Flammie Tales Book 1: A Wizard's Trial

Chapter 2: The History

"You see, Skyler, around 2000 years ago is when I first hatched and took my first look at the world. It just so happened that my brother, Mana, hatched from his egg at the same time as I did. We were both pure of heart.

About a week later, Mana wandered off and stumbled over what seemed to be a shadowy violet crystal. He kept it a secret to our parents and elders because he thought they would take his find away and claim it as their own.

Many years passed and Mana still managed to keep his stone a secret to everyone including me. It was a shock to everyone when they caught Mana suggesting we take over the world. He was also starting to get darker in color. Every day his fur would get darker and darker until it was a dark violet like his crystal. When his fur had finally changed completely, the flammie elders searched and found out about his stone. They called it a "shadow crystal" and said it was evil and anyone who was exposed to it for too long would become evil as well.

Mana was eventually able to escape with his crystal to take on the human race by himself. I was the only one who could stop him because we were two special flammies. I was the world's last hope, and, at the expense of my own life, I was able to cast Mana to the void. This was my first death."

"Wait, first death?" I gasped. "So, you have lived and died multiple times?"

"Well, yeah. You see though my body may pass, I and my brother were cursed to be reborn again and again because of the conflict between us. When one of us dies, our souls are simply cast into the void to wait for a time when we can be reborn. We usually, however, don't normally retain our memories of our past lives. In my second life, the legend of my brother and my battle had all but passed into ancient history, but all was not over.

We were, once again, brought into this world as twins, but this time, Mana's fur was dark violet from the beginning. Seeing this, the elders cast both of us out of the tribe.

We were soon discovered by a fairly old male human. He had studied where we came from and he had actually found the flammie camp! You should have seen the look on his face to see that there was a whole world of animals that he had never seen before.

After about a week of studding us, the elders and other flammies for some reason didn't really care, he wrote a note to someone, packaged us in a box, and shipped us all the way to his nephew, Alex.

I don't remember much about the trip there, but I do remember what happened when Alex opened the box. I was a little intimidated at first, but then I surprised him by jumping on him, bowling him over to the ground, and I could just sense that he had a pure heart.

Alex tried to get the same result from Mana, but Mana bit his hand and flew away. A bunch of stuff happened, but I'll just jump to where it gets important again. A few days later, Alex had learned buckets full of what flammies are.

He had also learned that the flammie bite he had received was transforming him into a flammie. He accepted this after I showed him flying from my point of view. Maybe we can do it sometime. I can guarantee you would enjoy it ... but back to the story.

Alex's first day of being a flammie, he had to learn how to fly and other things, but something awful happened, we had to battle Mana. Though Alex survived without even a scratch, Mana managed to do enough damage to kill me, but not before I was able to get him too. This was my second death."

"Wow. That's sad. I suppose you don't know what happened to Alex after that. And I would like to try seeing through your eyes sometime." I paused for a moment to let the rest of the story sink in. There were two things that had been nagging at me. "So you said that a flammie bite transforms a human into a flammie right?"

"Yeah. I'm glad you're listening. Don't get your hopes up though. You have to learn to be a wizard and save the world before I could do such a rash thing to you."

(Once again foiled by responsibility!) "Yeah I suppose. Another thing that has been bothering me. How hard is it to actually kill a flammie?"

"Well, it certainly isn't easy. So difficult that many people believed that the only way to kill a flammie was if its heart and brain died at the same time. While this is true, we also die if we receive more injury than our bodies can handle. Most injuries we can usually recover from much faster than pretty much any other being, but in enough damage is done quickly enough, we will die."

"I get it. So it's not that he just happened to get lucky, he actually beat you up pretty bad. Anyway, were you reborn any other times other than today?"

"Yes, twice actually. The second time I was reborn is somewhat tricky to explain. It was me, but at the same time, it wasn't me. I had actually merged with a human to give my body life. He submitted willingly of course. Our two souls inhabited the same body as one soul. He was me and I was him, but he's long gone by now.

The third happened much like the first. Mana and I were born as twins in a flammie tribe that promptly threw us out. As usual, we had no memories of our past lives, but due to the shadow crystal's influence, Mana was still evil. We were playing around with what was obviously a human trap, seeing if we could get the carrot inside it out without actually springing the trap.

Not long into our playing, we noticed that we were being observed, but I don't think the human realized this. Mana's mind was made up as to what he was going to do with this human, and tricked me by springing the trap on me.

He then promptly bit the human's neck to let his crystal's evil envelop the human when he became a flammie. His name was Skyle Kelvin. He lay unconscious for many hours, but when he finally awoke, he promptly set me free. I had the same reaction I did with Alex two lives ago, but I still didn't know about that.

