Sofia: Phoenix Rising - Fire Within! Book 1
Chapter Twenty

“Okay,” I say to Lori, but my attention is captured by the stealthy way Ash stalks back into the living room. Instead of taking another chair, Ash sits down next to me and places his hands on mine.

“Have you ever heard of the ’World of Tenebrosity’?” He looks me straight in the eyes as he asks me. I shake my head no, I mean really, has anyone ever heard the word Tenebrosity? Ash sighs as though he is trying to figure out how to explain it and then as if a light is turned on, his blue eyes brighten; “okay it will make more sense if I tell you what Tenebrosity means...”

Ash pulls his phone out of his back pocket and pulls up a search engine. He scrolls through words before picking the right context for me to read. Handing me his phone, I look at the screen he has picked for me to read:

Noun: tenebrosity

the quality of being dark or shadowy

derived from the Latin word; Tenebrae meaning darkness.

~ Oxford Languages ~

Understanding what the word means now, I realize what he is talking about; “like supernatural beings? Vampires and witches type stuff?” My head bounces back and forth between looking at Lori and staring at Ash. Lori gives me a small, meek smile, nodding her head ever so slightly.

“Precisely!” Ash exclaims with excitement in his voice.

“Uh, yeah… Why are you talking to me about fairy tale crap?” I can hear my voice rise a pitch as I ask but fear suddenly wants to take hold of me, and I am not sure why.

“Stay calm Sofia,” Lori states on the edge of her seat, as though she wants to come sit on the other side of me but fears what I might do once Ash finishes what he has to say to me.

Ash turns my head back to face him. He gently places his hands on either side of my face, his warm palms resting against my cheeks. “You are a shape-shifter,” Ash says simply as he continues looking deeply into my eyes, his thumbs caressing my cheek bones.

I want to laugh and tell him his joke is not funny in the slightest but as I gaze into his sapphire blue eyes, my words seem to freeze upon my tongue, because I can see the seriousness in his eyes. “You are the rarest breed of shape-shifter to boot…”

He is interrupted by Lori as she chimes in, “you dear Sofia, are a Phoenix! And for the last century we were led to believe that the Phoenix shifters had become extinct.”

“I-I, what are you two talking about,” I stand in shock trying to back away from them both. “You guys are nuts! Why would you say such nonsense? What in the world is a phoenix anyway?” I know I am rambling, but I don’t know how else to react to such craziness. More than anything I want to run out of Ash’s house and never look back. Why would either of them tell me such a ridiculous story?

Ash stands up and walks towards me slowly and I feel like an animal trapped in a cage, prey backed into a corner by a predator. I can go nowhere because I have backed myself up against the wall of his living room, and he is moving directly towards me. He places his strong hands gently upon my shoulders and this seems to offer a little comfort, in turn, calming me a little and he puts his forefinger and thumb upon my chin, tilting it up so that I have nowhere else to look but at his face. I can feel the electric connection that happens nearly every time we touch coursing between us which I think helps to calm me a bit more as well.

Ash guides me back to the couch where we had been sitting before my freak out and Lori begins to explain. “Well in Greek mythology the Phoenix was a bird that could live for a very, very long time and could also be reborn from its ashes. The phoenix was known to be one of the most beautiful and perfect creatures in all of history, a mighty bird unlike any other and it stood out from the rest of other Aves because of its feathers, brilliant shades of yellows and reds with eyes like golden honey.” I hear Lori saying the words, but my eyes don’t leave Ash’s face. “The only difference between the mythical bird and an actual shape-shifter is, the shifter can access their internal flame in human form and not burn to death whereas the bird cannot access it’s human form, hence the ‘bird’ just is that a bird, no shifter capabilities.”

Ash continues the tale because Lori has stopped; “Humans and supernatural beings alike have searched for this rare creature because one single feather of the mystical being can prolong the life of a supernatural being that is not immortal and can make humans nearly immortal as well or at least giving them a longer life. The reason the ’World of Tenebrosity’ thought they were extinct was because it had been written in Shifter scrolls in history that the last Phoenix had been destroyed in the time of The Maid of Orleans.”

Knowing my history because I planned to major in the topic when I went to college, I interrupted Ash; “um wait a minute, are you saying that the last Phoenix was alive in the 15th century, when Jean of Arc lived (because she is the one the ‘Maid of Orleans’ is in reference to), and there hasn’t been another one seen since?”

“Yes. You are correct. The ashes are what were used to burn Joan of Arc to the stake. It is said that the phoenix feathers were the only thing that would harm Joan because she was protected by her God and only something as powerful as her God could destroy her.” Ash states this as though it is common knowledge, maybe in his world, but in the ‘real world’ not so.

“B-b-but, why now? Why me I don’t want to be a part of this ’World of Tenebrosity’. I like the way things are. I don’t want to be different from everyone else. I have a hard-enough time fitting in as it is!” I know I sound hysterical, and my voice has gone to near squeaking pitch but… In my fit, I replace myself standing once again and I begin to pace for a moment trying to grasp what is being said to me.

Lori takes my hand and leads me back to the couch I had been sitting on and encourages me to sit back down. I continue to look back and forth between the two of them for a moment before another thought occurs to me; “wait! How do you guys know about any of this stuff anyway?” I feel like I’m losing my grip on reality so why not humor them a bit more and see how they answer that question!

Ash gives Lori what I perceive to be a questioning look before saying, “well it may be easier to show you rather than tell you, Sofie. What is that saying? ‘Seeing is believing’?”

“What do you mean when you say ‘show’ me?” As I ask this, Ash takes off his black tee shirt and let me tell you, he can definitely take his shirt off and show me whatever he wants to, any time!” When you hear people breaking bones in the movies, well it sounds nothing like the atrocious noise that came from his body as it began to twist and turn, bending unnaturally and essentially morphing before my eyes into a panther.

“WHAT THE F!” I shriek, jumping onto the couch.

Do not be afraid. I can hear Ash’s voice, but he wasn’t speaking. My eyes feel as though they have grown as large as two gold coins. How? I thought in my head only to hear him reply in my mind.

In animal form we do not have human voices, but we can communicate telepathically. Though normally it takes years of practice to chat this way. I do not know why it seems to be so easy for you and me to do so. His ‘voice’ sounds quizzical as he ‘speaks’ to me. As freaked out as I am, I am still very intrigued by his animal form. I have a sudden urge to run my fingers through his fur. I realize this as my hand has slowly extended out towards him. I swear he is grinning at me even though he has no lips to be able to do so and I wonder how he can tell that I want to pet him. Duh, he can hear my thoughts!

The panther steps back from me and I feel my heart plummet. Odd I know when I should be totally freaked out but for some reason, I felt hurt that he wouldn’t allow me to pet him. A moment later I see him shimmer and merge back into a human being. Just before he shifted back, I heard him say in my head, it isn’t that I don’t want you to pet me, but that is a story for another day. If my eyes could grow any wider, they surely did! I now desperately want to know that story!

Ash picks his shirt up from the arm of the chair he had placed it on, and more disappointment hits me as I realize he is going to cover his beautifully sculpted chest back up. “Okay, so I am going to say it is safe to say that you are a shape-shifter, Ash. What about you Lori? What can you shift in to?”

“Unfortunately, I’m not as lucky as Ash. I don’t have any special abilities. I am not a shapeshifter. However, I come from a long line of people called knowers. Or as my family calls us, protectors.” I raise an eyebrow. As if everything I haven’t already learned in the last half hour wasn’t confusing enough?