The Rising

Prologue

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Prologue

The Beginning of the End

In this time
In this place
A curse that binds
Is now erased
Magicks to those who are to stand
Protecting all the ones they can
The Darkness now will walk free
As it will, so mote it be

Redwoods National Park,  California

The candles set around the circle and as the child stepped to the edge of the large stone clearing the flames burst to life. Her innocence bloomed with wonder as she sat in the clearing of the forest relishing her new ability. A secret she hasn't shared.

Her mother would be worried, her father would be mad. This trip was to be about the family but she knew more than she had been told. He was leaving them after they broke the news to the others. She knew this, not because she heard them talking, not because she was told. She saw it happen before it happened. The shadow man told her only she could stop it.

Not wanting to lose her family, the small child did what the man in the shadows said to stop this change. She brought the candles, cleared the circle and said the words. Only then would they be together.

With her rear on the ground, her legs tucked to her side she played with the flames. Growing them high, up to the top of the trees then down to barely a spark. The giggles of excitement bubbled through her filling her with the thrill of her new gift. She could control the flames with a thought. Something she never imagined would happen to her.

A witch, she had to be. At ten years old the small girl knew she was different. Things happened around her, especially when she was upset. She had no control over the new gift but here in this circle, in the forest she'd seen in her head, she had to work to master her power.

As her mother called for the young girl to come in, she jumped up looking around the circle, nervous that she would be in trouble if she was caught. The candles died to hiss on the wicks and the small girl stepped back to gather her things. Tripping on a root of the big redwood, she fell back and scraped her hand on a sharp rock just inside the circle.

The ripped skin on her palms bled with a single drop hitting the earth, inside the clearing right at her feet. A sudden punch of power rippled through the air, swirling around her as she watched the drop of blood soak into the soft bed of moss at her feet.

Her body twitched, the power roared in her ears while her blood pulsed loudly. Her head fell back and she stared blindly up to the sky, her body lifted just slightly from the ground to her toes as the wind began to stir around her. Arms pinned at her sides, taunt and controlled, her small body lit with a red glow as the wind cyclones around her rotating faster.

Suddenly all control was gone, everything around her closed in, a black fog rolled towards her through the trees. The child's blue eyes turned black and her blonde hair flew back over her shoulders as the wind whipped around her. The candles lit with the wind and the girl turned to the center of the circle.

Her soft innocent voice chanted the words she'd never spoken, a voice in her head telling her it's time. Blood from the innocent has broken the curse and now as the black dog of the demon tickled her feet the beginning of the end is at hand.

"With this blood my gift to you
The time has come to collect what's due
Fire and wind will show you the way
Earth and water won't hold you at bay
Within this circle I am the key
As I will so mote it be."

The wind rushed through the trees, sending her tumbling to the ground. The earth shook, as the ground seemed to change in color and texture. The hard dirt became a sticky tar, surrounding the child and holding the girl in place. Her body slowly sank into the pit. Her fear only fueled the demon that emerged. Slick and black as the tar from his hell, his body stretched out of the earth to the sky, for it had been centuries since he last saw the sun.