Chapter 1 Beginnings
It was early in the morning, about 6 o'clock, to be exact. Not a completely unusual time for a student, but not entirely common either in this day and age. With no alarm or phone by my side, I had to rely heavily on my body clock to tell the time. We did have a clock hanging in the house, but it was just a wall clock. While there was room for doubt about the accuracy of one's own body clock, I was mostly right every day when I woke up.
Time for a new day, I thought to myself.
I got up from my bed and started to prepare for the day by making some food. Because of my grandfather's and my living and financial arrangements, we did not have much food. We only had eggs and bread for breakfast, and that was all that I needed to boost my energy up to last the day ahead of me.
"I see you're up on time, as usual, my little computer", Grandpa said, sitting in his chair and having a cup of coffee. He called me that since I liked to tinker with technological things, despite not having a computer or anything of the sort. Just parts around the house. When the computers at the school broke down and were thrown out, I tended to "borrow" them just to see what they looked like on the inside. I was mostly self-taught, but that went without saying. I didn't know if what I was doing to said parts was the correct thing or not.
"I'm going to head out a bit early today, Gramps. I want to make sure I remember the path so I don't get lost."
It was going to be my first day at the new school. You'd think that someone like me could never get into a school because of what little money we had, but since my Grandpa worked as a janitor, the school's employee system had it to where no matter what job you had, your relatives were able to join, mainly "if you can work here, then your relatives have as much potential as you" or something like that. Truthfully, I was still surprised he could obtain a job there in the first place!
"I'm heading out, Gramps," I shouted as I was leaving.
He nodded and told me to be careful on the way there. With high and giddy spirits rushing through me, I started my venture to a new start of school! A place where I dreamed of going because I heard that if you graduated there, you were basically set for life with opportunities in your dream field. I don't want to be a scientist or a teacher or anything like that. I just wanted to help people in my position and save people when they needed it the most. I didn't really want anything in return other than a smile and a thank you. That would've made my world brighten up tenfold. However, I was a little worried.
This school I was going to was famous for having students who were "users." Users were able to use a sort of unnatural power, something I hear wasn't too common in this world.
I wasn't nervous only because the school itself was prestigious; it was the fact that this world was full of dangerous things that harm mankind. We called these things "carnivores." They were violent and extremely dangerous beings with an intense need to kill and devour their prey. You could describe them as an almost torn-up, disfigured creature with no incentive of striking up a friendship when they were too busy hunting and killing you. For as long as I could remember, they've haunted my dreams because of how scary they were. I couldn't believe some people were brave enough to fight those things. If I ever ran into one of them, I just hoped I could run away fast enough.
I shook my head to throw away those thoughts; I needed to focus on getting to school without any difficulties. As I was sprinting through the forest, I heard a rustle up ahead. I slowed down to a stop and, as quietly as I could, tiptoed my way ahead almost towards the sound. I crouched down behind some bushes and peeked over them to see a severely injured man in a state of panic on the ground, holding a weapon of sorts aimed towards a small pack of carnivores. He looked like he knew he would die there but wanted to fight until the very last breath he had left.
"S-stay away from me!" he screamed out, waving his weapon at them.
The scene shocked me to my core. Never in my life had I encountered a carnivore in person, let alone a pack of them. All I could do was watch him stand his ground against those creatures. I knew I needed to do something, but I wasn't anyone special. I had no combat training or any type of user abilities; I was just a sitting duck at that point. The man swatted at one of the carnivores that got close to him, but it didn't do any sort of damage. The gesture seemed to aggravate it more than anything. One of them grabbed his only weapon and snapped it in two, leaving him now completely defenseless.
"Someone p-please help!"
The sound he made when he screamed those words echoed in my ears, making me shudder to the core. I wanted to look away and run, but how could I live with myself if I had done that? I would be a coward, someone lower than what I already was. The man, drowned in tears at this point, was still searching for that miracle we wanted and prayed so hard to come true, for someone to come and save him. Then, somehow, he laid his eyes on me.
"Please..." he whimpered out.
I could only mouth out the words, "I'm sorry," before the carnivores attacked him.
