Prologue

     The ashes were just out of my reach. If I could just... nope. Damn it all! The playful vial of ashes was perched upon a small, phone-sized ledge just a few inches below me. A few inches too much, it seemed. Sounds of heavy gunfire brought me back to reality. "You got it yet?!" my brother shouted over the noise. He and I were hiding behind a sturdy but slowly deteriorating rock wall. 

     "Hey Josh, perhaps you could, uh, help?!" I anxiously hollered over. 

     Josh came over and peered down the canyon with me. "Aww, I hate heights", he groaned, turning away. 

     "No help at all!" I complained aloud, still desperately trying to reach the vial. It began to taunt me by rolling slightly to each side, nearly falling off of the tiny ledge several times. "Okay, seriously Josh, how do I get this stupid thing?!" 

     "I don't know," Josh groaned, firing rounds back at our attackers, "Jump?"

     "You're screwing with me. This is the Grand Canyon, my brother! This isn't a sky-walk tourist attraction! I step off this cliff, the only thing I'll be walking on is the devil's backside", I retorted, my eyes still fixed on the glass vial containing our prize.

     "Well it's either grab the ashes and die or give up and get shot, so I say go for it", Josh sighed, turning to me. His face was filled with disappointment. 

     I held Josh by the ankles as he was lowered down to grab the vial. "You're still holding on, right?!" Josh screamed, looking down in sheer terror at an 800' drop. 

     "Yeah!" I cried in return, "Just grab the stupid vial!"

     Josh swung his arms around several times, attempting to grab the vial of ashes. One try, two tries, three... "Whoa!" 

     His hands grazed the vial, causing it to plummet the 800'. "No!" he cried.

     Without a warning, Josh wrested his ankles away from my grasp and dived head-first after the glass vial of phoenix ashes. Without a second thought, I went after him. The fall was so exhilarating... well, for me at least. With Josh's mild acrophobia, I was concerned about how well he was taking this at the moment. Still in mid-fall, I began to ponder how it would end. Would I even feel the impact? A little ways down, the phoenix ashes seemed to glisten in the sunlight. 

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Author guidance for This story

This is the full project, expanding my preview Scattered Ashes, Immortal Fire (Preview)

http://www.protagonize.com/story/scattered-ashes-immortal-fire-preview

Instead of writing one book named Scattered Ashes, Immortal Fire, I am separating the story into two books, Scattered Ashes (Book I) and Immortal Fire (Book II).
I'm planning a full novel for each book (minimum of 50000 words). Wish me luck :D

updated Aug 11 '11 by FirestormInfinity