Chosen

by Shelby Hild

  “Have you seen dragons?” Iza interrupted. She looked up, her eyes wide with what appeared to Vivilyn to be a mixture of fear and excitement. “Are they really all black and gigantic?”

  “What?” All three of them asked simultaneously.

  “Is that part of this club?” Iza asked. “Will I get to meet a dragon?” Thunder roared above so loudly the building around them vibrated.

  “Not unless you know one that you’re gonna invite,” Ryso said, shaking his head. “No one has seen a dragon for generations, silly.”

  Lightning flashed in the window. “We should get going before it starts raining,” Vivilyn said, as Ryso set Iza on the ground. “I might finally have time to try my new paints out.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come to the watch party?” Maia asked, as she started taking the cooled muffins out of the tins.

  “Nah, Mama and Papa are very excited to watch the Choosing together as a family.”

  “It must be nice to have a landlord who gives your family a screen,” Ryso said with a sigh.

  “Apparently they had an extra one,” Vivilyn said with a shrug. She tried to wave Iza over to her side.

  “Goodness,” Maia said. “I can’t even imagine having enough money to purchase one of the new screens, much less having enough to give a spare one to a tenant family.”

  “It pays to rent from the same family for as long as we have,” Vivilyn said. “But we really should go now.” Vivilyn aimed the last sentence toward Iza.

  “What are you gonna paint?” Iza asked as she ran up and lifted her arms so Vivilyn would pick her back up.

  “Well, I could paint the sunrise,” she said and then pointed her thumb back at Ryso, “or I can paint him as a fish.” Iza giggled as she clung to Vivilyn. Vivilyn made her way with the child to the door.

  “See you tomorrow,” both Maia and Ryso called.

  Together, Vivilyn and Iza started making their way home.

  The wind began to pick up as thunder clapped in the sky.

  “What is that?” Iza asked as she leaned out of Vivilyn’s arms. When Vivilyn set the young girl on the ground, Iza ran forward. Lightning struck near the giant formation.

  “It’s the Energy Tower,” Vivilyn said as she approached the largest piece of quartz anyone Vivilyn knew had ever seen. It was attached to a dark substance that had been dug deeply into the ground. At the top of the tower, a metallic stick stood straight into the sky. “It’s where magicians and wizards used to store magical energy to power the city.”

  Iza stepped back until she stood next to Vivilyn again and reached up to hold Vivilyn’s hand.

  “They say Treelyn used to be full of many wondrous devices,” Vivilyn said as she knelt beside Iza. “Communications devices that could reach other kingdoms, identification collectors that sent our likenesses into a storage unit in Ettravil and could be sorted by the wave of a hand, lights inside all of the buildings, cooling and heating for keeping the buildings comfortable, and so much more were commonplace here. Once magic was gone though, our stored energy ran out. They took all the devices away.”

  “Why?” Iza asked.

  “Because it was a reminder of what is no more,” Vivilyn said. A single drop of rain landed above her left eye. “They couldn’t figure out how to move the tower. It held small remaining bits of Energy until my parents were born.”

  “What did it do?” Iza asked. Vivilyn shrugged and stood back up.

  “You’ll have to ask Papa,” Vivilyn said. Two more raindrops fell onto Vivilyn. “But we should get home before we get stuck in a downpour.”

  Vivilyn had asked Magnar what it did once when she was a little older than Iza was now.

  “It detected people, Lyn,” he’d told her. “Anyone with magic or even a remnant of it. Anytime someone with abilities approached it, the stone would glow brighter and reach out an arch of light to them. First it was used to help gather those to train them. Then after magic was banished, the people it detected would be taken to the Administrations Offices throughout the kingdom. Collected to be killed. They still gather those with gifts like yours, Lyn. That is why you must always be careful.”

  Vivilyn shivered at either the memory or the cold wind that pushed Iza into Vivilyn’s side.

  Lightning cracked through the clouds followed by thunder so loud Vivilyn felt it as well as heard it.

  “I wish I had seen all those things.” Iza kicked a pebble on the ground, but Vivilyn stepped on it before it bounced too far.

  “Be careful, Iza. See those wires there?” Vivilyn pointed to black cords that spread out from the base of the tower like roots spread from a tree. “We can’t risk messing those up before the Choosing or else no one in town will see a thing!”

  “I thought it didn’t have any more energy?” Iza asked, as she tried to look closer at the wires.