I turned around and put my hands over my mouth to block the sheer terror I wanted to scream out. I closed my eyes so hard it felt like I would never be able to open them again. Tears started to flow uncontrollably. Reality set in hard on me. It was kill or be killed. Weak people would either be devoured by carnivores or those around them trying to get to the top. The man's screams slowly came to a stop.
At this point, it felt like I had been there for hours when it had most likely been a minute. I wanted to go home and curl up in a ball and feel safe. I was not prepared for what the world had in store for me, but before I attempted to sneak away, I heard slamming sounds and some howls. I opened my eyes, slowly turned around, and saw a couple of people standing near a now defeated pack of carnivores.
"I think it's dead", one of them said while lightly kicking the body.
"Hey, we have a person over here... probably a common", another said while inspecting the body.
A common? I thought to myself. Did that mean someone with no powers? It didn't look like the man had any when he was trying to fend off the carnivores.
"Ugh, I hate doing early morning scouting. Why can't we just sleep in like any other student?" another one of them said, then sat down on a large rock.
There were two girls and three boys who looked like they were around my age, but how could people my age take down carnivores like they were nothing? I just assumed that they trained when they were young, and only when they got to adulthood would they actually fight these things, not as teenagers!
"Because we have to set a good example for the school, otherwise we would lose our round table status," another replied to the girl's question.
They were wearing some sort of uniform, one I had not seen before.
"If you two are done talking and wasting our time, it's time we report back to the headmaster," a different one said to the two.
"Knights, take note of what happened here and ensure that the headmaster is informed," said another, who, from the looks of it, was the leader of the group.
"Yes, Ace," they all said in unison.
As they were leaving, still crouched, I took a step back, and a small branch snapped underneath my foot.
"Who's there?" one of them shouted.
I didn't know if I should've gotten up from where I was and revealed myself. Could I have been accused of that man's death? I did just sit here and watch him die, but I couldn't do anything about it. I was in no way prepared or capable of fighting off one Carnivore, let alone a pack of them.
Maybe I could tell them what had happened, and they would understand. It was worth a shot. Perhaps telling them I couldn't use any abilities would help too, I thought to myself.
I slowly got up from my hiding place with my hands up. They all turned quickly to see me. Some of them jerked into a stance where they looked like they would fight at any given moment.
"Who are you?" one of them asked me.
Still scared due to the killing I saw, I stuttered out, "I'm Carnite. I l-live around here. I was just on my way to school w-when I heard a noise, and when I went to check what it was, I saw that man get attacked by the carnivores."
I was so nervous I was shaking all over.
"She doesn't appear to be lying, Ace", one of them said. Then, he came up to me and asked, "Did you see this man get killed?" I nodded. "Tch, figures, you must be another common then. A waste of my time. If you all were users, we wouldn't need to save your pathetic lives."
I didn't know what to say to a comment like that. How was I in the wrong for not being born with powers?
"Enough of that, Jax. We have better things to do than prosecuting a common." The male student who was basically insulting me turned around and walked away. "Our business here is done. Let us return to campus at once," the leader announced.
They all got themselves together and started walking away. Still baffled at what I had to experience, I just stood there watching them disappear into the distance. It also occurred to me that I didn't exactly know where the school was located. I just had a general idea, and while it would have been awkward to ask, it probably would've helped that I had at least tried in case they were so kind enough to tell me.
Well, I thought to myself, back to walking.
I started to head towards the direction the students had taken when I looked back at the man who was killed by the carnivores. I checked around for something appropriate to give to him, such as flowers or anything of the sort, but I couldn't find anything except for a dandelion which I placed on his chest.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do anything to help. I don't want something like this to happen in front of me ever again. I was just... so, so scared. My whole body froze, and I couldn't do anything about it. The pain of being weak is suffocating, almost making me want to pass out. I don't know if I will ever get to a point where I can assist anyone in danger, but I will do my best with what I have right now until I am ready. I don't like fighting, I really don't, but if that's the only way to save people, then I will make that exception. " I said my prayers of safe travels to wherever he might have gone. I wished they'd at least bury him. I feel bad that he's just out there like that.
I walked away with the events replaying in my mind as if to permanently remind me that this was what the world was like outside my home.
Chapter 1- End
Edited by: Katepopa
