The Phoenix: The Elemental Series, Book I

By Joanna Szpernoga

Twenty-one-year-old Roksana Ava Lawless is a fire elemental living in the secluded town of Evion and attending the School of Mastering Elemental Abilities, where elementals go to learn control of their powers until they turn twenty-three. She has been raised just like every other fire elemental: despising all ice elementals—a hatred that only increased when six of them murdered her brother six years ago.

But when a certain elemental reaches out to Roksana with unexpected information, her life begins to change drastically—and her ability to maintain control of herself rapidly dwindles. Soon she finds herself working with someone she had once thought was her worst enemy. Roksana faces many battles, both mental and physical, before confronting a life-altering decision that will dictate her future and that of every other elemental’s future in Evion.

The first of a series, this novel tells the story of a young fire elemental as she learns that the world around her may not be quite what she believes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9781532070457

Joanna Szpernoga

Joanna Szpernoga is a young author and artist who studies at the County College of Morris in New Jersey. She is currently working to achieve her bachelor of fine arts degree and hopes to further her education in New York City.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

I sat near the window, watching the fire burn before me in my hands. The heat swelled through my palms and seeped into my veins, its warmth traveling up my arms and through my entire body. The flames danced and curled and cracked, but every now and then they would stop moving and lie limp, allowing the wind to take over. The loose silhouettes stirred against the wall as if they were leaves rustling through a warm breeze. I watched as they swayed back and forth gracefully.

I exhaled and pressed my hands together, cutting off its fuel supply and extinguishing the last of the fire. The feeling of warmth running through my bloodstream lingered, but in the next hour or so, it would disappear.

It was hard this past month, especially since the unbearable cold remained for more than just a couple of weeks. Winter, the lifeless and most dreadful time of the year, was beginning to overstay its welcome. The ground, the trees, the dorms, the city—everything, was concealed with a disgusting layer of slush.

I turned and glanced briefly out the frosted window of my dorm, and sure enough, I was greeted by white, opaque particles plummeting from the sky. Even after laying down a good eight inches of snow, the flakes still very defiantly continued to fall.

The coming of winter meant that everything that took so long to grow and develop would die again. The trees would get stripped of their once luxurious leaves, and the wildlife would hide away. It felt as if the world was practically disintegrating and leaving behind an empty, pitiful landscape. The atmosphere would just get colder, and it’d become painful to breathe. The sun and all its motherly warmth, if any, would only be around for but a few more hours and then the moon would take over and welcome temperatures below freezing.

Earth itself would be considered as good as dead.

Once spring came around, the snow and leftover frost would melt away, and in its place would be a wet and muddy wreck. The trees would take another few weeks to bloom and return to their true phase. It would take so long to feel the relief and safety of the sun’s rays again.

Thinking about the chaos made something burn within me.

They’re such a mess.

Everything about them is wrong.

They are scum.

Their hideous blue eyes could be seen from miles away when it snowed. They were always outside when it snowed, harnessing energy.

Whenever we came across a pair of those revolting eyes, we assumed the worst. Nothing about them was right. We hated them, and they knew it, but they didn’t give a damn about that. The fact that we undoubtedly overpowered them didn’t seem to get through their thick skulls, and they still decided to cause trouble.

You couldn’t go a day here without hearing about fights, or if you were lucky, participating in them. All the other elementals minded their own business. All the other elementals refused to get in the way or try to help because they’d already tried so hard and yet had never found a conclusion. Plus, why would we listen to those who didn’t understand? They didn’t understand that you couldn’t just erase the past. They didn’t understand the hatred we felt. They didn’t see the differences we saw. They didn’t know the whole story. They didn’t know.

But maybe I didn’t know anymore, either.

1

T he stadium was a rather spacious place. It was made up entirely of a white marble coating that covered everything: the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling. Every corner was draped with one blank shade. You could almost see another world through the ivory paint—that’s how spotless it all was. The only thing that added life was the group of teenagers and young adults sitting in the bleachers, filling the arena with shouts of encouragement from one side and shouts of displeasure from the other. Pairs of bright auburn eyes were filled with excitement, and frosted blue gazes were empty and clouded with rage. Other hues were filled with fascination, while some remained blank and uninterested.

There was an older man on the other side of the gymnasium with a whistle settled in his mouth, like a fat, plump cigar planted at the corner of his cracked lips. His arms were folded, and he watched us closely, judging our every move. He had an abandoned clipboard on the floor next to him with a loose paper that listed all the names of the elementals in that class. The name tag pinned on his chest read Mr. Hartfield, and he was the most serious and dedicated coach I had ever met. His jaw was always tight, and he had a vein protruding from his temple. When observing the matches, his thoughts could never be read through his expression.

