Into the Flames

By Angelina Kerner

A dead kingdom. A new life. Two crowns on the line.

When Omari turned nineteen, she started dreaming of a dangerous woman and dying men. At first she thought she was crazy but as dreams progressed, she realized she was dreaming of a past life- being Queen Alexandra of Heartdra. With a dying breath, Queen Alexandra promises to take revenge on the Betrayers but as Omari she promised to play the role of Princess of Phame for her aunt.

The Red Festival approaches and with it the Heart Games. She'll play to kill the last betrayer and free the ghosts who roam the icy castle of Heardra. Will she get her happily ever after?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Angelina Kerner
• Release date: Sep 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223679547

Book preview

Prologue

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DREAMS. I FLY IN THEM. I dive from mountains. I kill. 

At the moment, I was in one of my dreams. I was wearing my favorite jean shorts and a loose shirt. My feet were bare on the snowy ground, and my long, brown hair was blowing in the icy wind. In front of me was a magnificent palace hidden behind tall birch trees. To the right of it was a dune walkway with a long glass fence protecting one from a fall to certain death at the bottom of the cliff, where the body would be claimed by the Baku Sea. I walked that path countless times, swirling my green ruby dagger. 

Long, beautiful legs you have, Princess. Sanir walked up to stand by me. He was a beautiful man. His skin was light brown; his eyes were one green and one blue. He wiped at his nose and pulled his scarf closer around his neck. I’m always jealous that the elements don’t affect you.

There’s always a spell or two that you can cast, old man. I smiled at him. 

That’s not how you talk to your teacher.

You also don’t call one a princess when they are not.

Alexandra... his voice trailed off. 

It’s Omari now.

He sighed. I know. I also know that you’ll always be Alexandra to me.

It was my turn to sigh. I know that my great-great-aunt Keme says that all of us have past lives, that our souls meet again and again. I still don’t have a clue on who you are in my current one.

You haven’t met me yet. You will soon. Do you remember when you thought your dreams were only dreams? Now you know better.

I still don’t understand how it’s possible to visit the location of my past life. Seeing the city of Enlilu again and again. Nostalgic.

Violent deaths scar the soul. When you were Queen Alexandra, our land was at peace. Your connection to the land made it so. No one knew what would happen if you were to die an untimely death. They learned afterward.

My eyes roamed over the palace... the ghosts. 

After the twenty betrayers killed you, the land began to die. It only took seconds for the change to acquisition, and you saw this with your dying, green eyes. Your final words were of a curse upon them. Their souls would never rest, and you would find them in your future lifelines, ending them... permanently. I don’t know how, but you knew the souls of your people would be in limbo until they paid with their own life essence. My princess. My queen. You’re so close. Eighteen of them are dead and their souls have been erased from existence by your hand throughout the past three centuries. Two remain, and soon all those souls lost will be reincarnated, and the balance will be returned. With each death of a betrayer, more souls attain to live again. They get a chance at finishing their lifetimes and then move on. I am proud to be your right-hand man. Oh. Speaking of which...

A man shimmered into existence, holding a gun to my head. He laughed. I hate you, Queen Alexandra of NOTHING! It was your fault all the people died. Yours alone. Not ours. And yet, you have killed my brothers and sisters. Why are you the lucky one?

My dagger appeared in my hand. Vantes. You’re mistaken. My blood was connected to the land, and when I died so did the land and the people. You should have listened to my advisors about letting me rule and choosing the next ruler. But, you, along with others, wanted power over the land and people. You didn’t care that our life was peaceful and now your soul will suffer the consequences. Congratulations on finding me centuries later. It’s been a long time. I smiled a sinister smile. With your death, more of my people will be reborn. What do you think happens to your soul when it dies in a dream?

Thanks to modern technology, I hope you’ll let my dead brethren know. Vantes smirked and pulled the trigger. 

Sanir froze the bullet, and I stabbed Vantes in his heart. He fell to the ground, dead. 

That makes it nineteen. I glanced one last time at the palace and put away the dagger. 

Some ghosts shimmered away to finally be reborn.

When you’re here, it’s okay to visit other cities. I don’t think you’ve been to Egech in quite a bit or the Restu caves, Sanir said.

My soul keeps being called to the Capital.

As long as it doesn’t call you to Cholpan, we’ll be okay, Sanir said thoughtfully.

I shuddered. I hope so, too. Cholpan is the darkest part of Heartdra.

One is left. This man will be the most dangerous to you.

In the twenty-first century? I let out a laugh. Nothing is scary in California or Illinois besides your usual suspects. Magick left Earth a long time ago, as you know. I haven’t felt any magick in this lifetime. None.

