned to the gods and Angrec.

"May I unpack all my things Angrec?"

"Of course. Someone will come to get you for lunch." I nodded and went off to my room. I went over to my stuff and started unpacking, putting everything where they belong. Almost halfway through, Aianite came to my door and knocked softly.

"Come in." She came in and over to me.

"It's lunch time Phoenix. You hungry?"

"Yeah. Thanks Aianite." I stopped what I was doing and followed Aianite to the dining hall. It was a quiet journey, it seemed neither of us had anything to say to the other. We reached the dining hall and sat on opposite sides of the table across from each other. As lunch arrived, it looked amazing. Delicate finger sandwiches, those green olives with the red pits speared with a toothpick poked into said sandwiches, with rolled ham and turkey slices at the side of the plate. Dressings for the sandwiches have also been provided if we so choose, as well as various cheese slices.

I let everyone else go first, it's their house and I didn't want to seem too eager. After getting my serving, I dug in, minding my manners, of course. Man, this is delicious! After that delicious lunch, I went back to my room to unpack. It took me a couple hours to finish, but when I did, it felt good. I laid on my bed and rested for a couple minutes. When I felt it was good to get up, I went outside to see if the gods were outside playing. They were outside, but Dianite was being mischievous, Ianite was trying to keep the peace between Dianite and Mianite, and Aianite was standing aside, looking very unsure of things. I went over to her.

"What's going on?"

"Dianite's picking on Mianite. Nothing new, but now that we have powers, I don't know what's going to happen, if anyone's going to get hurt or not."

"I see, well I hope Ianite can get this settled well." It took a few minutes, but Ianite finally was able to keep the peace. Dianite moved on to another thing and Mianite looked relieved. He thanked Ianite and went on to his own thing, away from Dianite. Ianite came over to us. "You're really good at that Ianite."

"Thanks, I try. I just want everyone to get along... is that too much to ask?"

"Sometimes it feels that way, but people are people. There's always gonna be fights, but as long as they can make up, then things will be fine in the end."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but I can't help but try to mediate."

"Mediate?"

"Come between people in an argument in order to bring about an agreement." I nodded.

"Hey, Phoenix, wanna see our garden? It's so beautiful," Aianite suggested.

"Yeah!" Aianite and Ianite smiled and they led me to the garden. When we entered, boy, Aianite wasn't kidding. It's so beautiful.

"Wow! These flowers are so pretty!" I looked at all the flowers. There are so many! Ianite listed off all the flowers they've got. It's definitely a lot. Aianite, Ianite, and I played in the flower garden, being careful of the flowers, until dinner time. We went in and washed up before going to the dining hall. We took our same seats as lunch. Dinner came out and it looked just as good as lunch did. Juicy filet mignon served with buttery mashed potatoes, lengthy string beans, sauteed mushrooms, and assorted vegetables.

I did the same thing I did with lunch. I let the others go first, then I grabbed my serving. One bite and I was in heaven. This food is amazing. I don't mean to make my mom's food sound like it's awful, it's not. It's super delicious, but I think because this is food fit for gods, it might be why this food is even more amazing. After dinner I got my shower, brushed my teeth, and into bed after wishing everyone a good night. Angrec did tell me to get to bed early. I wondered what tomorrow will bring as I fell asleep.