- Moon
Since I was 3 years old my earliest memory I have known something was horribly wrong with my world.
I remember the day my life changed forever.
In this world everyone is born in a "tribe" there are Nightwings, Rainwings, Skywings, Icewings, Sandwings, Seawings, and Mudwings.
I am a Nightwing. There is also a war. A war between the fire tribe, Skywings and the ice tribe, Icewings. Being a Nightwing I am born on a side.
Siding with the Icewings are the Nightwings, Sandwings, and some of the Rainwings. Siding with the Skywings are the Mudwings, Seawings, and the remaining Rainwings.
Everyone on the Icewings side is tested. When I turned 6 years old my parents fully explained my future.
At age 16 you are tested, watched, and judged. Icewing inspectors watch your every move. When you turn 18 everyone turning 18 that year is gathered together.
They tell us who can fight, who made the army, and who gets to live. The others are discarded. Every adult in this horrid world fights in the 1,000 year war.
My whole life I have been terrified. I want to live. Find love. Live my life to the fullest. But I might not.
And the worst part is today is my 16th birthday. I sighed as I looked in the mirror. I had my old rags on.
The Icewings force every 16, 17, 18 to wear certain clothes so all inspectors can identify any initiates.
Everyone 16 wears black. 17 wears red. And 18 wears blue.
I looked at my grey dress. Atleast I won't have to wear this ugly thing anymore. I have to attend a certain school for all 16 year olds.
This way they can watch us as much as possible. I won't even see my parents for the next 3 years. I sighed again and quickly tied my smooth black hair into a long braid.
I took my brush and brushed my bangs before leaving my room for the last time.
I went downstairs and was greeted by the smell of eggs.
I saw my mother standing in the kitchen cooking the eggs.
I looked over and saw father reading a letter. Father was one of the top generals in the Icewing army. Luckily any parents who have a child moving away for the next couple years get the day off.
He looked up and smiled ruefully at me. "Moon, come here." he said while holding out his arms.
I ran to him and hugged him. I started to cry a little bit. "Father, I don't want to leave you guys." I admitted.
He put his hand on my head. "I don't want you to either, but you have to. Moon you are strong. You can make it through testing and become a soldier." Morrowseer said.
I barely smiled. I looked up and saw that he had glossy eyes. He never cried. This was the most emotional I have ever seen him.
Then mother came over. "Oh, Moonbud. I will indeed miss you more than anything." She said.
I then hugged her. "But I know you can make it through. Plus, maybe when I see you again you might have found that special someone. I know you always wonder about them." mother said while wiggling her eyebrows.
I smiled. "Probably not." I said. Both my parents give me a skeptical look.
I smiled and walked to the kitchen. Apparently everyone has that "special someone" that they find. Most call them their soulmate.
Truthfully I always think about it. I just can't fathom that the universe chose someone that is perfect for me.
I took the stone pan off the fire and put the fried egg on my wooden plate.
I quickly ate it. I felt my father play with my hair as I ate. "What if I don't make it through?" I blurted.
I felt tears well in my eyes. "I-I don't want to die." I choked out. I felt father hug me. "I know you don't. Moon it's scary. Going through all of this at your age. The world is horrible but being afraid is what will get you through." father said.
"Fear can make a person cower away but for you it makes you go to it. Your afraid of not making it in right? So use that. Do whatever you can to not die. Before everything you do, think what is the best way of doing it?" he said.
I nodded. I then heard the loud bell ring. I felt fear surge through me. I looked up at my mother.
"Moon, it's time to go." she said. I gulped. We all left the house and headed to The Great Diamond. This is the only place in the whole tribe of Nightwings where we see people from other tribes.
When we finally arrived I was holding both my parents hands and shaking alot. We claimed our seats and we happened to be front row.
I looked up and my jaw dropped. The queen of Icewings was standing on the stage glaring at everyone.
Queen Snowfall. This woman is the one who makes thousands of people die because they weren't built for fighting.
She could end all of this in an instant but no. She needs to kill a quarter of our population. I sighed.
I was sweating and shaking. My father put his arm around me and held me close.
Then the queen stood up. "Hello, everyone. Today is a very important day for some. All 16 year olds please stand." Queen Snowfall said.
I slowly stood up. I looked around and saw atleast 100 people standing. "All standing, today is an important day for you all. I know it's painful to leave your parents but you must. I will give you 5 minutes to say goodbye." she said before waking away.
