Book 2 of the Eternal series

Chapter 3

Riah:

The Book of Fire

Slowly, Riah opened her eyes, and she looked up at the plain white ceiling.

Where am I? What happened? She wondered as she tried to remember, but she couldn’t recall anything.

“Mama?”

Suddenly, Riah’s head turned to the side, and she saw her husband Jake, her son Micheal, her brother and sister-in-law, and her daughter, Destiny. Happily, Riah reached her arms out to the little red-haired girl, and Destiny ran to her.

As soon as she wrapped her arms around her daughter, a vision played in her mind of seeing Destiny’s body with a sword sticking out of it. Suddenly, Riah gasped, and she felt something wasn’t right.

“Mama, are you alright?” Destiny asked as she pulled her head back and looked at her mother.

Oddly, Riah saw the little girl’s dead eyes, and she only nodded. Riah then looked up at Jake.

“You gave us quite a scare. I told you to be careful up in the loft, but you stepped too close to the edge and fell,” he explained as he walked up to her.

“Wait. I hit my head?” Riah asked, and Jake nodded.

Brian, her brother, and his wife Chloe walked up to them with tears.

“Why do you have to be so reckless?” asked Chloe, and Brian nodded.

“When did I hit my head?” Riah asked as Destiny crawled off of her.

“Honey, this might come to you as a bit of a shock, but you have been in a coma for a year. We didn’t think you were ever going to wake up,” breathed Jake, and Riah stared at him.

“Everything is alright,” said Brian soothingly, and Riah looked at him oddly.

When did her brother become so concerned for her well-being? She wondered.

“I’ll let the doctors know that you’re awake. Then we can get you home,” said Chloe, and she walked out of the room.

Riah didn’t understand why none of this felt right. She noticed the deadness of their eyes and the strange glitch-like moves they made as if they didn’t have control over their bodies. She let her thoughts roll around in her head while waiting for her sister-in-law to get back from the doctor.

A week had passed since Riah came home from the hospital, but oddly, the house she was brought to didn’t feel like home. She couldn’t remember anything in the place, and she had a solid feeling that she was missing something.

The three-bedroom brick home stood at the end of a long driveway, and there was a matching garage and a large front and backyard. Inside, there was a spacious kitchen and a lot of counter space on top of the marble countertops.

The three bedrooms were upstairs, and there was a full-sized bathroom between two of the bedrooms. There was a half-bath downstairs by the spacious living room, a large playroom towards the back of the house, and a set of double wooden doors led out to the backyard. Riah thought the place was beautiful, but it didn’t feel like her home.

“Good morning, darling,” said Jake as he stood in front of the stove.

Riah walked into the kitchen, and she sat down at the dining room table.

“Good morning. What are you making this morning?” she asked, and he turned as he smiled at her.

“Bacon and eggs,” he said, and Riah looked at him in disbelief.

That was what they always ate. Bacon and eggs.

“Uh, not to be rude or anything, but I think I will pass,” she said as she got up from the table, and Jake looked at her oddly.

“Then, what will you eat?”

Riah gave him a knowing look as she walked over to the cupboards.

“Anything, but bacon and eggs,” she said as she opened the cupboard doors.

Surprisingly, she only saw bags and bags of powdered eggs. Quickly, she opened the next set of doors, and she found the same thing—more bags and bags of powdered eggs.

“What the hell?” she breathed as she opened up the rest of the cupboards.

Swiftly, she rose to her feet and walked over to the refrigerator. She opened the door, and she saw that there was nothing but packages and packages of bacon. Again, she found nothing but more bags of the stuff.

This is strange. She thought as she closed the refrigerator door and then looked at Jake.

“Why are there only bacon and eggs in this house?”

“Because we cannot starve,” he said, gesturing to the table.

Reluctantly, she walked over to the table and sat down. Jake set a plate of bacon and eggs on the table, and he smiled a slow creepy smile at her.

“So, are you going to tend to your garden today?” he asked as he sat next to her.

“My garden?” she asked as she twirled her fork in the eggs.

