Chapter One: The Shooting Star I woke up at around 7am. The Suns’ light was shining in through my window. I got up and walked to my window, and counted the suns. Two. The amount of suns changes almost every day. We vary from one sun to four. The amount of suns determines how hot or cold it’s going to be that day. Since all of our water is many miles underneath the ground we never have any clouds in the sky to block the sun. So we only have one kind of weather, Sunny. I walked over to my closet and examined all of my clothes. I grabed my red shirt, grey argyle sweater, and my blue jeans. It takes me just a couple of minutes to put them on, grab my shoes, and go down stairs. When I got down stairs My Mom was rushing out the door and my Dad was in the kitchen making breakfast. I yelled a quick goodbye to my Mom while she was heading out the door, but she didn’t hear me. I sighed and walkedover to my Dad who was making breakfast. The strong smell of Gringcakes, Terapeth, and Astridberry Juice filled my nostrils and my mouth started to water. Dad was always a really good cook, but today he’s out done himself. I looked at the Gringcakes, they are the perfect shade of tan and you could see the little pieces of mint in them. Terapeth is my favorite food in the whole world. It combines my three favorite flavors; Citrusy, salty, and sweet. “Good morning Dad. Anything special today?” I gestured towards the food. My Dad gave me a confused look, and then saw where I was getting at. “Oh, no! Nothing really. Well, I guess since I heard that there was a moon last night. So I thought I’d do something special today,” He shrugged and flipped some more Gringcakes on the stove. I grabbed some Gringcake and Terapeth and sat at the table. I poured me a glass of Astridberry Juice and took a sip of it. There was a different taste to it today. It tasted like he put some Yeloe seeds in it. The seeds gave it a bit of a milky taste. As I was eating my Terapeth I thought of how Dad knew about the Moon being out. How did he know? He wasn’t awake when the moon came out, I made sure of that. “Dad, how’d you know about the Moon being out last night?” I gave him a weird look. He grabbed a serving tray and put the rest of the Gringcakes and Terapeth on it and sat it on the table. Then he came and sat next to me. “Marian Cojer told me,” he responded while putting some Terapeth on his plate and ate some. Ugh, Marian Cojer. The one person in all of Disnen Rowan that I can’t stand, and she just happens to be my neighbor. “You know she’s really not that bad,” my Dad said. He clearly knew what I was thinking. I slide down the back of my chair. “Yeah, I guess she’s not that bad, but she just knows how to stroke me the wrong way. It’s probably her crazy crush on me.” I thought back to when she first moved here from the northern part of Rowan. Mom, Dad, and I went to go welcome them into the neighborhood, Mom was still pregnant with Jai at the time. We had brought some freshly baked Chia bread over to them. So, while my parents and her parents were talking they had put us in the same room to play. All I really remember is one minute I was playing Tag and the next I was playing, “Get away from the crazy neighbor girl who’s trying to kiss you”. Of course our parents never realized that, because from where they were standing it seemed as if we were still just playing tag. “It’s not like I blame her. I mean you’re one handsome kid!” My dad boasted. I couldn’t help, but laugh a bit. I consider myself to be a good looking guy. I have neat blonde hair, tan skin, deep blue eyes, and I’m tall. I actually look a great deal like my Dad. I grab another piece of Gringcakes and said, “I am your kid." We both sat there and laughed for awhile till Jai finally came down the stairs. She looked terrible. I felt like it was my fault. She came down stairs with her pig tails crooked and her clothes a mess. “Jai sweetie, you look like a mess,” My Dad yelled towards her, but she didn’t seem to hear him. I got up and pushed her towards our bathroom, “It’s okay Dad! I’ll take care of her,” I yelled back at him. Jai was in a bit of a daze while I was fixing her button-up shirt and skirt. It was almost shocking how bad a couple of hours of missed sleep had on her. The buttons of her shirt were all in the wrong whole, some not even in wholes, and part of her skirt was tucked into her undergarments. When I finished fixing her clothes I moved on to her lop sided pig tails. She seemed to forget to put most of her hair in the pig tails too. I took her hair down and started to braid them in to two braids. When I finished I gave her one final look and approved