Heartbeats are like fireflies...everywhere, their survivors like the creatures they belong to, and like a wolf pack a single heartbeat is weak, their stronger together...we survive together.
"Today was a boring day as usual, no friends to talk to, so I sat in the house after school and waited for mom to get home. After we made dinner and sat at the table talking about each other's day after dinner was done I ate and went to my room. I then started to clean a bit I then sat down and started writing as usual so here I am writing...mom said that she's gonna get me a phone for my birthday, so I guess that's looking up for me...oh I gots to go mom is calling for me." Sarah got up and ran downstairs her mother was standing at the bottom of the stairs her face full of fear. She ushered Sarah into the hidden basement handing the girl the key, Sarah looked at her confused "what's going on mom" Sarah asked worriedly. Her mom just smiles at her sadly. Sarah nods seeming to understand and locks it from the inside tears falling from her eyes If her mother put her down there somethings wrong no doubt about it. A few minutes later 'BANG' a gunshot rung through the house then silence. Sarah could hear the men clearly now "check for anyone else! Leave no stone left unturned!" the men's heavy footsteps spread around the house. Soon they gathered again "no one sir! The house is completely empty sir!" the men left the house Sarah still locked in the basement.
I sat down there for hours slowly I had begun to lose count when soft footsteps entered the house I open the hatch slowly. When I do I see kids of all ages a boy spots me and runs over "hi there!" I jump back dropping the hatch closed, a strong knock hits the top and I open the door again this time there's an older boy kneeling down he holds his hand out. I take it cautiously, I'm slowly pulled out of the basement. The boy smiles awkwardly at me "hi I'm Jace" he then points behind him to the 3 other kids "and these are the fireflies, well, only group A" I look at them and nod slowly he then says "groups b, c, and d are outside looking for you, we're squad minor of the fireflies" I nod silently he holds his hand out, I again take it...this time a bit less hesitantly, but I don't talk... I feel as if I can trust him...but I can't be sure. He leads me outside and hollers "found her!" a bunch of kids, about 12 or so, run out into the street, the village is a wasteland no one but me and the kids are left.
Jace looks at me "it's not safe here, they'll be back at dawn" I look up and the moon is out. I hesitantly say "who?" they look at me "the men who killed your mom and village" I nod, and they lead me to an airship, looks to be handmade. I look at him, and he helps me onto the ship. "How old are you" Jace asks I look down and answer quietly "eight and a half, why?" everyone looks at me as if I were strange, a kid comes up to me "and I thought I was the youngest" she smiles down at me about a good 5 or so inches taller "i just turned 10, last week" she smiles I shrug she then looks at Jace he speaks up "so what do you do?" I look at him confused, he chuckles "I mean what's your power" she looks at him "n...no, mother told me never to use them under no circumstances" he laughs "that's hiding who you are, your powers are a part of you" nods quietly "I'm a full elemental immortal" they all stop and stare I look around "what, what did I say?"
The aircraft lands near an empty stretch of ocean "where are we" I asked puzzled "firefly heaven" Jace replies as everyone steps off of the aircraft and disappears I follow after and walk into the ocean preparing to fall in, nothing happens, I open my eyes, a whole bunch of kids, all older than me are running around Jace walks in behind me "welcome to the heaven" he says softly "the island is protected by a wind barrier, it can't be seen from the outside, and is so far from any trade routes or other islands, that no one suspects were here" I look around at the kids most working, others taking care of animals, but no one playing, the kids seem to take care of the island as some were building a house, and others working in fields, I saw maybe 3 adults on the island "we need to take you to HQ to gauge your powers" I nod in awe at how everyone seemed hardworking and cohesive as they lead me through the island to a large building made of wood.
