The Soul Factory (title under consideration)

Chapter 4

Ch. 4

As quickly as the sound starts, it stops; and when I open my eyes, I gasp. “Guys! Open your eyes! We’re here!” It’s sunset here, oh the irony. For a moment, we’re all caught up in the excitement of being on actual earth, on Earth! We’re in Aldabra, on one of the many uninhabited islands. But then reality comes crashing down. The initial excitement fades and our smiles are replaced by grim, determined expressions.

“Let’s set up camp guys. We have to venture inland to make sure that the humans don’t see us.” Leo, the group leader, walks into the undergrowth and we follow, senses on high alert. I have my hands poised over my throwing knives, ready to hurl them at any instant. I see the others do the same. Fiona’s stroking her bow and playing with her arrows, Donatello’s seemingly idly fingering the trigger on his crossbow while facing the back and the three in front are all holding their swords. There’s a reason behind this; if we get ambushed, the long –range weapons will get rid of most of the enemy quickly, leaving the rest for the close-range weapons.

After about half an hour of careful, silent hiking, we reach the sacred site. It’s invisible to humans and it’s almost at the peak of the mountain, but it’s surrounded by enough trees so that any fire we light won’t be too visible. It’s a small temple/shrine to Mourvie. The Malheurs aren’t here, I can’t sense any evil. I nod to Leo, and he sends Fiona and I inside the temple with Dante and Donatello. There’s going to be 2 guards every shift and each shift will last 8 hours.

Inside the temple, there’s an awkward silence. I’m still not talking to Dante and I don’t really talk to Donatello outside of class. I shrug it off and pass Fiona her sleeping roll; she passes me my scythe. We swapped some stuff so that we could carry stuff up the mountain the least burdened possible; in combat situations, Fiona and I have an unspoken truce. We’re competitive, yes, but we know when to draw the line. Our teachers originally put us in the same group to stop us from fighting each other; no matter what our differences, in a fight I know I can trust her to defend me, and she knows the same goes for me.

Donatello speaks up, “Dante and I will take the next shift, you girls need some rest.” I look at Fiona and we simultaneously roll our eyes. One thing we agree on is the fact that the boys, no matter how strong we are, always treat us girls like we’re in need of extra care. However, we keep quiet, extra rest in this situation is not a bad thing.

I lay down my roll and lie down, my back to the rest of the group. I close my eyes, and hear them do the same. Within moments, I’m asleep.

I wake up at dawn, I can tell by the smell of the air. Using some special stones that Feu gave us, I start a fire in the shrine fireplace. I take a pot from my pack and put an assortment of kelp, mushrooms and spices into it. I add only a little bit of water, because the kelp releases quite a lot while it cooks. While it’s cooking, I step outside with my scythe; I want to get some morning exercise done before my shift starts. I don’t see Dante and Donatello, but I sense them. Since the temple is invisible unless you’re actually on the sacred ground, it’s safe for me to practice out here. I close my eyes and listen to every sound around me. A leaf flutters past my right ear, without hesitation I whip my scythe blade down, slicing the leaf in half, eyes still closed. I begin to perform the scythe dance, a complex combination of moves designed to keep a scythe-wielder’s skills at their best. I hear footsteps behind me but I do not pause, from the sound of them, I can tell it’s Fiona. She joins me in silence, her sword not making and sounds as it cuts through the air.

By the time we’re done, the food is ready, so we walk back into the temple in silence. Leo and Mike are still asleep, so we serve ourselves and I adjust the heat of the magical fire, making sure that it doesn’t cook the food any further, but just keeps it warm instead.