Prologue - Katie
It is morning; Inferno, the Fire Realm's sun, is shining brightly in the sky and Aunt Melissa and I are sitting on the porch sipping fireweed tea, a spicy drink invented to calm one's nerves. Despite her usual 'oh-look-at-me-I-know-everything-about-everything attitude, Aunt Melissa is being unusually silent.
"Aunt Melissa; are you alright? You seem depressed, which isn't like you at all... Talk to me, Auntie..." I haven't called her that since I was ten. She shakes her head and mumbles "It's nothing, dear; just forget about it... Thank you for making tea, Katie, my darling niece... Have fun on your journey when you go..."
While nodding, I reply "Aiden and I were going to go out tonight, and I was hoping you could help me pick an outfit... would you help me, Aunt Melissa?" I can tell she's excited because she perks up instantly.
"Of course, dear." You see, Aunt Melissa isn't always snobby. She just doesn't get that some people can't tolerate a person who has to have what they want, when they want it. As I leave for my night out with Aiden, I can't help but think about my wonderful aunt and her somewhat understandable ways.
***
As Aiden and I walk to The Cave, our favorite hangout spot, the place where a teen can just be themself, he shivers. "Damn, it's cold. Are you cold, too, Katie?" I have to shake my head. "No, Aiden; unfortunately I cannot say that I am cold at all. Do you have a fever, my love; are you sick?"
In the Fire Realm, if a Fire Elemental, or just a plain resident, has a fever, their body temperature will be significantly lower than that of their normal body temperature. He shakes his head and mutters "No; I'm fine, sweetheart..."
"Come on, Aiden... you can tell me"
"I-I'd rather not talk about it, sweetheart, if that's okay..."
Prologue - Violet
Vodi - the sun of the Water Realm - shines brightly in the sky as I wake up next to River, the man I love. Uncle Lazarus pokes his head into the room and says, quietly, so as not to disturb River as he wakes up himself, "Wake up, children; you can't waste the day, you know."
Uncle Lazarus likes philosophy, so he reads a lot of books he's collected from his 'trips to Earth' by philosophers like Plato and Socrates. On top of those, he squeezes in some time to read Voltaire or Shelley.
But he doesn't just read the texts; he comments and critiques them as well, and he tries to a) deduce the reason for the writing of the text, b) the motives of the characters (if any) and c) he tries to understand the writer's own motives (again, if any).
"We're coming, Uncle" I reply. Life with Uncle Lazarus is relatively easy; all you do is follow his rules and he leaves you alone. Ever since Auntie Denna died, he's been really secretive about everything. I mean, I was only four, but I still had a general idea about death.
He'd tell me all the good things about her, like how beautiful she was, even at the funeral. They'd had her hair pinned back with beautiful roses. He told me he had cried at the funeral. I have never seen my uncle cry, and if I have, it happens very rarely.
I remember being four years old, attending Auntie Denna's funeral service, huddled in my uncle's arms and crying. He had said 'It's alright, Violet, my dear; we'll get by somehow...' You see, after Auntie Denna died, since Uncle didn't know how to do taxes and she had gone to business school (my uncle apparently begged her, saying 'Please, love; please go... What if I need help with taxes someday?'), we had to go to the bank and get them to figure it out for us.
It isn't until very recently that we nearly went bankrupt. My uncle rents out the house to River and myself simply so he can afford to pay the bills. Most times, he means no harm, but he does occasionally get frustrated with River and I, like the time we caused a fuss at the fish market over the price of halibut.
As we sit sipping glasses of water, we hear a groan emanate from the office. "Oh, damn these bills!" he yells, then we hear the blip of a phone number being punched. "Kellie" he whines, "please help me out..."
"What's the matter, Lazarus? Taxes bothering you again?" River and I peek around the corner to see him nodding. "Yes... Oh, if only Denna were here... She would help me do it-" Kellie is probably fed up with him. "Fine, I'll help you, you old suck-up! You know, I need to break you of that habit."
Prologue - Marie
I can hear Aunt Kellie speaking with Lazarus, telling him how to log onto some account he owns. For what or why, I have no clue. When she finally hangs up, she asks "What were you packing for again, Marie? You know I'm forgetful sometimes."
"I'm going on a long journey for a while; don't worry, we're all coming back here together." She looks frightened as I say this. "Will you be here tomorrow morning?"
""Yes, Aunt Kellie; I'll be here. What did Lazarus want?"
"Just help with taxes; nothing a woman can't handle. Where's your tick?" I can't help but giggle when she says this; she's recently started called Adam my 'tick' because he's been obsessively attached to me for the past few weeks.
After breakfast, Adam and I go to town and hang out with some of our other friends; he holds my hand the entire time, kissing it and holding it to his face lovingly.
Prologue - Ayla
"Ciro, stop it! Stop, I'm ticklish!" He stops tickling me, then kisses me on the lips and asks "So how long are you gonna be on this journey?" I shake my head and mutter "I'm not sure, my love. However long it takes for all four scrolls to be found." He nods and kisses my forehead.
Ciro has told me time and time again that I am his one true love, and that he would never ever intentionally hurt me; not even if he was being pressured. I know he's telling the truth; he always does.