Sanir levitated Vantes over the cliff where he let the body drop into the Baku Sea. Then, he leaned in and whispered, "Has magick really left? Your great-great-aunt believes in reincarnation. She believes that some dreams are actually realities in other galaxies. You started to believe after you remembered each man that tried to kill you in every one of your new lives. Alexandra, you’ll always have magick in your life. That, I guarantee."

The wind picked up and the waves attacked the cliff. Then my life as a normal twenty-one-year-old has come to an end with her letter. I smiled. I’m looking forward to my last revenge. I’m just sad that this place will never hear laughter again. It will only have ghosts.

Sanir embraced me. Kill the last one, and the ghosts will be no more. It will just be memories.

I truly hoped so.

Chapter 1

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I SNEEZED AFTER STEPPING OUT of the train in Peotone, Illinois, looking around for the so-called butler that my great-great-aunt should have sent. I sneezed because a lady with intense perfume exited before me, not because of the chilly winter season. One thing I retained from my Alexandra lifetime was my ability to not feel the elements. I didn’t count that as magick, just me being me. I didn’t feel the cold or the intense heat of California summers. However, I did remember to dress the part. People in 2019 could be so judgmental. 

I pulled out the black envelope with the red letter inside and read it one more time. There was supposed to be a butler waiting for me, but the station was vacant. Some other passengers who exited the train were already in the parking lot or walking to the nearest coffee shop. The train started swiftly moving away. I should have flown, used an airplane like a normal person, but my aunt Keme sent a train ticket. A freaking train ticket. I couldn’t very well ignore it, nor return it. It was non-refundable. As Alexandra, I was privileged. As Mary, Diana, Galen, and many other women I’ve been over the centuries, including the life I had now as Omari, I wasn’t as fortunate.

My parents moved to California in 2007, when I was nine years old, from Wisconsin. My mother found a job in Silicon Valley. It was supposed to change our lives. However, they didn’t realize that although she gained a bigger paycheck, life in the valley was even more expensive. They worked harder than ever before, she as an analyst and he as a programmer. Right when I was finishing high school in the year of 2016, her work ended the program where they paid fifty percent of their employee’s children's college education. I scored out. At age seventeen, I received permission to work and began working shifts at a small retail store so I could save for college. I received ten invitations to amazing colleges and universities, all of which I had to decline. Instead, I attended a two-year junior community college and then transferred to a state university for the third year. I was lucky enough to finish all of my credits and receive my bachelor’s in computer science. With my memory, I was able to test out of some of my required classes, saving me a fourth year of college. I worked hard to get to where I was, so I knew to accept generosity when there was any. 

I slid the letter back into my purse and pulled out my cracked iPhone, seeing that it was 7:31 p.m. Light was fading, but I could still see just fine.

It gave me time to think and play with my necklace that suspiciously reminded me of my dagger form when I was Alexandra.

I began dreaming about my past lives when I turned nineteen. It took me months to start believing that some of those dreams were memories while others were of me traveling into my old body as that young queen. Sanir told me to never talk about it to my family, and I didn’t, especially after killing a man in one of those dreams only to find that a similar death happened in California the next day. In the following week, I received my first letter from Aunt Keme about dreams. I didn’t know how she knew I was dreaming, and I dismissed it soon afterward because she never wrote again until last week. It’s been three years. Two letters. I didn’t know what to expect, but Sanir was right. This was my last life avenging my people, and for that, I was grateful.

Before those dreams, I was quiet. I did what I was told and played my part by going to school, karate lessons, and working part time. I had maybe two friends and spent my spare time reading or learning how to cook. I didn’t even date. No time for it.

After those dreams, I turned bold. I started dating, not seriously, but I wanted to have fun. I remembered what it felt like to let loose, to mingle, and flirt. It made me miss a certain young man, my knight in shining armor, who protected Alexandra with his sword. Him, I missed.

I closed my eyes. One of the talks my knight and I had had was about his hometown, Usulla. He would say that he could see for miles from the high tower. He wished he could fly over the land. He would, of course, avoid seeing the dead Parzillu Forest. If I remembered right, the forest died before my mother took her crown.

My mother...

My dreams pushed me toward my destiny and being Alexandra again. I didn't know at the time that I would love being Omari more.

After the dream on the train, I realized that being a loner for years taught me to understand different people, to see that all people went through different experiences, and for most of them, life wasn’t perfect. The queen had to learn to be humble... how would being humble help me after my shell was broken? I didn’t know. However, I did learn to appreciate the little things.

I sighed. Knowing my past and growing up as a timid teenager didn’t make me naïve or patient. Waiting for a mysterious butler was getting on my nerves.

One more man to die. I tried remembering him from that life, but try as I did, I still failed. All I saw were the faces of nineteen dead men. I remembered them when I saw them in person and which position they held in my court, and until I meet the last, I wouldn’t remember. Reincarnation and its laws. I growled.

