Pheonix: Chapter 1

	Tika watched from a dark corner the courtiers dancing gracefully. Each lady a
sparkling gem trying to shine the most brightly. The brightest, though, was the gem that was
Princess, or rather Queen now, Nina Windia for none dared to outshine her.
	Tika recalled when they were younger and she and her sister would play together,
promising to always be best friends. What a lie, she thought to herself. As soon as Nina had
grown wings she had changed. Now she was spoiled rotten, used to getting her way and knowing
that none would stop her. The one time Tika had tried to oppose her sister Nina had ordered
the guards to take Tika out of her sight. Their father, who had been standing close by, did
not say anything.
	She caught her sister's eye for a split second and saw Nina's unspoken cheer of
victory. This was all Nina had wanted that she couldn't have immediately, the crown. Now
father was gone and the kingdom would go to Nina, and probably to hell.
	She disappeared into the garden and went to the graves of her ancestors. The
gravestone of the first Nina was the one she visited first. *Were you like her?* she asked.
*Did the history books make you the hero or did you?* 
	There was no answer. She had not expected one. Even if her ancestor’s ghost had been
able to return if she had been like her sister it wouldn't have been worth hearing anyway.
	The next gravestone she stood in front of was that of the second Nina that saved the
world. *Or were you the first Nina to be so cold-hearted? Black-wings born to the royal line
of Windia will bring it to ruin,* she thought to the grave.
	The next in the line of Ninas was the one who had faerie wings. *And you? They said
you ran away from home, nearly killing your own mother. I wonder if you did that on purpose?
My sister would if she thought it would get her the crown sooner.*
	The next grave she stood before was that of the princess that had sacrificed her
life to save the world. *Mina,* Tika started sadly, *I wonder if this is somehow your fault.
Did the good, descent blood leave our family when you became the great bird? I'd like to
think it only hid itself until I was born but I don't think I could have ever done what you
did.*
	The next two graves were side by side. *Mom, Dad. I wonder if you realize what you
did by leaving. Nina stopped the investigation of your death before you were in the ground a
full day. Only you and she know if she's guilty or simply heartless. You never did care
though, did you? As long as your beautiful winged daughter became Queen it didn't matter.*
	Tika turned away from the other graves. She didn't know any of the others nearly as
well. The baby brother who died at birth. The grandmother that had passed on only an hour
before Tika had been born. And all the Windian royalty for centuries.
	"There she is!" a loud voice said from just down the garden path.
	Tika turned to see three palace guards approaching with weapons drawn.
	"Yes?" she asked, unsure what awful thing her sister had ordered this time.
	"You are under arrest for the murder of the King!" said the leader of the three.
	Tika stared blankly at them. *Murder? What in the world would I gain from killing my
own father?* she asked in her mind but her throat was too dry to get a word out.
	"You will come with us immediately," ordered the leader.
	Suddenly memories sprung into her head. Ones of the dungeon below the castle. The
bones of criminals, and sometimes non-criminals, in the cells deep underground, forgotten
about until they starved to death or were eaten alive by the rats. "No," she whispered with
obvious fear in her voice. "I won't let you. I won't let you bury me there."
	The fear rose in her body till she trembled. She wasn't aware of how long it had
been sense she'd said those words but it felt like forever. She heard a voice in her head,
:::Let me help you. Take my power into you.::: It could have been her imagination or it
could have been a demon, it didn't matter to her anymore.
	Tika felt a strange tingle though her body and then cried out in agony when it
changed into pain. It felt like her body was being ripped apart! With a scream she shot into
the air above the castle.
	Her thoughts were a jumble. She couldn't tell what was real anymore. She felt as if
her body and mind were no longer her own. She saw fire all around her but did not feel it.
She was high above the clouds yet she could not fly. She felt like screaming, like letting
sanity leave her, but the fates did not give her the relief. Instead she stopped flying and
began plummeting towards the ground.