Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow of Evil (My friend's story) ❯ Chapter 1: Flaricia ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1: Flaricia

Training and Chasing

 

Sunlight shone in bright streaks across a pale face and fiery red hair, mussed up across the small white pillow. The teen rolled over on the bed and fell with a dull thud to the hard, swept dirt floor.

 

“Oh,” she groaned, her red and brown eyes fluttered open and snapped shut again, as sunlight blinded her.

 

I need to get those blinds fixed. She thought as she slowly got used to the light. Maybe after training… Her eyes snapped open as she sat bolt upright. Training! She'd overslept again! And quite late, but the look of the amount of light coming through the window.

 

Oh, Firestar's goin' to kill me! She threw on a red tank top and a short jean skirt, quickly adding a brown leather belt from her mother. She grabbed a brush off of the bathroom counter and quickly ran it through the shoulder length mess as she made her way through the three room house, pausing by the kitchen counter. She shook her head, even as her stomach rumbled savagely.

 

No time! She thought as she set the brush down and walked out the small wooden door.

 

Flaricia looked around as she shut her door, not even bothering to lock it. No one would have the nerve to steal from anyone else in the fire clan, because the punishment was severe.

 

Darn it, no one else! She quickly grabbed her only pair of shoes from their usual spot next to the door and started to jog, not bothering to put the thin things on. She didn't understand what the purpose of the shoes was, anyway; they were so thin, and you could feel every pebble, every rut and stick on the road or in the grass.

 

The trees passed her at an almost painfully slow rate as she jogged down the dirt trail. She sighed. One more day she'd get punished by Firestar, and he'd probably pick the worst thing he could think of. She shuddered slightly at the thought. Firestar, like Flaricia herself, had a bad temper when it flared, and it usually flared at Flaricia. He liked to let her know when she was doing badly, and it wasn't usually in the nicest way. When he was happy, he was a great guy, but when he wasn't… stay away. That's the best advice anyone could give anyone else, in her opinion.. Flaricia was often late, so she got to see that side of him often. Lucky her. Flaricia was in training because her clan was at war, and, strangely enough, not with the ice clan bordering them, but with the Spirit clan. As soon as she hit eighteen, she would be able to join the fight that so many of her clan mates were already in.

 

Gosh, this takes forever! She looked around conspiratorially and then closed her eyes. She felt her face heat up, and then felt a strange tingling sensation run through her body, flowing down her spine and legs to her bare feet. She grinned as she felt the heat burst forth and burn into flames, covering her feet and then burn down to form something like shoes. Then she took off.

 

She ran down the trail at speeds almost invisible to the human eye, leaving little flames dancing in her wake. The wind pushed her hair away from her face and brushed her cheeks with coolness. She smiled at the excitement, the pleasure of using a skill that few had the concentration necessary for the degree of manipulation of flame. This came so easily to her, she found it hard to believe so few could do it.

 

She slowed down as the training field came into view, gradually coming to a fast walk. She watched the other students practicing with little interest, instead thinking of the new things that she would be learning today. There was Smokenya, practicing a simple flame throw that Flaricia herself had learned before her training. Next to her was Alfirey, attempting the slightly more advance fire-signal, a way of manipulating a flame throw into letters. Only to be used in emergencies, the fire-signal was sometimes dangerous to the environment. One hit on the wrong tree and you'd have a forest fire. And next to him should be…

 

Erif, her best friend, was no where to be seen. She shrugged the fact away quickly.

 

Must be of training in the woods today. She thought. Erif had never been late for anything in his entire life, which made it weird that they were friends. He would never even think of being late for training. Come to think of it, he has been getting close to that stage. She thought. It's actually about time. I did that years ago.

 

She was nearing her training pad when she heard someone clearing his throat behind her.

 

Great. Firestar has found me already. I hope I can get off without the usual greeting.

 

She turned, head bowed to show respect, and waited for Firestar to yell at her or punish her for her lateness. After several minutes of nothing, she looked up to see orange eyes glaring at her under strawberry blonde hair, freckles standing out against ivory skin. She sighed and asked, “What, Erif?”

