Sneak into Sunstriken

Long ago, the sun had been stolen from the lands of night. Now, in retaliation, the darklands planned to steal the sun from the lands of day.  

           PART ONE 

          Discovering Magick

Horror leashed her weary bones as she stared out her bedroom window. She’d been woken from a dead sleep by a blinding light that streaked across the sky, leaving flickers of fire in its wake. The rumble of the earth wasn’t to be ignored, a furious temper from the heavens above that dragged her from her bed. Usually, her sleep claimed her so hard that nothing could stir her until her body naturally woke up in the morning, to the sun. Sleep was a precious commodity, one that Petrah could never get enough of. 

But this- 

Every inch of her soul, her spirit had fizzled awake as shudders wracked the academy, her body opening one eye to peer at the blinding light that careened across the midnight sky. One that she hadn’t expected but as she looked across the grounds, she couldn’t contain her gasp. 

Her imagination was vast and deeply detailed with her maladaptive daydreams, night dreams, but it could have never conjured anything such as this fresh horror. 

Everything was on fire. 

The garden below was surrounded in lapidary blazes as males and females shouted, running around like chickens who had lost their heads as they tried to stomp the flames out. Not the sort of red and orange kind that came from a match and heat, these were different. Golden, with white tips that sparked like lightning. 

Sun fire. 

The sun was raining down on them, balls of hot fire and ash plummeting to the earth without any warning. Solar events weren’t uncommon, every few hundred years or so, but there was usually a sign beforehand. This was unannounced. 

Had they done something wrong? 

In all her years at Solas Shrine, she had learned of the multiple gods that supposedly ruled over them. Their names were long and she couldn’t care enough to remember how to spell or pronounce them. Had that caused their wrath? Had others lost their faith in them and this was their way of punishing the Fae below them? 

Her breath caught in her throat, enough that the lack of oxygen pushed her into action. She vaulted from the bed, stumbling across her cold floor as she raced for the hallway. Her feet were bare and she was dressed in nothing but a thin chemise meant to keep her cool while sleeping. There was no time to throw a cashmere robe over her shoulders, to change into something less revealing. She didn’t care, because the Star Tree was on fire. A symbol of their eternal life that was regarded highly by all members of the world. 

All Fae were connected to it. 

At least here, in Solas Soltis.

There were other cities that surrounded the continent but even with her studies, they were as unfamiliar to her as half of the Fae in the realm. She was terrible at paying attention and in moments like this, it showed. Perhaps this was a sign to take her studies more seriously. 

If the tree went down, then so did all the Fae in Solas Soltis over the timeline of a human lifespan. They would wither and fade like mortals, age wearing down on them as wrinkles and spots appeared on their once perfected skin. 

She couldn’t let that happen. 

Call it pride, call it vanity but Petrah Cenovis savoured her youth, her beauty. She had always been called a stunning, lithe thing, her hair the colour of golden roses, her skin kissed by the sun with warm freckles that splattered across her nose. Even her friend, Dyana, another student in the academy, often praised the way her eyes sparkled with the light of the sunlands. She didn't want to lose that because she simply had forgotten to appreciate the gifts the gods gave them. 

Petrah threw open her oak door and darted down the stairs, two at a time. She barrelled down the hall and down three more staircases before reaching the main floor, whipping her head around to locate the best point of access. 

There, six feet away. 

Her mind was empty as she raced for it, weaving around frantic others who carried buckets of water in a vain attempt to dash the flames. Sun fire wasn’t going to be put out as easily as regular fire, she knew that but it was better than standing around and doing nothing. 

Cool grass greeted her unburdened toes as she entered the massive garden where the Star Tree sat. A beige wall of bricks surrounded the entire area, a cliff dropping below it that led to a crashing river. Green covered as far as the eye could see, cast with flickering hues of fire as it swarmed the flora and fauna. 

Bushes set ablaze. 

Flowers screaming in flames. 

Wood licked raw.  

She ran for the tree. 

Everything else could be replaced. 

The Star Tree didn’t produce any seeds, nor was there any other tree like it in the realm. The leaves were pure starlight, pearlescent leaves that could be ground into poultices and potions for the better art of healing and helping. The bark was a dark brown that looked as if it glowed from the inside out. Cracks of shimmering violet ran up and down it, breaks in the wood that exuded the mighty power from within. 

