Rising from the Ashes
Chapter 1

“Please just-just shoot me in the head already!” Elenora spares the shaking blonde a bemused look “Or stab me-me, whatever you pre-prefer.” Never in Elenora’s 23 years of existence had she met someone more dramatic than the blonde sitting across from her “It’s better than freezing to death!” Elenora rolls her eyes before looking over the map. Her friend had been begging to go to an apartment building or something of the kind but unfortunately, Elenora can’t replace anything available so she has to sit and listen to her friend complain about the cold weather every hour of every day. “I’ll be-be an ice cube by the end of the-the day, just-just you wait!” Elenora ignores her trailing a finger across her map as she tries to replace the best path possible to take “Do-do you hear that Nora?” Elenora, being the good friend she is, hums as if she’s paying attention to the blonde. “That’s the-the sound of your best friend freezing to death.”

“We can try the neutral lands further North.” Elenora muses to herself, Mia her friend of four years had stopped in her complaining at the word north.

“North!”

“Yes, north. We’d be safe close to Alpha Scott but...no we wouldn’t.” Elenora mutters as she looks to the vast amount of land next to Alpha Scott. She had almost forgotten just who is the neighbor of her old time acquaintance “Alpha Bardrick.” She repeats the name that most rogues had heard of and learned to fear.

“Alpha who now?” Mia questions, hearing the hatred in her friends tone. Well, maybe not hatred but definitely a fair share of distain.

“Of course you don’t know his name.” Elenora slaps her forehead, a frustrated growl leaving her. Elenora had mentioned the Alpha to her friend, she had literally wrote down all things Mia needed to remember to survive as a rogue if they were to ever part, including places and people to stay away from. Alpha Bardrick was the very first name she had wrote down. Okay, that’s a lie. The King had been the first but Alpha Bardrick was a close second. “Alpha Bardrick of the Bloodmoon pack, Mia. An Alpha who would try and have us killed if we step near his lands. He just happens to be the neighboring pack to one of the few Alpha’s willing to help a rogue.”

Mia is silent for a moment, thinking over what Elenora had just said “So what your saying is...” Mia trails off before her jade eyes peek up between dirtied locks of hair “We don’t have to go further north.” Never mind, the blonde hadn’t been thinking of anything but the cold weather. Elenora sighs, with a shake of her head she looks over the map once again.

“Don’t sound so happy about it Mia.” Elenora mutters as she looks over other possible places they could go “Though the trip there would be less than pleasurable, if we went to Alpha Scott we’d have a nice warm bed and food in our stomach every night.” Mia’s eyes light up at the very thought.

“Wouldn’t we still be on neutral grounds, I can’t imagine you stepping foot on pack lands.” Elenora slowly shakes her head, most times she tries to avoid pack lands at all cost but admittedly, though she can replace information elsewhere, the library in a pack would have more information than that of a quick stop in a bad part of town. She has better luck surviving if she is aware of what’s happening in the world outside of the endless amount of trees surrounding her. Not to mention it isn’t a terrible idea to form alliances. She had long since been able to control most her abilities, or at least the more powerful ones. Now it’s the problem of a permanent place to stay. She wants a home for her daughter, an honest to god home that isn’t a cave. Though Elenora hadn’t wanted to stay on pack lands again, it’d be the safest option. If she replaces a pack she trust at least.

“Supper?” Mia questions, Elenora nods her agreement before standing and grabbing all things necessary for hunting. The moment she steps out of the cave, Elenora waves her hands in the air in front of the cave opening. A burst of flames explodes from her, a mind blowing warmth filling her as it does. With controlled precision, Elenora creates a firm barrier to keep away all danger from her long time friend “Thanks!” Mia calls from inside the cave “It’s already warming up too, added benefits.” Elenora can hear the smile in her friends voice but for some reason her friends mood is quick to sour. “Your gift would be perfect if it wasn’t for you setting me on fire all the time.” Elenora scowls at her wall of flames.

“It happened one time and I was sleeping!” She growls “Get over it.” She was healed by the next day and she’s still talking about it! Set someone on fire one time and you’ll never forget it. With that thought, Elenora hides her knife in a nearby bush before shifting. She doesn’t exactly like shifting like most do, but she would prefer shifting out of her own decision rather than having another force shift happen. It’s a silent agreement with her wolf. The process is quick, the sound of her bones snapping unpleasant but even she can admit it feels a lot like her muscles relaxing after being abused for several days. Elenora can never seem to look away as red fur grows out of her arms and everywhere else, it’s almost hypnotizing. Not long after she had grown fur, a large wolf had taken the place she once stood. Elenora hands her wolf control as her hunting instincts are far better than her own. Marcella, her wolf doesn’t shoot off into the forest yet, preferring to stretch.

When the beast lays down feeling too satisfied, Elenora scowls mentally Get a move on you blasted mutt! Her wolf merely wiggles her butt as if she plans to get comfortable and stay I have no problem taking control back. Her wolf huffs before standing up and shaking out her coat as if the beast is trying to rid herself of Elenora. With that, Marcella shoots into the forest.

Marcella had been quick to replace a big buck by some conifer trees, it was a nice catch, one her wolf is quite proud of. Marcella had killed it quick and easy, she had been bold as well, attacking from the front and risking injury. Even so, none had come. The buck was done for when she snapped her jaws on his neck. After Elenora had dragged the beast a good couple of miles, reaching her knife and clothes, Elenora shifts once again. The process is short, fast, and Elenora can’t help but watch the fur on her arms sink back into her flesh.

