The Council Chronicles

The Council Chronicles Book One: Kendra

By: Lynette "Netta Renee" Broils

Life has a beginning and an end. For most in this world, the beginning comes from the creator. To ourselves, the creator is an unknown being, responsible for the creation of the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun. Malute, the moon goddess with the power over the night, and Lizart, the sun god with the power over light. Together, in matrimony, they watched over the Earth, entangling their orbital dance around the Earth. And, upon their first eclipse, they birthed fourteen children. Seven boys and seven twin girls.

Malute and Lizart grew tired of looking after the Earth so they appointed one daughter and one boy to rule over the elements. The first was of the earth and spirit element. Together they controlled the spirits and energies that traveled through every living and non-living thing. The second was Air and the Sky. They had control over the air as well as storms and climatic events. The third was metal and wood or the dominion over metal, land, and soil. The fourth boy and girl were to rule the sea, all water, and the animals within it. The fifth set ruled over all plants, animals, and humans. They were responsible for life creation on Earth, aside from the unknown creator of all. The sixth boy and girl were given power over space and time. Together with their earth siblings, they can control different realms as well as time itself. Finally the Fire and Ice elements. Opposite but alike in destruction. The seventh boy and girl were the most powerful of all.

The goddesses and gods were skilled and successful but were unhappy. Malute against Lizart's commands sent each to earth in human form to find happiness and peace. The boys now men sought to spread their seeds of life and the women found peace in the love and companionship of human males. When it was time to leave and return to their rightful responsibilities, the woman begged for Malute to give them a human life. But Lizart refused. The women now with loving husbands and children returned to the stars, only to wage war upon their parents. A war fought with the power and strength of love.

The men, Lizart included, were no match for the strong-willed Goddesses. With their children in their hearts, the Goddesses defeated their brothers and vowing to return to Earth by taking the power from their Parents. Malute and Lizart, fearing defeat, begged their powerful daughters to have mercy while promising to return them to Earth. The Goddesses returned to Earth in human form leaving behind their weakened brothers to watch over the remaining elements. Peace fell over the Gods and Goddesses, however, Malute's duties for her children was passed down to humans. Beings with the rights over the elements. The generations grew over time all the while separating themselves from humans. Powerful and unrivaled Priestess and Priest governing the realms of both the living and the dead. They became known as the Council.

Chapter One

A Welcome Home

Sometimes I wonder why me? Like why can’t I be a regular girl living in a regular world living a regular life? No, not sometimes but all the time. What would my life be if I had come out of another womb? Instead, I came from a long line of priests and priestess. Not like a rich couple whose dad’s dad was always rich and privileged. My family was more than wealthy. We were considered royalty. A part of a secrete empire in a world hidden from human reality. A world where someone like me was born a queen but also a soldier and protector of all that’s true and false. Even if I don't fully agree with the Council's laws.

Growing up was far from what normal humans would ever experience. A normal girl would have been raised by her parents in a community surrounded by supporting peers. I, however, was raised by whatever teacher was instructing me for that day. Strict, cruel, and awful tyrants that hated me. And my peers? Well, a target was placed on my back the moment my name was called. A name that should have stroke fear in my classmates. Instead, I was treated like an outcast.

My father had died in a terrible fire that had burnt down my home in the new country. A home I never saw until now of course. My mother, Fire Seated on The Council, walked away from the disaster unharmed. Rumors grew and finally, she was stripped of her Rights and authorities. My mother did come to visit once or twice after I hit puberty. But my failure to show any Rights in the fire element pushed my mother away. Her last visit, a week or two ago, was the worst “hi, how are you,” ever.

I was turning eighteen and I had only seen my mother five times since I was ten, so a visit was almost like no visit at all. As awkward as someone speaking to a stranger. Since the verdict of her fate wasn’t death but her exit from the council, it was time for a new high priestess to take her place. Of course not just anyone. No that would be too easy. They needed it to be someone who shares her bloodline and manifests the same Rights she had. That someone had to be me. Due to the fact that I am the only fire Priestess alive.

What a perfect time for me to ascend to my Seat on the Council. I wanted to run away but my studies all these years taught me otherwise. Running from my ascension was a fast way to die a painful death. Death sure does seem like a better fortune than punishing petty witches and shape-shifters that cause too much chaos. Why should I be the one to maintain order? I hate order.

Couldn't paint my nails so I painted them black. Detention. A girl called me the n-word so I smashed my lunch tray in her frostbitten face. Lunch in the headmistress office for a full year. I was told every day that I would be nothing but a failure despite my ticket to the highest seat on the Council. Whatever. The Council is going to be in for a rude awakening when I touch down. Especially if they are anything like the priestess up north.

