Announcement! I moved my book to the account @Airwinn! So the projects will be there but this Discussion forum will still be occcupied by me, @xfbbs but also by @Airwinn, since @Airwinn is me



◢◤Talons of the Raven◢◤


◢◤Part 1◢◤
My Chances

◢◤Chapter 1◢◤

(Project of Chapter 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/736446693/ )
(Studio: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/31957414/)

I lay my bow on the ground as well as my quiver and examine the one that has been splattered by blood. Now I have to wash them. I had been hunting, and of course it was a particularly tender deer that I had to shoot, making blood spray on my arrow more than what usually gets on it. The arrow was buried almost fully into it.
I stop for a moment and relax my hands on the soft grass.
“That’s too bad,” I hear his voice say. I jump ever so slightly and laugh.
“You need to stop being so quiet when you do that,” I say.
“When I sneak up on you?” he jokes. I eye him, annoyed but also amused. I’m never surprised when he tracks me deep into the woods, and I always know that he will find me, but somehow, he always catches me off guard. He’s a year older than me and has been my friend for years.
He offers me a piece of a melon and I accept.
“Where on earth did you get this?” I ask, cutting it in half with my knife, one for me, one for him. I bite into it. It’s amazing.
“I think the grocer was taking pity on me. I didn’t like it but it came with food, so.” He smiles at me and I return it.
“How do you always get away with all the food?”
“Hey, I hunt myself,” he says, laying down on the grass beside me.
“Of course you do. Just saying,” I suddenly sit up. “The world is a wreck.”
He frowns. “That was random.”
“Sorry. I’ve been thinking about. . . I dunno. I wish we could just leave. We have nothing here.”
He takes my hand and sits up too. “Nat, what about your mother, and my brother. I have to take care of him and you need to take care of your mother. You call that nothing?”
“Well, of course not, I didn’t mean that. We could bring them! We. . .” I lay back down, giving up. There’s no way we could get far enough away from the Govern where they couldn’t catch us. “I know. It’s crazy. Just a wish.”
“A hope,” he corrects, as if it could actually happen. It could. Maybe. It would be too risky right now though. My mother is pregnant. I don’t know what I was thinking.
“Hey, you good?” he asks.
“Reeve,” I say out of context. “I wish we could do something about the Govern.” This is also preposterous, and not possible right now, but I continue. Sometimes I just need to get these things out. “We can’t just let them go around killing people on the street that simply talk. We can’t–”
“Natari,” he addresses me. “You need to calm down. I know what we need to do. It’s just not an option right now.”
What did he mean by saying I know what we need to do? Was he saying something in code or not? He did that. As did I, and most of the people I knew in our small village. We had to, with the Govern zoning in all the time. Cameras, recorders, etc.
“Okay,” I say. I understand, I’m just so mad. I stand up and think for a moment why I am. Reeve stands up with me and puts his hands on my waist. You’d think I would know what this feels like since I’ve known him so long, but Reeve and I hardly touch unless it’s a hug. It feels nice but also odd. Sometimes I think if the Govern will put us together, be merciful. But everyone has to be paired with another person their age. And you have to be paired, to make more children, to bring them into this horrible world. I have always dreaded the day that I turn 18 and the Govern will consider who exactly I would go “best” with. I think I would go best with Reeve. So maybe we do have to run away after all.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“It’s fine. It’s not your fault.” I smile at him, then he breaks the conversation, collecting his broken snares that are in a net of which was part of one.
“We should get back with the game,” he says. I nod and gather my bow and arrows and bag of game.
We walk back through the forest to our village, Vilza, quietly, both thinking our own thoughts. Then Reeve finally breaks the silence I hadn’t been thinking about.
“How much game did you get?” he asks.
“Three squirrels and a rabbit,” I answer. “I don’t really need anything else.”
“Nice. Good haul, your mother will be hungry since she’s feeding herself and her baby.”
“Yeah,” I agree, suddenly zoning off again, trying to think about what my life will be like after the baby is born. It will be hard. Another mouth to feed once the baby’s old enough, another person to watch, another person to squish into my “love this person” list.
“How’s your brother? Healing up well?” I ask.
“He’s. . . You might want to come look at him again. He was throwing up all night,” Reeve replies. I’m basically the healer of the village. My mother helps me sometimes when she’s capable but she can hardly look at any blood at all. I, on the other hand, don’t care. I can look at any sickness or wound. At least every one that I have encountered.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with him?”
“Fri’s watching him. She asked if she could.” he says. I grin, thinking of the kind, capable old woman that usually watched and helped me recover from a bad sickness that my mother couldn’t watch. Usually the stomach bug. My mother’s great, of course, but she has her limits.
“That’s nice of her,” I say. We’re finally at the entrance/exit of the woods (a weak, wooden gate) and as soon as I step on the other side, someone’s hollering my name.
“Natari!” My head whips in the direction. A man (I recognize him as my history class teacher) is running quickly up to me. He stops in front of me, panting, trying to catch his breath.
“My son,” he says, panting. “He needs your help. Please. Come quick.”
Soon me, Reeve, and our teacher are in his house. His son (sixteen like me) is unconscious on the table.
His handsome face (as much as I don’t want to admit it) has a cut slit across the forehead. He’s breathing, and honestly it’s not that bad, he just needs to be stitched up and cleaned.
“What happened?” I ask his father.
“Wolf slipped on ice and cut his forehead. Or so he tells me,” my teacher says. I wonder if Wolf has a tendency to lie. I sure do. But not to Reeve and people I trust. Well that’s not true. I trust my mother but lie to her. I lie to people I don’t trust or if there’s a consequence for the truth. Or if it hurts them.
Wolf blinks to consciousness and I feel Reeve’s hand on my shoulder. “I have to get to my brother,” he whispers into my ear. I nod and he leaves the house.
Wolf’s eyes are open and fixed on me. “How badly does it hurt?” I ask.
“Badly,” he says.
“But on a scale of one to ten,” I say.
“I’d say nine?” Wolf replies. I touch his forehead gently beside his wound and he winces.
I frown. “Look, I need to know exactly what happened to be able to help you,” I say.