My opponent was sweating. He looked physically drowned and mentally worn out. His hair was scruffy, his brow was furrowed, and I could almost hear his teeth grinding as he did his best to step it up. I almost had him down. This was my chance to win, and I wasn’t going to go easy on him. I took a step closer and immediately noticed he took a step back, hesitant to attack. He was trying to buy time to regain his composure. Satisfied, my arms continued to engulf themselves in large, radiant flames. The flames looked like big, menacing wings. Once the student began to regenerate his momentum, he manifested a bright, acidic substance in the middle of his palm that dripped down his long, pale fingers. Before I could risk getting hit, I swiped my arm in a downward motion and hurled a sharp wing of fire at him. The flames took on the shape of a phoenix’s wing as they soared through the air and I watched as my attack landed right on his upper abdomen. He was thrown back quite a distance, which gave me some more leverage. The poison speckled all over the place, sizzling as it touched the ground. Some of it splashed onto my foot, and it felt like I was jabbed with pins and needles. Though I felt a bit of pain, it was soon replaced with warmth as a singular flame sprung in place of the acidic substance, causing the poison to evaporate. I watched him rise and hold his chest, panting. His glossy bright green eyes flickered as he grew dangerously weaker. I was sure that I’d won the match, and I felt the flames dance around me and make their way up my legs and body. My flames reflected in the floor around me, and I soon became engulfed in red, orange, and yellow waves of heat.

He didn’t want to lose. I could tell he kept fighting until the very last minute, and I guess I should give him some credit. He tried desperately to continue, to prove he was better. Once again, a toxic sphere took place in his palm, bubbling with venom. It was bigger this time, and the heavy substance ran down his arm. His eyes flashed, and he sent the sphere in my direction, refusing to give me a chance to dodge him. I felt the orb land on the crease of my stomach, and I staggered back at the impact. Again, I welcomed that familiar prickling feeling, like diving into a thorn bush, but it was soon replaced with an excess of heat as the flames engulfed every drop of the poison. I looked up with a taunting smirk and noticed how much he had regretted his action. He was angry, pissed that his element had no advantage against my powerful flames. He continuously tried to hit me with the same attack, but nothing changed. Each hit added more flames, more heat, more power, more of my capability to win.

One last hit, I figured. One last hit, and he’ll be down. I raised both my hands up in the air, and with a quick and precise movement, I swung them back down, like a bird taking off. A grunt escaped me as a large, bright flame in the shape of a phoenix rammed into him, singeing his clothing and burning his skin. His shirt spewed with flames, revealing his pale, porcelain skin. He slammed onto the ground. I watched him scramble to his knees and throw his shirt off, which was now engulfed completely. The room was filled with an overwhelming amount of heat, and as the smoke cleared, I caught him breathing rapidly, his stomach vigorously rising and falling. A large portion of his arm was pink and shiny, revealing freshly burned skin. I began to make my way toward him, already pumped up to make my next move.

Before I could do anything, he raised his shaky hand into the air. In an instant, Hartfield blew the whistle that rested on his lip. Although disappointed, I respectfully took a step back from the injured blonde male. Hartfield made his way to the middle of the stadium, his square jaw twitching as he looked from me to the fighter on the floor. He turned and faced the students; his striking yellow eyes pierced the crowd.

The room immediately fell silent, and all eyes landed on Hartfield. He glanced over at my opponent with a face that gave nothing away. Hartfield waited impatiently for him to walk toward where we stood. Despite being thrown around, my opponent gathered the strength to stand. His neon eyes landed on me as he walked toward me. He held his hand out for me to shake.

Good game, Roksana, he smirked. But I just wish you hadn’t lit me on fire.

Good game. I only looked at his extended hand. I returned to face my instructor, who was waiting once more for us to pay attention to him.

Many harsh whispers of the students were abruptly cut off. Settle down.

Some elementals ignored him. He repeated himself, raising his voice. Settle down!

The crowd finally fell silent, and everyone turned their attention to Hartfield. He was known to be an aggressive instructor.

Hartfield removed a pen from his pocket and picked up his clipboard. As you probably were able to figure out, fire led the fight. It was an easy win, and that’s because poison is relatively weakened in the presence of fire. Poison’s main problem is simple: flammability. Are you writing this down? You’d better be writing this down. We have a test tomorrow.

I glanced over at my opponent with my arms folded. He kept his eyes on Hartfield.

When a fire elemental is struck with poison, the acid catches fire. This adds to fire’s strength and leaves poison in a vulnerable state. However, these two would make a great team if they combined powers and attacked another opponent together.

The students had blank expressions.

Well, aren’t you going to ask any questions?

The familiar sound of the bell rang, cutting Hartfield off and dismissing everyone to their next class period. The groups immediately jumped up and rushed down the bleachers and into the hallway, pairing up with their friends and element groups. Hartfield rolled his eyes and yelled behind them, reminding them of our written assessment tomorrow. He tossed the clipboard to the side of the arena, and it landed with a hard thud. Hartfield headed toward his office in the corner of the arena and slammed the door shut behind him.