Looks like that rude awakening would be now. Awesome. I looked away from the window of the small jet plane to see the fasten seat-belt sign illuminate. Yorktown Virginia, here I come. Farewell cold and miserable Canada. It took the plane another 15 minutes to touch down. Not my first time flying but I'd have to admit, the flight was comfortable.

Stepping off the plane at the Newport News airport was overwhelming. It was the end of July and I remembered that this time of year was the stormy season. The humidity hit me like a brick wall. It took me a few seconds to catch my breath and even then I felt constricted by all the water leftover in the air. I brushed a hand through my reddish-brown hair. My natural curls were reappearing and I felt defeated at my efforts to straighten it.

With my bag in one hand, I began to walk to a door that was propped open by a door jam. On the other side was an escalator. Easy. I went up then down the escalator to see a tall skinny man dressed in a black suit. He wore glasses that clearly suggested his terrible eyesight and a head full of kinky grey hair. Other people walking around but seeing as though I was the only one getting off the plane, I naturally assumed he was sent for me.

“Hi, I'm Gary. I'm your driver, mechanic, and all things dealing with automotive,” he says informally shaking my hand.

“Nice to meet you, Gary, I'm-”

“No need for introductions, miss. I already know who you are. Kendra Hetera, High Priestess of the Council. Come we must go,” he interrupts leading a way out of the baggage claim area just as quickly as he greeted me. I wondered what the rush was. Everyone here seemed happy and non-threatening. Must be the current atmosphere with my parent's demise. Maybe everyone within the Council was on edge.

I followed Gary for some time in the heat until we found a black BMW. He opened the door and I climbed in. The heat outside was bearable but the inside of the car was so sticky I wanted to rip my skin off. Gary made quick work of the AC, but it wasn't until five minutes down the road that I started to feel its effects.

I looked upon my new, well old, home. The thick beautiful trees, the ever-changing sky, the people wandering around with somewhere to go. I remember the woods. Running and climbing through the woods behind our garden. The life that flourished within and the weather mostly being perfect aside from the daily rain sprinkles. Memory after memory of my time spent here flooded through my mind as I watched this new setting pass by my window.

I reached into my bag to find my wide-toothed comb and tried to detangle my hair. It was hopeless. The curls had returned to the root and all my efforts in taming the kinks were gone. I gave up and looked out the window. Once again remembering the monthly visits from the hairstylist because my mother couldn't tame my curls. I'd have to hire another stylist.

We were driving down a recently paved road that seemed to go on into a forest. There were trees everywhere. It was utterly beautiful. The sky was cloudy, and the trees swayed to the summer breeze. Businesses were nestled perfectly into the forest. We passed over bridges giving me a chance to see just how wet the new country was. Extremely wet. What a nightmare. My hair would never survive without a stylist. And to think, of all the things I could be worried about, my hair should be the least.

“Here we are, Kendra. Your newly remodeled sanctuary,” Gary said over his shoulder.

I looked ahead and saw a huge house completely made of glass. Aside from the windows the rest of the house was all glass. You could see right through it or the illusion made you believe that you could see right through it. Thank Malute for the thick trees that seemingly engulf the massive house in privacy.

Gary pulled up to the front of the glasshouse and all but jumped out of the car. I ran up the glass steps, eager to get inside. There was one door, well what looked like a door. It was composed of triangle interlocking glass pieces. No doorknob. No doorbell. I turned back to Gary but he was pulling off leaving my bag atop the glass steps.

I draped it over my shoulders and turned back to the door. I stepped closer and reached to put my hand on the door. But before my hand could make contact it started to move. The glass pieces moved in alternating positions and slowly disappeared altogether within the frame. What was left was a glass door frameless one door. I stepped through the frame and the glass pieces slowly reappeared interlocking back into perfect place. I watched in amazement at the enchanted door until I heard hands clapping behind me. As I turned, I see a man and a woman standing beside a glass staircase that winds up to the second floor.

“Well done, Kendra. Thought I would have to teach you how to open the door,” said the man between claps.

“I'm sorry you are?” I asked. Curious to know who these people are.

“My name is Jose. Your fiance. We are to be married shortly after your Ascension,” he responded with arrogant pride. I always knew this day would come. The day I would meet the man chosen by decades of careful matchmaking to ensure Rights compatibility. Rights were the powers that I would receive during my Ascension. My family's Rights were over Fire and his Rights were over Earth. Our offspring, preferably the female offspring, would Right fire. I hated the matchmaking laws of the Council. However, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the law that matched my parents.