 

“Nothing.” He answered shortly.

 

She noted the eyebrows pulled down in anger, and said nothing, waiting for him to explain himself or explode, whichever came first. After several moments of awkward silence, she attempted conversation.

“I thought you'd be out in the woods today.”

 

“I did, too.” He growled. “But when somebody didn't show up after an hour, Emberstar left to find you.”

 

Oh. She should've known it was lateness that he was mad about. “Why did Emberstar go?” she said cautiously, waiting for the storm to break loose.

 

“Oh, I don't know, maybe because you didn't show up for dinner last night? And seeing as we're at war with Spirit, and some of them can transport in here, they though something had happened to you! You water-brain!” His voice had steadily risen in volume until he was yelling. She saw Alfirey glance over worriedly before he turned back to his training.

 

“Sorry, I had other things to do.” Flaricia said, her voice soft but deadly. “Stuff that required my immediate attention. If you have a problem with that…” She glared back at him. She was making things up as she went, and she knew it was still too frail an excuse to hold, so she added, “You can ask my friend Smokenya over there, if you don't believe me.” In all reality, she had been up late last night with Smokenya, but it wasn't until after dinner, and it'd really been only to talk, nothing really important. She's just been too lazy to go to dinner. Once a month, the village got together and had one giant dinner, to keep people acquainted. But Erif wouldn't ask the much taller girl about anything, because he was a foot shorter than she, and with a lot less physical muscle.

 

“Fine.” He resigned. “Just don't let it happen tomorrow, okay? I need to get some good practice in. I graduate in less than a month, and I still have a long way to go.”

 

“No promises.” Flaricia answered with a grin. “But I'll try harder than I have been lately.

 

Erif started to walk back to his station when Flaricia grabbed his shoulder and turned him back. “Hey, so why did Emberstar go? Where's Firestar?”

 

Erif shrugged. “In a meeting, I guess. Emberstar was supposed to watch both of us.”

 

“Huh. Okay, well, see you later, I guess.” She called to his back as he left her. Then she headed to her pad, ready to start, though curiosity gnawed through her concentration.

 

Why would there be a meeting during my practice that Firestar didn't tell me about ahead of time? Her thoughts strayed. I hope something didn't go wrong in the war. What if something happened to Firenza? Flaricia dropped her shoes, which she had continued to hold, when she thought that. Oh gosh, not her. I couldn't take it if something happened to her! Darn spirit, I'll make them pay. I'll kill them all with my bare hands. Oh I can't wait till I graduate! I'll make some heads roll!

 

She shook her head, frustrated, and sent a fire ball flying toward the metal target, burning right through the middle. She felt several astonished looks on her back as she gradually demolished the target, burning hole after hole until she was left with a twisted, smoking piece of metal.

 

She stormed across the field to what was left of her target and yanked it ff the stand, then marched to the metal bin, throwing the dilapidated metal in and picking up a fresh target in one motion. She almost flew back and positioned the target, barely getting back to her pad before letting loose again. She had several targets demolished before she was bumped into from behind. She turned in a rage, the tips of her hair dancing as a fire, her hands both flaming from the fingertips.

 

“What are you doing?” she yelled, her hands raised threateningly. She quickly burned out when she saw Firestar, gazing at her, surprise evident in his face. Flaricia turned her head down and apologized, “Sorry, master.”

 

He gazed at her for a moment before asking, “What's wrong?”

 

“Nothing.” Flaricia answered quickly. “Just concentrating hard, that's all.”

 

“I don't believe it for a second.” Firestar answered seriously. “You didn't concentrate very much when I'm here snapping at you constantly. You could never concentrate on this alone. What's bugging you?”

 

“I was just wondering… why didn't you tell me about the meeting?”

 

“It was last minute. Firenza,” He looked down, and Flaricia's heart followed his gaze. “She noticed something about their formations, their fighting style. It seems unlike something spirit would do. We were just discussing possibilities, as well as strategy. Nothing to worry about.”

