Chapter 1

Z                                   Chapter 1:
A
Y                                           having responsibility, sucks!
D
I
E      



Well things have changed sense my twelfth birthday. I’m not sure if it’s for the better or not, but at the moment it just is.
I found that the older you get the more responsibility gets placed on my shoulders.
I will tell you what I mean in a moment.

I stood at the edge of the ring, I had ureca in each hand [an ureca, or plural: ureci, are long daggers that are curved. The edge on the outer side, is jagged, and the handle is part of the knife, only with mine, they have a glowing silver gem at the top, with a part of the metal forming graceful ribbons over it to keep it in place, but the ribbons form a sharp point that can be used in battle as well.] I flexed my fingers around them, trying to get the weariness out.
Looking across the grass that acted as a fighting ring, I saw a guy that was twice as big as me. And defiantly looked stronger then me.
“Give up runt!” he shouted. Anger ripped through my body.
“I can take you on any day, any where, any time.” I shouted back. He snickered and flicked his greasy blond hair out of his misty grey eyes.
The same misty grey eyes we shared.
He took out his long sword and I prepared myself.
I heard the ring of a gong and we jumped at each other.
As I ran to him, I gathered a third of my energy and jumped into the air. He did the same.
In the air we fought like crazy! It was still hard for me to get leverage in the air.
Brinlynn was still teaching me that.
And a note about the jumps. You’ll see lots of these in this story, because it’s so common to do if you know how and have the right abilities.
Every Shievan has those abilities.
When a kid gets picked to be a Shiev, their taken to a big white room and is strapped down to a table. Then a doctor comes over you with one of the biggest needles you’ve ever seen and shoots it into your spine. [yeah ouch!] after the pain goes away along with the dizziness, you find that several things have changed. like for example, your eye color.
Savrin tells me that my eyes use to be a really pretty shade of green…now their the same as all the other Shievans…dull misty grey. Oh well.
The thing that Sindo does to you besides change your eye color, is: it gives you more flexibility, speed, awareness, timing, also it gives you other special abilities, like being able to jump into the air and stay there for around 5 minutes. [that, might also have to do with the low gravity on our planet.] So that gives you a little bit about Sindo, the rest you’ll have to figure out on your own. Good luck!

In the air, I struggled against his sword as it locked with my ureci. I knew that I couldn’t stay there for much longer or I’d be dead. If only I could…
I gritted my teeth as I saw the smirk on his face.
Using all my power that I had developed, I shot to the ground, with stunning speed. But just as I was about to hit it, I imagined those spring boards of air that Brinlynn had been trying to tell me about. As I got closer and closer to the ground, I knew I wasn’t going to make it.
But then I guess the hand of the Creator has always been on me. Because my feet actually hit that spring board and I shot right back up on the other side of my opponent.
Of course I didn’t take any time celebrating my achievement, I nicked the back of his legs, and blocked his thrust. Then taking a quick spin, I turned my left ureca around so the blade was against my forearm, and sent a punch to the gut. Sending him down the ground again.
I let myself fall to the ground, and I landed with my one knee bent and my other leg out strait to give me balance, and also to stop the shock of the fall. Placing my ureci back in their scabbards attached to my legs, I turned to see that Brinlynn was clapping for me.
“Fantastic! You did great!” she praised. I smiled at her.
“Thanks!”
A sudden shock vibrated through my head. I groaned and gripped my hair in my fists. Waiting for the pain to pass.
Finally it did and I noticed that Brinlynn was watching me with sadness in her eyes.
“it’ll get better.” she said. Trying to give me some comfort. “I promise.”
“Agent Zaydie!” we both turned to see a Scout running over.
“Yes soldier?” I called. He came over to me and saluted. “at ease, just tell me what you want.” I said quickly. I usually wasn’t very mean, but sometimes when all the responsibilities piled up it gets to high, and I crack from time to time.
Brinlynn gripped my shoulder, signaling that I need to take a deep breath.
“Chief Derwin has requested your presence in half an hour.” I glanced over my shoulder at my mentor. Her face didn’t show any shock, but her eyes showed a subtle hint.
“Alright I’ll be there.” the Scout nodded and ran off.
“We must get you cleaned up. And quickly.” Brinlynn stated. Guiding me off to our joined rooms in the girls dormitory. “can’t have you going to the Chief of Area 2 stinking like a big.” yup. That was Brinlynn for you. The kind sisterly like, complete with all the insults.

