Dark Fire

Chapter 1: A Friendly Morning

The pale moon glowed brightly in the night sky as the wind sped across a field of tulips. Not a single living thing dared to moved nor breathe; to afraid it would cause a change reaction in the silent crisp air thus being heard by what was coming. The wind continued to drift over the field and into the trees, making them join in its dance. As it brushed through the oaks, it met something it did not expect.

The wind circled around to get a better look, soaring high up into the night sky then plummeting down toward the sea of trees. A glint of silver sparkled up at it through the branches. Suddenly a strange odor collided with the wind, making it flow back across the field of tulips and up the other side of trees across the valley. Startled, the wind floated for a second then rushed viciously toward the silver sparkle but when it got halfway across the field it looped back and dashed away in the opposite direction, deciding it had had enough excitement for one night and its dance was needing to be spread.

In the trees, a creature of evil purity watched as a strong gust of wind blew away from the fields; and the creature's hiding place. A little relived and amused, the beast jumped down from a tall redwood oak, landing with a silent thud. It carefully stepped into the field, not even hearing its own footsteps. The scent of tulips filled its nostrils as well as another scent.

I'm getting close, it thought. Another gust of wind, smaller than the last, glided across the creature's scales as it snapped opened up its wings and took flight. Tulips shivered. Not from the cold of the night or the fluttering breezes, but from what had just happened, and what they could feel would happen in time to come.

RING RING RING!!! Tracy eyes snapped open. Her alarm clock yelled at her to wake up. Regretfully she did, but not without a price. She picked up the alarm clock and through it across the room. Just as it hit the wall across her room and she thought it was safe it go back to sleep, her brother came screaming into her room.

"Wake up, wake up sis! It's time to go to the beach today! Yes today! Remember!? Come on get up! You know people won't wait for you this time!" Her brother jumped onto her bed and continued yelling, "Come on! Lazy! Lazy! Lazy! You needs to get up! We going to the beach!"

Tracy had had enough. She threw her brother off her bed and grabbed her pillow as she chased him out of the room. "I will get up when I feel like it!" She yelled down the hall. Downstairs she could hear her mother yell up to her, "Tracy Ann Marie!? If you would ever like to see the outdoors again you will get your butt out of that bed and take your brother to the beach! You hear me young lady?!?!"

Tracy answered with the slamming of her bedroom door. But she knew she had no choice. So she picked up her alarm clock and placed it back on the blue night stand next to her bed, amazed it hadn't broken, but it has gone through a lot of abused since she got it a couple months ago.

Just then she remembered her dream. With the wind and the silver creature, it was quite a strange dream to have in the first place but the weird part was she thought she recognized the place in which it took place. 'Strange' she thought as she walked over to her dresser and picked her purple and black bikini and put a t-shirt and some shorts over it. Finally she shrugged off her dream thinking everyone gets a strange dream like that every once and a while.

A few minutes later, after some hard concentration of wake oneself up; she walked slowly down the stairs and into the kitchen where her brother Vince and her mom were eating breakfast at the table.

"Glad to see you up," her mom said handing her a piece of toast with cinnamon and sugar glazed on top of it.

"Yeah, what a joy," Tracy replied sarcastically. It was probably now eight in the morning on a Saturday and all Tracy could think was why the heck she got up this early on a freaking Saturday. She sat down next to her mom and ate her breakfast. Some people said that she looked exactly like her mom. Tracy herself thought differently. Even though they both had brown eyes Tracy's hair was way lighter and longer with a bit of blond shining through, giving it a dirty-blond sort of look while her mom had a dark brown. Not to mention a little gray hair here and there. Vince on the other hand had bright red hair that ended up a few shades darker after a day outside in the mud.

Tracy and her family lived in a small quite town way in the middle of nowhere with very few people but lots of friends. Most of her time was spent with her best friend Amy. The village, as they called it, was located in a vast valley between two mountain ranges. A lake rested not far from the village that was a popular place for the few kids and teenagers in the village. If you were to look at the area in which we lived it would look like a pie with two caved in holes, one above the other. The holes representing the lake and village, the crest of the pie is the mountains, and the rest is tree and forest that expands for miles.

Today she would be able to spend some time with her friends at the lake; along with her kid brother. She was also happy that he was coming because he really was fun to be around. Vince was nine, seven years younger than her but he was the best little brother anyone could have; sometimes. His red hair made him a mystery in the gene pool of my family but his green eyes were from my father and I was sure his future girlfriend would get lost in them, but only if she could get past my wrath.

Amy liked to tease him about that on sometimes when we are all together at my house. She also liked to tease Tracy about how her eyes seemed to change from light brown to dark green when they got wet. Lucky for Tracy she didn't cry that much or at all. The last time she could remember crying was when she lost her father to a pack of wolves five years ago. He had gone hunting to bring some food to the table but got separated from his buddies after wolves had threatened their camp. In the end he was the one who lured the wolves away from his friends so they could get to safety but in the end never made it back himself. A couple days after he had left, the friends he had gone with returned and told everyone the bad news. Many days of crying led to depression with my mom but since I was only 10 at the time, I helped her to regain her courage and feet. That was the only time my eyes had ever turned green thus discovering they changed colors.

There was also one more person that went with my dad to save their friends. It was Kris' father. They both tried to save everyone and ended up dying themselves. During that time of grief, Kris never cried. Not once. He knew his father was a brave man and he one day hoped to be like him, he also wanted to cry his eyes out until their was nothing left. But he remembered what my father told us the days they all left.

"Tracy, always keep that pretty smile on your face, cause you never know when someone will need a friendly smile to help them through the day, you too Kris. You have no idea what a friendly face could mean to someone in need."

Tracy would always repeat those words in her head over and over again whenever she was feeling sad or lonely. And the more she did the more she never felt that way and was able to move on in her own life.

Tracy was pulled from her memories when she heard someone knocking on the front door. Vince jumped up, "I'll get it!" He ran to the door and opened it slowly. "Amy!" He shouted from down the hall.

"Hey short man," I saw Amy pick Vince up and gave him a big hug and kiss before she carried him down the hall into the kitchen. Vince wiped the kiss from his face as Amy put him down on his chair.

"Hey Tracy," Amy walked over to Tracy to give her a big hug as well.

"Good . . . to see you too . . . Amy," Tracy said as she gasped for air. After a few seconds, Amy let go of Tracy and went over to her mom for more "hello" and "how do you do." Amy was kind of a hugging person. That's how Amy was. Just as bright and friendly as Tracy's father. That's what she loved about her, nothing ever kept her down. And if something did, it couldn't keep her down for long.

But sadly enough, it would seem like there would be a time when Amy would be down longer than she had ever been, and Tracy would have green eyes for the first time in years. And that time was coming very quickly. Because at the moment Amy was greeting old friends, a silver creature soared low over a mountain range and into a tree filled valley, with a large lake to the side, and a small village in the middle.