I turned to my parents. They both had tears streaming down their faces.
I hugged them. "I love you mother. I love you father." I said "We love you too Moonbud." mother says.
I just stood there crying. I felt my father's heat. I looked around and saw almost everyone hugging their parents.
"Moon." I heard my father say. I looked at him. " I wanted to give you this." he held out a beautiful necklace made of emerald and obsidian. It was in the shape of a crecent moon.
"Keep this. That way wherever you go and whatever happens you will always have a piece of us." father said.
He put it on me and I smiled. We were not a wealthy family so something like this was rare for me.
"Thank you." I said.
Then I saw Queen Snowfall walking towards us. "Morrowseer." she said. "Queen Snowfall." father greeted with a bow.
Me and mother bowed as well. "I didn't realize your daughter was moving today. What is your name?" she asked me.
"Moonwatcher" I replied. She looked me down. "Pretty." she comments. "Well I wish you the best of luck." she said before walking on stage again.
"Today initiates is one of the biggest days of your life. I need all 16 year olds to report to transportation area immediately." she said before exiting.
I turned to mh parents. "Goodbye." I said. "Goodbye Moonwatcher." they say before I turned around.
I sighed and began walking. Walking away from everything I know. Walking towards my greatest fears.
I walked to the Transportation area and the began dividing us into groups. I looked at the huge wagon that they were loading us onto.
There were wooden seats that looked very comfortable. I walked in a line and eventually reached the wagon.
A tall man who was clearly an Icewing stopped me. "Name?" he said. I straightened my posture. " Moonwatcher." I replied.
"Parents?" he said. "Morrowseer and Secretkeeper." I said. The man looked at me. "Your the daughter of Morrowseer?" he said.
I nodded. He looked at me one more time and then let me past. I got on the wagon and a woman grabbed my arm and lead me to my assigned seat.
"Anytime we travel you will sit on the wagon in this seat. Please notify someone if your seat partner doesn't appear." she said.
We got to my seat and she told me to sit. I did and she walked away.
I looked to my right and saw a boy. "Are you my seat partner?" I asked. "I believe so." he said.
I looked at him. He had tan skin and curly dirty blonde hair. He had brown eyes. He also had a small scar across his nose
He gave me a smile. "Hi, my name is Qibli, I'm a Sandwing obviously." he said. He smiled at me. I gave him a small smile.
"I'm Moonwatcher, Nightwing." I said quietly. He smiled.
I sighed. It took everything to not burst out crying. I looked to my left and saw a boy walking by me. He looked at me and winked.
I scoffed. I put my legs up and buried my head in them. "Are you ok?" I heard Qibli ask.
I sniffled. "I-I don't want to leave my parents." I blurted.
Why did I say that? I don't even know this boy.
He nodded. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave my sister. But we have to." he said. I looked up at him my eyes glossy.
His eyes were red from crying. "Wow, it will certainly take some adjusting." I say. He nodded. Then a tall man walked to us.
"Qibli, Moonwatcher, that is you correct?" the man said. I nodded and so did Qibli.
"There has been some adjustments so I hope you two can handle eachother because you two will be together alot for the next 3 years." the man said.
"Why are we in the same classes?" I asked. The man smiled and shakes his head. "No, roommates." he said.
My jaw dropped. "But we are- we can't be!" I exclaim. "Sorry but it's this or we kill you now." the man said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife.
I nodded. He looked at us and walked away. "Well this is great." I said sarcastically.
"I am going to not take offense to that." Qibli said. I smiled. "Can I trust you?" I asked. He seemed to know what I was asking.
"Oh! God yes! You will be fine I swear!" he said quickly. I nodded. Something about the way he said that let me know it was genuinely truthful.
After a long drive we finally arrived. They had us all walk into the main auditorium. Qibli and I decided to stick together.
They had us all sit on big wooden bleachers. Then a tall Icewing women appeared infront of us. "Greetings. For those who may not know, I am Princess Crystal, older sister of dearest Queen Snowfall." the lady said.
"I run this school so don't think of me as royalty, think of me as your principal." Crystal said. "So there have been so changes to the way we run things here." she starts.
"Instead of just taking notes on what you do for the next 3 years Queen Snowfall decided to change it up a little." she said.