“I slipped on ice, hit the side of my head, then I guess I got cut by a shard of ice, but I don’t remember that part very well.”
“Okay,” I say, then feeling both sides of his head. He winces again when I push on the right side. “You probably have a concussion and a bruise on the right side of your head. Your cut’s not too deep. It just needs cleaning and stitches.” I explain.
“Stitches?” Wolf asks. I chuckle.
“It’s fine, they’re not that bad. I’ve had them a million times.”
“Well, whatever you say,” he replies.
Seven minutes later I’m completely done cleaning the cut and putting a salve on it. His eyes have been studying me the whole time and at first I felt like I was being spied on, then I relaxed after a bit. He has kind, blue eyes, brown hair like mine and Reeve’s, and most of the people in this village. But my eyes are brown. He’s my age as far as I can remember.
“How is the cut feeling?” his father asks. His father has been silent most of this time, every once in a while asking Wolf a question to break his gaze on me.
“Alright,” says Wolf.
“Good,” says his father. “Now is that all?”
I hesitate, thinking that if I tell him no he’ll get mad. “If you want, I can come back tomorrow to stitch it up, but it needs to stay bandaged all night and don’t touch it.” I add, addressing Wolf. “After I stitch it up, you’ll probably only need to put the ointment on every other day but very little for just a week and then I’ll see how it’s doing.”
“Alright then,” my teacher says. “Thank you very much for your help, Natari.”
“Glad I could help,” I say, and make my leave. It’s afternoon and that meeting went shorter than I thought it would, so I decide to meet Reeve where we usually meet at the rendezvous when the gates to the woods close, which I see happening now. He’ll probably notice or be waiting for me there.
I finally arrive at the spot. The one Weeping Willow that wasn’t destroyed in the whole of Des Rin. The small village of Vilza calls it The Mercy Tree. Every time I see it, I feel like it’s supposed to invoke sorrow in me because of the history behind it. But usually I’m not that bothered by it. Because I know it’s either just one of the Govern’s lies, or it’s true. And if it’s true, Weeping Willows are beautiful, but not worth crying for.
A long time ago, before Des Rin was officially an independant continent, birds infested the continent. So many birds everywhere. More birds than any other animal. Pakal, the leader of the uprising for freedom at the time (which the uprising was useless in the end. They got the continent, just not really freedom), learned that the most deadly of all the birds was what the people called the Spearhead Crow. The bird was unusual and they didn’t know where it came from since its natural origins were obviously not Des Rin. But they discovered that the Spearhead Crow makes its homes especially in Weeping Willows. And so, away went the Weeping Willows. All of them. But this one. It’s supposed to be sacred and a symbol of sorrow, power, and mercy. But I don’t really care much for it.
After the Spearhead Crow elimination, the people of what was about to become Des Rin, were scared that there might be more birds that could impale a child easily with their beaks and carry them away. Or worse. Perhaps there were going to be evolutions out of the harmless birds that existed now. And so again, they wiped out more birds. Every bird. Except one species: the harmless (at least for now) Robin which they believe does not have the ability to evolve. But every animal does.
And so the Robin became the symbol of freedom(even though we don’t have freedom) because the birds were the first. Then it was eliminating all the cats except the harmless and supposedly the unevolving Shorthair Cat. But they’re obviously not harmless, and I have the mark to prove it. Then horses. Then bears. Then deer. Then more species. They left one kind of each. And it pains me to this day. Killing off all those creations. But somehow, for once, the Govern was right. At least mostly: somehow the animals that they left, didn’t evolve.
I don’t know.
I see Reeve is waiting for me, sitting on the twisted trunk of the Weeping Willow. He sees me and stands up. “He okay?”
“Yeah, he’ll be fine. I’m going to stitch it up tomorrow.” I answer.
Reeve laughs. “How many times have you stitched me up?”
“Too many times,” I say, chuckling with him. “You really need to be more careful.”
“I do. But it’s nice when you’re working on me.” he says. I smile.
A guard passes the tree and we try to act casual, but I know that Reeve wants to tell me something. The guard leaves, and Reeve turns back to me, abandoning his faked interest in a leaf dangling near his face.
“I can tell you have some news. What is it?” I ask.
He sighs. “I was watching the television to see if anything was new. Any bad news, perhaps. And. . . they’re starting the Evolution Wars a year early.”
My eyes go wide as I realize what that means. “So. . . this year?”
He sighs. “Yes,” he says. My vision goes fuzzy. No. I was just barely getting used to my friend’s absence from them and now. . . now it’s starting early. Now three more people will be chosen from each village to go to Blista and be trained to evolve. So therefore, once again, an inevitable weapon for the Govern will rise up as a champion through the test. There have been sixty-two Evolution Wars so far. This will be the early sixty-third.
“Why is it early?” I ask, my voice cracking with panic. This means that next week, three people will be chosen, and this week everyone in my village will have to vote. The worst part. No, not the worst. The Day of Chance, when the results are announced, is the worst. The worst before the Wars start, that is. I suppose there are a lot of worst parts during the time of the Evolution Wars.
“I don’t know,” Reeve looks me in the eyes, then breaks away, unable to any longer. “I don’t know.”
Every person between 25 and 10 are voted on. Which includes me and Reeve. And we have to vote too. It’s the worst when you are the person chosen. The Govern says it’s an honor but we all know that it is a death sentence and that, since the trio is chosen by the village population, it is granted to them by their home and the people in it. Sometimes people’s graves are dug before they are even chosen when it’s guaranteed that person’s votes will overcome the others. It’s a horrible time. And it happens every five years.
Reeve embraces me, but I am still breathless. My mind starts racing. Who will I vote for? My grandma always told me to vote for her since she was so old and wanted to die anyways. But obviously I’m not doing that.
I’m unconscious of a tear dripping down my cheek before I feel it hit the skin on my shoulder beside my strip of a sleeve. Then I bury my face in Reeve’s chest, determined to stop crying.
He whispers a few words of comfort to me but I barely hear.

