The secrets of the chase

Chapter 1

A breeze of cool air glazed across her skin as she glanced out into the constellation-filled sky. Astoria sat on her windowpane, breathing in the frigid air. Her clock rang moments before. She had already been awake for quite a while, but she hadn't started getting ready yet. She finally stood up and closed her window before going to the wash to clean up before leaving. The cool air was replaced by the steam from the running water as soon as she stepped into the shower. 
            Tonight, she would be leaving to join and compete in the Chase. It was important to the whole city. It was made to decide who would rule over. Whenever a ruler was near death, it would be announced and one of the children of the collection would have to join and go. This year it was decided that the oldest child would go.
            The contestants were supposed to wear proper clothing to signify the role of possible leadership, at least that's what her mother had told her. Instead, she wore something simple. She packed a few pieces of clothing, assuming they must give her some and the belongings that meant something to her. Before leaving, she looked into the mirror took one last look, and fixed her hair. Astoria put on her long coat and put her bag across her back before walking out.
            Astoria slowly walked the stairs of the quiet house, thinking about how much she would miss being in her room at night. The stars in the sky and the silence from the forest were comforting, but the silence she currently felt was uncomfortable and isolated. This might be the last time she might walk into this house. She might be dead or buried alive in 2 days.
          Nobody knows what happens during the process and only the people involved are allowed to know. She always wanted to know what was happening. In her mind, there was always a need for control over her actions. That was one thing her parents never liked and stopped caring about later in her life.
            The cook, Natalia, was in the kitchen making breakfast for her family before they woke up. She glanced at Astoria before beckoning her to come over. Astoria didn't want her to see her leave and she had already noticed.
            "Take some," Natalia said, holding a tray of small breakfast sandwiches.
            "I shouldn't-."
            "No, please, you need the strength. I can't have you dying out there."
            Astoria couldn't help but smile. Natalia had always been good to her.
            "Thank you." Astoria embraced her before saying goodbye.
            "I will always believe in you. Life fears you," Natalia responded quickly before the door closed.
            Hearing Natalia's last words made her tear up. Life fears you was a sentence she learned from a program that she loved reading. It was a reminder of hope.
            As she walked through the streets of Wickson, Astoria felt both eagerness and guilt. The sight of no one around gave her the space to think about her future. She didn't know a lot of the contestants personally. Most were a few years younger than her parents. She was the youngest one of them all. The only person Astoria knew was Cassius Varg, but the last time they talked was over a decade ago. He was a few years older than she was. They used to play together during the summer. After a while, Cassius would stop going to the park or never stop by her garden. She never knew why, but it didn't matter anymore.
            The chase was to take place at the learning center and by the time Astoria got there, it was surrounded by security. She hadn't seen any other people around, so she walked up to the door. The guard swiftly got in front of her with his hand.
            "Who are you," The guard asked with his palm out to block her.
            "Astoria Eir."
            "Hand," The guard was aggressive, but Astoria put out her hand, and unexpectedly the guard scraped off a small piece of her skin around her wrist. The wound stung. She was in shock. "Warning, it might hurt. We just needed to see if your DNA matched the one under your name."
            "Can I get some sort of help to stitch this? This kinda stings." She sounded sarcastic to hide the pain but in a more serious matter. It stung badly, but she covered most of the pain to appear stronger.
            "Yeah, there's a first aid kit in the infirmary."
            Astoria nodded sarcastically, and the guard opened the door. She thought because this was supposedly very important there would be more of a luxury aspect. The place was dark and gloomy, unlike how it was when she went there. She walked to the infirmary and went through the cabinets to look for some sort of thing to cover her wound. She finally found one and sat on one of the beds. As she bandaged her arm, she thought this was how her life would now be. Full of angsty guards and testing to make sure it was her. Always being watched in a sort of way, but it was better than just doing nothing in her room while being told to prepare speeches for banquets and trying on absurd dresses for parties she didn't want to go to.
            There was a sudden noise, it sounded like a knock, but it wasn't as loud. Footsteps came closer to the infirmary room and Astoria took her things, the first aid kit, and ran out the other door into the closet. A younger-looking man walked in and did exactly what she was doing. He stitched up his wrist, where he must have gotten his skin cut off for DNA testing. The urge to open the door was strong, but instead, she decided to stuff the first aid kit into her bag and take out the three stitches she had made before pretending to just walk in. She opened the door, came out of the room, and got a good look at the man, he was maybe around 25 years old. He looked familiar, but the name wouldn't pop into her head. He finally looked up after finishing. The look wasn't normal. He took a good look at her. He stared deep into her eyes.
