I am Dawn

Dawn. Forged by the bravey and courage of her long dead parents. She lives in a peaceful kingdom, friendly people, familiar sounds. Until they came. Thousands of them. Love, revenge, death. I am Dawn.

I take a deep breath and make my way up the steps. I am surrounded by boys my age, all laughing with one another, teasing and joking around with their friends. Feeling out of place, I pull open the heavy doors to the school and slip inside.

"Dawn?" I hear my name being called out by the lady behind the office desk. I nervously get to my feet.

"Yes, I'm right here, miss." As I approach the desk, I get a strange look from the secretary, Mrs MacDale her name tag reads, as she momentarily turns her gaze towards me. But within seconds, she promptly returns her gaze back to her papers.

"Headmaster Dale is ready for you."

"Yes, miss." I respond. Then I grab my bags and hurry towards the office door.

My knuckles only have to tap on the wood once for a response. "Come in." I hear from the other side of the door. I take a shaky breath and venture into the office. Dale sits behind an unnessisarily big desk, leaned back in an expensive leather chair.

"Have a seat, Wilder." It's unnatural answering to my last name, but I do as told. I pull up one of the few scattered chairs. "Welcome to the Castle."

I am Dawn. Dawn Wilder. For years now I have been at home, helping my Aunt with work around the house. All the while I have been craving something more, other then cleaning horse s**t and washing dishes and sewing. Finally, after years of begging and proving myself to my Uncle, I have been transferred to the Castle to train to be one of them. One of the fighters. It created complications, me being a female, but my Aunt somehow is related to the King and I was made an exception. I will have to prove myself worthy in order to make it to year two, because I will be watched carefully by the staff.

A bored experession is plastered on his face, as if he's reciting these words from a script. "As you might not know, I, along with many of the staff and parents of the students who go here, do not approve of you being here, as you are female. But since your guardians have close relations with the king, you were made an exception."

His voice drones on for another, what, ten minutes, going on about how I am forbidden to have boys enter my room, and I should have no romance whatsoever with any of my peers. Finally, I tune myself back in. "I will get someone show you to your dorm room, I will be back momentarily." He lumbered out of the chair and exited the office.

Within minutes, the door to the office opened once more. Dale and a strikingly handsome boy walk in. He has long black hair, deep blue eyes, rosy cheeks and dark red lips. "Wilder, this is Jace. He will show you to your dorm, introduce you to your fellow peers and teachers and give you a tour of our wing of the Castle. Here is your schedule. Your first day starts tomorrow...and remember what I've told you. No fooling around." I half-heartedly nodded and stood up, my pack slung over my shoulder. Jace picked up one my bags and we both bowed to the Headmaster before exiting the room.



The two of us walk, side by side, overcome by an awkward silence. That is, until he speaks.

"So, uh, I'm guessing you're new here." He says, meekly. I smile at his attempt of a conversation.

"No, I just came for the tour." I say, sarcastically, and laugh. He glances over at me and smiles. "I'm Dawn."

"Jace." He says, reaching over to shake my hand. It's kind of awkwardly proffesional, but I bring my hand around and slip it into his.

The two of us talk the whole way to my dorm, speaking to one another like we were old friends, laughing and teasing. Finally, after exploring the labyrinth of hallways, we finally make it to my room. A large wooden door with a metal strip that read '1781'. I placed my bag down and Jace did the same.

"Meet me outside your room in an hour after you get settled in, and I'll show you the�"" Jace was suddenly cut of by a group of boys that came towards us.

"Yo, Jace!" One of them called out.

"Hey, guys!" Jace replied with a smile.

"Who's your lady friend?" A blonde-haired boy in the front said as they approach us, winking in my direction. I glare at him. He was handsome, like Jace, but there was something strange about this guy. Jace frowns at him, and then returns his gaze to the rest of the group.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet Dawn. She's new here, and I'm showing her around." There was a silence, formed out of confusion of a girl attending the school, but Jace explained the situation to them and the boys handled it well. After that, I was bombarded by a crowd of congratulations and introductions and high-fives. Everyone seemed nice, including that wierd guy from before, and as soon as I was by myself in my room, a grin poured onto my face that I wasn't able to rid of. I think I'm going to like it here.