"The Dawn the Rose from Fire"

Alenyah, Singer of The Reach, comes of age. Day One of Novel November 2025

Chapter 1- “The First Discord”



Sweat slicked the haft of the bladed spear, Alenyah gripped in her hands. She and the other Fey’ri crept along the stone lip of the cave, crouching to peer over it’s jagged edge at the lesser wyrm resting below. Her heart was a tanned leather drum, booming rapidly in her ears as she knelt.



“Remember, child, we will intervene only if you fail,” the elder said behind her- the woman’s gravelly voice barely audible over her heartbeats.



“Yes, Vesper,” Alenyah murmured.



The whole cave felt dead, silent. She could not feel any vibration of life, of the Song that moved all breathing creatures, all the plants and insects within the soil. This wyrm had silenced all. She spotted a small drop to the cave floor, and the Fey’ri took it, landing on the balls of her feet, her breath a soft huff in the quiet.



The wyrm curled in an unholy spiral, barely breathing in the shadows. It’s grayish skin was dully shining with mucous and slime secreting onto the floor. She would have to be careful. There were many boulders, rocks, and divots to stumble upon and waken the beast as she approach. Crouching, she slinked forward, keeping her spear low, pointed ears twitching for any indication the beast might awaken.



This was not the first wyrm Alenyah had encountered, but it was the first she would have to slay alone. Compared to the last- all spikes and dust, this one reeked of plague and illness. Its skull was oddly smooth, fangs poking through the upper lip. The limbs were comically small, barely able to sustain its weight and size, sticking out like twigs from the limb of a great tree. This would truly be a fight with it’s teeth and colossal mass.



The watching Fey’ri were a soft vibration at her back, a harmonic thrum of support and encouragement as Alenyah approached. More than anything, she had already decided her failure was not an option. Vesper had explained the waiting warriors would assist her if needed, but Alenyah would rather perish in the coils of the beast. To claim her crown, to claim her place in The Reach- this she must do alone. She could not be exiled to Silence, and she could not bear her mother’s face should she return unsuccessful. Her mother’s song had always been full and bright; to return home in silence would shame them both.



All this she thought as she kept within a few spear lengths of the beast. She should have known in the silence, her life Song would be felt. Even her heartbeat felt muted, swallowed by the creature’s stillness. A rumble shook the stones, and a large, sickly orange eye opened and locked upon her form. The wyrm slowly unfurled, rising a good twenty feet upwards, arms sticking out from it’s body awkwardly.



Alenyah straightened, sliding into a fighting stance, knees bent, feet spread. The wyrm and she regarded one another for a moment, and it’s snakelike tongue flicked once. Twice. Tasting the air and her presence. Then, it’s eyes widened, and it whirled to…flee?



“No,” she snarled lunging forward and bring her spear down on the end of the slimy tail. An ear splitting shriek rent the air, and the back end of it’s muscled length slammed into her side, almost knocking the young warrior off her feet. She skidded to the side, barking in laughter. Her spear dislodged from the tail, and the wyrm slid down towards an opening in the wall, seeking refuge.



At this moment, Alenyah reached inside herself for the hum of the Song. It was like the hum of violin strings, beautiful, sorrowful. She extended a hand towards the beast and listened. She could hear the pained screech of a broken bow string, out of tune. Alenyah felt the beginning of blood trickled from her ears. And then- she sang.





“Stay,” her voice was more like the cadence of a thousand mothers, altos, sopranos, and all octaves in between. The wyrm hesitated, it’s out of tune life Song twisting, tuning.



Alenyah’s voice grew louder as she called to it.

“You want to stay here. The stone will keep you safe-”

Deftly, her own Song, her soul plucked the notes of the creature. It was as though her soul and the creature’s brushed against one another. A battle of wills, Alenyah’s was stronger, and she tuned the out of key beast into the harmony of all life.



The wyrm slowly slithered back towards her, hissing, it’s eyes wide and panicked. Its doom approached, but it was helpless against this Singer, whose will forced it to bend.



“Return to earth, dear one.”



A loveless, slimy thing it was, and Alenyah spun her haft upwards and stalked forward. The tune became discordant, as the creature fought to return control to its limbs.



Alenyah chose not to show her anger and disgust within the tune. It fought her, twisting against her will, and for a heartbeat she wondered if harmony born of force could ever truly be pure. This lesser wyrm was young and had not lived enough to do any damage to the Creator’s Symphony. As such, its end would be swift.