The Day of Chance comes too quickly. Much too quickly.
Everyone in the ages of 10 and 25 are rallied in a cut off section from the rest of the villagers, near the stage. The mayor of Vilza walks onto the stage. I am holding Reeve’s hand as if I might die if I let go.
“It’s okay, Nat,” he says. But it’s not. It’s evil. It’s horrible. It’s– it’s–
“Good evening, everyone!” the Mayor shouts into the microphone, therefore blowing my thoughts out of my head. “Glad Evolution Wars to you all!”
I can hear the crowd murmur their disgust, but I stay silent, unable to mutter anything, as if holding my breath underwater and waiting for the water to flood my insides if I open my mouth.
“I am eager to tell you who is going to the Wars!” It’s all I can do not to go up and stab him. I have a dagger on my belt right now. I should stab him.
“We have counted the votes and after a short telling of the Govern’s victory over Des Rin’s scattered people and Evolutionaries, I will announce the trio of the Evolution Wars from Vilza!” I am disgusted by his eagerness. He doesn’t have to be voted on, nor does his children. He knows nothing of what this is like.
Last time the person who told of the history of Des Rin, was a happy, bubbly lady who looked like she was trying desperately to look and act young. This time, it’s an old, boring man with an unreasonably shiny outfit, clashing horribly with the rest of him.
“Des Rin was a dangerous place. . .” he drones on.
Finally he gets to “the Evolution Wars is called that because of the Evolution Wars between human and animal.” part (I know this speech well) which indicates the third quarter part of the speech.
Finally, the “short” summary of Des Rin’s history is done and the mayor comes back up.
“Alright, Vilza, are you ready for the contestants?” No one answers even though we are “supposed” to. But most of us are tired of following the rules that are barely enforced.
“First one in the trio is Dela Marsh.”
The custom is to clap. We don’t clap.
Dela Marsh walks up on the stage. She has dark blue eyes and long dark brown hair. Her skin is a soft brown. It finally registers when she tries to smile that she was my teacher a few years back. In what subject, I cannot remember. She must be 25 now. What are the chances that she goes in right before she is granted freedom from the Wars?
“Next is Wolf Azumir.” I hadn’t realized he has been right beside me. He looks at me, a muddle of fear, hate, courage, and longing in his eyes, each emotion directed at a different thing. My eyes cross to his stitches, just to make sure the thread is still intact and holding.
“Bye, Natari. Thank you.” he mouths.
I don’t mouth anything, though. I don’t know what to say. Poor Wolf.
“Ah, now we have two,” the Mayor says as Wolf walks onto the stage and stands beside Dela Marsh on the left end of the stage, while the Mayor is on the right. “Now, for our last contestant,” He pauses to look down at the notecard in his hand. “Natari Klaft.”
. . . I should definitely stab him.
I suddenly feel like running away somewhere in a frantic fear. I’ve never felt it before. My stomach turns. Reeve is now in front of me, shaking me, telling me something. He’s shouting but I barely hear. Then a new, unfamiliar pair of hands are gripping my arms and ripping me away from Reeve and. . . Mother.
Then my ears seem to focus again and I can hear myself screaming, reaching for Mother and Reeve. This can’t happen. A week before Mother’s due date. I see Gramma out of the corner of my eye, just sighing, with a few tears swelling up in her eyes.
I suddenly shout and throw the guard off me. I succeed but I know I can’t run from this.
I will die.

◢◤End of Chapter 1◢◤



Hope you like it! Tell me if you want any more!