 

Flaricia let her relief show, which was a rarity for her. She never wanted people to notice that she had been weak the moment before. It was bad for her reputation, as well as her strength. If people knew where she was weak… but Firestar was different. Right now, he was one of the few adults she trusted. He was also her mentor, which meant that he needed to know about what made her weak so he could protect her from it. “I was afraid something had happened to her. Firenza. She's been like a sister to me, you know? When my mom isn't… capable of being there, she always was.”

 

Firestar nodded. “I know.” He glanced at the sun, which had already begun its descent. “I think it's time that I let you go. Just be aware, you'll be working harder tomorrow.” Flaricia's shoulders sagged. “Yes, I know you were late today.” Firestar continued. “But I'm not worried about you. You'll make a fine warrior, more than fine, amazing, as soon as you learn some self control and how to be punctual. Now go.”

 

Flaricia nodded and managed a quick bow of respect before she hurried over to Erif's pad. She watched while Erif struggled with manipulation, Emberstar encouraging him as she knew Firestar never would. Firestar was the stand-offish type, never getting too personal. But that was fine with Flaricia; she'd never really been too touchy-feely. She rarely hugged anyone, and when she did, it was her mother.

 

Erif stopped a moment, looking exhausted, and Emberstar went to him, patting him on the back and telling him it was okay to leave for the day. Flaricia jumped to her feet and grinned as Erif trudged toward her, his head drooping.

 

“What're you so happy about?” Erif muttered as he came to a stop in front of her.

 

“Nothing. Just happy is all.” Flaricia bounced on the balls of her feet. Flaricia herself didn't know really why she was so happy. It just seemed like everything was right today. She didn't get punished for being late, Firenza wasn't hurt; on the contrary, she was perfectly fine, and making battle changing discoveries.

 

Erif gave her a look and started to walk up the path. “Probably because you slept in and didn't do anything today.”

 

“Probably.” Flaricia agreed. “What're you doing tonight? I was thinking we could go to the archery range and shoot some, get some good practice in.”

 

`Eh…” Erif looked nervous, as if he might say something wrong. “I'm busy tonight, sorry. I've got to…practice.”

 

“Oh. Planning you farewell party, still?”

 

Erif looked p in alarm. “What? No, uh… I really do have to…” he looked down. “Yeah. How did you know?”

 

“Well, you've been busy for a while, and you turn next week. It's just a matter of putting two and two together. Oh, and I know how crazy your parents can get sometimes. When is it?”

 

“Uh… well, you see Flaricia…” He scratched his head, ruffling up his hair so it stuck out in funny directions. “My parents…well, they've never really uh.. That is, I… well, you see, my parents wouldn't let me invite you.' He looked embarrassed, his face red and his eyes averted.

 

“Why not?” She was careful to keep her voice level.

 

“Well, they think you're a bad influence on me. They think that's why I haven't mastered manipulation yet. They were such great students, you know. They think I should be just like them, and they don't believe me that I'm just… not as good. Even though I told them you're excellent, almost as good as Emberstar, they just don't believe me. And you know, after Firyi aced everything...” It was true. Firyi, Erif's older sister, was an amazing student of Fire, and made her way up the ranks in battle quickly. She had been Flaricia's role model, the one she looked up to, for the longest time. But it still made her mad that Erif's parents expected him to be just as good or better as everyone else in their family, and worse that they thought that she was the cause. Erif was a little afraid of her, she could tell by the way he looked up at her through his light colored hair. Flaricia had gained a little of Firestar's temper because she had been around him so much, and it was almost as scary.

 

Flaricia looked at him and then back up, fighting her temper. Erif's parents had never approved of her, for one reason or another. She'd always been treated like a bad kid by them, like something to be avoided, but she'd never thought they'd sink this low, to restrict her from seeing her best friend off. She might never see him again, for crying out loud! She glared at the sky, thoughts racing through her head and schemes to sneak in anyway already forming. She took a deep breath, and turned her gaze to the road in front of her.

