Unblooded

Chapter 5

"I'm a what?" I asked.

"A hybrid, little one. Because you are so young, when you received Gwan-thwei's blood something happened. You changed physically and genetically. It explains why you can breathe so easily in our atmosphere with no ill effects," Azhla-dki explained, "You are the youngest human to receive Yaujta blood. The older ones changed to a mild degree. Skin color shift, breathing of our atmosphere, sometimes enhanced strength and or endurance. You, on the other hand, well....." She looked at me warily and gestured for me to follow her.

We walked out of the room with Gwan-thwei and Tsrasuna following closely. Azhla-dki led me out of the building which looked as though it was pulled partially out of the ground. The sloping metal walls were covered in moss and thick green vines. It had markings all over it that I guessed was their form of the alphabet. We were surrounded by tall massive trees that were taller and healthier than any on Earth. The lowest branches were five to six feet from the ground and the thinnest branch was as thick as my thigh. The ground was covered in moss and thick foliage. Some of the plants were those found on Earth but others were completely unknown.

Azhla-dki grabbed my hand to prevent me from growing more distracted. She led me to a crystal pool that bubbled at the center. "The pool is fed by an underground spring that originates from a nearby mountain. The water is cold," Tsrasuna explained happily. We walked to the water's edge and Azhla-dki gestured to the water, "Look at your reflection, little one." I followed her instructions and knelt by the water, even the air around it was cool. I looked into the water and found something weird looking back at me. It took me a second to realize that it was my reflection. My face was a pale green and my eyes, which used to be pale blue, now had flecks of amber. Along my collar bone was hardened almost scale like growths that you could tell were there unless you felt them.

I gasped and continued to stare at my reflection. I saw Gwan-thwei kneel beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Come. You rest. While you were dhi'ki-de, I built you home tree," he said leading me away from the water. Tsrasuna bounded up beside us as he led me to the base of a tree. It's trunk was easily over twenty feet in diameter and covered in thick vines that climbed upward into the dense leaves. Gwan-thwei began scaling up the trunk using the vines as foot and hand holds. Tsrasuna followed him but paused for a moment and looked down at me. "Come on," she said cheerfully, "You will love it. I'll help you up." I pulled myself up and began climbing. Tsrasuna helped me to find hand holds along the way and soon came upon a platform. Tsrasuna easily pulled herself up and onto the platform but Gwan-thwei grabbed me by the tank top and picked me up like a wolf would do to a pup. He placed me gently on my feet.

The platform was nestled in the center of where the tree's trunk split into three massive branches. There was a small rail that went around the giant ellipse shaped platform to help prevent anyone from falling over forty feet to the forest floor. In the center was a raised fire pit encircled by a metal table with intricately carved benches formed from the same material. The roof was made from preexisting branches that continued to grow from the tree and they were tightly woven together. Six pathways lead from the ellipse, each was made from strong but thin vines woven into bridges.

Tsrasuna grabbed my hand and dragged me along one of the bridges. It led to a small platform with walls but had a few sections missing. When I walked inside, I found that long bits of cloth were rolled up and placed above each opening to be used as a sort of curtain. The roof was made the same way as the main platform's but glass orbs hung down. Each orb was filled with translucent stones that were jagged and roughly cut. A hammock hung in one area and there were two tall shelves built. One was completely empty but the other held the spear weapon Gwan-thwei had given me along with the bladed disc and knife from the badblood. I ran over and picked up the spear, the teeth were still tied to it. "That weapon belongs to Elder Gwan-thwei. Why do you have it?" Tsrasuna asked walking up beside me.

"He gave it to me after I used it to kill something called a badblood. It was going to kill him. Gwan-Thwei was on the ground bleeding out and almost unconscious," I said and gestured to the teeth, "These were it's teeth." Tsrasuna gasped, I turned and found her staring at me in awe. "You killed a badblood? And saved Elder Gwan-thwei?" she asked me. I opened my mouth to answer but was cutoff. "Elise, Tsrasuna, come. Gwan-thwei wishes to speak to the both of you," Azhla-dki shouted from the main platform. I placed my weapon back on the shelf and then we made our way back to the ellipse.

Gwan-thwei stood beside the fire pit, blue and orange flames glowing brightly at its center. He held his helmet at his side, looking into the flames. Azhla-dki tapped him on the shoulder when we approached. He continued to stare at the fire for awhile before looking between Tsrasuna and I. "Elise you live here. Tsrasuna live with you," he looked to Tsrasuna, "You teach Elise Honor Codes and language." He abruptly turned and left, leaping off of the platform. I ran over to the edge and looked down. There was no sign of him. "The two of you will be fitted for armor tomorrow. You begin training in three days," Azhla-dki said looking defeated. She walked to the platform's edge and also jumped.

"Is it normal for them to do that?" I asked turning to look at Tsrasuna. She looked at me in shock.

"They made us hunting companions. That doesn't happen until after they separate the genders. We don't normally get armor until after we complete our first hunt."

"Well this isn't a normal situation. Lets just get settled in for the night."

Tsrasuna showed me the rest of the structures. Three of the pathways led to separate living quarters. She explained that each hunting group consists of three hunters, we currently only have two and one more will probably join later on. The other three led to a training area, storage, and an area dedicated for cleaning trophies taken from kills. "How long was I unconscious?" I asked her while we were walking to the main platform. Tsrasuna paused, "I think Azhla-so I told Gwan-thwei that you had been asleep for two and a half earth weeks. I am not sure how long that is for you but for me it was a really long time." She bounded off and left me there confused. 'Two and a half weeks?,' I thought. I looked around me, 'how was he able to build this so fast?'. I shook of the disbelief and ran after Tsrasuna. She cooked us some food and she gave me a drink that was kind of spicy then we cleaned the platform and went our separate ways. When I got to my quarters, I gasped. The stones held within the orbs glowed with a pale white light that illuminated the room as the sun went down. I put the cloths over the open wall sections before climbing into the hammock. I stared at the orbs and their ethereal glow until I fell into a dreamless sleep.