"All of the worst people who have almost no chance of making it into the army, will be eliminated from this group. So you all have to start working hard if you want to stay alive." Crystal said.
I looked at Qibli with wide eyes. He gave me look saying something that I couldn't decipher.
"Also you all are going to be in groups of 4 or 3. All groups will have a Nightwing, Sandwing, and Icewing in it. Half of the groups will have a Rainwing in it."
"So everyone gather around the list right here and assemble into your groups." she said before walking away.
We all walked up to the schedule. My group had me, Qibli, an Icewing named Winter, and a Rainwing named Kinkajou. They called us the Jade Winglet.
"All Jade Winglet members come here now!" I heard a voice yell. I looked at Qibli. We walked to where we heard the voice.
I saw a tall boy with pale skin, light blue hair, piercing blue eyes, and a scowl on his face. That must be Winter.
Winter looked at me. He looked at Qibli and his eyes widened. "You have got to be kidding me. Qibli really of all people?" Winter said.
Qibli grinned. "The one and only." Qibli said. "Wait, you guys know eachother?" I asked. Both of them looked at me.
Wow, they are both really handsome.
I blushed and looked down.
Why are they looking at me like that?
"Unfortunately. I met him while I was traveling with my cousin Queen Snowfall to the Sandwing village." Winter said.
My eyes widened. "Your a prince?" I asked. "Yes." Winter said. "My cousin was doing buisness with Queen Thorn and I had to sit in the waiting room with the stupid Sandwing prince." Winter said with an eyeroll.
"But how did you meet Qibli?" I asked. "Heh, if we are being professional here it would be Prince Qibli." Qibli said sheepishly.
My jaw dropped. "You're a prince?" I asked. "How did you manage to not mention that?!" I asked.
He shrugged. "How in the world? I met 3 royals today?!" I said completely astonished.
"3?" Winter asked. " You, Qibli and Queen Snowfall approached my father, General Morrowseer. She talked to a little bit." I said.
"Wow, you practically royal too." Qibli said. I smiled.
I have never been called royal. Yes my father is an important general but we still are fairly poor. The only wealthy Nightwing was the queen.
Then a girl walked up to us. "Hello! My name is Kinkajou! I'm a Rainwing!" the girl said.
"Are you guys in the Jade Winglet too?!" Kinkajou asked. I nodded. Princess Crystal approached us.
"Your group is slightly different. You all will be watched very closely. Since this is our only all royal group you all have certain expectations you have to meet." she said.
"I'm not royal." I blurt. "Yes, Morrowseer's daughter. I heard you were quite an exceptional student back at your school. You should fit in just fine." she said before waking away.
I sighed. "So you're a princess?" I asked Kinkajou. "Yep! Princess Kinkajou, daughter of Queen Grandeur, total fierce face!" Kinkajou said happily.
"Wait, I thought the Rainwings only had one princess?" Winter asked. She frowned. "Yeah, my sister Glory. The queen doesn't approve of me much so I'm not very well known." she said quietly.
I should have guessed. Winter is wearing a suit and Kinkajou is wearing a short pink dress with a yellow crown. Only Qibli wore a simple light brown vest with a snady colored shirt and pants.
Kinkajou had short golden blonde hair with pinkish brown eyes, she had pink earrings and she smelled like flowers.
I smiled. "So which one of you is my roommate?" she asked. I looked at Qibli. Me and him pointed at Winter.
Winter's eyes widened. "What? I thought that Qibli was my roommate. Since we are both guys." Winter said.
"No, it's me and Qibli and you with Kinkajou." I said. "B-but I can't stay with ice face!" Kinkajou protested.
"Hey! You can't speak to royalty like that!" Winter said. "Oh, yes I can Igloo face! I am royalty too! The only difference is that I am in line to be queen." Kinkajou said with a smile.
"She has a point." I say. Qibli laughed. "Everyone please go to your dorms! Get good rest! Tomorrow is a big day!" Crystal said before walking away.
Me and Qibli walked to our dorms and when we arrived I was shocked. Our dorm was huge. Perks of being in the royal group I guess.
There are two beds and they are almost customized. Qibli's bed was huge and it had a sandy colored blanket with yellow pillows.
My bed was black and it was by the window. There was a telescope by the window and an astronomy book on the table beside my bed.
"This is amazing!" I breathe. "Yes it is." Qibli agreed. I jumped onto my bed and saw a letter. I picked it up and opened it.
