Chapter One

There spins a world not unlike this one, in the far corner of a distant galaxy. It holds three great continents and stretches of vast oceans. Across these expanses live the Vahazayi--Birds of Fire and Protectors of the Universe, greatest warriors ever known.

Much closer to our world spins a planet of ice and cold. Blue is prominent wherever one might walk. My children, this is the land of the Glacial gryphons and their co-caretakers.

World of Fire--Phoenixia.

World of Ice--Glacial Prime.

Unknown to each other for countless millennia, it took but one lone soul to unite them for eternity. This is a tale of global politics, of deep-rooted prejudices and fierce pride; underlying it all is passion--of a fire that burns at the heart of flame and glacial core alike.

Who are you, my children? This tale can only sing of blood and flesh, the rest is up to you to determine.

SULAR

"Must you leave so soon, son?" Siegewind Ventrishika asked as the family lounged under a deciduous tree one fine afternoon. Siegewind's soft-spoken eldest nodded slowly.

"Aye, Father. I have been assigned to map out the new sector."

Kiacara Ventrishika spread her wings to soak up the warmth. "But you just got back, Sular. Can you not ask for an extension?"

Siegewind laid a wingclaw on his mate's shoulder, speaking before Sular could. They all knew what he was going to say. "We may not have chosen the Army but Sular has, my dear. He must obey Lord Grawn'fay."

"Aye, aye," murmured Kiacara, closing long light grey eyes, as if seeking some inner solitude. She reopened them and clicked her beak once. "See your grandfather before you go again--and Calgon as well. He mated Tamatha Hroganar and wanted to know when you got back."

Bright diamond-shaped grey eyes widened behind a white beak, similarly-colored crest rose in surprise. "Cal? Mated? When?"

Huge grey-black and white Siegewind rose and shook off his feet. "Not too long ago. Shekeira sent us an invitation; we went to the ceremony as your representatives."

Kiacara stood as well. For an immortal, she looked worn about the eyes. "I wish I knew what you are missing, Sular, to constantly take on mission after mission without reprieve. You know very well what overextending yourself in flame can do to your resurrection powers."

Sular shifted, not meeting his parents' gazes. Together, Siegewind and Kiacara ambled off, leaving Sular to his own devices. There are many reasons for what I do, Mother, he thought quietly. Conflict is something I cannot stand--everyone says so. I learned what I had to in basic training if only to keep myself alive. I go on reconn to avoid this place; its purveyance of war and bloodshed lingers even though we dwell in peace. I am no good as a true Vahazayi.

Getting to his feet, Sular unfolded broad brown wings tipped in onyx. With a shove of his powerful black legs, he launched himself into the air.

"SULAR!"

The reconn soldier's childhood best friend met him at the entrance to his father's lair. They were of the same age, these Vahazayans, even shared the same span between burnings--5,000 years. 500 of these such spans had passed, considered young in their immortal terms. It was there the similarities ended: Sular had a grey front, white beak, crest and tail, and a brown back; Calgon took after his Clan Leader sire in coloration, sporting turquoise plumage. However, he was also striped silver across the breast and his crest and tail were a rakish wine-purple.

They embraced as Vahazayi do and Calgon led his friend into the lair. As Phoenixes went, Shekeira and his mate were among the minority who enjoyed some semblance of a lavish environment. The mage-torches were ensconced in jewel-encrusted platinum holders, winking in the glow each gave off. Deep within the lair was the family room, furnished in silk, velvet and crepe--all signs of a wealthy personage.

Shekeira and his mate reclined therein with the lovely Tamatha Hroganar-Shekeira. Calgon moved to sit with Tamatha beneath the family portrait; Sular looked to Shekeira, who inclined his white-crested head. "Greetings to thee, Sular Ventrishika," he intoned genially.

"And to thee, Clan Leader."

"Sit, sit!" Shekeira's mate Fairwind insisted merrily, her large eyes twinkling. "It has been far too long since I laid eyes on you, Sular. Kiacara tells me that you were on a twenty-five year sojourn!"

Sular sat as bade, taking up a comfortable position on their plush carpet. Once settled, he answered Fairwind: "Aye, I did, Lady. One of the most enlightening of my career." Unlike his family, the Shekeiras took Sular's monotone and speech as nothing special. To them, it was only his personality, besides, family could never discern problems. They understood the Ventrishikas' concern, but Sular was a Vahazayan grown well past the need to address his chronological age.

Smiles went all around. Tamatha leaned forward eagerly. "Do tell, Sular! Cal is always giving me secondhand accounts, but for once, I would like to hear it from you."

