Chapter 1

When you're a seventeen-year-old on Amorta, you feel the most pressure from everyone in your life to finally claim an element. I hear this is similar to being a seventeen-year-old human, who is pressured to claim a career path. But there's one big difference.

If you don't claim an element by your eighteenth birthday on Amorta, you're not simply a "late bloomer." You're either destined for greatness or you become an Outcast and die—most are the latter.

I feared that was going to be me as I walked back onto the Amorta University campus for the new school year. The sunlight barely peaked through the clouds, though it had been sweltering hot just the day before—it felt like a mocking, ominous sign. But, determined to change my unclaimed status, I made long, confident strides toward my first class. I doubled checked my schedule on my phone. Yep, my first class of the day would be Amortal Origins 102. Maybe I'd learn something that'd give me answers. Some sort of key to unlocking my elemental powers.

My palms clammed up as I looked at my second class—Elemental Practicum II. It was the only class that I'd almost failed last year.

"Auri!" I turned around and smiled.

My best friend, Noel Heart, ran over and waved. "Hey, Origins 102 with Dr. Oshun?"
"Yep."
He flashed a smile that glowed against his golden brown skin—even though Noel was human, he had a charm that made it easy for him to fit in with any group of people. There was only a handful of humans here on Amorta, all from the Founding Peace Families, but most of them stuck together. Noel hung around everyone—Amortal or human.

"Sweet."

"Yeah, but then I have my Elemental Practicum," I groaned as Noel opened the heavy, wood door of Elias Hall.

"After you," he said, then followed me straight down the long corridor decorated with paintings of our great rulers, the first King Elias, Amortal lands of Cinder, Terra, Airress, Atlantis. "You're not an Outcast, Auri," Noel insisted, though he'd say this all the time and I believed it less and less. Finally, we reached the painting of the Amortal kingdom's royal castle, which marked the entrance of the lecture hall.

"Well, when I die, Noel, please engrave 'I told you so,' on my grave in big, fat letters." I smiled, then walked up the steps in the lecture hall and took a seat in the far-right of the fourth row, where no one had placed themselves yet. So far, only the first row and the very back row were filled. Other students slowly trickled in and took their seats, fairly spread out.

Then I screamed.

Not out loud, just on the inside. I wanted to scream though, because none other than Evora Wyndom had just walked in, her icey eyes scouring the room. Thankfully, she took a seat in the front row, which was far enough away that she probably wouldn't notice me. All I'd see would be the back of her silver-blonde head of hair.

"Noel." I gritted my teeth and nodded toward the front row.

"What?" He followed my eye line. "Oh."

I groaned. "If they're in this class with us, that means they're probably going to be in the same Elemental Practicum as me! The Stars make a mockery of me!"
"You're being a little dramatic, don't ya think?"

I frowned. "You try being an Amortal Outcast, Noel. Not only could I die, but I get to spend what little life I have as an outsider of my own kind. I might as well be human."

"Ouch."

"Sorry, no offense."

He shrugged. "Eh, I'm used to it."

Thankfully, Dr. Oshun began lecturing and took my mind off of Evora and my potential future embarrassment. I found myself doodling a rose on the corner of my notebook instead of taking notes like I should. It was about twenty minutes into the lecture, after an extensive "review" of the child-version of Amorta History, when a folded piece of paper plopped on my desk. Glancing over at the culprit—Noel—I slowly unfolded the paper.

Btw, there's a party tonight at Rose Waterfall—you in?

Rolling my eyes, I scribbled down my answer and tossed it back to Noel. He frowned. C'mon, he mouthed, his spring-leaf eyes widened and bottom lip jutted out. It was hard to say no to Noel when he did that.
Fine, I mouthed back.

"Mr. Heart? Ms. Rose? Did you have any questions?" Dr. Oshun called out. Crap. I'd forgotten that Dr. Oshun had annoyingly impeccable memory and would, of course, still remember us from our first-year of Upper School.

My cheeks flooded as people turned their heads to us. "No, sorry, Dr. Oshun," I said.

She nodded and continued on with her lecture. I tried my best to listen. We have to take this class twice throughout our school years: once when we're five, and the second time in our last year of Upper school.

We pretty much learn the same content, but we learn it through a different lens. When we're five, we learn our land's history and the story is told more like a fairy-tale. When we're in our last year, we learn about the real brutality of the wars and humanity's ties with Amorta. Our origins are far from a simple fairy-tale.

Dr. Oshun asked everyone to open their Origins of Amorta book to the second chapter titled "Legend of the Angels." Because, technically, our origins are just legends and not based on any proven truths. We know that the Amortals have existed for thousands of years, but the fact that they used to be angels is only based on the old diaries of Elias, the first Amortal king.

It started thousands of years ago.

