Chapter #1

Chapter 1-

       A sudden flash of light and it was there. It was simply there. I stared at it on the forest floor, it was simply lying there. Only a moment before I had thought of having a sword, and it had simply appeared.

          I checked my forehead to see if my fall from earlier was still bleeding. Nope, the blood had long dried to a crisp scab, but it still throbbed. It was only my first solo trial. I simply had to shoot a deer within a week, and I would pass. It was a test all newcomers to the archer’s division had to pass. Someday I wanted to be a sniper, the highest rank of the archer’s division there was.

          I had been scaling a cliff face when I fell. I had spotted a herd of Brownbacks, deer named for their brown spots across their backs, at the foot of the cliff. These deer were the most organized animal, other than their predators, which lived in this forest. They even had a specified place where they put their, well, let’s call them browns.  I had been on the topside of the cliff, figuring my best shot at finding a herd was being up high, facing west. The sun had only just risen from the east a few hours before, and the dew on the grass was still plentiful.

          I could see three herds, one at the foot of the cliff, another back the way I had come, and a third to the south. I was upwind from the herd back the way I had come, and they had probably already noticed me. The herd to the south was too far to my right for me to get to before they moved on. Even if it hadn’t been my first day with a bow, I doubt I could have made any shot from this high up. My only option was to scale the cliff.

          I chose an outcrop in the cliff face, and made for it. I was still downwind from the herd, and they wouldn’t hear me climbing from this high up. I slowly felt for sturdy handholds and footholds. The occasional vine protruding from the face was used as a rope to slip down quicker.

          The last vine before the outcrop was covered thickly with dew. It slipped from my grasp as I released myself from the foothold. I feel to what seemed like death. What I landed on was worse death.

          I fell into the mound of Brownback ‘Browns’. The splat scared the deer off.

          I had gotten a gash on my forehead from the fall. It was no longer bleeding, but still throbbed. The scab itched, that was a good sign. I still had my bow, and my ten arrows were still intact. I guess I had gotten off easy; it was only my first time in the field.

          It was only my first thought about owning a sword. It would just be for looks, I was to be a sniper, and this had been decided at my birth. I would carry it at my hip during times when we weren’t at war.

          Then it was just there. I walked slowly over to it. The blade, even from here seemed to glint with a deadly sharp aura. I could feel something screaming at the back of my head. Get Down!

          I instinctively lunged for the floor and picked up the sword by the hilt. An arrow with a black tip and feather lodged itself into the tree above my head. Get Up! I rolled on my back, jumped up in a spin all in a split second.

          My attacker was my rival at the academy, Jaze. He had learned to shoot a bow the second it was invented. Ever since he was a child he would shoot pigeons in the forest, or so the rumor went. He had gotten so good, they said he shot his own mother and was never caught. “Hey bird boy, nice belly flop!” he jeered.

          I slammed the blade into the ground and switched it with my bow. I wasn’t in the mood for this idiot’s crap. I drew an arrow, but before I could notch it on the string, another arrow flew past my left shoulder. I was forced to duck as yet another was shot at my head. I could hear laughter through the haze of fear.

           Two of Jaze’s buddies, Masi and Uyne, stepped from behind the underbrush. Each was notching an arrow. I notched the arrow still in my hand and took aim at Jaze. They froze as they turned to face their leader.

          “You really expect that to work? You couldn’t climb a hill let alone shot me.”

          “Nice bluff, but yes, I expect this to work.”

          “When I leave, you will wish you had never threatened me.”

          I felt the voice in my head again, do as he says.

          “Or, you could let us stay” his smile sent chills down my spine.

          “Fine stay if you want, I could care less about how you murdered your mother.”

          “You son of a…” He notched an arrow as mine left the bow. He shot at last second, splitting my arrow in two as it flew to me. The arrow pierced my left palm smack dab in the center. I dropped my bow with the pain. I felt another pierce my left shoulder, forcing me to my knees. The third arrow never met its mark.

          I grabbed the hilt of the sword in my right hand, and the pain went away. I saw what had to be done, and I did it. I yanked it from the ground and the third arrow hit the blade. In a flash of light, the arrow was gone. The pain in my arm was also gone.

          I lifted the sword to the sky, point up, and shouted something I didn’t understand. That was all I remembered before today.

 

 

          I awoke in the hospital wing for the university. The faint light from the window suggested it was nearly dawn or sundown. My head no longer hurt from my fall the other day, or was it last week? I couldn’t judge how long I’d been out.

          The soft white bed was like heaven. I realized with a shock that I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to move either. All the beds had a small window on the wall above it. There were two rows of beds, ten in each row, with each bed having the pillow closest to the window. I remembered from fire exit maps that there were five exactly identical Hospital wing buildings. Each was assigned a letter: A, B, C, D, and E. the buildings were built in a five pointed star pattern, with Wing A in the north.

          I saw the sun break the horizon in the east. It was sunrise, I was in Wing A, and I was in the left row. I also remembered that the rooms were lettered due to the harshness of the person’s condition. Those in the Wing A weren’t normally survivors. I suddenly felt lucky to be alive.

          Rest, preserve your strength. You will need it for later…and I passed out.

 

 

          I was once again awake. It had come suddenly, like diving into a pool of ice cold water after being told the water would be warm. Already I could feel the dizzying effects of just having my eyes open. I took the chance while I was still conscious to take in my surroundings.

          I had never been inside a hospital building, and I never would have thought they’d be this messy. The walls were made of hardened mud bricks, and were lightly covered with a brown glaze. The glaze was made to keep out bugs, unlike the regular living quarters and classrooms, this place seemed to care about you staying uninfected, other than what was already ailing you.

          I looked over my shoulder and saw a nurse, dressed in grey rags, wide-eyed, and staring at me. Her mouth was open, revealing a perfectly polished row of white teeth and a clean red tongue.

          “How, but, I-I thought you were… dead?” the nurse said followed by a dead silence.

          “Cari, is it really you?” Cari had been my best friend before we’d been moved to the university. Even though we had been born on the exact same day, the stars held different futures for us both. She was to be a nurse; I was to be a sniper.

          “Yes, Gale, It’s really me. What happened to you?”

          “I don’t understand; one moment I was standing there while those three were trying to torment me, and the next I was here. Why am I in the hospital wing A? I thought it was reserved for severe injuries.”

          She winced like a little girl being forced to reveal a lie, “well, you haven’t been drinking or eating for at least five weeks. And, well, I hate to say it, but I was about to inject you with this poison. It would have been the most painless way for you to die” in her hand was a fang, capped at the top so that the poison wouldn’t spill out. The only way to get the poison out was to stab something with the point of the fang. These particular fangs were rare and hard to find and harder still to remove the fang without spilling the poisons.

          It was my turn to stutter now.

          “I-I was about to… die?”

          “I’m so sorry Gale, it’s just that, well, we all didn’t think it was possible for someone to be in a coma for that long. Without food and drink, a person just can’t carry on.”

          “It’s good to see you too Cari” and with that, I sat up and hugged her. Just like we used to before we were moved.

 

          Many miles away, a prophet lay staring at the stars in confusion.

Author's Note

How old would you say the main character is, given that he is from anouther time and world.

Reviews

[Jenn Wathen]

hmmm nathan just hmm
you sound like makayla when you write these stories except you have better detail then we do haha