Born of Light and Power

Chapter 1

Present Day

Rhea stretched her arms above her head with a big yawn. It was only 7:30 in the morning but her roommate, Sanchez was already out in the kitchen blaring ‘00s pop music. Rhea groaned and rolled out of bed. She was running late. She had promised Sanchez that she would be out of the house by 7:30 for his biweekly “banging breakfast” with his boyfriend, Jules. Jules just so happened to despise Rhea, claiming he felt threatened by Rhea and Sanchez being roommates. Sanchez was pansexual, but felt nothing but a strong friendship with Rhea.

Sanchez and Rhea had met during their senior year of high school. They were now in their last year of college. Through four years, Sanchez had stood by Rhea as she fought to find herself through the chaos of the world.

Rhea grabbed some jeans and a graphic t-shirt from the clean laundry that was thrown messily on an overstuffed armchair in the corner of her room. Her room was medium sized and filled with mementos of her family and friends. Picture hung from the walls of Rhea and her sister smiling happily at the camera. There were a few of her parents and a small shrine on the windowsill to her late mother, who had passed from cancer a year ago. Rhea smiled as she lightly touched the candle her mother had been burning when she passed.

She left her room and walked into the kitchen. Sanchez was dancing joyfully to the music, signing along while making scrambled eggs.

“Rhea! What the f**k are you still doing here?!” Sanchez practically yelled with fright when he saw Rhea. He pointed the spatula in his hand accusingly at her “You promised me you'd be out of the house by 7:30!”

Rhea rolled her eyes and grabbed a banana from the counter. She walked to the door and began to don her hiking boots.

“Relax Sanchez, I’m leaving. Your boy toy won’t even know I was here. Even though I think it’s pitiful that you let him treat me like s**t,” she said, her tone dripping with irritation.

“Rhea, girl, if you were riding on his d**k you’d understand,” Sanchez sang with a laugh and a wink.

Rhea fake gagged as she walked out the door.

“Be back tonight. I’m going hiking, but I’m not staying out all night again. I live here too, Sanny!” She slammed the door behind her and headed to her car.

The long ride out to the forest was calming. Rhea turned on her favorite music and let her mind wander.

She thought of her father, whom she hadn't spoken to in months. He was off traveling around Asia trying to fill his broken heart with meditation and other various spiritual teachings.

She thought of Rebecca, her sister, who shortly following their mother’s death had just left. Practically disappeared. She had broken up with her long time boyfriend of 7 years and then was gone. When Rebecca finally called Rhea months later she sounded like a different person. She said she had found love like she had never known and she was living in some sort of small community in the middle of the forests of British Columbia. Rhea had visited her sister last month. The community was small and close knit, but it reminded Rhea heavily of a cult. They even called their mayor “Alpha” and his home was called the “packhouse.” Rebecca was known as Luna, which seemed more like a title than a term of endearment. But Rebecca was so happy with her husband, Darren. He was a huge man and looked so fierce but he was truly soft inside. He and Rebecca had offered Rhea a job with their security company and a place to live within their house once Rhea graduated. She told them she would consider the offer, but deep inside wasn’t sure if she would ever feel like she belonged there.

Rhea pulled up to the trailhead and hopped out of her car. It was only about a 30 minutes drive from her apartment but she still stretched before she started waking.

Tall trees shaded her path from the hot summer sun. Moss grew up the tree trunks and wrapped around the branches above.

Rhea started down the shaded trail. Bursts of sunlite sprinkled the ground as the sun peaked between the tree leaves. It was going to be another warm day in Vancouver. The forest was alive this morning. Birds were singing and a few squirrels dashed across her path as she continued to traverse down the path. The sounds of the forest were peaceful and soon Rhea was again lost in her thoughts.

After some time, Rhea stopped and looked around. She realized she had wandered off the trail. Nothing around her looked familiar. Unease settled in her stomach as she turned around and started walking back the way she came.

Where is the trail? She thought to herself. She stopped to try and catch her bearings as the uncomfortable feeling of being dreadfully lost in the forest became even stronger. Would anyone find her? She hadn’t told Sanchez where she was going. A gust of wind wrapped around her body bringing her mind back to the predicament at hand. She looked up and c****d her head to the side as she noticed a slight shimmer on the wind. She almost felt as though the wind was beckoning to her, begging her to follow.

And so she obliged.

Before long she stumbled into a strange clearing. The trees formed a perfect circle surrounding soft grass and beautiful wild flowers. Hues of pink, purple, and yellow popped against the deep green of the swaying grass as a cool breeze sifted through. It was like a meadow from a fairytale. A perfect circle of mushrooms, just big enough for two people to stand in, was centered in the middle of the meadow. The shimmering wind made the mushrooms dance gleefully, again beckoning Rhea to explore.