There were no combative skills for her to advance with because females were not encouraged to learn how to fight in the sunlands. There was no bucket of water in her grasp to toss at the flames, which were steadily growing by the second as they devoured the air. Petrah had no plan in mind but she still made for the tree. 

“Get away from there!” Someone shouted at her but she paid them no heed. All she could focus on was getting to the tree and trying to stop the flames. 

The roots were mangled, gnarly and deeply woven into the ground, but certain portions cut through the earth with mud and dirt around them. 

A miniscule flame ignited. She quickly slammed her palm flat down on one, wincing as the heat singed her skin and the flame that had been slowly creeping up it died. She did it again, slapping as many small embers as she possibly could, her breath locked in her lungs like a thief in the dungeon. 

Her skin cried out with each one she doused, whirling around the tree as her skirt whipped her calves. Smolders caught on the edge of the fabric but she couldn’t focus on that right now. There was too much concentration in putting out the flames. It was working even if it was an idea created by a madman. 

Petrah beat the flames back as others worked around her. She patted and hit, spitting on others when saliva gathered in her cheek. It might have looked foolish but it was working. She was dousing the flames out, one by one and slowly, but they were going out. 

“WATCH OUT!” 

She rotated, only to see nothing. 

Her hair whipped around her in ribbons of pale red, as bright and bold as the sun that was winking out above them. 

Petrah looked up as a large sphere entered the sky range. The sky was on fire. Had death and destruction not been absolute, it would have been glorious to see. The sun was angry, furious with them for some reason and each cannonball of heat it sent, found its mark. 

She ran once more, away from the tree this time, around the back to avoid the flames. It smacked into the roots where she’d just been, engulfing the crisped wood that she’d just put out. Petrah let out a frustrated sound and reached for one of the water buckets that had been deposited by her side in a hasty departure. She tossed it on the flames, desperate for another because the fire was too large for her to put out with her hand anymore without severe damage. She blew on them too, hoping to suffocate them but to no avail. 

Petrah turned just in time to reach for the second bucket, only for an overwhelming sense of pain to slam into her back, a wheeze forced out of her throat as everything became numb. Everything around her spun, cruel vermillion narrowing in on the edges of her vision as her body no longer felt like it belonged to her. The world faded away and each noise became a distant ringing in her ears as she swayed. 

Was she dreaming; it felt like she was dreaming. 

Then, it became hot. Too hot. 

Her head swarmed as she looked down at herself only to understand that she’d been hit. 

Her heart slowed to a thumping rhythm that no longer belonged to her. Her fingers were burning, fast and furious as she watched the flames lick at her raw, angry skin, unable to move or do anything. She was frozen to the ground, which was odd since she was being burned alive. 

Petrah should have felt pain but she didn’t. 

Nothing but heat devoured her. 

A little tickle as it ate away at her flesh, smoke and the smell of burning flesh filling the air. That was worse than the actual tingle that tore through her system. 

She thought someone called her name. 

Dorcas, maybe. 

The head matron would have been the first on the field, commanding everyone else with her years of experience when it came to watching over, worshiping the Star Tree. 

Could this have been the work of the Natrix Noctusian moonmaker across the border? Even here, rumours of his powerful threshold spread like wildfire. Had they angered him in some way and he’d sent the sun crashing down on them in revenge? Was that something a moonmaker could even do? 

Her head wasn’t screwed on right, her brain melting away as she tried to understand, tried to think, tried to rationally explain this night. She couldn’t. It frustrated her greatly, but not as terrible as the heat began to spread, as she began to feel it. 

Petrah’s lungs seized as the fire entered her chest. 

She couldn’t breathe. 

Stars burst around her, everything winking out and the horrible darkness careened into her. She enjoyed the night, from the sanctity of her room in the tower. She enjoyed the stars in the sky and the lovely moon. But the pure, unbridled darkness? 

It terrified her. 

So as it all began to wink out, her sizzling panic settled in as everything was stripped away from her. 

Including her vision. 

Drenching terror, unlike anything she had ever known before tore through her like a loose arrow, fear that she would never regain her sight again quickly on its heels. Her panic didn’t last for long as exhaustion consumed her. 

She felt herself toppling down before everything went black and the heat overwhelmed her. 

• Chapter One from Sunstriken: Book One of the Rivalry of the Sun and Moon.