it. B“Well Jai, it’s a good thing your shoes don’t have laces or else they’d probably be a big jumbled mess right now,” I gave her a hug and we returned to the table. Dad seemed to approve this new look. Once Jai got some food and juice into her system she seemed to be right back to normal. Twenty minutes later we leave to go to E.C.A.L.A.L.M. which stands for educating children across Lende, our planet, about life and morals. We call it the education center for short. Jai and I attend the same education center. We only lived half a mile away from the center. The education center is separated by buildings. Building one holds ages 4-6, building two holds ages 7-9, building three holds ages 10-12, building four holds ages 13-15, building five only has kids that are 16, and building six holds ages 17- 20. Building five only holds those that are 16, because that’s the age you learn about sex and hormones. I’m in building six, but Jai has to go to building three. She’s twelve, so this will be her last year there. Once we got to school Jai went and ran off to her group of friends over by building three. I watched to make sure she got there okay, and once I saw that she did I started making my way down towards building six. I looked around at all of the different cliques, and thought of different reason to why I don’t belong to any of them. It’s not like I don’t get along with them or they hate me, but I just prefer to be around people that I can be myself around. I made my way towards the place me and my two best friends hang out before the class bell rings. When I got over there I was glad that Juliet and Zeke were doing what they did best, make out. I was just best friends with Juliet at first, but when she started to date Zeke I had to hang out with him more, and the more we hung out the closer we got. I leaned on the beam they were next to. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” I said bluntly. Both Zeke and Juliet looked up and blushed. “We’re sorry, we didn’t know you were there,” Juliet attempted to apologize. Zeke came up and gave me a hug. “I’m not sorry for making out with my girlfriend. In fact, I think it should be you apologizing for interrupting us,” Zeke said sarcastically. After a couple of minutes of joking around and sharing stories about the moon the class bell finally rang and we left for class. There are only around twenty-five people in each year. So, all 17 year olds have the same classes, except for those who wish to take advance courses and are approved to take them. We have the same teacher all day long, and the first subject we learn is History and Current Events. I took my seat in the back of the room. Zeke and Juliet sit in the front of the room; one right in front of the other. I’ve always hated seating arrangements that were in alphabetical order. I always end up last. My last name’s Veramound. It’s really not all that bad being the last person on the class role. You see, when we do projects the teacher always makes us present our projects in alphabetical order by last name, but she always likes starting from the end of the alphabet and working her way up. So, I always get to go first. I set the standards for all the projects, and I try to make sure that no one can live up to the standards I set for them. Ms. Carpenter, our teacher, struts in to the classroom with her usual perky grin stretched across her face. She walks over to her desk, sits on top of it, and peers at us from underneath her glasses. Her legs cross, and she takes roll. As she’s taking roll I notice that she’s very fidgety, and she keeps on having to push her red hair out of her face. Finally, I hear my name called for roll and I raise my hand. Ms. Carpenter then puts her roster on the front of her desk, and it falls. The strange thing is that she isn’t picking it up. She just continues to stare at us as if this was the first day she’s ever seen us, and she trying to memorize our faces. Zeke goes and picks up her roster, and hands it back to her. This seems to knock her out of the Trans she appeared to be in. Ms. Carpenter now seemed to be looking at me, “How many of you kids saw the Moon last night?” Half of the kids in the classroom raised their hands, including me. She gave a nod and told us to put our hands down, “Now, how many of you know about the shooting star?” Ms. Carpenter asked curiously. I looked around. I had seen the star. I raised my hand up slowly, and Ms. Carpenter’s eyes made their way towards me. I looked around the classroom. Nobody else had their hand up. “Ah Mr. Veramound, did you know that the star crashed into our planet?” She made her way to the front of my