A Flawed Alliance

Chapter 1- The Auxiliary's Yearly

"What do you think it'll be?" I asked, side-glancing at the man pacing next to me. "A horse? A jackal? I'm thinking of an otter."

The heat had beaten down early in the morning. Walking to the Auxiliary's Yearly was predicted to take about ten minutes, but it seemed a minute too long, unrelenting even for the special day.

Though, none of it was apparent in the way people wandered around the city with their heads diverted to the ground and oblivious nature to the certain uproar of activity that was happening around. Maybe it was because of the familiarity of the yearly tradition that they chose not to care.

None of them were walking alone, however, and along their side was an animal-their animal- all different depending on the Auxiliary.

My older brother, Sean, huffed next to me, his short, dark hair almost shining underneath the sunrays. "Alright, we'll see."

"Hurry. We might be late," my older sister, Lien, snapped.

I opened my mouth to argue but stopped. A woman with hot pink hair and green tips brushed past us, mumbling as she did so with an echidna strutting right behind, its body ambling side-to-side and sniffing the woman's spiked boots as they lifted off the ground.

"How long does The Evaluation take?" I asked, watching as the animal and its Auxiliary disappear around a corner.

"As long as it does," Lien answered.

I let out a long sigh, "Never mind."

The number of trees in the city did little to provide us shade. It wasn't until we reached the park where the Auxiliary's Yearly was taking place that we were encased in heavy shadows. There was foliage in all directions, so dense it was impossible to see the other side of the park.

We walked a couple more steps and we could already see the popular elevated walkways and the large wooden building, so large that it created shadows among the shadows within the foliage. That was the building the Auxiliary's Yearly was taking place this year. Though the location of the Auxiliary's Yearly changed every year, the design of the building was no different than the ones from previous years. It was so distinguishable that every student had always named the building, Future Endeavor. Almost as if expecting potential for what's to come afterwards.

The wooden building was distinguishable by the vastness of its size, stretching so wide that it looked like a lonesome singer under a spotlight. The interlocking wooden blocks of the building formed a small base and then gradually widened, reaching all the way to the canopy of the trees and beckoning the sky as the limit. Hundreds of people were lined up in front of the entrance of the building, chattering loudly and scaring the birds.

At the sight of the line, I immediately pointed at it, "Hurry, let's line up." Sean, Lien, and I, in unison, ran toward it. That was the easy part, of course. Waiting in the line was the pain.

The noise from the people, although loud, was nothing compared to the open air above with the echoing calls of the birds' incessant shrills. Sure, the park had always been lively, but it had never been so lively as today. The vacuum-like atmosphere seemed to press on me, focusing all my attention on the woman in front, who suddenly shouted, "Next!" ushering me to walk up with hurried gestures.

I stepped forward to face the woman just as a man disappeared inside the building. The woman had a distinct scowl on her face when she droned, "Your name?"

"Iridian Cantor," I replied, trying my best to stress the ending of my name to be polite.

She still had not lifted her head up, nodding and skimming her long fingers along the tablet in her hands. Once she found my name, she stopped and checked it off. "May I ask you who you're coming with today?"