In my rooms, I took a quick shower and tossed on a clean uniform.
The girls uniforms were obviously different form the boys. [except for the colors. Or most of.]
I had on a soft sleeveless sleeved white shirt, my black leather breastplate was over top of it, though it looked more like a black tank top with a silver zipper in the middle. The breastplate was interesting and took me a while to get use to. It looks like normal cotton fabric, but the threads are mixed with leather, so it becomes tough, barely anything can penetrate it, but it’s also flexible, cooler and much lighter then a normal breastplate. [pretty cool huh? And no Savrin, I don’t know why you didn’t get one.]
I had on black pants that were fitted at the thighs and got looser as they went down. At the bottom the leg hems were a little wide but not by a lot, they also had small silver zippers on them that I always kept undone, just because I thought it looked cool. There was also a piece of black fabric that was sewed into the back of my pants, that formed half a skirt I guess you could call it. It was floor length and had a tendency to flow out when ever I walked. My black boots were six inches high and were nice and sturdy.
As I looked at myself in the mirror, I pulled a leather cord from under the neckline of my soft white shirt. On it was a single gold credit. Tears choked up in my throat. But I quickly swallowed them and tucked the necklace back under my shirt.
Slipping my arms through a grey hoodie and then my black leather jacket, I placed my scabbards back on my hips, so the sheathes were placed on my legs. the scabbards were odd, the opening pointed strait in front of me, instead of closer to me, or strait up and down. now the sheathes weren't big like a sword's, their small because a ureca is only nineteen inches long.
Did you notice a pattern in the clothes? Black, black, black [and a sliver of white and silver] yeah, it’s to help hide us in the dark. And it does work. It’s a little boring and dull sometimes, but I guess it does the job.

Running a brush through my long brown hair and redoing the silver ribbon that cross around a part of my hair near my face, I dashed out of the bathroom. Brinlynn was sitting on the couch in the same uniform, just with out the white sleeveless shirt, and the leather jacket, and the skirt.
Her sleek long black hair hung gently around her small shoulders. Her bangs covered her entire forehead, and stopped just above her eyebrows.
Her ruby red lips turned into a smile when I stepped into the room.
“Well, at least you hair smells good.” she teased. Swiping out a tube of lip gloss she tossed it at me. Cherry. Yes! [I love cherries]
I quickly put some on and handed it back.
“Alright go on! And don’t be late!” she ordered as she shoved me out of the room.

                                                    ++++

Ok I will tell you right now, I am not the most reliable when it comes to time. Now that is if I’m not out on the field. If I am I can keep time fantastically. If not…well you get the idea.

Sliding around the corner on the slick black, marble floor, I took the corner just a tad bit to sharp. [but it’s not just my fault by the way]
As I tried to gain my balance again, I rammed into something hard, and something quite solid. And as I fell, I landed right on top of his chest. [really embarrassing right? Oh stop rolling your eyes at me mister!]

“Oof.”
“ugh…ouch.” I groaned.
“Would you mind?” I nodded, and pushed myself off, landing on my knees.
My hand went to my head. Man that hurt!
“What were you doing?” my eyes snapped up as I glared at the guy.
“Me?! I was - am - late for a meeting mister, so sorry if I ruined your day but I am pretty sure you just ruined mine!” I snapped. We glared at each other…there was something…about him that brought up memories of a past life that I hadn’t thought of for an extremely long time.
My jaw dropped. Even though Sindo had been injected into him, changing his eye color. I could still see the deep blue that tinted the grey in his eyes.
“Savrin?” his eyes became full of shock. All of the anger about hitting each other evaporated.
“well, if it isn’t little Zaydie.” he said with a lopsided grin. We both got up to our feet and looked each other up and down. He was wearing similar clothes as me. But his pants were a little baggy and longer then mine…but that was probably because he was a good foot and several inches taller then me now!
His leather jacket fit him nicely, it wasn’t zipped, so his black snug shirt showed.
His dark hair was a short but a little shaggy.
[Just so you know, what I did next was completely spur of the moment. I can’t say it wasn’t expected though.]
I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed.
“Um…” he muttered. It took him a moment before he hugged me back.
I pulled away slowly, and smiled at him.
“Your crying.” he pointed out. I laughed and ran the back of my hand over my eyes.
“Yes well, lets just say that it’s nice to see a familiar face after such a long time.” I commented kindly. Savrin nodded. “I have to go. I am really, really late!” I realized. I smiled at him as I started to run off down the hall.
“I hope the Creator let’s me see you again.” he called after me.
“Me too!” I called over my shoulder. Me too.