Elenora doesn’t bother putting on clothes, what’s the point when she’ll be taking them off to bathe as soon as she’s done skinning and cutting the buck. She does however grab her knife and drag the buck the rest of the way, only to stop when she sees two rogues fighting right in front of her wall of flames “Look, I think we should risk it! Maybe it’s not real fire and some Warlock or witch is hiding something special.” A tall male rouge growls, staring at her wall of very real flames. They’re so engaged in their fight they hadn’t yet noticed her. A dangerous prospect. A rogue should always be aware of their surroundings.

“Not real fire? Listen asshole, standing this close I can feel how hot it is. By all means though, dip your hand in and see if it burns.” The short stubby one growls, crossing his arms.

The tall one sighs before nodding but Elenora knows better, he hadn’t given in, he just decided that he wasn’t going to be the one to test my flames. The rogue has ill intentions written all over him and so when he grabbed the stubby rogue and tried shoving him right into the flames, it came as no surprise to Elenora though it seemed to surprise the stubby rogue a great deal. He had narrowly avoided having his face burned off, dodging his friends attempts with a growl. “Excuse me.” Elenora speaks up after watching them fight for a moment, they had been rolling on the ground when she stopped them and when they caught sight of her they immediately stopped, jaws dropping. The tall one smirks from his position on the ground

“Well aren’t you a sexy little-” Elenora raises her arm, forming a nice ball of flames in the palm of her hand. The tall rogue seems to lose his ability to speak when he sees it. With a flick of her hand, the flaming canon flies right towards the mans head at an incredible speed she’s quite fascinated by. The affects of it are rather...gruesome. It seemed to have burned through any bit of flesh or muscle on his face, revealing nothing but his bones and leaving nothing but the smell of burnt flesh behind. The stubby man seems to know what’s good for him because he tries to escape, he didn’t get far before another wall of flames had circled around him, resembling a cage.

“I wouldn’t try running through the flames.” Elenora warns him “It’ll be a painful way to die.” Elenora’s tone implies she’s speaking of nothing but the weather, remaining calm and neutral. “See these flames are different than what you might come across any other time, it’s not just fire. It’s fire that does exactly what I want.” Elenora waves a hand and the flames sway, the man watches, still looking as if he wants to test running through it. After all it’d just burn his legs and he’d be healed up fast and quick. He is momentarily distracted when Elenora’s shapes the flames to a man. His size is not too different from the stubby man and it’s enough to have him staring, especially when the flames seem to whistle with the help of the wind, imitating a scream before the fiery man starts to run through her wall of fire. The legs of the fiery man instantly disappear outside and he falls to the ground. After the little show is over, and the actual stubby man had paled a significant amount, Elenora smiles to herself, proud of her show.

It wasn’t too long ago she couldn’t even make a ball of fire, much less a man running.

Wh-what?” The stubby rogues voice shakes, Elenora offers a careless shrug.

“See, if you run through my flames it won’t just give you a little burn. It’ll burn your legs off. They’ll resemble your friends face, does he look like he’s healing any time soon.” The stubby man looks to his friend before flinching and looking away. He straightens up a moment later before running towards her with a loud scream, deciding he’ll attempt to fight her. Elenora almost admires him for this, he had already seen the type of power she can pull out in a moment and yet he still went towards her to fight with nothing but his fist. Elenora decides to do the same, only fair. She dodges his hits easily, every now and then landing her own, it only seems to make the man angry and somewhat desperate. As a rogue, you learn not to beg, it’s a useless thing to do and almost nobody will show you mercy. The few times they do is one they themselves end up dead. It’s fight or die out here in the rogue world.

“What are you?!” The man growls almost breathlessly

“I’ve yet to figure that out.” Elenora answers politely “If it comes to you in the last minutes of your life, I would much appreciate it if you share such information.”

“Demon from hell!” Closely following that is a hit from Elenora and the man cusses

“I don’t think so.” Elenora offers some of the information she had found on demons “Research tells me that demons usually feel an unnatural pull to hell, evil and the devil himself. They aim to please him. I don’t aim to please the devil.” The man growls, Elenora, deciding she’s bored of this fight, reaches for his neck and grabs hold. He tries to escape her grasp, sending multiple hits her way. When her grip tightens, his survival instincts kick in and he tries to claw her hand off. She merely squeezes tighter, crushing his neck and every bone in it like one might crush a beer can. He slumps to the ground. Elenora sighs before waving her hand, the flames move towards the two dead rogues before beginning to cremate them.

“Are they dead?” Mia whispers from inside the cave, behind the wall of fire blocking her view.

“Yes.” Elenora doesn’t look

“Did you have to be so cruel?”

“Cruel would’ve been torturing them. They both died rather quick.”

Mia goes silent as Elenora takes care of the two bodies. She had long since learned to detach herself from these situations, if she hadn’t she wouldn’t have lasted so long.

Only when she’s finished and bathed in a nearby river does she remove the wall of flames. The smell had long since disappeared in the wind and so when Mia steps out of the cave with swollen red eyes, there’s no evidence anything happened “Should I be concerned about how quickly you can get rid of a body?” Mia mutters softly.

Elenora almost tells her it’s due to years of practice “It was me or them and as far as I can tell, the fire won’t stay when I’m gone. They would’ve seen you and they would’ve killed you as well.” Mia knows this, she still nods and walks back into the cave. Elenora knows she is far past done with this life, she wants to settle down, she wants a family. Elenora thinks for a moment that Alpha Scott’s pack is the perfect place for her to start that family. She could become part of it, part of a pack and then she can search for her mate. A mate she dreams of having.

Elenora sighs before dragging the buck into the cave and beginning her work.