-Nat

Awesome, Minty! (though at the end it says tell me if you ant more, lol) How did you do a discussion like this?

cs3960825 wrote:

Awesome, Minty! (though at the end it says tell me if you ant more, lol) How did you do a discussion like this?

Oh, ok, thanks I’ll edit that!
Ok so I we t to “Discussion Forum” and then went to “Things I’m Making and Creating” then it has an option to add a topic, so I copied and pasted chapter 1!

◢◤Talons of the Raven◢◤

◢◤Part 1◢◤
My Chances

◢◤Chapter 2◢◤

(Project of Chapter 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/736446952/ )
(Studio: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/31957414/)

Why, out of everyone, me?
Then I think of who put me here. Not the people that came to get me and bring me to Des Rin’s main city. Not the police that had to knock me out backstage. But the people who voted for me to come here.
I sigh on my new bed, thinking about my future. But all I can think of is death. Sure, the Govern is going to teach me some cool things and I’ll probably get wings or something. Sure, I’ll build relationships but only to tear them away or them torn from me. And sure; my life is no longer in my hands.
I tap the metal post at the head of my bed impatiently. The people who took me to Des Rin’s main city called Blista (but my village calls it Blisters) told me my family and another person (probably Reeve) are coming to see me. In the meantime, I have to stay concealed in my room and wait.
Finally there’s a knock at the door and I spring up. I don’t bother to say come in. My mother turns the knob and walks in.
She embraces me suddenly, no matter how big her womb bulges. “I’m so sorry, Natari. Oh, my girl, my dear.” She careses my cheek and I lean into her hand. I’m trying not to cry, even though she is. To be strong for her and for me. Reeve walks in behind her.
“Hey Nat,” he says. I smile at him and my mother pulls away, lingers for a bit, then leaves. Reeve takes another step, still holding his gaze. My eyes are locked on his as well. “I’m so sorry.” he says. “It should have been me.”
“No, no,” I put my finger to his lips. “I don’t want it to be you. I don’t want to lose you.”
“But, Nat, I can’t lose you!”
I smile. A solemn smile, but it turns to mischievousness. “Are you saying you don’t think I’ll survive?” I tease, even though I know this isn’t a good time for a joke but it’s all I can do to keep from crying.
He barely laughs as tears swell up into his eyes. I caress his cheek.
“I just know you don’t want to kill anyone. But maybe you won’t have to. It’s a whole trio that survives. I just can’t bear the thought.”
“I know,” I say, and am about to continue when he pulls me in for a kiss. It’s unexpected but I always anticipated it would happen someday. It feels nice but also reminds me that I probably won’t come back. I pull away, a grin on my lips.
“Good luck, Natty,” he says, using his original nick-name for me.
“I’ll need it,” I say as my trio’s escort from Vilza to Blisters comes in.
“Times up,” Malse Beta says. “Hope you had a good good-bye since you won’t be seeing her for a year. If she survives.” I know Malse might be trying to comfort him and I but it just makes it all worse.
Reeve leaves the room with a silent look back and the mouthing, “Goodbye.” which I don’t want to ever remember again, as it’s too painful.
Malse tells me that dinner will be ready in half an hour. So I lay back down on my bed. I think of my Mother and Reeve. Reeve had to leave his sick brother in Vilza to come all the way to Blista just to see me. And my mother, so close to having the baby, came all this way as well, only to have to be sent right back after about a minute of saying our goodbyes each.
The time for dinner comes around and I debate going down for it. I’m tired and don’t feel like it but my stomach keeps demanding satisfaction.
Malse Beta, Dela Marsh, Wolf Azumir, and another man and woman I don’t know are sitting at the table. They greet me and I return it quietly. Apparently this man and woman are the winners of Vilza of an Evolution Wars six times ago. The third member of their trio died after they won from too much drugs and stuff. But these two got married. I vaguely remember the announcement of the three winners when I was younger. I was 10.
“I’m Frista Knob,”
“And I’m her husband, Kadab Knob.” Odd names, but that was how they introduced themselves.
“Why are you here?” I ask.
“The winners from the chosens’ village come along too but these two weren’t able to travel with us from Vilza because they were gone,” Malse explains. “They’re the only winners from past Evolution Wars from Vilza left.”
“Ah,” is all I say. Dela Marsh asks something else but I don’t hear it since I’m too consumed in what I’m eating. It’s the most food I’ve ever seen in my life. And more than one course. I’m only able to fit three helpings since apparently my stomach is stubborn and the size of a plum according to how much I’m able to fit. I’m probably just used to the small portions I eat at home and only two meals a day.
Since I obviously can’t fit any more, I grab my plate and stand up, scooting my chair backwards, also unfortunately silencing the others’ chatter.
Malse breaks the silence. “Darling you are to be excused or asked to be,” she says.
I frown and sit back down, feeling like a child caught red handed.
Well for your information, Malse, only my mother calls me darling, I think, but I don’t say that.
“And the servants take your dish, sweetheart,”
“Right,” I say and drop my plate, making a clank! She frowns a bit quizzically as if I’m not thinking right to be doing this and I grin.
“Now, I suppose you’ll just have to excuse me. May I?” I say sassily. Her frown deepens.
“Yes you may,” Now I frown since she’s treating me like a kid and unconsciously it seems.
