The Obsidian Prince

Chapter One

One

I looked in the mirror. A girl, looking about sixteen or seventeen years old, with icy blue eyes and hair so blond it was practically white, stared back. Her skin was very pale, with only a pink shine on each cheek to show that she was alive. She had a small rose-like mouth in a pale pink that never needed lip gloss or other make up.Her eyelashes, in contrast to her hair was very dark, framing her eyes and making them look even more like ice. She was not very tall but very lithe, like a ballerina.

I couldn't believe that the girl in the mirror was me. My friends told me that I was beautiful, that every guy in school was secretly in love with me. I did not believe them, at least not until I accidentally heard a group of guys talking, about me and how good I looked. I wasn't in the popular group in school, though, yet they seemed to like me all the same.

I shook my head, trying to clear it. I had never thought about dating, about falling in love with someone. I didn't even know if I really loved my parents. I did love painting, and history and mythology. But when it came to living, breathing humans I couldn't think of a way I could love them. I knew that it was weird and I rarely talked about it. A knock on my door brought me back to reality.

 "Yes? What is it?” I yelled through the door. I listened tentatively, but when no response came I opened the door. My father was standing there, his face showing that he didn't like my response.

"Young lady, you should have learned more respect by now.” he didn't raise his voice, but it was an edge in it I recognised far too well. Anger rose in my throat.

"From whom?” I asked in an equally low voice. His eyes, a washed out brownish, almost yellow colour, became thin dark cracks. Glaring at me, he said;

 "I am going to pretend I didn't just hear that, for you sake.” Then he sighed. I could see that he tried to put his feelings aside, trying not to fight with me.

 "I was just going to ask you to prepare the table,  dinner is ready in ten minutes.” He looked down at the floor, all the anger gone from his eyes. I almost felt bad, but I knew that he could shift to being mad at me in a matter of seconds.

 "Okay, I'll be down in three minutes.” I turned and closed the door in his face.

 At dinner, my mum and dad sat at one side of the table, and me and my younger brother at the other. Jack was playing with a small figurine, some action hero I didn't recognise. While we ate we talked about safe things, things that couldn't get us into a fight. The weather, what we were going to do the next day and stuff like that. I didn't say much, picking at my dinner in silence. Finally my mother asked me if I'd learned something interesting this day, and I started to tell them about the most recent things I had read.

 "Well, I re-read the story about Osiris becoming the ruler of the dead, again. Then I started to read a story from ancient Greece about the daughter of Aeolus, the god of the winds, that married a king on land. They and their kingdom prospered and the couple's thoughts were shadowed by hubris. They began to compare themselves with Zeus and Hera. The gods punished them by taking their prosperity from them. When crops began to die and...” I was interrupted by my brother, who was making snoring noises. I glared at him.

 "Boooring!” he said, “skip to the end.” He smiled a small child's smile at me.

 "Well, the king left to go on a journey, but he died. The queen, in her sorrow tried to take her own life, but the gods took pity on her, and turned her into a bird. She flew to her husband's body and once again the gods had mercy. They revived the king and made him to a bird too, so that the couple could be together. The end” My brother shrugged and resumed playing with his figurine. My mother looked over at me, a smile plastered to her face.