“A fairy circle!” Rhea gasped. She pulled out her phone and took a picture of the beauty in front of her. Rhea had a collection of pictures of various fairy circles from her hikes. She reached down and traced the circle with the palm of her hand, feeling the soft tip of the brown mushrooms as they brushed against her skin.

After she had traced the circle completely, blue shimmering mist began to seep from the mushrooms. Rhea gasped and fell backward as she watched the mist in awe. The mist began to swirl and grew until it was the size of a person.

“Well, well. What do we have here?”

Rhea shivered in response to the strong, masculine voice that pierced through the mist. She watched as a tall, very blond man stepped out of the mist right in front of her.

Rhea could feel her heart pause as she stared at the man in front of her. His electric green eyes pierced into her as he smirked darkly. His sharp, pointed features seemed almost fairytale-esque. His nose was long and slightly pointed. His jaw was hard and chiseled. And those eyes. Rhea was certain they would glow in the dark. Something innate deep within her was screaming at her to run as she beheld the beautiful being in front of her; the being who was staring at her as if she was something to eat.

She stood up to attempt to run away when she heard a small commotion coming through the forest on the other side of the meadow. The man groaned and whispered under his breath, “damn beasts.” He glanced back at her and locked eyes with her.

A loud growl echoed through the forest. Leaves on the trees quivered under the ferocious sound. The sounds of the forest around her stopped as two huge men entered the other side of the meadow and stalked towards Rhea.

“Rhea?” She heard one of them say. As the mist began to clear she could see across the meadow better where there, to her surprise, stood Darren and his best friend Zach. “Rhea, what are you doing here?”

“Rhea,” Oren purred. His eyes appeared to glow as his gaze burned into Rhea. “My beautiful Rhea.”

Rhea couldn’t answer Darren. In fact, she was beginning to forget who Darren was to her. He was someone important. She just couldn’t figure it out.

“Oren, I’m surprised to see you here in the Earthen Realm. What brings you here?” Darren practically growled. “Why is a fairy here?”

“Why don’t you ask my beautiful Rhea here? She summoned me.”

Darren turned and looked at Rhea. She was staring blissfully up at Oren, completely lost in the fairy’s eyes.

“What are you doing to her, Oren?“

“I'm just trying to claim her. She’ll soon be mine Darren, why do you care?” Oren scoffed, never taking his eyes off of Rhea’s glazed eyes.

“You know as well as I do that us werewolves are the protectors of the Earthen Realm. We were placed here for the sole purpose of keeping humans away from creatures like you,” Darren said glaring darkly at Oren.

“As true as that may be, dog, she really did summon me here,” Oren smirked.

“You must be mistaken, Oren. Rhea is just a human. There’s no way she could possibly summon you,” Darren scoffed.

“I don’t know what to tell you Darren. She was the one who was laying here after my summoning was completed. When I came from Aureum she was here. Who else could it have been then?”

Darren could feel his inner wolf beginning to surface. He knew his sister-in-law was in grave danger here even though she had no idea what was going on. Oren had begun to take her under his spell and soon she would no longer be in control of her own thoughts or feelings.

“Remove your magic from her, fairy, before I get violent,” Darren growled.

“No, wolfie, I don’t think I will,” Oren replied. “I think I’ll bring her back to Aureum with me. I could use a new pet. My last one passed away recently and humans, well humans make just the most delicious pets don’t you think?” Oren smirked darkly at Darren. “I mean, you know best of all how delicious humans are. Isn’t your sweet little Luna a human?”

Darren growled loudly, loudly enough that the leaves in nearby trees began to shake.

“Rebecca is my mate, Oren! The love of my life! That is much different from what you consider Rhea to be: a pet!” Darren yelled back. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “You should know that Rebecca is Rhea’s sister and so I will take this kidnapping very personally. That’s what it is, you know…kidnapping. Ever since the council passed their laws 20 years ago, keeping humans as pets has been outlawed, particularly in Aureum.”

Oren burst out laughing at this last statement. He knew that the council had outlawed human pets but he just didn’t care.

“I couldn’t care less what the council decided 20 years ago Darren. Fairies of MY rank tend to see the counsel’s ramblings as more guidelines than laws. And Rhea here is just too sweet to not take home with me,” He said with a laugh as he placed a chaste kiss on Rhea’s head. She sighed happily and whispered his name.

“That's all the consent I need to take her back to Aureum. You gentlemen have a great day. I'm sure I’ll be seeing you again,” Oren said with another smirk. He grabbed Rhea’s arm and pulled her into his chest and she collapsed into his arms. He picked her up, looked up at the clouds and yelled, “Avast’a.” Immediately, the blue mist began swirling around him again. Darren ran to the portal trying to stop Oren from taking Rhea with him.

“Rhea!” He yelled. But he was too late.

Oren’s piercing green eyes were the last thing Darren saw as Rhea and Oren disappeared into the mist.