Prologue

Darkness.

Most humans claim to fear it, saying that they are afraid of being alone in the dark. Children are given small lights to help make them feel less afraid. Some take medicine to keep their fear and thoughts from preventing their sleep. Others play music to fill the oppressive silence surrounding them. But that fear is not quite true. It's a sugarcoated lie humans tell themselves that masks what they are truly afraid of. They have never been afraid of being alone in the dark.

They are afraid of not being alone in the dark.

Darkness coated the earth in a small, sheltered town in Texas, the only light visible being the stars that danced in the sky. Isabel Page, preferably known as Izzy to her few friends, thrashed around in her bed, the vivid images of her dream playing in her mind. She dreamed of her future and the futures of her loved ones. Scenes of people that she held close to her heart and others she had not yet met danced across her mind; their passions, their love, their pain, their lives. This nightly occurrence had been happening for over a month, seemingly growing more and more intense as her eighteenth birthday approached. Her gift from the Light, however, came with a price. She relives everything as if she was present, the good, the bad, and the painful, and awakes with memories that don't feel like hers. This particular vision had been plaguing her for months now, but tonight, two days before her eighteenth birthday, they had become more intense, more vivid.

More real.

In the shadows, a figure eased their way out of the darkness and approached her restless form. The shadows seemed to cling to the specter, keeping near to them with a comfort similar to what one had with a close friend. The scent of death and despair followed them as they moved swiftly towards Izzy's sleeping form. A pale hand emerged from the shadows, nails gnarled, and reached to touch the sleeping girl's face. But before they could make contact, a bright light shone from around the girl's temple, burning the cloaked figure and eliciting a hiss from the shadows. The pale hand, now red and blistered, quickly vanished back under the figure's cloak of darkness.

"It cannot be," a harsh, feminine voice muttered from the cloak, her voice thick with anger with a hint of what sounded like fear.

She turned away from the girl, whispering in a language long forgotten by the supernatural realm. From within the darkness, a gray mist began to swirl in front of the figure's face. It spun faster until it gave away into a portal, another figure taking up space as if waiting to be called on by the woman. Their face too was obscured by the gray swirling mist that they had been summoned from.

"What of the Elemental?" The masculine voice demanded.

"She is not able to be touched, her transformation is too far along. She protects herself even when she sleeps," the high voice hissed, "We found her too late,"

"For Drakon's sake, Nerada," the voice hissed from the gray swirling mist, "You know what will happen if her power is fully realized by others. Our entire operation will be in jeopardy-"

"You think I don't know that King?" she seethed back, pacing the room then stopping as an idea dawned on her, "During her transition, she will be the most vulnerable,"

The mist figure nodded, "Then, she shall be ours,"

The cloaked woman hissed again, impatience coloring her tone, "And what of her protectors?"

"Dispose of them,"

The woman huffed out a strained chuckle, "You want me to kill royalty? How do you plan on explaining that death to-"

"I will figure it out!" he snapped, the mist strengthening to an almost physical form, "That is none of your concern. Just get the girl,"

The woman sneered as the man disappeared along with the mist. She hovered over Izzy, watching her as she turned and whimpered. In her sleep, the feeling of the two dark forces who had been present in her room was creeping into her mind, infecting her vision and turning the scene she saw dark. The woman smiled cruelly as Izzy cried out when she saw a friend fall. Her powers, though latent, wrapped around her and pulsed, the power filling the room. It pushed against the aura surrounding the figure, matching in strength and intensity.

A dark smile peeked out from the cloak of darkness she wore, "Oh, what destruction you will cause, Your Highness,"