Inferno

By Jessica Wise

There was evil in this world that I couldnt begin to comprehend, and the dangers I was dealing with here were just as nasty. Snake-eyed figures from the worst possible nightmares, flame-haired maidens who claimed they were you from another dimension and . . .death.

The fabric of time has been angered, tampered beyond mortal hands, and the fate of the universe has been deeply questioned. All because of two girls. Well, technically one.

Ally and Alison Rivers, who both share the same life, have been thrown into chaos that cannot be undone in both of their dimensions. Only time can tell how far this wildfire will spread. And only one can stop it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Oct 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496994929

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2014 Jessica Wise. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/22/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9493-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9491-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9492-9 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1 Alison

Chapter 2 Ally

Chapter 3 Alison

Chapter 4 Ally

Chapter 5 Alison

Chapter 6 Ally

Chapter 7 Alison

Chapter 8 Ally

Chapter 9 Alison

Chapter 10 Ally

Chapter 11 Alison

Chapter 12 Ally

Chapter 13 Alison

Chapter 14 Ally

Chapter 15 Alison

Chapter 16 Ally

Chapter 17 Alison

Chapter 18 Ally

Chapter 19 Alison

Chapter 20 Ally

Chapter 21 Alison

Chapter 22 Ally

DEDICATION

For my family, for always being there for me, and helping me make my dream become a reality! I love you!

Specifically, my Dad and Mum for putting up with me for all these years and supporting my crazy fantasies!

And, of course, my sister Sam, who is the best little sister I could ever wish for!

Thanks guys; for everything really! Because while I was writing this, I realised that I’ve been living the dream all along, and all my wishes have come true. For life would never be the same without you!

Thank you.

PHOENIX

Out of my ashes

Will arise a new phoenix

A soaring being

Returning from death

Proving once again

That life is eternal

I live forever

Because the spirit

never dies

I will return

In another body

In another time

But it is me

The me who is me now

Will always be

As long as I live

I learn

And live

Forever

Carmen Colombo 1996

www.wowzone.com

INFERNO

PROLOGUE

Time was drawing near, and time was such a precious thing. Even the richest of people rarely had a decent amount, the amount that everyone wanted.

Basilisk, as it happened, had barely any time at all. He paced his chambers thinking.

Ever since the bitter battle of Dark and Light, that shining moment when that sword said of the death of Phoenix, he’d thought he’d won. He’d assumed that the universe would be in his hands, the hands of the Dark now that Light had fallen. The balance was broken. The End.

Only it wasn’t. And that was what angered him. That was why he was pacing, thinking.

For Light will never die out, brother mine…

His rival’s words still echoed through his mind, that moment when Phoenix gathered his final ounce of strength and sent his powers through the Great Void. Sending them to someone else. But who?

His soldiers had been searching for days, looking out for a signal of the Fire. Even now, Basilisk remembered the indicator glowing red on his desk, and at his call his army had spread out, following the trail. They’d failed to retrieve it, and they’d succeeded as well.

Phoenix had been clever, Basilisk couldn’t deny it. Expanding his power so it reached the same girl but two parallel versions of her.

He’d managed to grasp the Fire in the girl that was in his dimension but the other had narrowly escaped. Now it was in her too deep it would be nearly impossible to take it out.

Nearly. When he started devising the plan, a few soldiers had said he had some of the Fire. Why did he need more? Before blazing them to dust, he’d said You can’t rule a universe with just some Fire. You need all of it, you fools!

Though to him, he didn’t just need all it. He wanted all of it. To be the one to wield all of his brother’s power and his own, the universe would be truly his!

And now he’d found a way to get the Fire, nothing was going to stop him.

He stopped his thinking and pacing and prowled towards his brother’s glass coffin. Brushing his fingers over his brother’s entombed face, he gazed.

Phoenix had been striking as he was himself: wild, red hair even more regal than any lion’s mane; though his eyes were closed, Basilisk could picture the memorising way they fixed on you, as green as springtime… All his followers had resembled him, though none held a candle to Phoenix’s kingly features.

With a devilish smile, Basilisk thought of how his followers represented him: all with hair as white as salt; eyes so dark the pupil seemed to meld with the iris, only a ring of silver separating them, the snake pupils still very much noticeable. His eyes resembled the creature’s that Basilisk had been named after as Phoenix had took after his creature’s bold, bright feathers coloured a deep red.

Like Phoenix’s followers had done, none of Basilisk’s could compete with the utter cruelness that drastically twisted his features.

He was still handsome though in the exact opposite way that Phoenix had been. Though this was true, it bothered him at just how many similarities there were in him and his brother. This scared him still at just many similarities there were in Light and Dark.

He traced the symbol of the Basilisk upon Phoenix’s entombed face: two basilisks biting each other’s tails to form a perfect circle with a single scroll encircled between them.