I walk out of the room.
A few minutes later I’ve climbed to the very top of the building on the outside. I’m probably not allowed up here but who cares. Then I hear someone else climbing.
“How are you going?” Wolf sits down beside me.
“Um, alright. Mad mostly.”
“Me too,” he says. “Mad, sad, a bit scared. But who isn’t?” And I can’t say I’m not. I am scared.
“Yeah,” I say. “This world is just so kridding dumb.”
“I agree,” he says, and that’s when he starts to grow on me.
The next morning Malse wakes me up at the buttcrack of dawn to get to the Training, Developing and Marking Center. For short, the TDM.
We have to catch the Bolt Train early so we can get our gear on at the TDM apparently.
I’ve never seen a bolt train in person and certainly haven’t been in one. They’re only in Blista. Any other village definitely couldn’t afford one. Unless the Govern gave them one.
Wolf and I sit in the same row. We lock eyes for the first time that morning until mine flee to his wound which is now scabbing over, a good sign.
“How is it?” I ask.
“It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt. My week of putting salve on it was done two days ago and now it’s just healing.”
“Not if you keep peeling at it,” I say, noticing a few flakes astray from the scab and dried blood replacing it. “It’ll just become a scar if you keep doing that.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Wolf says. “But scars do look pretty cool.”
“Har, har,” I say.
Then I realize the bolt train is sliding into a stop, which I’m surprised isn’t a jolt since it’s so fast. Some of the few passengers inside (because who wants to get up as early as we did?) file out.
At the final and 50th stop at the end of the city (Blista is bigger than I imagined), we are the only passengers left and go out quickly. The huge TDM building stands in front of us, looking a bit menacing.
Huge. And I mean huge. Enormous. Gigantic. Every word to describe gob-smackingly-BIG.
We go in. My eyes study everything with suspicion. It looks like we are the first chosen here but after about five minutes, several groups are flooding in. There are 20 villages in all of Des Rin and then Blista. So that means three from each village, plus their escort, and however many winners they have that are alive. Which also means that I’m not going to do the math.
We all go into one big, gigantic room which is basically just all floor except for a stage at the end of the circular room and five doors. We are clueless of what to do. The past winners (also called our trainers) keep telling us to wait. Wait and wait and wait and wait. They know what is going to happen but they don’t tell us which frustrates me.
Finally, a man in a long white jacket (probably the lab keeper) walks onto the stage.
“Good morning, Chosen!” he says. His blue eyes flicker around, looking at each of us.
“Here you will be trained,” he continues. “You will be trained in combat, plane flight, hunting, all sorts of things! But you will also be trained to evolve. It is also called developing. Each of you will choose an animal you want to evolve into and then will be guided through the process. You will not be fully that animal, but you will be half it and will be able to summon that half on command.
“Through this door is the training area where there are many options of what to do. Outside are certain training sections like piloting. Then through that door,” The man points to the door directly on the left of the stage. “is the lab. You can also study scientific things, evolution, and many other things in there. In there you will choose your animal and be melded at the end of the month. Each day for a month, you will be here. There are dorms on the next floor as well as the next and so on, bunkers below. Each day you can go wherever you want, train, study, develop. We are so glad you are here. Welcome.”
Some of the people around me applaud, including Malse, Frista and Kadob, but Wolf and I don’t. Definitely not.
We spend the remainder of the day eating lunch, bringing the few things we have to our dorm rooms, and exploring the place. But the training starts tomorrow.
Finally dinner comes, then night.
I share a room with Dela Marsh. Room 109. The last room in the building. No idea why they gave us the last but I don’t care. It means I’m farthest away from the lab, probably crawling with a bunch of Evolutionaries. I have the top bunk since she wanted the bottom and I don’t mind the top. She’s nice and remembers teaching me. She’s a bit quiet but that’s fine with me. I don’t want to make any bonds with someone who might be killed.
After I finally go to sleep, I travel time into the morning.
The one window in our room barely lets any sunlight from the two suns through because of the blinds. I pull the string and they swing up, shooting bright light into the room. I guess that’s what blinds are for. Back in Vilza, my family couldn’t even afford curtains. We were used to it and like the natural light flooding in and welcoming us awake.
Today we start our training. I’m partly excited because I’ll be learning a lot of cool stuff, I guess and at the end of the month will be able to sprout some sort of extraordinary thing, but then there’s also the fact that I’ll be training to wipe out the rest of the Chosen here other than my trio. That’s what makes me hesitate to wake up. I’d rather stay in bed all day. I haven’t been able to sleep in for what feels like a few decades ever since I got to the age where I have to provide for my mother and myself. She depends on me as much as I do. But she’s not depending on my getting up to survive right now. So maybe I’ll just–
“Natari, get dressed,” says Dela Marsh. I groan. Right. I’m sharing a room with a teacher.