It seemed rather nice, but I knew it wasn't new as the war against immortals and elementals seemed to have been going on for 20 years. "This was the first building ever made here" Jace says thoughtfully, almost as if he helped build it I looked at him "how old are you anyway" my voice was blunt and to the point. He chuckles, "I'll be 15 this year" I look at him nodding as he leads me in walking me to a room sitting at a large table with 5 other people, it looked like he was the youngest, a woman spoke up "Jace I assume your squad's mission was a success," he looked at them nodding. I look around confused the woman looked at me "I can see you're clearly confused" I nod "well jace is leader of squad minor, the search and rescue squad, I'm Mari, 19 leader of squad major the defense squad" she points to another woman "that's Sahara, 17 she's the leader of the A squad, they take care of animals" she points to the two men "and that's Drakin and Mago 15 and 18 Drakin is the leader of the build teams and Mago is leader of the attack squad" II look around quietly nodding. "Your powers help us to know where you'll thrive on the island, for instance people with powers of ice and snow live on the mountain top" I nod a bit more understanding of what's going on. She smiles "good now, let's begin" they take me to a room with straw fighting dummies I look around and notice a woman "this is the 6th squad leader, she is leader of the b squad, trainees, her power is manipulation, she's what we call a special." Mari started to explain "A...special?" I ask confused as I had never heard that term "yes, a special is someone with a power that is non elemental, such as manipulation or strength enhancers" I nod as Mari explains. "We'll leave you with her and watch from the balcony" she points to a balcony up about two floors up with glass covering it "okay, I'll start when ready" they nod and leave I stretch then nod and the dummies start moving I close my eyes and take a breath. I calmly listen for movements 'to the right' I say in my mind 'one to the left, 4 o' clock' I hear something above me and make a dome of fire form around me right as they attack then ice spikes shoot from my body freezing them the rapid heat then cool shattering their bodies into millions of pieces, 'two more, 5 o'clock' I shoot lightning at them frying the straw then wind tearing their straw bodies to pieces. All of a sudden I feel all of them attacking at once and get overwhelmed my eyes glowing and me losing control next thing I know everyone's on the floor.
I look around confused "what happened?" everyone is staring at me in awe jace speaks up "you did this?" The room is destroyed and everything either charred, froze over, or soaked the dummies are completely disintegrated and there seems to be some minor burns on Jace I blush "it's why I can't use my power... I'm sorry, I can't control it" Mari gets up and walks over to me "you have great potential...but if you never train...you'll never learn your full power" I look up at her and nod Mari puts her hand on my head "well we should assign you" I look up at her and nod "for now I think it's best for you to go to the mountains, we don't have many with abilities that require that so I think it's best you go there to train. No one will be endangered then" she smiles at me "sound good?" I nod "Jace lives up there, so you'll go up with him" jace gives me a big thumbs up "when you're done training, you'll need to pick a squad, each squad has a base, you can pick up to two, your primary then your secondary, but don't worry about that just yet" she sits down on the floor and I nod again. "You really like that motion don't you" laughing she looks at me sweetly.
Jace motions for me to follow as he gets up "you'll be living with me till you have your own cabin" I nod and follow him through the island. People seem to be staring at me as if they'd never seen a kid my age. "Why do they stare? It's creepy" Jace laughs "your the first 8-year old to be seen on the island in years" I look at him quietly "o...oh" we finally reach the mountain and start the long trek up the side "it's about an hour or two walk" he says as he looks at me I nod as we walk. A beautiful sunset could be seen behind us by the time we reach his house at the mountain peak "you can sleep in the loft, there's already a bed up there the training ground is a mile out, you will start tomorrow" I nod, and he begins to make supper showing me how to make the food and how to work the stove, he then pulls out flint and steel and lights the fire cooking us supper. after we eat we head to our rooms and the light turns out tomorrow was the beginning of a new life.
My eyes flutter open and i wake up to jace's delicious smelling food beside me with a note saying "meet me at the training ground after supper, just head east" i read the note and begin eating, the eggs were especially delicious as they were made perfectly, it seems he had been alone for awhile before I showed up. I got up, looked around, and noticed something odd, there was no basement to hide in, I guess they dont hide here. When I finished eating, I cleaned my plate in the water bucket and put it away and headed east.
When I got to the training site there was only jace and another girl, i tried to retreat back, not knowing this strange person, but i was stopped b y Jaces voice which echoed through the air and hit me like a storm "hey sarah! Where ya going?" I turn around forcing a giggle "o...oh, nowhere" I walk over to them staying a good distance away from the girl i look around as there are targets made of wood and straw. We're in a big clearing nothing for miles Jace says quietly, noticing my tenceness, "what's wrong" i shy away a bit more "n-" my voice is cut off by a bubbly greeting "hia, im sammy lu, but just call me lu" it was a girl no older than 15, she was confidant and had beautiful brown hair with black tips, i shot ice out at her as i yelped in surprise Jace stopped the ice in the blink of an eye seeming to sigh loudly "you need to learn to control that power, you've held it in for so long that you can't control it, it will consume you"
I looked at him terrified "o...okay" i managed to stutter out before Jace said rather loudly "today we will be doing target practice" I nodded and my long journey began.