Well…I was late. But apparently Chief Derwin was preoccupied.
I was led into his rooms and stood at attention in middle of the living room floor.
He wasn’t a very…appealing looking man. He was short and stubby…very stubby. Most of his hair was falling out, but it was so pale you couldn’t really tell that he had any to begin with.
He had a lot of acne on his nose, making it look red. He had poofy eyes that were bloodshot red. Though I hear their always like that.
“You requested to see me sir.” I announced in a stiff tone. He looked up from his glass of wine. Ugh.
“Ah yes. Agent Zaydie. I hear that you are growing in ranks when it comes to your missions.” I nodded.
I had been on six secret missions so far. And each was a stunning success. According to President Valadamir.
“Yes sir. That’s what they tell me.” he chuckled.
“don’t be so modest. I have a mission for you. It is a very important one so I hope you realize the responsibility that you will receive…”

Prologue: Welcome to our world

Prologue:

...incoming transmission...
...please wait...loading data...please give password...
verifying...authorization acquired...uploading data to holopad
...transmission complete.


Zaydie here, I’m so thankful to the Creator that your reading this. but I must warn you! If you are reading this, DON’T STOP TILL THE END!!!! It’s extremely vital you don’t! your life could depend on it!!
I can’t emphasize this enough! Savrin, Kylun and I didn’t go through all that we have just so you can just toss this on a shelf and not take it seriously.
And another thing, now that you’ve kept on reading,
when you finish this book, keep it safe! destroy it! Put it in a safe! What ever you do, you can’t let the Scouts find it!! if you do the consequences will be severe! This is not a joke!!
Well, we only have a small door of time, so I had better get on with it.
May the Creator’s hand be on you, and bless you!

                                                  ++++

A flashback to the days before this all happened ran across my eyelids. Days were all I had to worry about was getting the food to the butchers, and being careful that I didn’t hint to the butcher’s son that I had a tiny crush on him. [ok so it might have been a little bigger then that but not by much!]
It was the day before I got dragged away from my family. I was 12.
And actually it wasn’t just me.

I was walking out of the forest with a sack of dead carcasses, my bow slung over my shoulder, my dagger at my belt.
As I came clear of the forest, Area 2 came into view.
Area 2 isn’t much to look at, we all live in one floor, wood houses with tin roofs that constantly need patching.
we only have dirt roads, the higher Areas have paved ones, seeing as their closer to the main city. Konsor. well technically, all five of the Areas are Konsor, but the main city is what we call Konsor.
Surrounding Area 2, was an electrical fence that was twice as tall as me. and topped with circled barb wire.
As I came to the gate, a Scout stood guard both one on the inside, and one on the outside.
A Scout was the highest position you could get in Helfin. [aka, basic military training]
The Scouts are the President’s hands. They help the Overseer enforce the Law, and keep “peace” and “order.” haha yeah right.

The Scout stood to attention, which I have to say, made me feel important. Even if he was glaring at me. He looked sharp in his dark green shirt, black pants, and army boots.
“Hello Curtis.” I said with a cheerful smile.
“where do you live?” the usual question. I sighed.
“3rd street off Main, 24 house on the left.” I answered in a rehearsed tone.
He nodded and opened the fence for me.
“thank you.” I chirped as I slipped through.