I throw the blanket off me. Apparently Dela decided to claim the shower this morning and I don’t want to wait for her now that I’m awake, so I just put on my only outfit that I have that I brought from Vilza. A somewhat skinny pair of trousers, and a baggy black tank-top with wide sleeves. I put on my socks and my long hunting boots that go up to my knees. Then I’m out of the door, leaving my bag behind since I don’t need it to just go down to breakfast. They let me bring my bow and arrows so that was nice that I have something familiar to protect me. I bring them down with me.
I finally get down to breakfast. It took me a bit because there’s five floors– or maybe six. I don’t remember– and I don’t trust the elevator yet.
Breakfast is a ridiculous amount. I don’t want to stuff myself so I only get two helpings– potatoes, pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, beef sausage, pork sausage, a bit of cereal, milk and orange juice. Maybe I did overdue it a bit for my stomach, but somehow Wolf could fit four helpings and a half and is still in amazing shape. He’s honestly too pretty for me to believe he ate that much. But it reminds me of his name. I laugh mentally. He probably wasn’t named Wolf because of how much food he scarfed down.
In the middle of my second helping a boy who looks a little older than me, comes to sit at the table that me, Wolf, and Dela Marsh are sitting at. It’s a bit weird that he’s at our table. Most of the trios are sitting together and don’t mix with the others. He slides onto the bench that I’m alone on. Dela and Wolf are on the same bench across from me.
“Hey,” he says. I don’t mind it too much that he’s sitting beside us because he is gorgeous. I’m confused at why he’s looking at me mainly, then realize he was greeting me. “Oh, hi,” I say.
“Why are you sitting here?” Wolf asks. He looks a bit like he’s annoyed but I don’t know why he would be. Well, that’s not true, I probably do. He–
“Why not?” the boy says. “If you mind, I can go back to my table. The rest of my table’s just a bit. . . boring. And you three looked like a jolly bunch.” He must be being sarcastic. Dela Marsh has been fidgeting with her shirt corner and eating quietly, trying not to make eye contact with anyone, and Wolf and I have talked only a few times but we’ve been too hungry and busy to talk more. We’ve never been fed this well.
“Wow, thanks, I appreciate it,” I say sarcastically back.
“Any day . . . ?” He’s asking my name.
“Natari Klaft. And you?” I say.
“Finius Fiver Ace,” he says.
“Oh, middle names?” I say, but continue. “Natari Velin Klaft.” And then, oh great, I’m thinking of my father. His death.
My mother and father couldn’t get married yet at the time because they were both 19, but they fell in love. They had a small ceremony in the woods by themselves and married themselves but before they could build a house in the woods (because their lovestruck minds thought that somehow the Govern wouldn’t find them there), of course my father was chosen on the Day of Chance for the Evolution Wars. He had no choice and was forced to go about a year and a half before I was born. And of course. . . he died. Only three people can survive the Evolution Wars. Only three. Just three. After his death, since no one can see or watch the Wars, the vague accounts of what happened were reported to Vilza. He was among the four left, and he was also among the fifty-seven that had to die.
Then suddenly I drop my fork and a headache comes on. I hold two fingers to my temples on either side.
“Nat, you good?” Wolf asks. No I’m not. First of all, my father. Second, no one can call me Nat except for Reeve and my mother.
I stand up suddenly, tipping the bench I’m on a bit, making Finius unbalanced.
“Sorry, sorry. It’s not your fault. I’ll be right back,” I say. Still holding my head, I walk out of the meal hall and to the bathrooms. I don’t know why I freaked out so much. They’re probably worried about me.
To my surprise Dela Marsh comes to check on me. She’s odd and hard to understand; quiet around a crowd (other than teaching children apparently) but definitely not afraid to boss me around like a mother.
“Are you okay?” she asks. “What’s wrong?”
I’ve never told anybody this, except Reeve, and of course my mother knows. “Velin. It’s my father’s name. Sorry. I don’t usually share it. He. . . died.”
Dela brings on a compassionate look and totally convinces me for a second that she’s my mother. She embraces me. We’re literally sitting against the wall on the bathroom floor but she brushes my hair out of my face and behind my ear. It feels nice.
I’m not crying but her touch reminds me so much of my mother that I could.
“Do you have kids?” I ask out of context.
“I did have one. He was a bright little boy. But– he starved. I couldn’t care for him after my husband passed away so suddenly from a gang fight. I know how it feels. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. And thank you. You remind me of my mother.” I say, and look up at her, sitting up.
She hesitates. “Thank you. Now, shall we get back?” I nod and stand up, walking out of the bathroom back into the meal hall as Dela follows me.
Then I realize that was big-time bonding. Just this morning I had at the front of my mind not to bond with my trio and preferably no one. Yet the Ada gets the better of me before I realize what’s happening.
Wolf looks up from his fourth plate that he was playing with the food on a second ago. “Hey. Do you want to say what it was?”
“My father. It’s my father’s name. Velin,” I say, then I feel the need to apologize again but I don’t. I feel like that was weak of me but I decide not to care right now.
“I’m sorry,” Finius says. It was obviously on Wolf’s lips too to say it, but now Wolf looks a bit mad at Finius.
“Yeah, sorry,” Wolf says.