Dear Moonwatcher,
For the next 3 years your life is going to change alot. You will have challenges, tests, and more.
Here at Jade Mountain Private School you need to be strong, brave, and smart. Only if you do those things shall you have a chance to pass this year.
Out of respect considering your roommate situation I am going to give you some information about him.
Prince Qibli of the Sandwings is 16 years old and lives with his mother Queen Thorn and his sister Princess Sunny.
However he is an adopted prince. His original famil-
I closed the letter. I didn't want to dig into Qibli's personal life. If he wanted to tell me then thats fine but I'm not going to force it.
I looked at Qibli who was reading a letter as well. My heart dropped. Does his letter tell him about me? I started to feel nervous.
What if it does? How much do they know about me? What if they tell him about my fears? Ofr some really embarrassing thing!
He put the letter down and looked at me. I turned away and went to look at the telescope. "Does your letter have stuff about me too?" he asked.
Oh crap.
"Yes." I said but not looking at him. There was an awkward silence. He thinks I know everything about him.
"I didn't finish it. I stopped when it told me you were adopted. I didn't want to dig into your personal life." I admitted.
He sighed. "Thank you." he said. There was another awkward silence.
He feels guilty because he read mine. I don't really have anything to hide. But there are still things I wouldn't tell him.
"I'm sorry." He said. "It's ok. I didn't really have much to hide. Plus now you just know how boring I am." I said while turning around.
He was looking at me with a guilty expression. Out of the corner of my eye I saw an Icewing man watching us from a perch outside my window.
I then saw a small contraption under a desk. I went to inspect it. It had a small light on it. I walked back to the window and watched the man on the perch out of the corner of my eye.
"Are you scared?" I asked Qibli. I saw the man perk up. He was too far away to hear anything. That contraption must be some kind of way for them to listen to us.
Qibli gave me a weird look. I pointed to the contraption and then back at the man. Qibli looked at it and said, "I'm not sure. There are scary things but life is scary."
He was watching the man too. The man moved again as if he was indeed listening. Qibli looked at me and nodded.
Wow, I can't believe he figured that out from my clues. At least he know to be careful what he says when he is in this room.
I sat on my bed. "For the record you aren't boring. I actually found you much more interesting than most of the Sandwing ladies back home." Qibli said.
I smiled. "Thanks. You are pretty interesting too. Most of the Nightwing guys back home are weird and grose." I said with a shrug.
Qibli gave me a weird look. "Like what?" he asked. "Well until you turn 16 some of us attend highschool. I went to highschool and almost all of them would wink at me whenever they saw me." I say with a shiver.
"Me and my friend Fatespeaker used to go back to my house and talk about theories about why they do that." I said.
I felt a pinch of pain in my heart when saying that name. She was older than me by a year. She wasn't meant to fight so they killed her off a year ago.
Qibli laughed. "That is weird." he said. I smiled.
I am actually quite glad that Qibli is my roommate. Yes, it will be awkward for a while but he seems really nice.
There was a knock on our door. Qibli got up and answered it. The man who was watching us was standing at our door.
"Greetings. You two need to change into these clothes." he said. He handed me a pair of black leggings and black tanktop and a black leather jacket.
"Since you are apart of the royal group all inspectors need to locate your group specifically. So you must both wear these at all times." he said while handing us a bracelet.
It was black but had a jade stone in the middle. "Thanks to a friend of ours we are able to track you at every moment while wearing this. If you are caught not wearing outside of the dorm you will be charged with a felony and the Queen will decide your fate." the man said.
He then walked away. I looked at Qibli. He was frowning. "What?" I asked. " This bracelet clashes horribly with my looks." he said.
I laughed. "Seriously? That's what you care about?" I asked through laughs. "Your not one to talk. That bracelet practically matches you entirely. The Jade stone is the exact same color as your eyes!" he said.
"Fair enough." I said. It was night time so I went changed into a black silky shirt and a long black pants to wear to bed.
I layed down on the bed and looked at the roof.
Today was horrifying. Tomorrow I might even die. No, I can't die tomorrow. I won't. I will be smart, strong, and stay alive.
I just have to make it through these 3 years. I just have to face my worst fears and follow Father's legacy.
No pressure.
This is easily the longest chapter I have written. How are you all liking it so far? I hope everyone enjoys their day.
3719 words!!!