Fire consumed everything; the village dwellings were ablaze as I frantically ran through my home, waking my sisters trying to herd them out of the house. My parents were nowhere to be found, probably fighting whomever attacked our village.

Coughing, I shook my youngest sister’s shoulder frantically. "Sunama, wake up, or we are going to die!”

“You have to hurry up, time is running out.” Ela panicked.

“I’m going as quickly as I can. Is Karm with the enemy?” I asked her as she vanished and returned a moment later with tears in her eyes.

“Yes, they are still outside the village. Hurry.”

I shook Sunama again. “Wake up!”

She opened her eyes slowly before jerking awake in realization, jumping to her feet in a rush, grabbing a bag and shoving what she could in it, before turning and grabbing her weapons.

“Let’s go the others are outside!” Ari yelled from the doorway a bag over her shoulder, wood groaned above us, we looked up at the beam it was about to give, in a panic I quickly grabbed my bag, throwing in some clothes and my journal, I flung it over my shoulder grabbed my weapons and put them in a bag, strapping my sword to my waist, grabbing my bow and quiver I followed my sisters from the house. A second after we emerged, the roof caved in, sending ashes everywhere as flames engulfed more of the walls.

“I am going to meet up with Karm, I will see you soon.” Ela smiled as she faded.

After making sure my sisters were accounted for, the five of us headed into the woods in case our attackers were still in the village. Standing in the tree line, we watched the only home we’d ever known be consumed by flames and smoke.

Sadness washed over me as the severity of our situation hit us. We were homeless and alone. My sisters would turn to me for answers. As the oldest, it was my responsibility to protect them. I looked at them, tears in their eyes. They were all covered in soot, but thankfully not injured.

Our village was deep in the middle of the forest. The trees kept us hidden. It had been the last of what was left of the great pixie empire, and now it was gone. Because of us.

Over a thousand years ago, a Goblin army revolted against our king and queen, breaking the treaty of peace that had held for generations before them. The Goblins had wiped out thousands of pixies, trying to prevent a prophecy that did not benefit them.

“What are we going to do?” Gia asked, her eyes flickering between their normal honey brown and vivid green. Her powers must be slipping, I concluded.

“We will have to find somewhere to hide and come up with a plan.” I informed.

“Are your spirit guards here?” Ari asked.

“They are my friends, not guards, and no Ela went to check on Karm.”

Ela and Karm had always been with me, they were a couple that used to serve the Pixie King and Queen and lived alongside them; they vowed to help protect me and my sisters even in death and have remained faithful to that vow.

“They protect you from evil spirits, so they are guards.” Ari grumbled as we looked over what used to be our home, houses collapse as ashes flew up into the sky.

“They protect all of us.” I pointed out.

She did not respond as we tried to listen o see where the enemy was, the last thing we wanted was to head in their direction.

Horses could be heard in the distance, and I could hear yells from a commander, “Kill them all!” he ordered, as horses bolted from the opposing treeline heading into the village.

Looking at my sisters, I told them, “Run.” We headed deeper into the forest, running as fast as possible. “Head to the river.” I ordered, following behind them in case our pursuers showed up. The river could help us escape from their trackers. Moving in the water would prevent them from locating our scent and help us cover any footprints we may leave.

Where pixies have control of the elements, Goblins were born with heightened senses, each blessed with one super sense, which made them amazing trackers and hunters and, occasionally, spies and assassins.

Unlike in human storybooks, creatures of our realm could be identified by markings on their bodies. Pixies have wing tattoos that cover their entire back with the colours of the elements they control shading them, as well as small star tattoos that vary in color that line our neck and shoulder. The more stars, the more powerful the pixies ability is.

Goblins have short fangs and claws, and their skin is tinged in green variations depending on the areas they are from and have facial tattoos of complex lines lining their jaw or sometimes one side of their face depending on their strength.

We came to the river and waded in following it upstream for a few miles, feeling that it was sufficient, and our trail lost we exited the river and headed back into the trees searching for cover, careful not to leave a trail they could follow.

“There’s a cave a few miles up.” Gia announced, and pointed in the proper direction. Her gift of controlling and speaking with the earth was amazingly helpful.

“Let’s go then. I’m freezing.” Sunama muttered through chattering teeth as the winds picked up.

It was late fall, and winter would be upon us soon.

“Huricana, can you dry us up, please?”

Nodding, her eyes turning white as the wind picked up and dried our clothes, then returning to their normal pale green colour.

We continued in the direction Gia had given for a couple hours. A few miles, my ass. After what felt like hours, we finally came to a cave opening. If you could call it that, it was more a mound of rock covered by earth and grass with a small opening in it.

We entered the cave and Gia eyes turning green created a bigger space for us to occupy as well as making a vent so we could make a small fire to keep warm. Her final touch was growing vines over the opening to disguise the cave opening from onlookers.

After collecting some wood, Ari set the wood down on the floor, making a tipi, her eyes turning orange as she lit the wood, creating a fire to warm up the space.

Sunama and Huricana sat with their backs against the wall, dropping from exhaustion.

Gia and Ari sat down by the fire with me.

“Did you find our parents?” Ari had asked Gia. When the fighting had started, Gia had gone in search of them as Ari and I watched over our younger two siblings.

Tears in her eyes, she shook her head. “I saw as they were killed fighting off the attackers.” She whispered, her voice breaking.

Grief rose in waves, and my eyes watered, but I pushed them down. I could deal with this later. First, I had to figure out what the hell we were going to do. We needed a plan we couldn’t run forever. Once we were safe, I could allow myself to grieve.

Ela and Karm appeared, “We have good news and bad news.”

“What’s the bad?” I asked them.

“I’m afraid your parents didn’t make it. I am so sorry Akasha.” She frowned, her eyes brimming with tears.

Ela was beautiful for a spirit, unlike what most believed she looked like a normal pixie with long brown hair and blue eyes, the only thing showing any difference from the living was how pale she was and the blue hue that surrounded her.

I wiped a tear from my cheek, “and the good news?”

“There is someone leading them away from you. Elf scouts were spying on the army and saw they were after you and led them in the other direction. It should buy you some time.” Karm shared.

He, like his wife, looked like a normal pixie, he had long black hair that was braided and intense black eyes, with his pale skin and blue hued aura he was quite breathtaking.

“Thank you for warning us about the attack.”

“We are here to watch over you and your sisters. It is an honor.” Ela smiled.

“We will stay behind and let you know if they are coming close, you should find somewhere to hide for now and come up with a strategy.” Karm informed me.

“What information did they give?” Ari asked, picking up on my use of power.

“Our parents didn’t make it like Gia had said and someone from the elf kingdom has led them away from us so it should buy us some time to find shelter.”

Ari looked at me. “Do you have a plan after that?”

“I’m working on one. Give me a bit to ponder our options, ok?”

Nodding, she mused, “Do you think they were after us? Did they die because of us?”

Not wanting to seed her guilt, I didn’t answer. The truth was, they were. My sisters and I were part of the prophecy, or at least the majority of our village thought so.

One hundred years ago, when the youngest of us was old enough, we began our training. We trained with weapons, and most of all our elements our parents were ruthless making sure we could control our elements with knowledge beyond our years and although every time we mastered one ability another one would emerge, a lot of good all that training did, when we couldn’t even save our village.

I sighed as I looked at my sister's exhausted faces. “We should get some rest. We can deal with all this tomorrow.”

Ari and Gia fell asleep within a matter of minutes, but I couldn’t. Everything repeated in mind. What could I have done differently? Could I have saved them?

The thoughts circling in my mind, my eyes grew heavy, and I fell into a fitful sleep.