Beyond the earth, the universe, the stars and galaxies, angels lived in what was called Paradisus. It was fueled by light; it knew no darkness, for all of their days and nights were illuminated with billions of stars and moons and suns. And one day in that heavenly paradise, an angel named Nunzia visited the angel Elias to deliver a message from their king.

She visited Elias as he watered his rose garden with starlight. Elias was a humble angel, and preferred to keep to himself. The only thing he indulged himself in was caring for his rose garden.

"Elias, I come with a message from King Princerus. He would like to meet with you at the rose hour, at the gate of his kingdom," Nunzia said.

Elias stopped in his tracks and faced Nunzia. "Me? At his kingdom? He rarely ever calls anyone unless there is an urgent matter. What has happened?"
Nunzia shook her head. "I cannot say, but you have been chosen for a special task. King Princerus will explain the rest at the rose hour." With that, Nunzia whipped her hand over her head, disappearing in a shower of golden dust.

Elias finished watering the roses, then transported himself the same way Nunzia had.

In a single blink, he appeared in front of the tall, shimmering gates of the kingdom. They opened to a white, pearly path, which circled around a fountain. Elias took one of the cups surrounding the fountain and dipped it in the water for a fresh drink. This was the source of all the water in Paradisus, the source of the angels' everlasting life.

As Elias drank, thunder burst out of the white castle doors, and out of it glowed the light that was King Princerus. He kept the peace among the angels, and his body was made of pure light, neither fully solid nor gas, but a magical being. Elias dropped his cup and fell to his knees, bowing his head before his King.

"King Princerus."

"Below our world is Earth, where many creatures live. Your brothers, who were sent to protect Earth, have disappeared. Without their light, the planet will slowly die. You must go to help restore the balance and life on earth. Keep it alive. I will send other angels with you, and give you all a great kingdom in this world. I will grant you the power of light—you must take great care of this light, for the humans will desire it. They must not be able to hold it."

"Yes, Your Majesty, of course I am honored—but why me, sir? Why not our greatest

warriors who have proven themselves much braver and bold?"

"Though these angels are brave and bold, these qualities make them susceptible to an unquenched thirst for power. I fear that your brothers may have fallen victim to the greed of humans. You are the most humble in the land, and care for your gardens and simple home like you would a child. Earth will be saved in your care."

And so Elias did as his king asked, and he fell into Earth, where four other angels waited for him in front of a white castle surrounded by a maze of rose gardens.

Elias could not find a trace of his brothers before him, and so he turned to his four angel companions and asked, "There is no trace of our angels. We must search for them, for they are the ones who protect the life of this land." Elias thought if he found his brothers, he may be granted permission to go back to his home in Paradius and live out his simple life, tending his garden.

But as the angels searched, what they saw was a greater horror than they could have ever imagined. Outside their kingdom were men and women and children, sprawled on dead gardens and bloodied in the rivers of the land—a great war had taken place, though something that was never been recorded in human history.

They all fought for one, single thing: power.

But the greatest leader amongst these humans was the King, Zavius Mortem, son of a great, respected leader before him, August Mortem. This man had claimed he was more than human, more than man, and proved it with his great army and continuing conquests, even in the midst of harsh weathers.

But they had not yet been able to claim the land of roses; this is the land we would now call the Pacific Northwest in America. They could not claim it because the land held a certain power, a power of light. But it was clear that this light was dying.

Where were the other angels?

It was not until the Elias and his companion angels approached a path of bodies, all drained of blood. This path led to a stone castle—it was cold, covered in fog, so much so that the angels all glowed like the sun amongst this darkness.

It was here that they saw what Elias' brothers suffered: their bodies lay at sharp gates of the castle. Elias bent down at his knees and sobbed over the bodies of his brothers. And when he lay his hand on their chests, he shook.

Their chests were empty—their hearts no longer existed within them.

So Elias led the other angels, and broke through the castle gates with the great light that Princerus had gifted him. "These humans must answer for what they've done. Find the ones responsible for taking my brothers' hearts!"

But when the gates broke and the angels charged into the castle, the angels were met with a single man sitting on a throne, smiling. His eyes were dark, crimson red–almost black—his lips dripped with blood, and his face no longer glowed with golden light, but with a pale, almost death-like gray light underneath his skin.

He was undeniably beautiful, a dangerous beautiful.

Next to him was a human woman – not yet changed into whatever these people had become. She cried, her eyes pleading to the angels.

"Who are you? What have you done to my brothers?" Elias demanded of this King.

This man sneered, his teeth and lips curving upward. "I knew more of you would come. Take them."

Without another word, an army of these creatures attacked the angels, their eyes a thirsty, blood-red, no longer human. However, they could not even scratch these angels, for Elias burst out with light, creating a protective barrier that these creatures could not break.

"Save the woman!" Elias ordered his companions. So with the protective light over them, the angels saved the human woman, and they flew out of this castle and returned to their own kingdom, or what was left of it.

