PROLOGUE: PROPHECY


The prophecy speaks of seven goddesses who will one day save the world and all others from death's wish. They will defeat the Dark, trapping it forever in its own Hell.

One goddess will come from the Dark, and not be true. She will sacrifice her love for the safety of the others. There will be a betrayal on her part, leading to the death of another.

One goddess will be the product of the root of the Dark and a fallen goddess. She will sacrifice her life for the life of the others. To be saved, there must be a journey beyond the world's boundaries, or all will fail.

One goddess will mother the others. She will defend, protect, and in her will to save, she shall perish beyond help.

One goddess will be of different descents. She will not be blood to all, but will love them like sisters. She will ultimately be the one that drives the sword through the Dark's heart, fulfilling her own prophecy as the destroyer.

One goddess will fall for evil. Her heart will turn black forever unless she is dipped in the pond of life. Because of her inner struggle, if she touches a hair on the root's head, she shall succumb.

One goddess will have a fierce fire in her heart. If it is put out, not only shall she perish, but so shall the rest of the world. She is the key.

One goddess will believe a lie, and risk her life. In the end, she will lead the others to sure victory.

Without one, there will be failure. With all, there may be success, only if they learn to be one. Stubbornness and old ties may keep them apart, and that will bring around the doom of all.

The Dark they mean to wipe out may never touch the goddesses itself, or all Hell will break loose. Nothing will be left except the Dark itself and it will suffer for the rest of eternity.

Seven must become one.








CHAPTER 1: TROUBLE

Fists clenched and sweat dripped as punches were swung in the quiet rumble of the hallway of MBAAL. Hands grasped at uniform ties and blazers to hold the other still long enough to get in a hit strong enough that they wouldn’t be coming back for more.

Sunburst’s flaming red hair straggled out of its once perfect ponytail as she swung at her opponent again, connecting solidly with his perfectly sculpted ski-slope nose. As he bent to swipe the blood oozing from the wound, she mopped the sweat off her porcelain face and knit her nearly invisible eyebrows together as she awaited the next round.

“Call me that again, jerk, and I’ll—I’ll…” Sunburst wavered as she struggled to think of a threat frightening enough.

Brrrrrrrring! The bell rang, signaling time for the next class. Sunburst relaxed from her fighting stance, but never turned her back on her offender.

She seated herself in the back of the room, slouched slightly over her desk, propping her herself up on her hands. She leaned back slightly when a low buzz began and stares directed themselves toward her. She shot them all a death look that meant business and held it until every last one turned back around. She swiped blood off the edge of her mouth where it was still trickling from a well aimed punch at the mouth.

Sunburst Juliet Orthel, only recently, was constantly in trouble at school for all sorts of things. Getting in fights, using her powers (which consisted of water bending, fire bending, mind reading, and sufficient spell casting), and constantly visiting the counselor for sudden grade point drops.

Her mind wandered throughout the period and barely noticed when the teacher called her name.

“Sunburst? Sunburst Orthel!” the teacher reprimanded sharply.

“Huh? Yes, Ms….uh…?”

“Sunburst, they want you down in the office.”

“Fine.”

Sunburst swung herself up from her desk and strode confidently down the aisle to the front of the room, lazily grabbing at the hall pass the teacher offered her. With one backward glance at her class, she slammed the door and dawdled her way to the office.

As she stepped in, she noticed the boy from the hallway earlier. He was still pinching his bloody nose and was also seated in front of the principal.

“You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, be seated, Ms. Orthel. I’m sure you are acquainted with Mr. Fwares here.”

Sunburst glanced at him with contempt then shrugged it off. “Yeah, we’ve met.”

“Oh, we’ve met alright. Orthel snot here was beating me to a pulp in the hallway!”

“Oh yeah? Well, I’ll do it again, right here!”

Sunburst lunged for him, but was held back by an invisible force. She looked incredulously at her principal, who was holding her back with an invisible grasp, sweat beading on his forehead with the strain.

“Be seated, Ms. Orthel. Tell me, what methods did you use on him? Anything you’ve been taught?”

“Aw, crap, here we go again. Ms. Orthel gets off the hook because she was demonstrating her above the line skills on an unlucky victim—again!”

“If you had been paying attention in class, Mr. Fwares, you might’ve been beating her to a pulp rather than the other way around. How is it that she was beating you? How pathetic. Continue, Ms. Orthel.”

Sunburst felt a grin sliding over her face. As usual, she was going to get away with it. She had known it before she had walked in. She had literally probed the principal’s mind.

She went on to describe what she had used while the boy slumped in the seat next to her, muttering something about crime and proper punishment and how bad his friggin’ nose hurt.

“Thank you, you may go, Ms. Orthel. Mr. Fwares, return to the nurse’s office and remain there until you are dismissed from school.”

Sunburst skipped into the hallway and back to her classroom, stopping by the bathroom for a quick beauty checkup. She grabbed her mascara and touched up some black and reapplied her pale pink lip gloss and brushed her hair into a braid. There, now she could probably survive the rest of the day.