“Yes, you said you wanted to grow your own vegetables, so if you want to eat anything other than bacon and eggs, then I suggest you tend to your garden,” he said, and Riah looked at him oddly.

“Okay, well, then, I guess I will go tend to my garden,” she said as she got up from the table.

“Aren’t you going to finish your breakfast?” he asked, and she shook her head.

“No, I’m not hungry,” she said, and then she walked out of the backdoor.

Riah felt off as she walked out to the garden and hit her knees. There was something off in the air, and it didn’t feel right. Slowly, she dug her hands into the dirt, and she felt a surge of energy rush through her body. Then, she felt a sense of peace wash over her, and then she looked down.

Surprisingly, a little tomato plant grew, producing small, ripe tiny tomatoes. Quickly, she grabbed one, and she glanced around. When she didn’t see anyone, she put the small vegetable up to her mouth and took a small bite.

The juices invaded her mouth, and she felt another rush of energy flow through her.

“Find the others,” whispered a voice, and she dropped the tomato.

Others? What others? She asked herself, and then she noticed that the bucket of water glistened.

Curiously, she looked at the bucket of water, and the water began to move. Before Riah could move, a stream of water came from the bucket and swirled around her.

“We have found you,” whispered a voice, and suddenly, the water soaked her.

“What was that for?” she exclaimed as she wiped the water from her face.

She remembered childhood stories about the ancient guardians playing tricks on people, but this was just supposed to be a bedtime story. However, Riah believed there was magic out there, and at that moment, she thought someone was playing tricks.

Suddenly, she felt another power surge rush through her body, and this surge felt more potent than the last.

What was going on? She wondered as she got to her feet.

At that moment, Ashta’s face flashed into her mind, and Riah wondered who that woman was. She couldn’t remember ever seeing Ashta before. She sighed as she went back into the house and up the stairs to change out of her wet clothing.

She opened the dresser drawers and found nothing but neatly folded black t-shirts and tan cargo pants. She closed the drawer and opened the next one. Inside, there were neatly folded blue jeans and white t-shirts. Annoyed, she shut the drawers and she looked over at the closet.

Curiously, she walked over to it and opened the door. Oddly, there were just rows of the same two pairs of sneakers. Jake wore one pair, and she guessed that the other pair was for her. Riah heavily sighed as she closed the closet door, and then she quickly changed.

As she walked downstairs, she noticed that Jake, Destiny, Micheal, Brian, and Chloe were sitting on the couch on a large flat-screen TV. Oddly, the channel that the TV was on was nothing but static.

“Hey, what are you guys doing?” she asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs, and Brian looked at her as he put his finger to his lips.

Oddly, Riah looked at her brother, and then she walked out of the house. At that moment, she felt a slight breeze swirl around her, and she heard the sound of tiny laughing voices. Riah giggled, and then she felt another sudden burst of energy.

“We are doing our best to guide you, but you must find the others,” whispered the voices.

“But who are the others?” she whispered as she closed her eyes.

Suddenly, a vision came into her mind, and she was with that girl that had flashed in her mind earlier. Surprisingly, she was fighting in a war with the girl, and two others were fighting alongside them, but they were blurred.

“Riah?”

At that moment, the vision faded away, and she opened her eyes. Jake was standing behind her, and she turned to him.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, and she nodded as she gave him a quick smile.

“Yeah. I should go give the kids a bath,” she said, and Jake raised his hand.

“Not to worry. They have already been taken care of,” he said, and Riah looked at him oddly.

“I have always given the kids their bath. Why the sudden change?”

Jake smiled his eerie smile at her.

“So, come inside,” he said, ignoring her question, and Riah stared after him as he walked into the house.

She thought something really strange was going on here as she followed him into the house.

Riah decided that she would keep an eye on things for now because she was starting to believe that her gut was right. This place was all wrong.

As the weeks passed, Riah began to see how weird things were getting. Everyone did the same thing day in and day out. Oddly, they wore the same clothes, ate the same food, bacon, and eggs, and they moved the same way. Another strange thing was that no one seemed to pay attention to her, so she took it upon herself to wander around.