He stole the woman in hopes that she would be able to give them answers. But when they brought her into their castle, she shivered and nearly fainted.

So the angels cared for her, bathed her, fed her, until some of the color returned to her cheeks and she no longer shivered in fright. She did not speak a word for three days.

It was when Elias decided to show the woman their rose gardens that she finally spoke the first word.

"Thank you," she croaked, her voice so soft Elias thought he might've imagined it.

"I'm sorry?"

Then she looked into the angel's eyes for the first time, and it was then that Elias noticed the beauty in this human. "Thank you, for saving me. The others—the others were not so kind."
Elias was confused at this. "The others?"

She turned to face the angel. "Your brothers—the ones that King Zavius Mortem killed. They had captured me, as I am betrothed to Zavius, in hopes that he would return your third brother. But, by then, the King had already killed him."

"Why? Why did the King kill my brother?"
She pursed her lips, and her hazel eyes gleamed with tears. "For his power. King Zavius Mortem, well, he was dying. He wanted to find a way to cheat death. And when he heard that there might be angels who lived in the land of roses and light, well—he killed the angel, in hope he would be able to steal the power that made angels immortal."

It was worse than Elias had feared. Humans, with angelic power? Could it be possible? They were clearly not human, from what he saw, but they were most certainly not angels. "What are they?"

"Immortals. There have been legends of such demons—ones who drink blood and rip the hearts of others in order to live forever. But you need power. King found that power. He ripped out of the heart of your brother, and the power that once helped your brother turned the King into something dark, something evil. He was strong, and he could control the fires around him, even create it. But, the King noticed this power did not last forever.

"He grew hungry. But not for regular food—he needed power. He sucked the life of half his army already. He is, he is a vampire. But it is not exactly the blood that gives him power. It's the life force.

"He killed the rest of your brothers, and he was granted the powers of other elements—water, earth, air. He is nearly unstoppable now, but he needs life force to stay strong. He's after something that's not so temporary. Something that will give him endless life force." The woman's hands shook, her tears soaked her cheeks, and her lips trembled.

Elias put a hand on the woman's shoulder, and an electric current shocked him. His heart beat a little faster—he had never felt such a thing. Instantly, the woman's body eased. "What is your name?" he asked.

"Elizabella."

"Elizabella. I am sorry for what you have seen. May I show you something?"

She nodded, then the angel took her hand, warm and tingly in his, and placed her hand on a blooming yellow rose. "Now, take this," he said, handing her a small cup filled with water. "And as you water this yellow rose, hold onto the petals. Softly. Let the water drip over it. But do it with your eyes closed. Just feel the petals and water."

And so Elizabella did so.

It was then that Elias felt something he had never felt before: love.

It was not her physical beauty that eternally bound him to her. She was beautiful, surely—her golden skin shimmered against a waterfall of dark locks and shy bronze eyes. But it was not so sciolistic as beauty.

It was how she smiled as she feathered through the happy memories that the yellow rose would remind her of; it was how her fingers entwined with the roses and carefully watered them like they were children; it was how her eyes gleamed with hope. But most of all, it was how her soul glowed out from her chest, as if God himself had placed a piece of heaven in her.

"Wow," she gasped. "How...?"

"These are magical roses-–they are from my own world. Every color rose will show you different memories. The yellow shows memories of happiness, the blue shows sadness, the red shows passion—every emotion to go with every color. It is the most beautiful magic, and helpful for us who live for so long," Elias explained.

She smiled and placed her hands to her heart. "It is most beautiful. Thank you," she whispered. And for the first time in a long time, Elizabella felt piece.

Elias held his hand to Elizabella and offered her a place to stay in their castle for as long as she wished. And when he did so, Elizabella's life changed forever. It was an interaction so rare and familiar, though they had been born in completely different worlds.

However, as they walked back into the castle, King Princerus' warning haunted Elias. Do not fall in love with a human, for you will lose your immortality.

But Elias knew a life without Elizabella would haunt him even more. So, the next day, Elias called to King Princerus, and asked to be granted a place with Elizabella. Princerus asked if he was quite sure of this, for once he sealed a union with Elizabella, he would no longer live forever, and all of their children would be mortal.

Elias accepted this price, and King Princerus saw that there was pure love in Elias' heart for the human Elizabella. And so the King Princerus agreed, but on one condition: he must defeat the dark Immortal Zavius Mortem, for he would be the destruction of earth if he was not stopped.

Elias agreed to these terms. So King Princerus pronounced Elias the King of the new angels of earth—the Amortals. The ones who lived on earth for the protections of humans, and his heirs would hold the power of the light, and this light would serve as the protection of peace, of life, and the key to defeating the Immortals.

And so, upon the defeat of the Immortal Zavius Mortem and his union with Elizabella, Elias would eventually become the first Amortal to exist.