            "Sorry to barge in," she said apologetically.
            "No, it's fine. I'm just stitching my wrist up,"           The man had a bit of an accent. He looked at her half-open wrist. "They cut you up for DNA too."
            "Yeah."
            "If you want, I can help you. I learned how to," She almost hesitated, but gave in.
            "Yes, please."
            Astoria sat next to him on the hospital bed, and he cleaned her wrist before stitching her skin together. The name came to her brain. The man was Cassius Varg. He had tan skin, light hair, and unusual eyes. They were blue and almost yellow around the edge. Unlike the rest of his family, with brown hair and green eyes.
            "Do you know how everything would work here?"
            "No, and I rather not," Cassius said.
            "Why?"
            "I'm only here because I have to be, and none of this is important." He looked up at her and his eyes were full of hatred. They change quickly and they look curious. "Does any of this matter to you?"
            Astoria thought about this. "Does this matter to me, or does it matter to make my heinous family," Her brain thought.
            "No."          
            Cassius's face changed into a happier, more pleased face. He finishes stitching her cut and then puts everything away and sits back down on the bed.
            "I never told you my name, did I. Well, I'm Cassius, by the way."
            "I know."
            "What's your Name."
            She hesitated again, but she told him anyway.
            "I'm Astoria."
            "You have a last name, Astoria?"
            "Eir."
            "Your dad is Erik, right?" She nodded. "You have some big shoes to fill. Your dad seems to be a good man, so I assume you are the same."
Astoria hated her father. He always said if one of his children had to go into the project and lost, he would disown them. She wouldn't mind never seeing him again, but she couldn't afford it. Her dad controls all her finances and refuses to let her control them. He was always so hard on her, but not on her younger sister or brother because he knew she would have to go to the chase, but he never cared enough that if she went, he wouldn't try to help her prepare for it.
            "You know you shouldn't assume things about people you don't know. Especially, if you're basing a person on one of their parents."
            "I shouldn't but I still could. I can do whatever I want, I am a free person after all," he said sarcastically.
            "That's because you were raised that way."
            "And you weren't?"
            "You just proved you don't know enough about me to make assumptions."
            "I guess you're right." He scoffed "I will see you in the foyer. Oh sorry, I might have assumed that." Cassius bowed his head with a smirk and walked out the door.
            Astoria didn't want to trust this man. Even though she believes he could help her. Most of the people would be well into their thirties, Cassius was only 25. He also seems to know his way around things and his words are witty. She laid on the hospital bed trying to rest until she heard the school bell ring. She walked into the foyer and there were eleven people. Five women and six men stood, talking to one another. She saw something ahead but ignored it. Astoria saw twelve boxes; each had a name, and she put her items in the box with her name just like everyone seemed to do. She walked back to where everyone else was, and the things she saw in the distance were moving towards her. Thrones were coming towards the middle of the foyer. They all looked different, and one spoke to her. It looked like hawk wings and pages with writing on them secured in metal. Everyone sat down in their chosen seats, and she noticed everyone wore simple clothing like her. Cassius was the only one wearing a suit, and no one bothered to mock him. If this was like school everyone would, but this was different.
A man who looked a bit older than the others came from beyond. The back of the school was always dark, so he probably entered from one of the classrooms or lounge rooms. He dressed very similarly to Cassius in a dark suit and stood in the middle of the thrones.
"Welcome to the Chase, this is the beginning of the course, you all will learn how to do justice to our city, and whoever can't, will be cut out and serve severe consequences."
            Nobody looked concerned after he mentioned severe consequences, but everyone else there has more of an idea of this than she does. I was kind of like they expected it.
            His grin turned into a bit of a laughing smile. His name popped into her head, just like Cassius's did. Dario Amrit. He was the head of weaponry at the primary building. Dario opened the top of the walking stick and out came a button. It looked as though he tried to hide it from everyone, but she noticed. Dario kept talking about what a leader does and it took a while for her to understand what was happening.
            He was distracting them from noticing they were slowly spinning around, and the platform of thrones slowly lowered into the ground.
            "Everything starts now. Good Luck."