The Seven Heroes of Erde

Ditto

Chapter One

Ditto

In the world of Erde, there existed seven types of people. Seven tribes of elementals: fire, air, water, ice, nature, earth, and mimicry. Each controlled its given element, save for mimicry. In the tribe of mimicry, the ability was, given, to mimic, or copy. However, it was an extremely rare gene to receive. Only one in ten thousand children nowadays are born with this gift, while the rest are left powerless, and without element.

Each tribe governed itself differently. For example, the ice tribe had a monarchy. The Water tribe was run by a king and his council, though every decision did end with the King's order. A very firm queen ruled the Fire tribe, but she defended and ran her kingdom well. The Air tribe was ruled by a near-dictator queen, who was liked by few. She was insane in the eyes of most, including more than half of the air tribe. But she was also powerful, so no one dared challenge her. The Nature tribe had a chief and council to govern them, much like the water tribe, only less strict and more free-flowing. A council of elders ruled the Earth tribe, usually brothers and sisters. The council that ruled the tribe was usually of the same family, and sometimes even the same generation. The mimicry tribe had no government and was more of an everyone-work-together-type society.

These tribes all lived on a shared supercontinent, called Erde. All except for one. In the Mimicry Tribe, mimicry was an extremely rare gene. It wasn't really a tribe of powers. Most of them were born powerless, normal. But a few were special. They were forced onto a continent of their own. It was puny more of an island, and the tribe was cramped. The mini-continent-island was two-thirds desert. The habitable part, however, was a lush tropical forest. The people made due, farming and using whatever they could, working together to survive amongst themselves.

Ditto Amicuper reviewed and thought about all of this as she trained, bow in hand. She knocked an arrow, aiming carefully. The wooden, stone-tipped arrow thudded against a wooden target. Ditto, twenty feet away, lowered her bow. She'd hit a bullseye, no surprise to anyone.

She sighed, wiping her forehead as she set her bow back on the rack.

She was part of the mimicry tribe, or what was left of it. She was a sixteen-year-old girl with dark black hair and a pale skin tone. Her two, bright green eyes were blazing, always full of energy. She wore a black, silver-lined blouse and long black leggings under her silver combat skirt. She wore black leather combat boots with a silver buckle, and to top it all off, she wore a silver circlet around her forehead. Her favorite colors were black and silver.

Ditto was special, and not in the 'Daddy loves his special girl' kind of way. No; Ditto was rare, for she had powers. She was one in a million, the only one on her island, the only one in a hundred years, who had these powers.

Ditto walked away from the training field, which was almost deserted save for a few boys trying to show off. Not Ditto. She had spent fourteen years of her life doing constant training, which had begun the moment she found out. To tell if a child had the magic in the mimicry tribe, there was a mystical test.

Everyone at the age of two would try the test. Six stones were presented to the child, each colored and symboled based on the element they represented. The stones were ancient; their history lost to time. The child would go up and touch each stone once, and this would activate their magic if they had any. They would then be brought three items: A torch, stone, and a seed. The child was to take the items to a river or freshwater source nearby and plant the seed. They were first to make the seed grow into a flower. Should they succeed, then they were to touch the torch and withstand the heat. Succeed in that, and they were to cast the stone into the water, and without touching it, make the water rise to catch the stone. Finally, they would freeze the body of water they'd rose to catch the stone.