“Lay down, and sleep,” The corrupt things within the world, she would bend to her will, she would force them into key. The wyrm struggled further, and Alenyah stretched out her hand, knowing physical contact could only strengthen her control.



“Do it now, girl!” Vesper cried from above, and Alenyah struck. Her hand grasped the beast’s muzzle, and she drove her spear into the blinking orange eye. The wrym screamed, pulling back, and Alenyah lost the Song as she was yanked suddenly into the air.



“Shit!” She startled, trying to grab the spear with her second hand and failing. As the wyrm reared back, her small body rolled onto the top of the muzzle. Her free hand grappled with the slick leather skin, and she tried to hum to calm the creature. The Song was all in disharmony now, flat and squealing downwards.



“Be calm, be calm, be calm,” she chanted, but she was thrown into the air. The maw opened to snatch her, rend her body to pieces. Alenyah saw her death below, a final staccato note, anticlimactic, sudden. She twisted her momentum, and the wyrm missed, half blinded. The Fey’ri slid down the neck, coating herself in mucous. From her thigh, she yanked out a long hunting blade, stapping into the skin and muscle to slow her descent. She could hear the other warriors shouting in alarm.



Some of them started down the rocks towards her, lifting bows and unsheathing blades.



“Don’t interfere!” She shouted. She couldn’t fail. “I have it! I have this!” The oozing yellow pus of the wyrms blood spilled sluggishly. As soon as Alenyah felt her feet touch the ground, she wrapped both of her arms as far around the creature as she could reach.

She began to sing again, her voice a crescendo, a bass this time- like a great war horn sounding on the field.



“SLEEP!” She pushed all the power of her soul into the muscle, the beating heart. Blood began to run from her nose and the corners of her eyes.



She had never stopped a heart before, never silenced a living being’s song, but she smothered any note that sounded out of key, that had no place in the Maker’s song.



“SILENCE!” She screamed her throat raw. Already wounded, thrashing, the beast screamed with her, before falling. She did not think she stopped its great beating heart, but the spear, driven into its brain as its head hit the ground, did.



The sudden quiet was too loud, and Alenyah couldn’t get her arms to let go of the stranglehold she had on the creature’s body. Her breath panted heavily, and exhausted muscles trembled and shuddered. The creature twitched as well, the fading of its music brushing against her soul. The fading of music sickened her, and she pulled herself, and her Song away, falling gracelessly onto her back in a puddle of slick.



The Fey’ri was vaguely aware of cheering, as her comrades scrambled down the rocky slope towards her. Vesper, her elder, was helped downwards.



Cold stone bit into her legs, but Alenyah could not find the strength to stand. She tilted her head upwards, staring into the lines of Vesper’s smiling face.



“I did it,” she whispered. Two strong arms slid underneath her armpits, lifting her upwards.



“You did it.” Vesper agreed. “Not the most graceful ending I have seen in wyrm slaying, but it’ll do. All here can witness you have the Song, the Maker has given you the gift.”

The men and women around her hollered again, and Alenyah almost stumbled forward as a hand clapped her on the back. She smiled and wiped the blood from her eyes. But even as the others sang her name, she could still feel the wyrm’s final note trembling in her bones—thin, wrong, and unfinished.



Vesper formed all of them into a great circle beside the wyrm, and Alenyah knelt solemnly again. As one, they began to hum, and the mix of Songs soothed the rawness inside of her, the pain that came from using her gift to end a living creature. The elder raised her arms, lifting a bone white athame high. Flamelight from newly lit torches gave dance to the shadows. With a great sweep, Vesper cut deep into her own palm, the blood almost looking black in the darkness.



“Bear witness!” She boomed, and Alenyah grinned. “Bear witness to this joyous day. Alenyah Versalia, daughter of the Fey’ri, has come of age! She is blessed with Song and Spear and is worthy of leading The Reach into a new age. Bear witness!”



“We witness!” They called back, sonorous. Alenyah felt the hums of their life songs around her, caressing her in love, in friendship.



“It is my honor,” she replied softly. Vesper drew her fingers through the blood of her palm and bent towards Alenyah’s lifted face. She traced an upturned moon between her brows, and an arrow on her throat pointed towards a great circle on her breastbone. The elder’s eyes gleamed with pride—and worry she thought she hid well. For the briefest moment- Alenyah felt small, wondering what she could have done wrong.



“Arise,” she commanded. And Alenyah rose, head lifted high. She met her elder’s gaze and knew with surety that she would never be called a child again.