Ch.1 Beginning

I woke up to the feeling of someone shaking me.

"Zephrith! Wake up!"

I woke up in shock and looked around.

"Serin?"

"We were supposed to watch the sunrise together remember?"

"Oh! That's right!" I said setting up on the edge of the bed. "What time is it?"

"5:43 AM."

"Ok."

She got up and walked over to the balcony door and stood on her toes to open it but couldn't. Serin was 5 after all, I was 7. I hopped down off from the bed, walked to the door and open it. Pink and orange light came from the east. It was beautiful.

"How do you think the Spirits of Light do it?" I asked my sister who was now trying to crawl up into the railing of the balcony.

"Serin!"

"What!? I am trying to get a better view!"

"No! It is too dangerous! Get down."

She calmly crawled down.

"It is so pretty." she said looking through the rails.

"It is beautiful."

After the sun had risen and all of the pink,yellow, and orange faded away, we left.

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep with me for the rest of the morning. If mom or dad catch you they will be mad."

"I think will be ok."

"No, your going to stay here."

I pulled her arm over to the bed and made her get on it. She ran up to the sheets, pulled them back and hurried under. I did the same because I knew father would be getting up in a while.

We soon fell alseep. When I woke up Serin's foot was on top of me and I couldn't move. I managed to push it off and got up. I looked out the window, then I remembered, the battle between Shadow and Ice is today. The top contenders would battle to see which tribe was superior. Ice has proven itself worthy of being the leader for a long while now, but I have a feeling that would change. It was still pretty early in the morning so I decided to fall back alseep, but I was soon awoken to the sound of pounding on the door and my dad walked in.

"Zephrith!" he paused. "Oh she's with you."

"Yes, we watched the sunrise this morning together."

"Ahh I see. Well, the ceremony starts in 2 hours so be ready."

"Okay, I will!"

"Your mother wants you in your finest clothing, as for the rest of the tribe."

"Yes father."

He smiled and walked out the door. I looked at Serin.

"Hey wake up!" I said shaking her.

"What?" she said groggily.

"Today is the battle remember? It starts in 2 hours."

"2 HOURS?" she said sitting up quickly.

"Yes. We must wear our finest clothes father told me."

"Okay! I am going to go get ready!" she said hopping down from the bed and running back to her room.

'I should get ready too.' I said to myself and walked over to my closet. I searched through my many clothes but none of them were 'fancy' enough. But then I remembered, the Shadow symbol dress. I put it on and looked in the mirror. "This will definitely hold up to the standards!" The dress was white, and had hanging sleeves that blended into pink and purple at the bottom with the symbol of Shadow. I kept focusing on the dress until I looked at my face in the mirror. 'My hair!' I thought and grabbed a brush to style it. I combed my matted black hair straight and put two braids in as a half up half down looked decided it looked good. I headed to my sister's room. I knocked on her door. "Serin? Can I come in?"

"No!" she yelled through the door.

"Well I am coming in anyway." I said turning the door knob.

When I walked in she was rummaging through her closet and there were clothes and dresses laying on her bed.

"I told you NOT to come in!"

"Well you walked into my room without my permission this morning so I think this is ok."

"Aghh!" she grumbled angrily.

I laughed. "What are you looking for?"

"Something to wear, duh!"

"Why don't you wear your dress of Shadows?"

"Thats the thing, I can't find it!"

"Didn't you put it in the box?"

"Oh yeah! I did!"

She found the box and laying right on top was her dress. I helped her put the dress on and did her hair into two side braids that connected in the back. She smiled at the mirror and looked at me. "Can you teach me how to braid someday?"

"Yes!"

"Yay!"

Suddenly the bell tower went off and there was officially 1 hour left before the battle between Shadow and Ice.

"We better hurry so we don't miss the ceremony before the battle!"

"Ok!"

We hurried out the door and towards the arena. This is going to be good! Every few years there would be a duel between select tribes of the magic realm. This year it was our turn. The rules were that whoever was selected against the king or queen was a candidate chief to be the next ruler. If the candidate chief were to beat the king or queen in the duel they would become the new ruler.