There was only one priestess to ever bear the Right over Fire and Ice, but there were none like her after. She never had children and her Ice rights were never passed down. To ensure that I give birth to a baby compatible with my Rights I must wed Jose. And there is no way around it. After all, I was the product of an arranged marriage. The same arrangement that killed my father and stripped my mother of her Rights.

He didn't look all that good looking either. Nothing of what I was expecting for my future husband. He was a couple of inches shorter than me not all that great looking. His nose was too big for his face and his eyes seemed so dark and heavy. Demonic eyes are what I would call them.

“Nice to meet you,” I say as I extend my hand. And to my surprise, he doesn't even take it. Instead he bows and the woman to his left curtsies. “The formal greeting of a High Priestess. Thanks but I'm not one yet,” I respond, grateful that they seemed accepting of my future status.

“Oh, but you will be sooner than you think. A crime has been committed and the council needs you to perform an execution, so your Ascension will take place tomorrow night, on your birthday,” he proclaimed gleaming from ear to ear. Weird. The most painful moment in my life apart from childbirth and Jose was happy about it.

“Wow, and here I thought I would be able to celebrate my 18th birthday as a normal girl,” I reply disappointed that my birthday party would be painful.

“Nothing about you is normal Kendra,” he said sternly as if I was a child. His child. The nerve.

“Of course I'm not normal. I was just being sarcastic. And this is?”, I ask gesturing towards the woman standing on the opposite side of the staircase.

“My name is Rosa. I am your Servant.” Again with the curtsy. Rosa was very beautiful. A pretty servant compared to the ones in Canada. Her accent leads me to believe that she had some Hispanic heritage.

“She can double as your friend. It's only us so it can get lonely. Here, she can show you to your room and answer any questions about the house,” Jose directed, handing her my bag. “Dinner will be in one hour,” and then he turned and disappeared behind a door in what I'm assuming is the common room.

“Right this way,” was all Rosa said as she led the way up the grand staircase. It took some time for us to reach the top but when we got there the view was breathtaking. It overlooked the common area of the house which was delicately furnished in white modern furniture with hardly any color. But because the house was glass I could see the vast forest everywhere the house wasn't. So green and dense. Beautiful isn't the right word. Breathtaking maybe? “This way please,” said Rosa down the hall.

I break away from the view and follow. The hallway was completely bare as if it had been neglected when the rest of the house was being furnished. No pictures, rugs, nothing. Completely bare. Just the glass walls that gave a perfect view of the land engulfed in trees. We came to a stop at the end of the hall. The walls here were mirrored and so was the door. Privacy.

Rosa simply pushed on the glass and the door opened up into a grand bedroom. Front and center was a huge oak canopy bed covered in evergreen silk. There were two nightstands on either side sitting underneath two windows draped in evergreen roman shades. The green was a little overwhelming given the fact that green was also outside the glass walls.

“We were told green is your favorite color.” My attention turned to her comment.

“Yes green is my favorite but I prefer black in my room. This will suffice for now,” I responded trying to ease her obvious fear of my dislike of the decor. She looked like I was going to kill her. After a few deep breathes she lifted her palms towards the doors on either side of the room.

“To the right is your study, fully equipped with all the technical necessitates you may need as well as current archives recommended by the council. To the left is your bathroom and closet which has also been fully stocked with a new wardrobe. Dinner will be in an hour.” She turned to leave before I could stop her and disappeared on the other side of my gloomy green bedroom.

Wardrobe? I almost screamed for joy thinking of finally having more than a week's worth of uniforms. I rushed to see what was chosen for me to wear. Everything was perfectly organized. Shelves of folded clothes from shirts to pajamas. Full body mirrors marked the changing of styles with matching shoes underneath. This went on for a while on either side of the wardrobe opening up to a porcelain bathtub surrounded by floor-to-ceiling stained-glass covered in Easter lilies.

There was a white vanity in the corner and a gigantic dresser on the other side. I walked up to it and pulled open the top drawer. Inside was a lavish assortment of jewelry. This can't be right. How could any of the family jewels survive the fire? The Council told me everything was destroyed. Oh well. I turned on the water and began to strip when something outside caught my eye. I walked to look out one of the lily petals and all I could see was a shadow walking into the forest. Maybe it was Gary. I continued with my routine to get that sticky itchy feeling off my skin before dinner.