 by Jamie Begley.jpg)
Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Coleman Mountain.
Matthew Coleman was born with the gift of fire. It dances at his fingertips. He can melt the strongest of metals, making it pliable in his hands, and scorch the earth if he gets angry enough.
You’d think having this gift, and with his brothers', no one could threaten them and no problem could be unsolved.
Wrong.
How is he supposed to get his soul mate to fall in love with him when she’s too scared to venture out in a storm? He’s going to have to show Alanna that, with him, she can play in the rain. Because no storm, no matter how mighty, can withstand the power of the sun.
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Preface
Their names were forgotten, erased from existence, becoming just another Native American couple torn from their native land. The woman carried in her womb the gifts given by the gods, in repayment for defending the Mother of Creation. The gifts were to be bestowed on their children and the future generations to come.
As their days grew dark with their struggles to survive along the perilous journey to their new homeland, the gods watched their courage, yet never once did they try to take advantage of the stone the man carried within his chest to lessen their hardships.
Decades later, they were buried side by side on the land they had worked tirelessly on to leave a lasting legacy to their children. The secret had been sworn on and died with them, and the threat to humanity lost for all time. Mankind would never know of how close they had come to extinction, nor of the sacrifices made by the man and woman who died protecting the secret.
Fate was given the duty to watch over their children, carefully monitoring how the gifts were used by the couple’s progeny. As new generations were born, Fate came to Mother in concern that their gifts made other humans fearful of them and were seeking to destroy what could not be understood in the human realm. Mother began watching them herself to see what consequences the gifts had wrought, making adjustments when needed. She might have created Earth, but it was still a work in progress.
From Hades, they had been given the gift to create and manipulate fire and to astral project themselves through the Shadow realm of time. Wisely, Mother had deemed this gift too powerful for one mortal to hold, splitting the gift into two. One to be given the power of light, the other of the shadow realm, capable of walking between Earth and Heaven. Both must be born at the same time, for light must keep darkness from consuming the shadow realm.
When their progeny nearly died out from disease, Mother called on Zephyrus to bestow his gift of wind on a descendent. Fire cannot breathe without air.
Rocque, the Lord of the Forests, had been given the gift of controlling nature. Mother watched those who welded that power closely, as the gift almost rivaled her own power over Earth. Jealous, she decided to finetune that gift, limiting the recipients of that particular power of Earth, only allowing them to wield it within their own domain, and able to shelter and protect those they love within the boundaries of the mountain they called home.
When one unexpected gift came to light, Mother could only shake her head. Her son, Poseidon, had snuck the power of water on the woman, as a reward for protecting the stone. Water can give life or take it away with a fury that could mimic her own when she was angry.
Shaking her head in amusement at some of the progenies’ misdeeds, Mother didn’t let her growing affection for the family sway their punishment when Asclepius’ gift was misused by one of the female descendants, by saving a life meant to be taken. Sadly, Mother had Fate intervene to break the family line in two different directions. The repercussion was severe in which any of the descendants gifted with the healing arts were separated from the main trunk of gifts, which were becoming more powerful each generation.
While she didn’t regret separating the family into two branches, she felt sorrow witnessing the cruel hardships the new branch had to endure. Wanting to prevent such a harsh punishment in the future, she gave them her last gift.
She had taken Astraios’ gifts away as punishment for fighting with Chronos. Mother bestowed his powers which she had carefully hoarded to herself, giving the progenies the ability to read the stars and the skies, allowing them to read the paths laid out for them to follow. It was a huge gift, which would come with severe penalties if they misused it.
To make sure no family member overstepped their boundaries again, she decided there would be a safeguard born into each generation, which would have the ability to harness all the powers gifted to them. They would be her failsafe. They would carry their knowledge and the cost of their powers to the next generation. They would teach and prepare those who would follow in their footsteps. Lessons which would warn them from abusing their gifts. Their powers were gifts and weren’t to be profited from and never, ever to seek to try to usurp Her power again.
Continuing to monitor the family intermittently, despite having given Fate the duty, she watched both branches of the family grow in numbers until one particular soul was born.
A male child with all the gifts.
Mother wasn’t ashamed to admit she grew fond of the mortal, yet despite her fondness, she wasn’t able to change the future laid out before him in the stars. He would never find his soul mate during the lifetime he had been born into. The star-crossed lovers kept missing each other, their love destined for another lifetime.