I decide to respond to Wolf only and see what happens. “It’s okay, Wolf,” I say. Then I look at Finius. He keeps his calm look.
“I shouldn’t have pushed you,” Finius says.
“You didn’t. It was my decision.” I answer.
He smiles. “See you in training.” He stands up, grabs his plate, and scoops the remaining potato into the garbage.
“Ready to go to training? They said we don’t have to wait to go in while you were gone.” Wolf says.
“Sure,” I say. Then Wolf, Dela and I go to put our dishes away and trash any remaining food.
We go out of the meal hall through another door which opens up to the big room with the stage in it. We walk through the door on the right of the stage, the training area.
Whoa. The Training Area is bigger than I thought. This building really is gigantic.
A big, wide dome like the one in the actual Dome, brings the ceiling of the Training Area higher. Ropes hang from the dome, reaching all the way down to the ground. Branches and ridiculously fat and tall fake trees go up to the top of the dome and spread their branches all around. There’s an archery station, knife-throwing, swords/axes/all sorts of sharp stuff, knot-tying, fire making, camouflage, fishing(somehow they got a pond in this place), and a lot more. We walk on dirt, a big change from the smooth surface of the rest of the building’s floors, but it’s probably more realistic to the Dome that the Chosen fight for survival in.
I’ve never seen the Dome in person obviously and this is definitely much smaller than it. I’ve only seen pictures and live videos that present the start of the Evolution Wars even though we can’t see the rest of it. Which I am thankful for. I don’t mind not watching a bunch of people kill each other.
I make my way immediately over to the Archery section. Wolf follows me. Either he’s good at archery or he’s just following me.
“Are you good at archery?” I ask, trying to confirm the options.
“I think I am,” Wolf says.
“And anyone who watches you?”
“No one’s ever watched me.” he says.
“Well then, let’s see.” I take a quiver full of arrows and a bow from the wall that has several hanging from racks on it and hand them to Wolf.
He chuckles. “Thanks.” Then he positions himself and looses an arrow into the small target of a fake, stuffed rabbit’s eye.
“Nice!” I say. He smiles and then insists that he sees me loose an arrow as well.
I finally shrug and pull back the string of my bow with an arrow. My eye catches a fake squirrel far across the Training Area that’s definitely not supposed to be for archery but I grin, let go, and my arrow launches itself through the air and punctures the squirrel’s fake skull through the eye.
Wolf must have been following my eyes and seen my target. He slaps his knee and laughs. “How’d you do that?”
“A lot of days in the woods.” I reply, satisfied with my work.
“Suns, did you do that?” a familiar voice cuts through the chatter of the Training Area. Finius walks out from behind a tree.
I grin and suddenly feel myself blush, then try to hide it, angry at myself.
“Maybe,” I say.
“Nice, Natari.” His lush blond hair brushes his forehead as one of the small, fake breezes swings through the Training Area.
“Thanks, Finius,” I say. “Now, I should probably go get that arrow.”
“Right,” Finius says. “Need help?”
“I don’t but you can come if you want.”
“Oh, so the great, archery master Natari Klaft doesn’t need any help?”
“Not really,” I say. I appreciate that he doesn’t use my middle name. Not that I’m afraid I’ll leave the whole scene again but I know that he respects the situation.
We start walking to the tree. Wolf stays behind and keeps working on his archery. Once we’re at the tree, I realize how preposterously tall it is. I probably should’ve picked a lower target.
Finius gets a foothold on the pine tree before I can even touch it, climbs a little, and reaches his hand out to me. I roll my eyes and take it, getting a foothold, then with my other hand, grabbing a low branch and heaving myself up higher than Finius, smiling down at him. He grins.
“Well if that’s how it is, I’ll race you to it,” he says. I smile. He reminds me of Reeve a little. Reeve would totally ask for a race.
“Fine,” I say. “Ready. . . set. . . go!”
I start rocketing up the tree. There are so many conveniently placed branches that it’s not like reality. It is a pine tree though, so it would naturally have more branches, but not this well placed and usually a pine tree’s branches are closer together but these are away from each other perfectly as well.
Finius is about a yard below me, then, as I’m laughing at him, he runs up a few branches and is three yards above me.
Then I realize a pattern in the branches. They’re in some sort of spiral that overlaps. Finius must have figured this out before me. These trees are definitely artificial and lazily designed; or maybe not.
I start following the pattern and it’s suddenly like I’m running up stairs. And then I’m right beside Finius. And then he smiles. And then I lose my balance.
I’m looking down at the ground 85 feet below me, waiting for my foot to come off the branch fully and my body to fall to its death, when I feel Finius’ hand on my waist, catching me.
I’m held there for only four seconds, both of us breathing, before he pulls me up. We sit down, each on a different branch. He sits on a branch in front of me, facing me.
“Thought I’d lost you there for a minute. I think I had a small heart attack. You alright?”
“Yeah,” I answer. I look at him. We’re both breathing a little hard. “Thank you. A lot. But I’ll probably die in the Dome anyways.”
“Or maybe not. Not if I’m there to stop it.”
A smile crosses my lips. My eye looks up and sees the fake squirrel and the arrow through its eye. I pull the arrow out.