Walking down the hard packed red clay dirt road, I turned down several streets to get to Main avenue.
Area 2 wasn’t the prettiest, but it wasn’t as bad as Area 1...or so I’ve heard.
You see, how it’s worked out is the lower the number, the farther away you are from Konsor. The higher the number, the closer you are.
So number 1, and 2 were quite far.

Passing the shabby storefronts, I made my way to the end of Main till I saw a boar’s head on a rickety sign.
I shrugged my sack to my left shoulder and opened the creaky door.
A small bell chimed as I did and I was greeted by the smell of dead animals, chilly temperatures and the warm smiles of Mr. Dralzon, and his son, Savrin. [the cute, curly dark haired, deep blue eyed butcher’s son. Haha, Sav’s embarrassed and asks me to stop.]
“Why if it isn’t our little Zaydie. How are you today m’dear?” Mr. Dralzon asked. The blood rose to my cheeks and I put the sack on the well worn counter.
“Just fine thanks. How about you sir?”
“Ah, I’m just glad the Creator has granted me one more day with my son.” I smiled and nodded.
“Now what do we have here?” he asked, getting to business.
“I have six gojers, two leps, and one sabien.” He pulled out the kills and had Savrin lay them on the counter in a nice neat row.
The six gojers were these small birds that were flightless and roamed around on the ground. They were dirty brown, or a dirty green.
The leps, were slightly bigger then the gojers. They had big bushy ears and bulging eyes that I didn’t like. Their fur coat was all black and they had no tail.
A sabien is about the size of a house cat. It’s striped body makes it stand out in the forest, and it’s blind. It has no eyes what so ever. It feels it’s way around by it’s massive whiskers.
These were the three most common animals in the forest, but I had a lot, so it would add up.
“Well well, that is quite the catch. I’ll go ring it all up in the back. Savrin prepare them for skinning.” Mr. Dralzon ordered.
Savrin went to work and started to boil a large pot for the six gojers.
“So how old are you now?” Savrin asked. Savrin was a year older then me. We were the same age for approximately, two days.
“I just turned twelve today.” He nodded as he plopped the birds in the pot.
“Well…I hope you get a few more days.” I nodded solemnly.
“Your lucky. It’s been two days for you.” a small smile formed at his lips.
“Yes, the Creator has given me more time to say good-bye.”
An image of my little sister and daddy came to mind.
“Yep. I hope I get spared for two days.” he laughed.
“Don’t count on it.” He turned to me and leaned on the counter. I found my eyes locked in his deep blue gaze. Lots of people had said they were the color of the ocean. But I wouldn’t know, I had never been out of Area 2.
As we looked into each other’s eyes, my gut churned. This could possibly be the last time I’d see those deep, dark blue eyes that always twinkled.
“well, here’s your money. I’ve kept what you owe to Konsor so you don’t have to worry about that.” Mr. Dralzon said kindly. Savrin pushed himself away from the counter. Even though he was only twelve, he was a good two inches taller then me.
His dad handed me the small silver, rectangle coins, that I slipped into my pocket.
“I hear it’s your birthday.” he said with a mischievous grin. Uh-oh, what did he have planned this time? Mr. Dralzon was always playing tricks on me. With the help of Savrin of course. Haha.
“Here. This is a little spending money.” my jaw dropped as he handed me a credit. A gold coin with a diamond hole in the middle, was placed in my hand.
“but-this is…this is too generous Mr. Dralzon. I can’t accept this.” I said as I tried to give it back.
“Oh yes you will missy. You go on and take it. Give you and your sister a treat. Alright?” I smiled as I put it in my pocket, and gave Mr. Dralzon a hug around the neck.
“Thank you!” but then something totally unexpected happened.
I was pulled violently away, and slammed into the floor. I hit my head pretty hard, so the lights were starting to dim. I could see Mr. Dralzon shouting as armed Scouts grabbed his son and hit him with the butt of his gun. I think I screamed. But then a sharp pain went down my spine and I was bound and something was injected in my arm. I was slung over a Scouts shoulder like a sack.
The last thing I remember seeing from Area 2 was Mr. Dralzon watching us go from the door of his butcher shop. With tears flowing freely. I remember that I thought it was odd.
Because I had never seen him cry.