Magic by Fire (eBook)

Spark of a Flame

Travis RJ (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021 | 1. Auflage
400 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-0983-3384-3 (ISBN)

Infos

Liam Fosnik doesn't remember a time with magical schools or freedoms. All he knows is that his uncommon magical ability to create and manipulate fire is outlawed by the queen. To the outside world Liam simply works at the town bakery, spends time with friends, and stays away from town soldiers. But when a mysterious old man visits Liam's small town, he soon finds himself on the run from the Royal Guard and entangled in the telling of an ancient prophecy. "e;Magic By Fire: Spark of a Flame"e; is the first in a new series by Travis RJ. With the fate of the kingdom at hand, Liam must choose whether returning magical freedom to the land is worth the heavy cost.

Textauszug

Not So Ordinary

Light glowed in the distance from a fire that ravaged an old city. The blaze emitted a warm ambiance, an orange hue to the thick darkness around it. The night was quiet, yet every few minutes the air was pierced by an enormous screech, a hellish roar.

A dragon lay siege on the city. The fiery serpent clamored over the building tops, sending piles of rubble falling to the streets below— a formidable sight. Occasionally, the beast would leap from a roof and spread its massive sail-like wings, eager to ignite another part of the town.

Meanwhile, a hooded figure stood watching the scene from miles away. Though the dragon was larger than most ships, from the distance of the hooded onlooker the fiery serpent appeared no bigger than a garden lizard. Tears stained the cheeks of the figure beneath the hood. Around the stranger lay eight bodies, friends, scattered on the landscape.

“I’m so sorry,” whispered the voice of a woman from beneath the hood.

Her side was bleeding heavily. Her eyes longed to help, to assist those in the city, but as she took a step forward, she stumbled, clutching the wound on her side. There was simply nothing she could do.

With a surge of will power, she stood back up, pushing herself up from her knees. She began to limp away from the vacant scene before her, away from the unmoving figures on the ground. As she trudged along, her breathing became heavier. She did her best to ignore the occasional echoing screech from the distant dragon. Somehow, the serpent’s cry was more painful than her aching side.

The woman journeyed as far as she was able, doing her best to maneuver around rocks and uneven surfaces. What felt like hours passed, the heave in her stomach knotting tighter. Everything was her fault. She carried a weight on her shoulders far greater than she’d ever experienced.

She looked back. Surely, she was far enough.

With as much strength as she could muster, she stomped the ground with her foot. Immediately, she was consumed by bright purple flames that swirled around her, emitting many minuscule sparks, but within seconds the purple blaze, as well as the woman within them, were gone, leaving the rocky scene still and vacant.

All was dark. All was silent.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, the cold steely voice of a woman, a different woman, spoke.

“I was right about you…” said the voice.

“I was right about everything…”

In that moment, a boy shot up in his bed, his breathing heavy. He looked around his bedroom… all was ordinary.

In relief, he ran his fingers through his thick dark hair before plopping back down on his pillow. Liam Fosnik, or Liam Ballard as all but his mother knew him, lived in a small town in the vast kingdom of Rahlynd. He lived an ordinary life, and if given the choice, would have it no other way.

Liam remained in bed staring at the ceiling, ignoring the little voice in his head trying to push him out of his warm sheets. His bedroom window was still black, meaning that his dream had woken him earlier than needed, robbing him of a few precious extra minutes of sleep before the dawn.

Liam closed his blue-gray eyes.

Just a bit longer, he told himself. After all, he was seventeen years old now. He no longer had to worry about hiking across the entire town for school. He had finished school at thirteen, as was usual in the kingdom, and started working at his mother’s bakery shortly after. Ballard’s Bakery was the only bakery in town, and as such, kept him busy more often than he would’ve liked.

He yawned as he stretched, tangling his limbs within his cotton bed linens.

Letting the little voice get the best of him, Liam rolled out of bed to ready himself for work, still shaking the remnants of the dream from his mind. The dream felt familiar, almost lifelike. He walked to the corner of his room and pulled on the trousers he’d thrown over the back of his chair the night before. This wasn’t the first time he’d dreamt about the mysterious woman; she’d visited his dreams before, always veiled. While his dreams were sparse, each time he saw her, the ominous burning city lay in the background of the night.

