INITIATION ULTIMATE, Chapter 11.2: Narrated by Saphara

First day of Initiations.

I bid mother and 382 not "goodbye," but "see you," for the last time.  Like the day of the Naming Ceremony, we have to check in to the court, but unlike the day of the Naming Ceremony, there is no parent section.  I leave my family where they stand, trying to drown the memory of 382's sniffles as I enter the court.  I will return, I vow to myself, repeating the promise I had made mother and 382 earlier.

The weight of my duffel bag over my shoulder grows heavier as I look for Handal and find myself alone.  This bag is all I have left of my family, I realize, and I blink away tears.  I can do this.  I take a seat at the end of a row besides a group of strangers.  They look just as ill with anticipated homesickness as I do, and they don't protest when I sit down.  If I'm lucky, Handal will enter the court and see me, but I doubt that will happen because of her destination.

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"Hello Initiates, I am Eri Alcantara," a man says, his voice hushing the crowd as he steps up the podium.  "You may remember me from your Naming Ceremony.  Unfortunately, your High Judge cannot be here today, so I'm the one who will be organizing your release into the Initiations.  I ask that you all remain seated until you are ordered to stand, and we will be filing rows out into helicopters."

A bolder kid raises his hand in the front row, and Eri Alcantara nods for him to speak.  "Why those ancient helicopters?  What about the hover technology that everybody else goes to the Initiations in?"

Alcantara clears his throat as he thinks.  "They're currently being serviced for repairs.  It will not make a difference in the long run, besides that the helicopters may need to make fuel stops.  It will not have an impact on you."  He scans the audience for more hands, and when nobody raises them, he again speaks.  "The helicopters can take up to ten people each, so as you may imagine, we need a large number of them.  Quite costly.  This is predicted to be the only year helicopters will be needed, so think of yourselves lucky.  Sit back, relax, and wait to be assigned.  Flights should last a few hours, and breakfast foods are available during this time if needed.  Enjoy the flight, and good luck in the Initiations."

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As my helicopter takes into the air, I watch as the ground beneath me grows smaller and smaller.  It's so dark outside that we might as well be in the bottom of the ocean, and the only thing that tells me we're in the air is the prick of lights within the trees.  The lights remind me of something.

Handal used to call this time, "The Day of Many Lights."  Up until we were ten and school started earlier, we'd always make sure to stay the night at either her house or mine the day before.  Early in the morning, we'd wake up and climb to one of our hoverdock roofs.  This way, we could watch the ghostly blue lights of all the Initiates' hoverrockets disappearing into the sky, into the atmosphere to shorten their trip by going around the earth.  

As the hoverrockets took into the air, we would pretend that they weren't really departing Initiates, but something else: UFOs invading earth, spirits that were reawakened from the dead, or falling stars that were trapped in the Earth's atmosphere and being burnt up.  We'd tell stories until all the lights faded from the dark sky, or when the sky grew so light that we couldn't see them anymore.  Handal would always make up stories that were so unrealistic.  The thing is, the tone of her voice and the way she told them using her hands made the stories feel realistic at the same time, to the point where I'm convinced that there's a spirit behind me, energy prickling at my shoulders, or I can feel the desperation and pain of the stars in their quest to reach earth.  What would we see, now that there are no hoverrockets, but the dark shape of helicopters in the sky?  I can only imagine.

"Dragons," Handal whispers in my imagination, face mysterious and eyes glistening in the dark.  "Huge black dragons, arising from the ponds to decimate mankind!  Shh!  Be quiet, 684!  Laughing will only draw them closer.  If they see us, we're ashes!" 

One hour in the helicopter becomes two, and two becomes three.  Most of the other Initiates have dozed off by now, but the boy seated nearest with me has brought a book with him in his duffel bag and is reading.  The only things in my duffel bag are for survival, beside a few pictures of 382 and my mother, and a letter to Talaimai that I've promised not to open.  With nothing to keep me busy, I fall asleep, my head resting on the hard wall of the helicopter.

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"Hey!  Girl!  Yeah, you!"  A hand shakes my shoulder, and I blink my eyes open to see the reading boy in front of me.  "We're here!  Wake up!  Wake up!"

