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…”