The lamps flickered once, making me jump. The train station felt eerie. It made me think of my two fears - spiders and thunderstorms. I shuddered. In a way, it was funny. I was scared of such mundane things but wasn’t afraid to kill.

Movement to the right caught my attention.

There was a man slowly walking toward me in what I assumed to be a butler’s uniform. His features reminded me of how dead men were represented in movies - around seventy years of age, skinny, graying black hair, crinkles around abysmal eyes, and a deadly aura.

He stopped right in front of me. Omari, I presume? he said icily.

I needed to add creepy butlers to my list. Sue me. I was only human. Words were at the tip of my tongue; however, all I did was nod in response.

My name is Francis. My mistress sent me to pick you up. I’ll take your bags.

I handed over my suitcase and closely followed him to his limo. Francis opened the door, allowing me to slide in, and set my suitcase down next to me. He then closed the door, walked to the driver’s side, and buckled in.

The leather interior was red with wood varnish shelves holding glass bottles of alcohol and a mini-fridge. Bright white light bulbs illuminated the space.

Francis lowered the partition and turned the key in the ignition. We’ll arrive in an hour, so if you’re tired, go ahead and sleep or have a drink. He started driving while I poured myself a glass of expensive champagne.

So, what’s my aunt like? I asked after finding the champagne to my liking.

His driving was smooth, so I was able to admire the bubbles and the bright golden color of my drink.

You’ll be the judge.

I rolled my eyes and noted my reflection in his rearview mirror. My blue eyes had dark circles underneath, and my brown, curly hair cascaded down my shoulders and not in a pretty way. The train seat left it in knots. I finished my glass and pulled out a hairbrush to fix it before I had to cut it off. I had to look presentable. I was seeing my aunt for the very first time. What’s the estate like?

You’ll be the judge.

I changed tactics. How many people live there?

Never counted.

How long will I be staying? The ticket was only one-way. I sent out my resume to a couple of companies, and I’m waiting to hear back.

Mistress will decide, Francis replied after a second.

So, I asked with annoyance, you’re not a talkative type, huh?

No, miss, he agreed.

I huffed and looked out the window. To my surprise, we had already left the urban sprawl of Peotone, Illinois, and it hadn’t even been ten minutes. What struck me was that we were driving through a forest which was not on the map I had looked at before embarking on this trip. Quickly, I opened my Maps app on my phone and glanced at the blue dot moving. According to the map, we were supposed to be driving by Bayview Drive... not so much in reality. The light was fading fast.

Sanir’s words came back to me - "You’ll always have magick in your life. That, I guarantee." If I didn’t know that magick existed, I would be freaking out. As it were, I put away my phone and poured myself more champagne. It seemed the twenty-first century still had something to offer after all.

Thirty more minutes later, we were driving through a cemetery.

My eyes widened at the large landscape filled with endless graves. I opened the sunroof so I could stand on the leather seat to look at my surroundings. The air felt different here, heavier. I had to catch my breath. I ducked back inside. What is this?

Francis ignored me.

I returned to standing on the seat and peered out at the countless graves. They looked spooky under the night sky. The man needs to learn how to talk in full sentences, I muttered to myself.

The car stopped. To my surprise, curses left his thin lips. I lowered myself back in and watched him get out to check the front of the car.

Suddenly, static sounded from the radio, which I had thought to be off. 

Welcome Omari to your last life. Where my brethren failed, I will not. I will break your curse set upon me and take your crown, the voice said through the static.

I laughed. What crown? Centuries made you delusional.

Or they made you old. The static died down.

Francis got back inside the car. He looked at the radio with a vacant expression and then at me. Everything alright, Miss Omari? You look like you’re about to kill something.

I... I... no... maybe...? I stuttered and then exhaled. Just drive.

The car roared back to life. What crown? The land that died with me can’t be returned. That life can’t be returned. What was the last betrayer thinking?

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WE DROVE IN UTTER SILENCE and I even forget about the champagne.

It felt like I had entered a thriller movie. A scary butler, a forest that didn’t exist, a cemetery, and a static voice of a betrayer. I could only imagine my fear if this had happened before I began to remember my past lives. My blood pulsed with excitement. This was going to be fun. 

The car pulled to a stop in front of huge iron gates. Thick ivy threaded between the bars. They opened on their own a second later with a loud howl torturing my ears. Francis drove through, and I turned around in my seat, watching them screech closed. There were no people in sight. Just lots of tall grass, sounds of frogs and crickets, and ponds here and there. Looking away from a couple of jumping frogs, I noticed that the road ahead stopped at a large estate that may as well have been a castle. Shivers ran down my spine.

This place looked like it had spiders.

There are no true castles in the United States, I whispered,