My body is preserved in Heaven but my soul is of Hell.

Just you wait and see brother mine, Basilisk whispered, Though Light and Dark are the same in so many ways, it was always destined that one should always conquer the other. Just you wait and see…

And both brothers did. One Dark. One Light. One wishing for absolute destruction, the desire of ruling the whole universe. The other wishing that his last actions had not been in vain. He wondered if they would win for the good or for the bad.

Slowly, he turned his head towards that thing, the prison that held his soul in its clenched claws. It hung in the air, like a star, glowing black against the dimness of his chamber.

Its silver blade was stained black, tainted by the blood of its victims. The pulse of the sparks surrounding the sword gleamed maliciously, and Basilisk’s eyes blinked in terror, fear of the one thing, the one person who was stronger than he was.

In between the blink of his eyelids, his pupils glowed green, his soul thrashing against the bars that kept it enslaved. Then they were black again. As black as night, as black as death, as black as this world’s future and his own.

Resist…

Basilisk grinned, and the fighting from within him was defeated.

Your angel blood will no longer enslave me… He whispered with a smirk, black pupils dancing, "I am free now, and this time, this time, I will fulfil my own prophecy!"

Chapter 1

ALISON

Walls closing in. Ceilings dropping. My heart racing. Dear god. It was happening again.

I hammered hard on the thick, iron door, hoping against hope that someone, anyone, would hear me.

I laughed at my own stupidity. No one would hear me. That’s why they’d put me here.

I heard my laugh echo around this desolate chamber, unanswered, and sounding too high and melodious as if I was crazy. Maybe I was.

My mind wandered back to that night when that thing had come, made me into what I am. Light fingers tracing the outline of my lips, keeping me from screaming. Pure, green eyes looked into mine, shocking me still.

Hello, dear one. It had whispered calmly, but its eye were frantic as if it didn’t think it had much time. You have been chosen by my people to inherit the powers of the Phoenix, Peacemakers of the Universe. We are a dying race, my child, and we need someone to continue our work. Will you?

It had studied me closely, those cool, green eyes intense and quite nerve-wracking, its vibrant red hair stunning against the black of night.

I was young then –no more than six years old- innocent, not knowing. I nodded, eyes wide, as the creature smiled, and held its hand to its chest. A dancing ribbon of fire extracted, the mirror image of a phoenix cawing in its flames. Without hesitation, it slammed into me and the creature had vanished. As a whistle of wind escaped through the window pane, I remember a strange sensation pass over me: a shiver that made my bright, red hair swing against my eyes. As I pushed it irritably aside, I remember thinking wait, red? Surely, my hair was brown, a lovely warm shade of caramel that everyone admired? Confused, I wondered over to my bedroom mirror in puzzlement and stared. My hair had darkened to a bright, sunrise red and my silvery eyes now shone as green as meadow grass. Just like the creature’s. I never spoke about it to anyone from that moment on, respecting that unspoken secret between me and it. I didn’t know then that someone else had been listening. Someone who spat a tendril of black smoke before disappearing into the night.

Then the pain had started: hot, searing pain that gave me severe fevers and made me throw up. Obviously, my parents noticed all of this with a growing horror, insisting I go to a doctor. I remember the waiting room; hard, plastic chairs coloured a sickening, bright orange, the smell of medicine, medical scrubs and cough drops.

I remembered the doctor asking to talk to my parents, a strange look on his face…my mum asking me to stay where I was as she and dad disappeared into another room…

I sat there obediently, legs swinging, humming my favourite song under my breath: Somewhere out there, in the world, you are; my star, ready to guide me, to love me…

As I began to sing the second verse, I admired the scene from outside: grass as green as my eyes, twining pavements and cherry blossom trees bordering the fields. Pink, mallow flowers danced through the air, landing serenely on the ground in a flourish. I mouthed the next few lines of the song, reaching out my hand to the glass of the window, wanting to touch the beautiful petals falling from the sky.

A figure materialised in front of the window, complete with pale hair and murky eyes, grinning at me, tongue licking his thin lips. It looked forked, like a snake’s. I was too shocked to move my hand away from the glass, too shocked to go running to Mum and Dad. Words left my mouth as the creature reached out his hand to the glass on the other side, as if wanting to touch mine. Our eyes met, spring-green and coal-black, and it was only then that I realised they were slit-pupils. Then, he simply vanished.

The next all happened in a blur; people coming to take me away, mum and dad’s cries of protest saying I wasn’t strange, I wasn’t an alien, I was their daughter…

They’d come with me, mum and dad, along with many men, clad in black, shielding me from view. I was a subject, a group of scientists had said to me once we’d arrived, something to be experimented. Mum and dad had retaliated of course, so the scientists had let them be