Slowly, the white-crested head turned and Sular's mournful eyes met his best friend's mate's. "Tell? Well . . ." and he launched into a descriptive ramble of the past mission, traveling light-years on living flame only, calling upon the Whavehole every so often to mark the area, of worlds just beginning and some ending.

"Did we know the species?" Tamatha queried as he reported the final days of a planet.

A negative. "No, according to the scout reports that followed."

"What a pity," Fairwind murmured. But Vahazayi could not mourn every death there was; for every soul taken, another was born. Their mission in life did not allow for saving of every creature--it was not practical, nor logical.

Calgon puffed out his cheeks in excitement after his friend was through. "So, Sular, where are you being flown off to now, so soon?"

Shekeira, quiet until now, agreed. "Aye, Sular, why the hurry?" Sular shrugged brown shoulders, reaching up to scratch his white nares with a silver wingclaw. He refolded his wing and spoke frankly. "There is nothing here for me, Clan Leader; true, I have my friends and my family, but there is nothing for me on Phoenixia. Nothing this world or people has to offer can keep me here for eternity. Therefore I must be on my own, away from here. Perhaps one day I shall find a place to live, but until then, I fly."

Shekeira nodded thoughtfully. "It is rare indeed among our kind to hold onto pacifism like you do, as well as a desire to stay away. But you are who you are; we commend you for that."

"Aye," the others echoed.

The turquoise patriarch rose and ambled up to a large star chart on the opposite wall. "Come, Sular, show us where you will be going."

With the smallest of smiles, Sular did just that. One of the few times he was ever truly happy.

ZIARA

It was not an optical illusion that the shadows moved. Through the patches of dry ground, deep below the actual level of snow, she stalked. Plush midnight blue fur shimmered in the dark, blending her into the scenery; she'd smudged mud into her white points, practicality overruling fastidiousness. A brush of a tail flicked with the promise of a chase, amber eyes slitted, nictating lids rising.

Readying her tensed hindquarters, something sluiced to a stop before her.

"Ziara!"

With a scree, Ziara shot herself backwards, fur puffed out in all direction. Her eyes were nothing but orbs of orange as she pressed a dexterous paw to her thudding chest. "Father!" Kernow wasted no time; he darted in and grabbed his daughter about the middle, beating the snowdrifts with his broad wings. Ziara hung limp, too shocked to even utter a query. She was carried as she'd been moved as a gryphlet in her father's arms, heart still pounding against his strong limbs. Kernow angled them away from the treeline, flying further north, towards their clan encampment. Soon the complex tents of their people came into view, looking for all the world like snowy hills to the untrained eye. Small waves of heat curled above more than one tent.

Kernow landed heavily just outside the camp, releasing his daughter so that she rolled into a lump of hard-packed snow. A low moan escaped his bronzed beak, hindquarters almost buckling under the stress he'd put himself under. Gathering himself before Ziara could discern what was the matter, the male gryphon darted his head around and stared back into the woods. As Ziara sat up, Kernow's ears flicked towards her and he whipped his head back around. There was fear in her father's eyes, a fear she'd never seen before.

"F-father?"

Kernow pointed a grey claw in the direction of the woods. "There were colddrakes out there, Ziara!" he whispered hoarsely, nervously brushing powder off of his forearm. His beak clacked as he spoke. "Colddrakes. What were you thinking?"

Ziara could only stare wide-eyed for a moment. "I -- I didn't know, Father," she replied quietly. "Nobody told me that it wasn't safe."

Kernow sighed and gestured that they start walking. As she paced along side him, the larger male noticed that she seemed unusually subdued, even for her nature. Sighing, he chose his words carefully, lest he upset her.

"We are in colddrake territory now, Ziara. You have never seen one before, but believe me, you do not want to. If I were clan leader, I would not have chosen this path, but Tyan wished to avoid Valkan's clan." Kernow shook his head slowly. Ziara kept silent, watching her father grow old before her eyes. They walked in quiet for a few moments before the elder continued. "But I'm not clan leader, am I, my jewel?"

Ziara kept her tongue. Once, Kernow Flurrith had been the greatest leader their small, but prosperous, clan had ever known. But injury had left him open to Tyan's challenge. Tyan was not out for revenge, only ambitious; he saw an opening that would allow him to realize his dream and he took it -- with Kernow's pride as part of the prize.

Kernow dropped Ziara off at the "door" to their tent and ambled off in the other direction, presumably to cull a sheep from the clan herd. The midnight blue gryphoness tried so very hard not to stare at her father's wizened left hind leg, the talons gnarled and useless for catching prey properly. She sighed softly and opened the door to the dwelling.