I lingered behind and was eventually left alone in the white room. My next period was lunch, and I was in no rush to walk through the halls after my tournament. My arms still flickered with flames every few moments or so, and I radiated a very high temperature. Elementals usually complained if I brushed past them because of the soft burns they’d receive. It would take a few minutes for me to calm down before I could go anywhere.

I jogged over to my bag and dug through it to find my bottled water. Physical education was an intense class in this school, and it always knocked the breath out of me. Every day, two students were randomly selected to partake in a miniature brawl against each other. It was never to the point where someone was sent away due to a major injury, though. We’re not allowed to deliberately inflict that amount of damage upon our classmates. Despite this rule, some elementals still tended to have problems with it, especially fire and ice.

The battle goes until one of the fighters taps out. Once they give up, Hartfield stops the fight, and the other player is the winner. Coach Hartfield then gives us a quick lesson about why that elemental lost, what their tactics were, and what their element had to do with their failure. Most students only care about the fight, though. They lose interest once Hartfield opens his mouth. He’s a great instructor, but nobody really likes him.

I shoved my water bottle back into my black bag. I took my time as I slung the bag over my shoulder and made my way out the door and into the hall. It was relatively empty now, except for the usual stray crumpled paper on the floor. Some classrooms I passed were filled with elementals, and some were dark and empty. I walked past the main lobby of the school, where the front desk was. There was a large flat-screen television on the wall that was always tuned to the news network outside of Evion. I turned my head to briefly glance at the screen. A young woman was going on about current events down in Edgepond, the town nearest to Evion. I rolled my eyes. What a bland name for a town. Humans were the most boring creatures.

The cafeteria quickly came into view. I was greeted with the usual yelling and laughter as I walked through the double doors. Elementals sat at every single table, filling the whole cafeteria with energy. I walked over to two tables that were pushed together. As my eyes moved down the seats, I felt a wave of comfort as I noticed many orange pairs of eyes and some striking yellow ones. I sat down, and a couple of infernos smiled at me and happily greeted me. Some even patted me on my back and grabbed my shoulder.

Good game, friend.

You killed it, R!

Way to show everyone who’s boss!

I received compliments left and right from my elemental family and some from the electric family, too.

A skinny blonde with a messy pixie cut was the last to welcome me. What took you so long?

I guess I just felt like taking my time today. I slid my backpack across the table and adjusted my leather jacket. What’s up, Nina?

Her obnoxiously bright eyes were fixed on the familiar figure of the poison elemental I versed just fifteen minutes ago. He was chatting with his elemental faction across the café. Easy fight?

I shrugged. I didn’t want to seem full of myself.

Nina smirked and took a bite into her plain turkey sandwich. She leaned back in her seat, and I heard a familiar tune playing through the headphones around her neck. Every few minutes or so she’d raise the volume. I swear I have never seen her without those.

Nina was a younger student. She was seventeen, four years younger than me. She was one of two of my closest friends, and she’d always eat with me during lunch. She was more of a tomboy with the usual baggy pants, belt chain, sneakers, and tank top. Sometimes she’d wear gloves or an excessive number of colorful bracelets, but what never changed was the set of headphones locked around her neck.

Most electric elementals fought with projectiles and range, and Nina was no different. Although she conjured a sword in the palm of her hand, identically resembling a backsword, she didn’t use it to duel her opponent. Instead, from a distance, she swung her sword as if she were in a sword fight, and every swing sent a menacing bolt at her opponent. I thought that was one of the most interesting things about Nina. It made sense for her, because no matter what Nina did, she found a way to turn something plain into her own style.

So, Roman was looking for you again.

I stopped eating and put down my utensil. I looked up to see her watching me now, and I could see her expression bore the slightest bit of sympathy. I muttered. What did he want?

I didn’t talk to him. He asked where you were, and I didn’t respond. She took a sip from her soda can. He’s starting to get upset, y’know.

Well, let him get upset.

Nina noticed the crisp annoyance in my voice and she sighed. He wants to be your friend.

All I could do was shake my head. I wasn’t in the mood to get upset and cause a scene. Roman and I were together for almost a year, but we had decided it’d be better to cut everything off. We both agreed that it’d help sort our differences, but I guess something changed his mind. I got up and retrieved all the trash I had and crammed it into the waste bin.

Nina did the same, and she looked at me once more. Don’t get upset over it. She adjusted the thin choker she wore and ruffled her hair, revealing just a bit of her previously covered eye. It isn’t something worth stressing over.

