Mimicry

Chapter 1

"Look up ahead." Michael said, drawing my attention away from Dust. Spread ahead of me were walls as tall as skyscrapers, stretching as far as the eye could see. The walls were a dull grey colour, and if I squinted I could see a couple sentries posted at the top of the wall, rifles in hand. A large metal gate that reminded me of the gates of medieval  times guarded the entrance of the capital, cold and hard. 

"So this is...Solar?" I breathed, hardly able to register the size of the capital. "Yeah. Pretty big, ain't it?" Michael said, his tone not at all in awe. I was about to snap back a reply, when Dust and Sky suddenly reared. I was almost unseated by Dust's sudden action, but thankfully I grabbed his lead tightly in my hands. 

"Whoa, boy. What's wrong?" I hushed the frantic horse, who was whinnying loudly, hooves high in the air. Even Michael was having a tough time getting Sky under control. Soon, I was on the dirt road on my back, having been thrown off by Dust. 

Another thud told me that Michael too was unseated by Sky, and the two horses raced back the way we came from, dirt and grime falling onto the two of us. I spat out some dirt from my mouth, standing up and brushing the dirt off of my clothes. "What the hell was that?" I looked at the retreating shapes of the horses. 

"I'm not sure, but something clearly spooked them," Michael answered, standing up and walking over next to me. "Michael!" came a male voice. We turned around, only to find a group of soldiers dressed in high tech suits approaching us. One of them stepped forward, a large muscular man who appeared to be the leader. 

The man had a large sword strapped to his back, the suit a bright blue colour, with strips of white running down the robe-like suit. He wore black gloves, his hands slightly trembling. "You came just in time. We've heard reports of a group of Viles entering the capital. However, these Viles have appeared as humans. We have no idea who they could be," the leader saluted to Michael, leaving me to wonder what the old man has been up to when he went to Solar on his own.

"This surely is a big problem, Reynolds." Michael puts a hand to his chin, obviously troubled. I was about to ask what was going on, but then I spotted a group of suspicious looking men walking towards the south wall. Leaving Michael and the weird people in suits, I followed them, hiding behind the forest of trees surrounding the walls of Solar. I ghosted through the trees, barely making any sound. 

The men were cloaked, wearing ragged clothes and shoes. One man turned to another, speaking in some sort of weird language that I could barely understand, only a few words like, destroy...Solar...unexpected. All I know was that whatever they're up to, I'm not about to let them get away with it. 

Strong traces of Aura from the group almost made me go back and get Michael, but when one of them channelled his Aura into his legs, jumping up high and over the wall. Immediately my ability kicked in, the scene just now replaying in my mind. But this couldn't be a worse time, when I was trying to figure out what the men were up to.

Trying to stop my ability, I felt a sharp pain in my leg, causing me to almost cry out in shock and pain. I stopped myself just in time, just as a rope came over the city side of the wall, probably thrown by the first guy. The rest climbed up the rope, and when they were all over the wall, the rope retracted, as if it wasn't there before.

But thanks to the first guy's demonstration of his ability, and mine, I easily channelled my Aura into my legs, jumped over the wall and landing on the other side of the wall with barely any noise. What I saw almost had me puking right then and there.

I'd landed in a dark alley way, where the men was cornering a young girl, who was obviously terrified, blood running down from her temple. "Hey! What'd you think you're doing?" the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. The men swerved their heads towards me, frowning in unison.