He continued pulling on his clothing as quietly as he could, hoping not to wake his mother. He then began lacing up his leather shoes and within a few minutes he was tiptoeing down the hallway toward the kitchen.

He could still hear the muffled chirps and buzzes of the nightly insects just outside the house. Liam sauntered through the dim kitchen and opened the window above the sink to let a cool breeze in. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, preparing himself for the long day at the bakery to come.

The house was still. The only other person living with him was his mother, Natalya, and he was sure she wouldn’t emerge from her room to leave with him until the very last minute. Liam reached for a thin piece of worn, brown-stained cloth on the counter and walked across the kitchen to a jar of ground coffee. He spooned a bit of the brown powder into the cloth, gathered up the edges, and knotted the top. The birds were beginning to chirp through the open window, the daylight approaching. Quickening his pace, Liam filled a pot from the cabinet with the water from a large metal tin, dropped the sack of coffee grounds inside, and set the pot over the stove.

He leaned down, concentrating rather hard on the wood chips sitting below the pot, staring at them for a minute or so. Then, as if he had talked himself into it, he held his hand up to the wood and flicked it.

Liam exhaled. Nothing had happened.

He tried again.

Still, nothing.

He looked over at the spark rocks sitting on the counter a few feet away and bit his lip. Looking back at the wood chips, he flicked them for a third time.

This time he did it. A tiny flash ignited the wood into flames with a whoosh.

Liam jerked his arm back with a grin.

“You know you shouldn’t be doing that,” said a tired voice from over his shoulder.

Liam’s stomach jumped slightly. He whipped around.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied with a guilty smile.

His mother stood in her sleeping robes and her dark hair had been lazily pulled back. Liam could see circles under her eyes.

“Sleep much?” he asked.

She shrugged and walked over to a cabinet. “Not really.” A few cups clinked together before she pulled out the one she was looking for. “A bit restless I guess.”

Light was beginning to poke through the window.

“Hate to hear that,” said Liam, glancing over at the pot of water. “Had a weird dream myself.”

“Never seem to sleep well after they switch the soldiers in the town,” she replied.

Liam cleared his throat; he knew what was coming next.

“Not going into the bakery today?” he asked.

Natalya ran her hand over the top of her head and looked out the window. There was a pause in which she seemed to consider her options.

“I’ve got some things I need to do around the house,” she said after a few moments of silence.

Liam nodded. He could hear the water beginning to bubble behind him.

“Everything should be sorted out at the bakery anyway.”

“I’ll be fine,” said Liam.

He walked across the kitchen to where is mother was standing and grabbed a cup for himself from within the cabinet.

“They won’t suspect anything,” he said. “They never do.”

He walked back to the stove. The water inside was now deep brown and boiling. He removed the pot from over the flame and set it on the other side of the stove.

“What d’you think they’ll do anyway?” he asked her with some sarcasm. “They’ll just sit there all day like the old ones did.”

“Not if you go around using your magic like that!” she hissed, gesturing at the now dwindling fire. “You know you shouldn’t be doing that… especially since we’re not registered.”

She walked over to the steaming pot and poured a little coffee into her cup. The aroma had filled the room.

Soft pink light was beginning to illuminate the woods outside the window.

“We’ll be fine,” Liam dismissed her.

She glanced at him from over her steaming cup, an eyebrow raised.

“What?” Liam exclaimed. “I’m not the one who decided to avoid the queen’s registry… The Marling’s are registered,” he said, referring to his best friend across town and his family, “and so are Sarelle and her mom.”

“And I’m sure they’re shooting fireworks down Main Street,” she smiled.

Liam grunted with a smile.

“Well, no,” he replied. “But—”

“Look,” she interrupted, “until the queen lifts her ban, which is unlikely,” she muttered to herself, “we shouldn’t get in the habit of using it… registered or not.”

Liam nodded.

He knew very well that he shouldn’t use the fiery magic, but sometimes he couldn’t help himself....

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.1.2021
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• ISBN-10: 1-0983-3384-5 / 1098333845
• ISBN-13: 978-1-0983-3384-3 / 9781098333843