desk, and she took her glasses off and she gave me a look. This look was a look she’s never given me, or anyone else. The look sent shivers through all of my body. I looked into her eyes; they’ve never looked so cold, so . . . empty. I looked back down. “No, I didn’t know, but it ’t seem like it’s really a big deal if no one’s talking about it." I answered scratching the back of my head. Ms. Carpenter walked away from her desk, and laid her glasses on her desk. “Mr. Veramound, do you believe in the story of the moon?” What a strange question! Why would I possibly believe in such nonsense? It’s just an old myth that’s been passed down for generations. Plus, what does that myth have to do with the shooting star? I looked down at my desk and started to draw a picture of a person. “I don’t really believe in it, but I do enjoy telling the story. Anyways, how is the story of the moon exactly relevant to the shooting star?” I answered sharply. I look up and start biting the end of my pen. Ms. Carpenter walked over to the projection screen and slid in a little memory card. An image of a black star falling from the sky and hurdling towards our planet spread out in the classroom. The star was shooting out flecks of gold and silver, “This is a hologram of the star that crashed into our planet." She said walking around, her eyes stuck on me. Her cold blue eyes pierced through my skin and it felt as though she was processing my every move. “Okay, so a shooting star crashed into our planet. What are they going to do with it? Put it up in a museum?” I twirled my pen through my fingers. Ms. Carpenter gave me a terrifying grin, and then the hologram of the star vanished. I looked over at Ms. Carpenter who’s now imitating what I was doing with my pen, to the memory card with the picture of the shooting star on it. “The strange thing is, Mr. Veramound, is that when they went over to the scene where the star had crashed nothing was there.” I sat in my seat, confused. Did she believe in the story of the moon? She was certainly making it seem as if she did. Just as I opened my mouth to respond to her, she turned around and yelled at Juliet and Zeke for making out in the middle of class. Ms. Carpenter changed the subject, but she continued to watch me. As if she was waiting for me to do something. I shook that thought from my head, and returned to my drawing. There wasn’t a very clear image as to what the drawing was, but I could make out some things in the drawing. For instance, I could see light gray eyes, dark black hair, a smile, and something was surrounding it. Maybe, fire? My eyes drew back to the smile. This smile was setting me on edge. It wasn’t a regular we just had fun kind of smile. No, this smile was more demonic. As if this person was going to get revenge and no one could stop it. A very vindictive smile that said, “I will get you, and I will kill you. But before I kill you I’m going to make you suffer.” Our lunch bell rings and all of the students get up and head for the door. I look up and Zeke and Juliet are walking towards me, hand in hand. Class went by fast! Did I really spend the entire class staring at my doddle? I looked over at Ms. Carpenter’s desk, but wasn't there. In fact, she was nowhere in the room. “Hey, what was up with Ms. Carpenter? She was acting stranger than usual today.” Zeke said leaning on my desk. I get up, “I have no idea, but is it just me or did it seem like she was staring at me a lot?” “Well, she was primarily talking to you. Since you were the only one who happened to see the shooting star last night,” Juliet said sliding her hand into Zeke’s. I suppose she’s right, but that still didn't explain why she was acting so weird. She had such a strange look; almost as if she was possessed. I shook the thought out of my head. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.” I said half heartedly. We walked off to our schools despensive center to go get out lunch. I look up at the menu and grunt. Oh great, I think, we’re having Venula with Moon fruit and for a drink we get either water or Derth Juice. I look forward towards Juliet and Zeke. They were talking to each other, but I couldn't tell what they’re talking about. Probably something happy, like usual. They get along so well, it' absolutely astonishing. Most people call them the “It” couple. It’s easy to be the “It” couple when you’re the only couple in the entire building. People normally don’t start dating until they’ve hit the age of 21. That’s usually when the hormones start kicking in, but for some people the hormones start early. It’s not uncommon for peoples hormones to start kicking in early, but most