 

“I've got to go.” She said, and started to run down the path, tears already forming, drowning her anger.

 

“Flaricia, come back!” she heard his footfalls behind her, but they fell farther and farther behind.

 

“Flaricia, please! I'm sorry, alright? Flaricia!” his voice faded away, until she only heard the loud slaps of her feet against the packed earth. She'd left her shoes at her pad, but she wasn't going to go back and get them, not with red, puffy eyes ad glistening tears.

 

She arrived at her home and yanked the door open, barely closing it before sinking to the floor and putting her head on her knees. Sobs racked her body for several minutes. She didn't understand why Erif's parents disliked her so much. She hadn't, in her memory, ever insulted them, never been rude or unkind to them. Yet, they treated her like a deadly disease that they would catch if she came anywhere near them. As if they were afraid of her. But that didn't make any sense. They were accomplished fire masters, and she was still in training.

 

And then they did stupid stuff that just plain hurt her. Like not letting her go to her best friend's farewell party. And her mom. Her mom had never done anything to stop it, had never said a word in her own daughter's defense. She just stood there, looking every bit ashamed of her daughter. She was always afraid of what those people thought. She'd never once looked at the scared little child cowering behind her legs, crying.

 

Flaricia stood, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. She was glad she had her own home, away from her mother. She didn't know if she'd be able to look at that woman right now. She just couldn't, because she was so upset, so sad that no one had ever seemed to care about her as much as her mother, who was mortified that she cared.

 

Flaricia walked to her small kitchenette along the wall and reached into an open cupboard, pulling out a crushed granola bar. She snarfed it before going outside to do some serious thinking and calming.

 

She walked along the familiar paths surrounded by trees, listening to the birds sing and the squirrels scurry from tree to tree, and the crunch of gravel beneath her feet. Her eyes traced the tree branches as she lost herself in the wildlife, so carefree and naturally beautiful. But, of course, they weren't carefree; they, too, had to watch out for predators and worry about food in the winter. Still, it seemed like an easier set of worries than her own. To only have to think of survival and no worry about why people don't like you, or about how you look, or have to deal with the messed up emotions of a teenager, that must be nice.

 

A small brown squirrel with a bushy tail scurried out into the trail in front of her, stopping in the middle as it noticed. It's eyes glared at her, pure white. Flaricia jumped, then gained control of herself. She attempted to shoo the squirrel away, hissing and waving her arms at it, but it remained still, its tiny white eyes never leaving her. She moved around it after several minutes, grumbling about the crazy wildlife. She took a few more steps and suddenly felt tiny paws on the back of her neck.

 

She cried out as she felt sharp little teeth pierce her neck. She swatted at it, but it moved to the top of her head, and then scrambled down to her face. Its teeth sunk into the bridge of her nose, and she grabbed around it's middle and yanked. It swung off of her face, but grabbed her finger in its teeth. She shook her hand to try to fling it off, but its teeth had sunken deep, and it clung to her. She finally yanked it off with her other hand and threw it across the path, where it hit a tree and slid to the ground. She turned and ran back up the path, terrified. She didn't stop running until she hit the main trail. There she forced herself to calm down and walked to her home, wrapping her bleeding finger in her shirt.

 

She let herself in and headed straight to her small bathroom. There she smeared antibiotic on her finger and nose and covered each with a bandage.

 

A knock on the door kept her from examining her neck. She grabbed a towel from the counter and held it to her neck, making her way to the door.

 

“Who is it?” she called through the thick wood.

 

“Erif.” She recognized the voice, though it sounded apologetic. “Please, let me in!”

 

Flaricia sighed, then turned the knob and opened the door. She looked at Erif's upturned face and then walked to the sparse furniture of her `living room'. “Come on.” She called as she sank into a hard wooden chair. She gestured to the chair opposite her as he made his way, awkwardly, into her home for, she realized suddenly, the first time.