Later when Skyle had found out that his human life was coming to an end, he started strangling me, and I knew what I had to do. I pled for his forgiveness and promptly knocked him out and bit him to try to counteract the negative energies from Mana.

Then one night after Skyle had transformed, he promptly disappeared. I had no idea where or why at the time, but he was gone.

Meanwhile, Mana managed to transform almost every human in that town. To have any chance to survive, I, regrettably, had to transform some humans to become my friends and, in a way, my family.

I soon became pregnant and had to hide from Mana. If he got my eggs all would be lost. Skyle had finally showed up in that time and I was overjoyed to see him. He had witnessed me give birth, and as I fell into my deep 12 hour slumber, I trusted him not to watch over my children.

I was devastated to see that when I awoke, my eggs were gone and all my light flammie friends had been slaughtered. I started to cry over a picture of Skyler and I as I thought that I had lost my best friend, but when I saw him come to me, my mind jumped to the worst possible scenario in which Skyle had actually been the one to steal my eggs, and he was the one who ORDERED the attack on my friends and family.

When Skyler finally explained the truth to me, I found that I was right, but when he had ordered this to happen, he had been under the influence of Mana and didn't know the extent of which he was ordering.

He had recently broken free of Mana's hold of him and came to try to get help to retrieve my eggs. He was a changed flammie. He could now control the powers of the shadow, and had the mighty holy breath. Together, we were able to defeat Mana and his goons, but were forced to live on a secluded island in the Caribbean never to be found.

We lived a long and happy life there, occasionally trying to get a human to join our ranks, and I eventually died. I don't remember exactly how though. This was my third death."

"Wow Seryn ... That's ... tragic. So, I assume that you were reborn with the memory of your past lives when my book summoned you?"

"That'd be my best guess. Like I said, I usually don't remember my past lives at all. I wasn't exactly born naturally this time, though." She sighed slightly. "Any more questions you have for me?"

"Actually one." I responded happy to change the subject. "You mentioned before that you get more beautiful when you absorb moonlight. You actually said that right after I …" I blushed slightly, "After I thought that you looked cute. Did you actually read my mind? Is that something flammies can do?"

She chuckled. "No. I didn't read your mind and can't. But I can read your feelings. You were in a bit of a state of awe, so I just kind of guessed on what you might be thinking."

"Oh. That makes sense. So you're not a mind reader, you're an emotion reader. Right?"

"Yeah, but it goes a little further than that. I know what you are feeling, because I can feel what you're feeling. Haven't you noticed that while you're around me, your mind seems to get flooded with a color that makes you feel a certain way?"

"Yeah. It's kind of weird that I'm all of a sudden associating emotions with certain colors."

"Maybe for you, but for me it's normal. Those color coordinated feelings are coming from me. I feel what you feel, and you feel what I feel. That's how it is with all flammies."

"Okay … but how do you tell the difference from your own feelings from the feelings of others?"

"Because we can also feel where the feelings are coming from. You'll know what I mean after a week or two. You just don't get it now because it's so new to you."

"Fair enough." We continued to chat for several hours until it was well after sunset. Seryn was looking anxious and glancing out the window several times before she finally couldn't bear it anymore.

"Skyler, I hate to cut this conversation short, but would it be alright with you if I went outside and flew around a bit? Just to, y'know, get some moonlight. It's been about 200 years since I last did it, and I really want to again."

"You don't have to ask me to do that. Just saying that you want to go for a flight is good enough for me. This does seem like a perfect time to show me the world through your eyes, don't you think?"

"That's a great idea! Just sit down and I'll get the process started."

I walked over to my couch and sat down to get ready for what Seryn was about to do. I was not expecting the feeling I had next. I felt as though my mind was being carefully removed from my body and placed into another. I realized that this was Seryn performing the "operation" and tried to just go along with it instead of fighting.

Soon she and I had a constant mind link, and I was suddenly filled with emotions, colors, and memories. I didn't expect to see memory of a wizard by the name of Karmen Aridos. Aridos...Aridos... where had I heard ... no read that name before? Wait! It was the author of my spell book. How did Seryn know about Aridos?

"All in due time Skyler."

For a moment, this confused me, but then I realized that I could feel her thoughts, memories, and emotions, so why wouldn't she be able to feel mine?

It wasn't long before I couldn't feel my own body at all, or for that matter, even see. It may seem strange, but instead, I began to feel Seryn's body as if it was my own, and literally see through Seryn's eyes. We were two minds, two souls both inhabiting the same body. We were still separate, but at the same time, not. She did, however, keep herself in a more dominate state, and didn't let me directly control her body even if I tried.