people just hide it since it’s not exactly normal. We were finally to the front of the line, and the distribution ladies were as nice as ever. They gave me a fake smile and threw my plate of food in my direction. We get our food quickly and go to our usual spot for mid-day distribution. Our spot is right under a Willsbary tree. It’s a nice and shady spot, and today there’s a bit of a breeze so it’s nice and cool under the tree. We sat down and made ourselves comfortable. I looked up and there was a Bursly running around through the trees. It’s big brown bushy tail trailing behind it as it ran through the tree. Checking out its new home. A moment later another Bursly came down and started interacting with the other Bursly. By the sound of the high-pitched squeals coming from it, it’s probably angry. Why is it angry? Was the other Bursly its spouse or significant other? Were they supposed to meet up somewhere and the other didn’t show up? Or was the Burly just trying to protect its home from any intruders that could cause any harm? I looked down to where my food used to be and find that Zeke and Juliet have moved it somewhere so they could lie down together and look up through the tree. I felt a slight tap on my shoulder and I turn around to find Ms. Carpenter. She’s a wreck. It looks as though she had tried to fight someone and had lost miserably. She put on her glasses. “Mr. Veramound I need to speak with you, alone,” she casted her eyes over to Zeke and Juliet, who still didn’t notice she was there. I nod my head and follow her anxiously. I expect to be taken to her classroom, but I’m not. We’re going to the Head’s office instead. Now I started to get nervous. Why was I being taken to the Head’s office? I haven’t done anything wrong. When we walk in there the Head in just sitting down at his desk looking down at some papers. He doesn’t seem mad so that at least means I’m not in trouble. When he finally looks up and sees’s me his face lights up and he offers me a seat. I accept, but I’m a bit suspicious. When I sit down no one speaks. We’re all just exchanging looks. Finally after a couple of minutes of awkward silence I decide to finally ask the question I’ve been dying to ask since Ms. Carpenter took me from mid-day distribution. “So, why am I here exactly?” I asked as calmly as I could. The head bursts out in a mixture of tears and laughter, but Mr. Carpenter just gives me a cold serious look. After the head composes himself he gets up from his chair, and waddles over towards we and takes the seat from across from me, “Well Mr. Veramound, that’s a very good question.” I shoot him a glare, “Well, then are you going to answer me?” Ms. Carpenter snorts and begins to say something, but the head quickly silences her. He gives me a friendly yet dangerous smile, “I will, after you answer some questions for me.” Oh great! A pop quiz from the head. This should be interesting. “So Mr. Veramound, rumor is that you exceed at school, is this correct?” he asked taking his glasses off and looking at me. “I suppose, but I wouldn’t exactly say that I exceed at school,” I replied modestly. I did exceed at school, but I just don’t go around broadcasting it to everyone. I try my best to not let my accomplishment go to my head. He looked at me and nodded. Then he put his glasses back on and wrote something down a piece of paper. When he looked up again he seemed to be looking at me even harder. Then out of nowhere a smile appeared and he started laughing again, “You’re the one! I can’t believe you’re the one.” At this statement Ms. Carpenter stood up. Both mine and the heads eyes were focused on her. Then she gave us one of her creepy smiles and everything went black. The last thing I remember was someone whispering, “We’ve got one.”
Chapter Two: The Moon Warrior When I finally woke up I was in the forest. Only I’ve never seen this forest before in my life. There were different animals inhabiting this place and the trees were different. I inhaled deeply, and I could smell the foul stench of death and decay. I got up and looked to the side to see a pair of Bursly’s dead on the floor. Could those be the same two I saw at the education center? “It’s very nice to meet you Darain,” A voice said from behind me. This voice was dark and demonic. I didn’t want to come face to face with whoever this was, but for some reason I turned around and I found myself not looking at a monster, but at a man who was no older than 31 years old. He had black curly hair and gray eyes with little flecks of gold in them. A cold shudder rushed through my body. “Oh are you afraid?” he let out a cold and hard laugh. “I’m not afraid of you,” The man vanished, but I could still hear his voice, “That wasn’t very convincing. I don’t understand why Luna would pick such a weak and unintelligent being such as yourself. But then again, she does seem to make pretty bad decisions, wouldn’t you think?” “Who are you!?” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “You mean you haven’t already figured it out?” He laughed and landed right in front of me. “Damn does Luna know how to pick them!” Nothing was making sense! What was he talking about? And who was Luna? Wait, he couldn’t be talking about the Luna from the story. It’s just a myth. Nothing more . . . but could it be possible? I looked into his eyes, “Are you Faenza?” He let out a little laugh and took a few steps back, “Good, I guess you’re not as dumb as I thought.” “Wait, so are you telling me the story of the moon is true?” I was set aback. “Who told you it wasn’t?” “No one, I guess I just thought it was too outrageous to even believe. None of it seems very realistic.” “Well, it’s going to become very real for you very quick,” he smiled and punched me in the stomach. I felt like I was going to throw up. He had punched me with a huge amount of force. Now he pinned me on the ground, “Before I kill you is there anything you’d like to know or anything you’d like for me to say to your parents when I give them your mutilated body?” I lied there on the ground, silent. I wasn’t exactly sure if I wanted my parents to know if I had said anything before I died. Wait, what was I talking about? I wasn't going to die! What was I thinking? But if I wasn't going to die, then how was I going to escape. Even the planets protector couldn’t beat him, so how could I. Maybe I should try to outwit him, “I would like to ask a question before I die,” at the words “die” Faenza smiled. He must’ve thought I had accepted my fate and wasn’t going to fight it. “Go ahead, ask away.” Faenza floated over to a rock and sat on it. "Why would you want to kill me? I mean, if I am correct by the way your making it sound, I'm one of the chosen Moon Warrior. Wouldn't you want to have one on your side?" Faenza rolled his eyes and let out another laugh, "I'm not going to take what ever Luna already has! I want to beat her because I'm better and I make a better leader than she ever did." I processed what Faeanza had just said. It sounded like there was more to the myth then what was told. There was something that had happened between Faenza and Luna that had sparked this war. I will need to find out. But how will I get it out of Faenza? He's the only one here that would actually know. Maybe I should just go ahead and ask him. I opened my mouth to talk, but when I did there was a loud scream in the distance and Faenza ran off. Where was he going? Why did someone scream? Did something attack them? Why did Faenza go where the scream was coming from? Did he know who was screaming? Was he the one that caused it? Was this person supposed to be dead already? So many questions were filling up my head. It felt like my head was going to explode. There was another scream. This time I listened more carefully. The scream was coming from a woman. It was filled with absolute terror and fear. I tried to picture myself in their shoes. What would make me that scared? Now that I think about it, I've never been scared in my life. I attempted to get back up, but I felt a sharp pain in my left leg. I looked down to find there was a needle on it. How strange? When I pulled off the needle it started to squirm. Needles don't squirm! It then shriveled up and died. What was that? I then I felt two sharp pains in my right arm. There were two needles there too! I pulled those off quickly. More and more needles started appearing, and I kept on trying to pull them off, but the more I pulled off the more that would come. I felt my body stiffen, and I fell to the floor and closed my eyes. The last thing I remember was thinking if I would wake up again or if Faenza would just kill me in my sleep. It was hard to believe that just that morning I was helping my little sister dress for school and now I might never get to even see her or my family again. I didn't even get to say good morning to my mom that morning. The last thing I said to her was, "Goodnight". At least that was a type of goodbye . . . It was the second time I was passing out today, but this time it felt different. I could still hear everything and think. The only thing I couldn't do was move. There was only one logical explanation I could think of to explain what was going on with him. The bugs that were stabbing me had some kind of paralyzing poison and I was paralyzed