 

“Do you want the grand tour, or did you want to say something?” she asked impatiently as he stared at the odds and ends that littered her home's walls; hand-painted pictures and pages of writing, odd origami and the scraps of paper covered in eyes with white irises and black whites. He had made his way to the kitchen before he shook his head and picked up one of the scraps off of the counter.

 

“What's this?” he asked, staring at the odd eye.

 

“I really don't know. I've recently had nightmares about it, though. Now, why're you here?”

 

“I just wanted to apologize. It was rude… before.”

 

“Not your fault. I over-reacted. Anything else?” Flaricia didn't like to dwell on the fact that she had been wrong.

 

“How can you just dismiss it like that?” Erif asked in wonder.

 

“How can I not? It was nothing, Anymore questions?” Flaricia knew she was being impatient and rude, but, again, she didn't like admitting she was wrong. She wanted to get off of this topic.

 

“Nah, that's it. I just wanted to make sure you weren't mad. Parents, you know.”

 

“Yeah.” Flaricia didn't know about parents, since her dad had run out after she was born and her mom didn't do much besides cry over her lost husband. Still, she thought it was better to agree; she didn't want to make him feel any worse than he already did.

 

“I should probably go.” Erif muttered. I've got to practice. Remember, you can't be late tomorrow, okay?”

 

“No guarantees, but I'll try.” Flaricia didn't want to let him down when she was, inevitably, late.

 

“Kay. Well, see you tomorrow, or later, or something.” He said as he opened the door.

 

“Yeah, see ya.” Flaricia answered as he shut the door behind him. She turned to go back to the bathroom when the door flew open again.

 

“Hey, what happened to your nose, anyway?” Erif's head stuck around the open door.

 

“Rabid squirrel.”

 

Erif rolled his eyes. “Seriously, what did you do?”

”I'm totally serious; I was bitten by a squirrel. He got my finger and my neck, too. Wanna see?” Flaricia asked.

 

“No, I'm good.” Erif said quickly, his fear of blood obvious, Flaricia didn't know how he expected to make it through a battle when he could hardly take the sight of blood without puking, but she'd given up trying to tell him that. It had gotten better over the years, but still…

 

“You sure?” Flaricia threatened, extending the arm with her bloody finger.

 

“Don't do it.” Erif warned, his palms glowing where he held the door. Flaricia was glad that it was fire-proof, otherwise she would no longer have a house.

 

“Nah, I won't. Don't worry. You should have seen your face, though. It was priceless.” She let her hands drop to her sides.

 

“You should report that. It wouldn't be good if a kid tried to play with a rabid squirrel.”

 

“Yeah, I'll tell Firestar tomorrow.”

 

“Kay, well see you later, I guess.” Erif said as he retreated back outside.

 

“See ya.” Flaricia said again as the door closed She waited a couple of seconds to see if he'd come back. When the door remained stationary, she turned and went back into the bathroom. She turned her back to the mirror and lifted up her thick hair, dried blood crinkling and falling from strands. She gasped at the sight; blood covered her neck, surrounding the small cut in a sea of red that had nothing to do with her hair. The wound didn't look very deep or serious however; the amount of blood was surprising. She grabbed a washcloth and started dabbing around it, but quickly gave up; a shower would be quicker.

 

Flaricia went to brush her already dry hair out. She had gotten out of the shower only moments before, but her fiery body heat worked fast. There really was no such thing s water hurting fire people, contrary to popular belief. In fact, fire people love water, they just couldn't be covered in water if they were going to ser their fire.

 

Flaricia grasped air where her hairbrush should have been setting on the counter. Her fingers searched for a moment before Flaricia had to look, to her annoyance. She hated it when things weren't where she put them, and this was a prime reason why. When she had torn up the bathroom looking for it, and still it did not end up in her hand, she suddenly realized; it was on the counter in the kitchen. She'd put it there earlier. Obviously, she felt stupid as she walked out of the bathroom with her messy hair, and was glad she was alone here.

 

Her brush wasn't in the kitchen, either. Flaricia's mind wandered around her home, wondering where she might have put it. She gave it up as loss and started running her fingers through her hair, a crude hair brush.