She returned to her seat in the back of the class and no sooner had she pulled out her reading book did something—thwack!—lobbed her in the ear.

She unfolded the projectile, it being a piece of paper.

Hey, you ok? -- G

She smiled, recognizing her friend Glee’s sloppy handwriting. She scribbled back:

Yeah, I’m great. Fwares got himself in trouble again!

She tossed the note back across the aisle and watched as Glee unfolded it and giggled as she read it.

“Ms. Amarant, is something about my lesson amusing?”

“Uh, no, Ms. Fwares. Everything’s just fine, quite serious. I was just…recalling a memory.” Glee bit her lip as Ms. Fwares considered the lie.

“Right. Anyway, to continue, amoebas do make their own food…”

At that moment, the bell rang, cutting her science lesson off and sending the students in a flurry as they rushed out of the classroom, flooding the hallways and spilling out into the inner courtyards where the dorms were located.

Sunburst lingered back with Glee, throwing her stuff in her locker. Glee, as usual, was chattering a million words a minute, asking questions that she didn’t really want an answer to, and just plain talking to be talking.

Sunburst walked slowly next to her, her braid swinging behind her, offering an occasional “hmm” or “ahh”. She had been brooding all afternoon over a dream that kept visiting her. It appeared to be almost like a vision with its constant appearance in her mind, causing her lack of focus on her studies and sudden grade point drop.

In the Dream, Sunburst was with five other girls.

She was being pulled along by a girl with purple streaked blonde hair. In the blonde girl’s other hand, she was towing a girl about Sunburst’s age with dark curls, whom, if it weren’t for the hair, would be an exact replica of Sunburst.

They were swimming rapidly away from a murder. The blonde girl was struggling to keep her tears at bay. Glannkerns, a cannibal underwater race, had attacked their parents and killed them.

Suddenly, the older blonde let go of their hands, leaving the Sunburst and her twin by themselves as she rushed toward a turquoise streaked brunette and pushed her into the large hacienda in front of them, coming back to the twins to get them inside as well.

Inside, there was the older blonde, two younger blondes, and the brunette. One of the blondes was the brunette’s twin and they huddled together as the two other blonde’s shoved the door closed.

“I’m sorry, Nova!” the older blonde cried, throwing her arms around the brunette.

“NEPTUNA! It’s coming!” the brunette’s twin shrieked, her features elongating and growing larger.

“Sarri, get ahold of yourself!” the older blonde said, the one called Neptuna. The one called Sarri began to shrink back to normal size.

Sunburst’s twin, the one with dark curls, whimpered, “Tuna, Tuna, where’s Noba gwoing?”

“Away. Don’t worry, we’ll get her back.” Neptuna assured the girl, then bent to murmur something to the brunette, apparently Nova.

At the moment of escape, Nova screamed. The other four looked back, seeing that Nova was trapped. Sarri stretched her hand out toward her and grasped it, but was wrenched away was Nova was snatched up by a creature of colossal size.

The other girls didn’t waste time. They swam away as fast as possible, Neptuna creating a current to stall the creatures from following them.

Suddenly, from behind them, the hacienda was blown to shards, the force of the blow throwing them to the coral pathway. Sarri whimpered and held her arms out for Neptuna.

“Luna, get Sarri.”

The other blonde, apparently Luna, snarled and leaned down, scooping up Sarri.

“C’mon, you two.” Neptuna said, taking Sunburst’s hand and the curly haired girl’s hand. The curly haired girl looked back at the site of the hacienda and moaned, tears trickling down her face.

“Ginevra, Ginny sweetie, it’ll be okay. It’ll be okay…” Neptuna crooned, now propping the curly haired Ginevra on her hip and still holding Sunburst’s hand.

The sisters stopped for the night in a cave, Neptuna singing Ginevra and Sunburst to sleep. When Ginevra was asleep, Sunburst looked up at Neptuna’s gray eyes.

“Tuna, what happen now?”

“I don’t know, sweetie.” Neptuna looked into the distance, then strung something around her neck. “Here, wear this. It was supposed to be your mother’s birthday gift to you, but—sh...” Neptuna held back a sob.

Sunburst looked down at her neck, where a locket hung. She popped it open with her thumbnail, gazing at the pictures inside. Mother and Father, Aunt Rosalie, Uncle Ian, Uncle Chad, and all her sisters and cousins. She drifted to sleep peacefully.

The next morning, Sunburst woke in the cave alone. She was abandoned. She began to whimper and cry. Suddenly she stopped. Something was speaking to her.

“Do not be afraid, my child. The Change is coming.”

“Hello? Sunburst? Are you in there?”

“Hmm?” Sunburst surfaced from the long-lost memory. She fingered the locket around her neck.

“You seemed a little distant while I was talking. Everything alright?”

“Yeah…I’m fine. Just need a little rest, that’s all…”

“Okay, then can I tell you about…”

“Nah, later, okay? I’ll catch you later.” Sunburst swam off to her dorm, swishing through the door, leaving a confused Glee behind her.


TO BE CONTINUED....