She was right, and we both knew it. I wasn’t stressed, anyway. I didn’t feel guilty; I just felt annoyed, but I didn’t want to tell her that. I looked up at the clock hanging overhead on the wall, and it signified that the bell was going to ring any second. Nina and I headed out, and as we stepped out the door, the sound of the alarm rang throughout the corridor just as I’d expected. We strolled in silence as the empty corners and hallways filled with different pairs of eyes. There were blues, yellows, greens, and even grays—almost white. We were heading toward her physics class, and I waved goodbye as she turned and walked into the well-lit room. My classroom was only a few doors down.

I brushed past many elementals in silence. The brown door came into view, and I opened it and walked to my desk in the back.

2

I attended the School of Mastering Elemental Abilities. It was in a secluded area away from the human population, and every elemental came here upon turning the age of fifteen. The school was in the town of Evion. We called this place our home, and we had what any other town had: shops, hangouts, libraries, restaurants, clubs, stores, houses for the adults who chose to stay behind after graduation, and dorms. It was as if it were your everyday township, except for the fact that we weren’t average, everyday citizens. This place was surrounded by a thick forest, and the perimeter had sturdy and durable steel walls, which acted as a barricade for outsiders. There were about three gates. For those who were used to it, the walls were anything but unwelcoming and intimidating. Everything in this town was magnificent in my opinion—well, almost everything. Average people didn’t know that Evion existed, and if they somehow managed to find it, they’d be convinced it was a military base. There were about two guards posted at each gate all day, inside and out. We weren’t even allowed to mingle with humans, anyway. We believed that they were manipulative creatures, and they most certainly were.

Our curriculum in school consisted of the usual: mathematics, science, history, English, a world language, you name it. The only difference was that there were additional classes we needed to take, like our skill studies class, a class based on your specific element, and it taught you about your strengths, weaknesses, origin, and how to control your elemental capacity. All of us had one main priority: to be able to control our element so we could blend in with everybody else once we left Evion. Additionally, our physical education class was nothing like your petty dodgeball matches. No, not at all. We didn’t have little soccer tournaments indoors or rope climbing. No, no. We battled each other.

Hartfield oversaw phys. ed, like I stated before. Two elementals were chosen at random to verse each other in front of their peers, thus providing important information about their tactics, fighting techniques, and capability. Every now and then, there was a cooperative match. That meant that Hartfield chose four players and made them team up and battle. Rarely, it could be six. This showed us how compatible some of our elemental factions were. On the last day of the school week, he made us take a written assessment based on how well we’d been paying attention. After watching everything and listening to Hartfield’s speeches after every tournament, we were expected to memorize the details.

Yes, this place was quite a lot to digest, especially for the newcomers.

Outside of physical education, we had our own gyms, which were open all day. Each element had a specific gym designed to help them get the best out of their workouts. Each gym was made with the same white marble material to preserve the place from unnecessary damage. For example, water elementals had a vast pool in their habitat; it helped them work more with natural resources and strengthened their swimming skills. Shadow’s gym was dark, almost pitch black, in fact. The spiritual gym was dimly lit by wax candles in each corner, and the atmosphere felt cold and solemn. Each gym shared two walls with adjacent gyms, but they were separate rooms. I only knew all this information because there was a long corridor that connected the gyms. This hallway had a large window every few yards or so, which enabled you to watch what was going on inside each arena. However, the ones training couldn’t see past that glass; it was a mirror on the inside and a window on the outside. There was an all-purpose gym too, the type of gym you would find anywhere with treadmills, weights, benches, and basic workout equipment. That was for anyone who wanted to feel the slightest bit of normality. It was also for those who liked to be with others and who got tired of being excluded. You wouldn’t see the coldhearted and infernos in there together, though.

Contrary to what you might be thinking, we were allowed to go into the human world, but only for a couple of hours. We had to be at least eighteen because that was when our element stabilized itself unless someone younger was accompanied by their mentor. However, we had to wear special contacts we had been given upon our arrival to Evion. They were individually designed to last for four hours, and after those hours were up, they started to irritate our vision. It wasn’t painful—it was just annoying. It caused your eyes to itch, and all you could think about was removing the damned things. On top of that, we needed to apply eye drops. These drops helped keep the contacts in place, so they didn’t shift or fall out. It was sort of like glue, but glue that eventually weakened. According to the elementors and elementresses, it was a way to keep us from breaking the rules and entering the human world unprepared. If anyone was seen disregarding these rules, they lost their privileges without question and faced more serious consequences under their elementor’s and elementress’s jurisdiction.

There were elementals all around the world. They blended in. Once we turned twenty-three, we could leave and live our lives. We were granted better contacts that didn’t hurt after wearing them. They completely covered our natural eye color and were common colors, like brown or hazel. They had to be equipped at all times, or at least when we were in public. The same eye drops were used, and the same precautions were taken. We could order more from Evion whenever we ran out.

Everyone