I thank him tiredly and get to my feet, picking up my duffel bag.

"Quick, the helicopter might leave if we don't get out!  It's the Initiations!  You have to be alert for this!"

"I know!  But thanks!"

We stumble from the helicopter, and I duck as I see the spinning blades above my head.  We're on top of a plateau of some sort, and the blades are making red dust around us pick up into the air.  For a moment, I can't see anything, but then a hand grabs my wrist and pulls me out of the dust cloud.  I thank the boy a third time, and he points to the far end of the plateau, where another helicopter has landed.  "There's a way to the ground down there.  Follow me!"

Hoisting my duffel bag's strap over my shoulder, I race to keep up.  The boy's pack is much lighter than mine, and soon I grow fatigued.  "Please, slow down!" I cry.

"No!  Come on, we have to run!  My brother told me that they start shooting if we're not off the plateau in a certain time!"  What?  Despite the pain, I pick up my pace until I catch up, my heart racing in my chest and my body surging with adrenaline.  

Soon we come to the side of a plateau, which has been leveled into a slope that snakes down around the plateau to the ground.  The boy's running so fast that once the ground begins to slope, he slides and falls, his bag sprawling to the ground.  The slope causes him to slide closer to the edge, and I lunge for his foot to keep him from going off the edge.  He's safe, but his duffel bag, not so much.  We watch it plummet off the side of the plateau, crashing to the wrapping path below.  "Let's slow down," I rasp, breathing heavily.  "It's too steep here."

"Good idea," he finally admits, getting to his feet.  Casting a look of dismay over the edge at the remains of his duffel bag, he mutters something under his breath and then looks at me.  "We'll go fast, but we won't run."

"Okay," I agree, and we walk with speed down the plateau together.  

Eventually we come upon the duffel, which the boy picks up.  The contents inside, such a glass cup for drinking, are completely shattered.  "I'm glad that wasn't me," he breathes.

"Who brings glass?" I criticize.  "And a book?"

"It might have been worth something in trade," the boy shrugs.  "And while you're drinking out of coconuts and rounded rocks, I'll be acting more civilized than you.  Well, that's if it didn't break.  Now I'll be just as civilized as everyone else."

"True..."

"C'mon!  Let's go!"

When we reach the bottom, the boy drops his duffel bag to the floor and begins taking out everything that has broken.  I put my hands on my knees, trying to regain my breath.  It's so hot here, and beads of sweat moisten my forehead.  I'm incredibly thirsty, and I drink down half of one of my water bottles to counter the feeling.

The boy looks at me from his spot on the ground.  "I saved your life, and you saved mine.  So...team?"

I take a moment to contemplate his offer.  I really can't imagine going into the Initiations alone, especially if I can't find Talaimai.  This boy is better than nothing.  "Yeah, I think so," I finally say.  I observe my new teammate; he has short, curly brown hair and brown eyes.  "What's your name?"

"Attenti Mason.  For attentiveness.  Yours?"

"Saphara Neowarren."  I hold out my hand, and we shake.  "Nice to meet you."

The boy frowns, mid-shake.  "Neo," he says thoughtfully.  "It's a prefix for the Neodymium Creatorians, if they want to incorporate their element into their last names.  Are you related to any Creatorians?"

I think of my dad.  "I'm pretty sure.  Hmm.  You're smart, aren't you?"

"Nah. Just attentive."   He puts a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sunlight, searching for anything in the distance.  "Are you ready to go?  I think we should look for some people, and it looks like this patch of desert is surrounded by a forest.  Most people should be in the forest."

"Can you help me find my brother, Talaimai Neowarren?" I ask hopefully.

"You have a brother in the Initiations?" Attenti exclaims.

"Yeah," I nod.  "I have a picture of him in my bag that I can show you, if you want to help!"

"And I definitely do want to help," Attenti tells me.  "I'm thinking that taking you on as a teammate is a better decision every second.  Not only are we not alone here, we could have someone who knows the ropes to guide us, as well."

Author's Note

Meet Attenti... he will be one of the main characters, but he won't narrate.