Young Writers Society

*okay, here it goes*

Allikard -- Fire light spirit

The sudden release of energy from the Blood Tree's demise allowed Allikard to appear in a severely limited form to a person of his choosing. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed some help to get free from the dark spirits. After he was free, he would take the fight to them and destroy them all one-by-one but that was thinking a bit too far ahead.

Allikard had heard in his travels of a City of Fire and he thought that if anyone, some people with access to fire powers would be the best bet to his freedom. He appeared in front of a young girl with brown hair and green eyes. In his 'infinite' knowledge of other beings on the planet he was able to make out that she was the heir of something... Other than that, she didn't look to special to him. Beside her was a snake that hissed in his presence.

She didn't cower in fear like others did when he appeared before them and that surprised him. Allikard thought he understood humans: They are afraid of fire spirits. This one made him rethink all that he knew. He took a moment to look at himself. He didn't look like his usual self, his armor didn't have the same glow, his sword was missing even though it would have been useless anyways since he wouldn't be able to touch anything much less kill them in this form. Maybe that was why she wasn't scared. She didn't recognize him as the great fire spirit Allikard.

"Do you know who I am?" Allikard asked.

"Allikard." The girl said simply, "the spirit of fire."

"That is correct." He was confused now. She still wasn't intimidated. He decided to press on, "Now, since you know who I am, might I ask who you are."

"Sariena," She said without taking her eyes from him. The snake continued to hiss at him.

"You are brave. Fitting for a fire warrior, but I fear that your mortal strength may be no match for what I need of you. Where is your army?" She shrugged, "That's helpful." Allikard said, "I do not have much time, so I must be brief. The Blood Tree has been destroyed which allowed me to appear to you to tell you this. Me and the other light spirits have been trapped by the dark spirits and they have been harnessing our powers for themselves. The other light spirits have said that you mortals may be our only means of escape but I am doubtful. From what I have seen from mortals, you are all weak and easily crushed, but I have no choice but to put my trust into you. You must find us and free us so that we may battle the dark spirits and exact revenge."

The girl, Sari -- something from what Allikard remembered said nothing. This concerned him. Sure, she may have the right attitude for a warrior, but mortals are just that. Mortals. He didn't understand how the other spirits could have so much faith in them. He disappeared from the girl and appeared back in the prison. Perhaps he could still find a way out himself. Relying on others always seemed cowardly to him.

*sorry for highjacking your character temporarily, Isha. Though from what I read in the bio, I shouldn't be too off the mark with her. *

Mika

Leaning against a tree opposite of Mikaia, I eat my half of a fig. "So...," I mutter, "why do you think he did it?"

"Huh?" Mikaia looks up.

"Our father? Burning down the freaking blood tree?" I feel a stab of betrayal as I say the words.

"I know as well as you do," she sighs.

Frustrated, I drop my fig and walk over to the ashes of the tree. Then I spot a piece of unburned bark with something dark on it. I pick it up and squint at it curiously. There are dark marks, marks that form themselves into words... "Mikaia, come over here!" I shout. She drops her half of the fig and runs over.

"What is it?" she asks.

"It's a note...with our names on it..." I hesitate before hastily adding "in dad's handwriting." My sister blinks in shock and snatches it out of my hands.
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Mikaia

Hands trembling, I hold up the piece of bark and squint to read the words on it.

"Dearest Mika and Mikaia," I read, "you both probably hate me right now. What I did was reckless, but necessary. You have to understand what I did was for a reason...this is bullshit," I mumble, looking back up at Mika. He makes a face.

"It is...but just read what it says next." I am curious.

"Okay, I'll give it to you when I'm done," I tell him.

Dearest Mika and Mikaia,

You both probably hate me right now. What I did was reckless, but necessary. You have to understand what I did was for a reason. My blood was on the tree this morning, and though I've known for some time what would have to happen, I didn't want to alarm anyone. The dark spirits have been freed and have been harnessing energy in the Blood tree to destroy the five cities.

What they could have done with that energy is hard to say, but they could have created all sorts of disasters - tsunamis; avalanches; forest fires; sand storms; and no doubt Mt. Carmah would have erupted, destroying the Sand City as well as the Fire City.

I know you're wondering what happened to the light spirits. They're trapped by the dark spirits. Where they are is unknown, but they're vital to stopping the dark spirits. If an entire generation of people with royal blood band together with the light spirits, they can trap the dark spirits again forever.

If my time hadn't come, I would have gone to all the leaders myself and we would have done the search for the light spirits. Unfortunately, my time has come. I have no choice but to ask you two do this. Find all the heirs, search for the light spirits, and save us all. The fate of the five cities rests on your shoulders. Don't let me down. Make me proud. I love you both.

~Zareb

I lower the bark from my face. This can't be real. "What? What is it?" asks Mika, sensing my uneasiness. Wordlessly, I hand him the piece of bark. He reads it over twice, then looks back at me in shock. "Us?" he chokes out.