for the moment. Well, I hope for the moment. I heard something move in the bushes. It must've been Faenza returning, but, by the sound of it, there were two people. I didn't remember there being two people. Just Faenza and me. Maybe the other person was Ms. Carpenter. It would make sense. Seeing that she seemed to be on his side. I tried to listen close to see if Ms. Carpenter and Faenza were saying anything. I heard Ms. Carpenter's voice and focused on it. "Faenza, the vision was something terrible. It was the strongest vision I've ever had. I cannot tell you what happened in the vision because of the rules, but what I can tell you is a warning and advice. Do not kill the boy. It will do your cause great harm. I would advise you to use the boy. Everyone in Lende will be looking for him and I'm sure our president will do absolutely anything to get the boy back." "I don't know, Matilda. I feel that he posses a threat. You don't understand, but I feel that he has great power. Greater than any power I've ever felt. If we let him live he will bring me down. That is why we must kill him! "Don't you remember, Matilda. Back one thousand years ago, the prophecy. The one that Morra foretold. The whole reason why seers aren't allowed to tell their prophecy's anymore. The one that spoke of a boy. A boy who was born of great power, but he wasn't just blessed by the moon. The moon gave him great powers. More power than she had ever given any of her other precious warriors. " You see the Moon was able to get word to the Gods about the planet just barely being protected. So, they gave her some reserved magic, and the power to make one person immortal. So, they could protect the planet forever. I fear, that this is the boy that she made immortal. I fear, that he not only has the power of the Moon, but the power of the Gods. Now, do you realize what we're up against?" Faenze finished in his hard tone. "But, Faenza, if you say that he is immortal then why do you want to kill him? I mean, if he is immortal then doesn't that mean he can't be killed?" Ms. Carpenter or Matilda asked. "Well, Matilda, looks like you're not a complete idiot. You know what immortal means." He paused for a second," I want to try to kill him, because we don't know if he is the correct Moon Warrior until we try to kill him." He let out a little laugh at the end. I stiffened at the sound of his laugh. What if I wasn't immortal? I was going to die. Then If I am immortal, I'll have a huge responsibility on my hands. So much for a seventeen year old. Maybe I could escape while they're talking. It's possible. They said I have magic. Maybe I could shoot these little paralyzing bugs at them. I did feel the Paralysis wearing off. I attempted to move my fingers. I was able to move them. Now, I just have to be able to shoot the bugs at them. I tried to see how much of my body I could move. I could almost move everything. I opened my eyes and looked up to see where Matilda and Faenza were. They were standing at the edge of the trees. I began to stand up slowly. Even though they might've been one thousand years old, they really weren't as vigilant as you'd think they'd be. I got up without them even noticing. I closed my eyes and put my hand forward towards were Faenza and Matilda were standing. I kept on telling the bugs to go attack Faenza and Matilda, but they weren't. Maybe there was something I was doing wrong. That's when the worst happened Faenza had noticed that I was awake and about to attack them. If I my powers were going to work, now would be an excellent time. That was when I felt something, fear. Faenza rushed towards me. Then, I felt something else. I pictured the Paralysis bugs underneath the grounds, and I raised my hand again and aimed towards Faenza. "Oppugnare!" I yelled. The bugs flew up from the ground and cover Faenza and Matilda. I made a run for it. It was a crazy feeling. Beating someone as infamous and Faenza. Though, I know this isn't the last time I'll see them. Now, I know what someones duty is. I know some more details to the story of the Moon. My information will help this war greatly, but before I think of the war, I'll need to get home first. I thought back to how I was able to escape. I had no idea where that word came from of what I meant, but I'd have to remember it, and what I does. It seemed like it was an attacking spell of some sort. Though, I don't think I should dwell on it much. Right now, I just need to keep running. Keep running till I reach some kind of civilization. ~~~~~ Comments!? =P
I'm so sorry! I keep pulling the unedited version. Actually this ones just not spaced out correctly, but still.