“Beat you to it,” I say, holding up the arrow. We laugh, and in the midst of that, he’s leaning forward, towards me. Our laughter fades and silence, other than the people on the ground, brings on a peaceful moment when we search each other’s eyes.
I pull back, realizing what could have just happened. I love Reeve. Don’t I? I just met Finius.
I try to ignore it and adjust the quiver on my back. I don’t look at Reeve– Finius.
“Good job, Natari Klaft, Archery Master,” he says. I grin and then start climbing down the “stairs” of branches.
“We should probably go keep training.” I say.
“Right,” he says. “I think I’ll do some knife-throwing. You any good at that?”
“I haven’t done it as much as archery but I’m alright.” I answer. We’re quiet for the rest of the climb down.
Wolf walks up to us as we walk towards the Knife Throwing section. Several targets are lined up, some fake animals, others blank, human dummies.
“Took you long enough,” Wolf says. “I’m gonna go to the weaponry section.”
“We’re going to Knife Throwing,” Finius says.
“Got it,” Wolf walks away.
Finius and I pass two more sections and arrive at Knife Throwing.
A few other people are already there. Finius walks up to a girl that looks about nine-teen and brings her over.
“Thought I’d introduce you to my sister,” he says. “Natari, this is Aerolette. Aerolette, Natari.”
Aerolette frowns and extends her hand. “Nice to meet you.” I shake her hand.
“So, this one of your girlfriends?” she asks, turning to Finius.
“Wow,” Finius says. Aerolette Ace walks away.
I snicker. “How many girlfriends have you had?” I say, walking over to the stand full of knives.
He frowns at me and I grin mischievously. I grab a long knife, sharp on both sides, and throw it at a target. It slams its tip into the yellow circle in the middle of the target, giving me what Reeve and I have designated as one-hundred points. The next strip from the middle is seventy-five, then white is twenty, then blue (the last strip) is ten.
Finius smiles and throws a knife in the middle of the target in front of him too.
I propose a competition, tell him the rules and points of each strip, and we start. We each get seven tries. The knives we just threw don’t count and we reclaim them.
He starts and the knife is immediately in the middle. My knife hits barely inside the middle on my first try of the game. He takes out his knife from his previous turn and throws his next into the yellow circle again.
When we’re done, I have 675 points, and he has 700. He got his in the middle each time, and only once, my knife met the red strip instead of yellow.
He laughs at me. “Good job,” he tells me.
“You too,” I say.
“You’re good at this stuff.”
“I know,” I joke, and I’m rewarded by his laugh. I like his laugh. It’s soft and a little cute and has the perfect touch of louder laughter.
Wolf comes up behind me.
“What are we laughing about?” he asks.
“A joke, what do you think?” I say. “How are you at knife throwing?”
“Bad. Definitely bad. Don’t ask me to try,” he answers. I chuckle.
“I won’t,” I promise.
“Should we go to the Developing Lab?” Wolf proposes.
I think about this. If he were asking about going to the flight area, I’d be there in less than a minute. But this is the developing lab. Where creatures and humans alike are evolved; given new limbs or certain abilities. It’s disturbing to think about it. I know it’s not good. That developing, controlling, basically anything the Govern does is bad.
“I don’t know,” I say. “You guys can go. I might go tomorrow. Where’s Dela?”
Wolf hesitates. “I think she’s at Knot Tying.”
“Thanks, Wolf,” I say. I walk away.
I’m heading for Knot Tying when a girl intercepts me.
“Are you the one that shot that arrow into the tree, into that squirrel?” she demands. She looks a bit mad but I have no idea why she would be. Had I taken her spotlight or something? I have no idea who this is. Were people watching me?
“Yeah. Something wrong?”
Two boys and four girls come up behind her.
“That was really good skills,” one of the boys say.
“Thanks,” I say, then try to walk away.
“We were wondering,” a girl starts. “If you’d like to join our group in the Dome.”
I roll my eyes and turn back to them. “Thanks for the offer, but no. I’m not interested in joining groups.”
The first girl scowls at me. “Your loss, bontir.”
I scowl back at her and it seems to turn into a staring contest.
She was definitely, totally about to blink (and I was definitely, totally about to throw a punch) when I feel someone take my arm and pull me away
from the group.
I look at the face of the hand’s owner. Dela Marsh.
“Hey,” I say.
“There’s always groups of people looking out for promising skill,” she says. “Sometimes it gets dangerous. One time a chosen killed the one they wanted to join the group.”
My brows lift in surprise. “Did they have to replace him?”
“Yes,” Dela says. She has let go of my arm but is still leading me. I see the exit of the Training Area.
“Wait,” I say, realizing something. I skid to a stop but she keeps going. I catch up to her at the door. She opens it and we’re back in the big room with the stage. Then she’s walking calmly with a frown on her lips, towards the meal hall door.
“Dela,” I say. Dela walks into the empty meal hall, goes through the entrance/exit which leads to the bathrooms and dorms. She walks past the bathrooms to the stairs, still ignoring me.
“Dela!” Then she finally stops. “Dela, how do you know that?”
She hesitates. “I lied,” she says. “About my son.”
And that’s all she needs to say.

End of Chapter 2


Lol, I know that was PRETTY long but how did you like it? It was one of my favorite chapter to write.

-Nat

Looooooooove it!

cs3960825 wrote:

Looooooooove it!

Thanks!!

Nice! I love it!

Fluffy_Floppy_Puppy wrote:

Nice! I love it!

THanks!

AMAZING!

Xitlali_Is_Funny wrote:

AMAZING!

Thank you!!!

Hello! I just wanted to ask y'all what chapter you're on!