"Yes," I sigh. "Should we tell mother? Or should we just go?" We both know the answer to that. Leaving is easier. It will strike panic, but it won't give us the chance to back out.

"We won't strike more shock in the people than there is already...the other cities are probably in panic, too. The red smoke can only be from one tree, and that is the blood tree," Mika says. "We leave tonight."

"Tonight," I agree. "I'm going to go enjoy my fig...in the canopy. I'll come down after sunset."

Scura

Well...shit.

Our plan was absolutely flawless, absolutely perfect. Then some fool who couldn't keep his destructiveness to himself had to go and burn down our power source.

"Well," I said quietly to Gerdy, "at least we have the light spirits captured. That may at least buy us a little bit of time."

'But what will we do without the Blood Tree?' He asked.

I growled quietly and looked at him with burning eyes. "We'll figure it out when it becomes absolutely necessary." He shied away and I slowly looked ahead of me. "At least we are not the only ones impacted by the tree's destruction."

My yellow eyes turned to the direction of the ashes of the tree and a faint smile crossed my lips.

Logan:

Dusk and I sat there on the sand looking out towards the forest where the smoke had been rising from. "Logan," Dusk whispered "What do you think happened?" I shook my head and said "I don't know Dusk. I don't know." She dug her hand under the sand and when she lifted her hand she let the grains of sand slowly trickle between her fingers, something she always does when she's thinking.

After a brief pause Dusk said "I suppose we'll find out soon. But-" I continued for her with "we don't know whether or not it's what actually happened-" Dusk finished with "or a fractured version of the truth." I nodded and said "Exactly."

With a sigh Dusk lay down in the sand and I did the same. She reached over and traced on of the symbols on the golden part of my arm band. "You said this is lucky, right?" With a singed nod I said "Uh-huh." She sighed and said "Well, I guess we'll see if it really is lucky."

Mikaia

"Mika! Mikaia! It's getting late," shouts our mother.

"We'll be down in a minute, mom!" I answer from mid-tree. Mika is on the branch next to me. We're completely secluded in the mass of leaves around us.

"Come on," I whisper to Mika and leap silently to the next tree over. He does the same, but slips and the leaves rustle loudly. "Careful!" He doesn't spend nearly as much time up here as I do. Mika only shrugs and moves slower. At the very least he's more discreet.

***You got her down nicely by the way!****

Sariena

I frowned, staring at the spot the spirit had been only moments before. Shesh was flicking his tongue, trying to gather a scent that wouldn't be there. I was busy asking myself what to do now. I could go back to the tribe and ponder things in my tent, but I wasn't in the mood to be around so many people. I could wander away to the City of Trees, but that would take much too long.

So I was stuck here, stunned into silence. (Though I would never admit I was stunned. Sariena simply isn't stunned.) Shesh turned his head to face me, tilting it to one side. The snake was more a dog than anything else, or so he was around me.

"What do you think I should do?" I murmured, staring at him for a moment. Of course he didn't answer.

Weak. The word was echoing in my mind. Over and over again, and to be honest, it was almost intimidating. Weak...I suppose that he had a right to think that, being some all-mighty spirit, but did he honestly doubt us that much? Mortals were capable of more than Allikard seemed to give us credit for.


Freeing the light spirits was quite the task of course. I refused to let the fact that they were captive intimidate me. If I was going to aid in freeing them, I couldn't let myself be distracted by my fears. Fear got in the way of things--important things--like the little quest I was apparently about to embark on.

MIKA

I followed my sister, deeper into the rain forest. She moves a lot faster then me, but at least I wasn't making enough noise to wake up the dead. Which seemed to be enough to keep her happy. It was getting dark, I was getting tired, and I could tell by how slow she was getting that so was she. We had been moving for hours. I turned to her.
"I think we should stop and sleep for the night." I suggested. She nodded in agreement.

Sheker


I was fuming. The Blood Tree had been burned, our plans ruined. I could feel my anger throbbing in my chest, but I kept my face as smooth as stone. I turned around and walked up a sand dune, careful not to fall.

At the peak of the dune, I raised my golden crossbow up, pointed it at someone down at the bottom of the dune. I got ready to release and at the last moment, I raised my crossbow a centimeter lower. The arrow went flying and purposely missed the passer-by but only by inches, sticking out on an angle in the sand. The person looked up and I could see now it was a boy, about sixteen or seventeen. I stared straight at him and then, pulling my crossbow close to me, I ran down the opposite end of the dune.

The boy had done no wrong, I shouldn't have sent an arrow at him. Now, angry at both myself and Zareb, the one who had burned the tree, I let loose a couple more arrows randomly. I sat down in the sand, smoothing out my bland dress. I placed my crossbow beside me and twiddled my topaz ring round and round my finger. One thing was for sure: somehow and someway I needed to punish someone for the burning of the tree...but who?
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First SB post ever, and if I messed anything up, please tell me

Lavender, did you shoot at Logan or just some random guy?

Anyone??