Seryn and I were on our way out the door to fly and gather some moonlight for energy. I felt my ... or ... our wings extend to prepare for lift off. It only took a few flaps and we were already over 200 feet in the air! This was simply incredible! The feeling of flight without limitations, complimented with the instant energy flammies get when they absorb moonlight. This is what freedom truly feels like. True freedom and energy that is totally and completely free.

Mankind has always had to work for their food, but this "moon energy" the flammies survived on was truly free. I was having such a wonderful time, I didn't even notice my … that is, Seryn's fur get even more fantastic. The feeling of the energy and flying was so thrilling that I quickly lost track of time and my grip on reality as I kind of fell asleep while still one with Seryn.

When I regained my senses, the first thing I noticed was that I was back in my own body. I was a little disappointed until I opened my eyes and saw something that was truly marvelous. I thought Seryn was pretty before, but her fur then was DULL compared to what it looked like now. She had flown my mind home and placed me back into my own body. She then curled up on the floor next to me and fell asleep as well. I reached out a hand to stroke her neck, and when I touched her, she stirred and awoke.

"Good morning Skyler. Did you sleep well?"

Somehow I knew that, for the most part, she new exactly how I slept because she could feel me sleeping while flying. "Yes I did thank you. Last night was amazing! I never would have imagined that flying was that enjoyable. That reminds me, how long did you continue flying after I 'fell asleep?'"

"I continued to absorb moonlight for about 2 or 3 hours, and then I landed back where we took off and gently nudged your mind back into your body.

Flying is an amazing experience, and maybe, just maybe when you have fulfilled your destiny, I could ... no. I'll tell you at another time."

"Okay. What do you think we should do now?"

"Actually, it's time for you to continue your wizard training. How about cracking open the book and seeing what lesson 4 has in store from you?"

The moment she mentioned the book her eyes gleamed. I also remembered he memory of Aridos. What was she hiding from me? She wouldn't tell me now, so I figured I'd do as she suggested and continue my training. I looked on my table where I had left the book before, and sure enough, it was right there. I opened it to lesson 4.

"Lesson 4: Casting your first spell

Good morning Skyler and Seryn! Skyler, are you ready to cast your first spell? But wait! You still need to choose what element it will be. You as an aether wizard have the ability to master all 6 basic elements, and the sub-elements that come with them. Choose the element you want to start with and turn the page."

Hmm ... element to start with ... I wonder what Seryn thinks.

"I think you should start with fire. I've heard that it's the easiest to master, and since you are learning all six, what's the harm?"

I decided to take Seryn's advice and start with fire. I turned the page and the writing that appeared said:

"Fire it is then! Take me outside where we can practice."

I did as the book suggested and moved outside so I wouldn't burn any of my belongings. When we were outside the text on the book read like this:

"To cast your first fire spell, Fireball:

Step 1: Have your staff at the ready.

Step 2: Change the color of your aura to that of the spell (in this case, red) simply by imagining your aura that color and willing it to be true.

Step 3: Focus on the crystal tip of your staff and move the aura there.

Step 4: Gather as much red aura in the crystal as you can.

Step 5: Swing your staff to propel what then becomes fire."

With Seryn to read the steps to me, I found it much easier than I originally thought it would be. True, I failed to get the intended effect the first few times, but that was normal. The third time's the charm though. When I swung my staff I heard a massive crackling and opened my eyes to see a very large fireball going right where I had intended it. I had mastered the Fireball spell! It fizzled out before it caught anything on fire.

"Congratulations Sky! You learned your first spell, and with it, you also learned how to cast spells. Many other spells should come very easily to you from now on, and mastering even new elements will be easy for talent like that. I've seen some humans become wizards, but none of them were able to cast a spell on their third try!"

"Thank you, Seryn! Your praise means a lot to me." I was so extremely happy to be "ahead of my class" in magic. The next thing, though, I could never have predicted.

"I think you're ready now. I'm going to tell ... no. I'm going to show you how I now Karmen Aridos. I'm going to bring you into my memories now. Don't worry about sitting down or anything though. I'll make it so we both are in our separate bodies and physically inside my memories of Aridos. Are you ready?"

END OF CHAPTER 2!

Author's Ending Notes: And another one … bites … the … dust? That doesn't really make sense… Anyway, yet another chapter read through and re-edited. Lots was removed, and lots was added. I think I may actually be making this worthwhile to re-read unlike my previous edits in which I merely changed a few words or phrases to make correct things I wanted to say earlier unless someone decided to go back and check…

Look out for:

Chapter 3: The Evil