 

Wait. Erif was by the counter. It seemed odd that Erif would take it, but she could think of no other explanation for it. If nothing else, she could ask if it had been there when he had been here.

 

She ran out the door while putting her hair into the best ponytail she could. She went to the practice field first, because he said he needed practice, even if he had been lying. She couldn't imagine that he would want to go home when his parents were planning something like they were. When she ran by his pad and he wasn't there, she toped and spun around. Now she headed toward the forest, where many people would hang out in a bright, cheerful clearing with flowers and a small stream running alongside. She spotter several familiar faces, but not one of them had strawberry blonde hair. She growled in frustration.

 

“What's up?” Smokenya stood behind Flaricia, looking slightly startled.

 

“Erif, have you seen him?” Flaricia asked, spinning around to see her.

 

“No, not here. You could check the older paths, though; I sometimes see him wandering near the old, flammable trees.

 

“Thanks.” Flaricia had hardly answered before racing back to the path. She ran past the trees that had been enhanced as seeds to resist flame, running as fast as she could without using fire. Finally she reached the small sign marking the end of the fire-safe zone. Here it was forbidden to use powers, for obvious reasons. The trees here were old. They were not evenly spaced like the fire-proof trees, which were grown and tended to look nice. This part always made her nervous, and few people ventured out his far. This part was untamed, and wild animals were numerous. She jumped as she heard a wolf's cry. She was tempted to go back and catch Erif later, but that was silly. Nothing would hurt her. She walked bravely into the darkness.

 

It was more than an hour later, and Flaricia's feet were dragging. She was ready to give up and go home when she saw a flash of blue in the trees ahead. Her pace picked up as her mind put together the flash and the color of Erif's shirt from earlier that day.

 

“Erif!” she yelled, her voice carrying easily over the cleared path. She ran eagerly, but when she arrived at the spot, she saw no sign of her friend. Her shoulders sagged slightly as she kept going, though she was walking slower than before.

 

She was ready to give up again, and again she caught a quick glimpse of blue. Once again she went a little faster, but her feet refused, and she didn't think it was probably real. She must've imagined it. However, it wasn't long before she saw him, running away from her.

 

“Erif, please! Wait!” Flaricia shouted. It seemed as if their places were reversed from earlier in the day. “I need to ask you—“

 

Erif turned a sharp corner, and Flaricia sped up a little, though her breath already came in ragged busts, because she had been running for so long.

 

What is that boy doing anyway!? It's not safe to go this far into the woods! However, Flaricia continued to follow him. He turned many times, until Flaricia had lost all hope of finding her way back. Still, Erif ran. Flaricia's legs burned from exertion, and she couldn't understand how Erif was able to run so much; she'd always been a better long distance runner than he, and if she was so tired, he shouldn't be on his feet still. He was losing her, getting farther and farther away, and no matter how hard she tried, Flaricia found herself losing speed. Her feet were starting to drag, and her throat burned dry, not seeming to be able to bring in enough air to satisfy her screaming lungs. Suddenly, her foot caught on a root and she tumbled to the ground, face slamming into the dirt. She groaned and pushed herself up into a sitting position.

 

Erif was standing still now, in a small clearing a ways from where Flaricia sat. He was facing her, and could almost be looking at her but for the far off look on his face. His hands were down at his sides, but his fingers were twitching. He looked down at them, and then brought his gaze back to hers. He was smiling, a cruel smile that didn't fit well with his face, and his eyebrows were sunk in low above his eyes. His eyes, though, they weren't right, either. They were white, pure white but for small red veins.

 

Flaricia was ready to scream when Erif suddenly fell to the ground, his legs buckling underneath him. Flaricia scrambled to her feet and tried to run to her friend, stumbling and tripping. Her vision was framed with dark when she reached him, her exhaustion getting the better of her. She fell to the ground next to him, watching his body convulse as her eyes closed. The last thing she heard was the cry of a wolf, and then she was lost to darkness.