Secrets

"I'm in love with you."

She could feel her heart beating fast. Sure, she had been attracted to guys before but that faded after a while. She was usually one who was proud to say she could control her emotions but right now, she wasn't so sure. And she didn't know if she liked it or not. Nicholas stared at her for a moment, then he leaned down slowly to kiss her.

She could feel her face heating up as he got closer. Deep down inside she was panicking, she didn't know if she wanted to be kissed so soon but as he got closer, she closed the final gap between them and let him kiss her. She didn't kiss him back at first, she just stood still. But as he moved in again for a second time, she gradually kissed him back. This kiss lasted longer than the first and they both didn't notice their surroundings glowing red.

He broke the kiss first and rested his forehead on hers. He stared into her eyes breathlessly, then he looked down and moved back. She was about to ask him what was wrong when he held her pendant in his hand an said, "Your necklace. It's glowing."

"Your eyes and ring are glowing too. Is that a good thing?" she asked. "Yeah...it is." he answered, smiling slightly.

They looked around and noticed that their surroundings under the willow was glowing red and there were tiny red lights that looked like stars everywhere.

"Are those fireflies?" she whispered.

"No. Just lights on their own. You made this happen."

"How...?" she was really confused now. What was she exactly?

He sat down on the grass and she followed. The glow had calmed down considerably now.

"Our kingdom is very powerful" he began, "Thousands of years ago we were really weak and vulnerable and other kingdoms tried to take over our land because it was rich in nature. One day, a few of our hunters saved a creature's life. He was a very unusual man, he had pointed ears, green eyes, an eagle's feet and wings, and was really skinny. His hair was soft and white as snow. He had a pregnant wife with him, she was a sorceress with pale skin and golden hair. He had claimed that they were from another world and had fled because it was in chaos. His wife was going to give birth to a new life and he didn't want it to be affected by darkness or it would die.
The village offered to take care of them and the man blessed them. On the day of her delivery, the creature locked the both of them in a room. No one knows what happened except that a white light filled the room and the door opened. When everyone looked inside, they saw seven tiny glowing creatures who were jumping around. They look like tiny elves bathed in white light. The farmers came and told everyone that the flowers in the field had opened to real more of them. Everyone had looked at the couple for answers but they simply smiled and left the inn. They walked to the middle of the village and the man began to play a soft music on his flute. The creatures surrounded the whole village and forests began to grow around us. Our land was moved near the mountains and our land became richer. The creatures separated in groups; some dived into the rivers, some in the plants, some disappeared into thin air and winds blew around us, some disappeared into places with heat and others went into the forests." he paused and glanced at her.

She was listening intently, so he continued, "The couple turned to the village and smiled. Then the husband told them that our worlds were joined together and we should live in harmony. He explained that we had been given gifts but not all had such power because it would create chaos, and the gifted ones would be the links between both worlds. Then they disappeared and left us, never to be seen again. They later understood what they meant when the creatures merged and formed seven huge and powerful animals.
The first one was the rainbow phoenix. The second was a giant eagle that controlled the winds. The third and fourth were a snow and thunder dragon that came from the mountains, the fifth was a giant sea turtle from the sea and the last two were not really animals. The owners could control plants and the last wood and trees. The first to control those were twin brothers."

He continued; "The phoenix was the most powerful because no one could really compare except the dragon and the eagle because of their flight. The others were similar in ways. For instance, the snow dragon and the sea turtle were related through water, and the wood and plants were similar in nature that they could've belonged to one person."

"And apparently I'm the strongest because I have the power of the phoenix right?"

"Not so fast." he smiled, "The kingdom divided into smaller lands because the animals' offsprings were much. The phoenix belonged to the main kingdom and each creature had the four elements offsprings; fire, water, air and earth. The other lands were ruled by the first owners of the others and they were made lords. Things have evolved now though. There have been reports of seeing other animals having gifts over the years."