  “It doesn’t have magical energy anymore,” Vivilyn said. Gently, she tried to usher Iza away before the downpour began. “But that stick on the top of it and the ones on top of the Administrations Office, they collect the energy from storms like this somehow. The wires from this tower power up the screens all throughout town.”

  “How?” Iza reached down again, but Vivilyn lightly picked her up to keep walking. Vivilyn turned the girl in the direction of home before setting the child back down.

  “I’m not sure,” Vivilyn admitted. “Duncan’s been complaining all week how our screen isn’t getting enough power. He’s plugged all three wires in like we were supposed to. Perhaps we’ll have to follow the Trials by announcements like they did before Princess Elissa’s.”

  “If we still had magic, we could do something about it,” Iza grumbled. The thunder shook Vivilyn’s bones in sympathy to Iza’s complaint. But Vivilyn froze.

  “Don’t let anyone hear you wishing magic was back,” Vivilyn whispered just loud enough for Iza to hear. Iza stopped and turned around when she noticed Vivilyn paused. “That’s a dangerous thing to wish.”

  “I just meant it because they had so many cooler things.” Iza wrapped her arms around herself as a frigid breeze sliced through the air. Vivilyn moved back to her side and pulled the child into a tight hug before they moved on again.

  “You know, we’re lucky to be here,” Vivilyn said as they walked. “Treelyn is the most advanced town in the kingdom besides the capitol. All those of Rank have the newest technology around. Once it starts spreading, we get it first since we are so close to Ettravil. They are trying to replicate those cool things without magic. And they have been successful so far.” Vivilyn squeezed Iza’s hand. “I mean, we’ve got screens and Duncan said they might have a new way to use movement as a new type of energy.”

  “How?” Iza said, sliding her hand out of Vivilyn’s and pushing her now damp hair behind her ears. Vivilyn shrugged.

  “We’ll have to ask him when we get home.”

  Lightning flashed above them so brightly Vivilyn had to turn her head from the sky. It hit the metal stick on the top of the Energy Tower. For a few seconds time slowed down to Vivilyn as she saw the stone begin to glow. A small piece of light shot from the tower and it hit Vivilyn on the back of her head, giving her a small shock before the stone turned back to its normal dull, milky white. Iza appeared to still be distracted by the wires on the ground, but thankfully was no longer attempting to touch them.

  When Iza lifted her hand up to take Vivilyn’s hand again, a slight spark formed between the two, before fading away into nothing.

  “What was that?” Iza asked as she rubbed her hand.

  “I have no idea,” Vivilyn said.

  When they reached the shop, Duncan immediately tossed a fresh tomato to Vivilyn. The presence of a food Iza hadn’t tried before caused the child to forget all about the tower and the storm. Iza bit into the tomato like an apple and juice squirted all around her mouth.

  “I’m gonna take a shower and then I’ll be in my room,” Vivilyn said as Duncan shepherded the girl to a few other freshly picked fruits
and vegetables she may not have seen before. If Iza happened to recall any of her earlier questions, Duncan was a better choice for answering them. Vivilyn avoided learning about the new technologies, just in case she accidentally ran into something that detected her abilities.

  “Have fun,” Duncan said with a wave.

  “You too,” Vivilyn replied, as she sprinted up the stairs.

  Chapter 4

  “It’s time,” Iza said as she poked her head into Vivilyn’s room. Rain created a soothing pitter-patter on the roof while Vivilyn shifted her eyes between the sketch on the table beside her and the empty canvas in front of her. The sketch she’d drawn of the sunrise lightly moved from the breeze Iza created as she closed the door and ran back to the family room.

  Slowly, Vivilyn closed the jars of paint. Despite sitting in front of a blank canvas for over an hour, she hadn’t even dipped a brush in the paints. She didn’t want to mess up on the canvas; she couldn’t waste it. Even though her birthday had been the week prior, she’d yet to use any of the paints.

  “Vivilyn, come on,” Magnar yelled from the family room. “You don’t want to miss the Choosing!”

  “Yeah, what if you get chosen?” Duncan yelled right after. Vivilyn rolled her eyes as she stored her sketch in a drawer, then stood up.

  When she entered the family room, Magnar and Suzetta sat on one loveseat, Verno and Lolina sat on the other, and Eso and Iza lounged on the floor with a pillow set aside for Mo. That left the two cushioned chairs to Duncan and Vivilyn.

  On a table next to the wall, the landlord’s screen flickered on and off as Duncan pulled out some of the wires on the back, switching which slots they were in.

  “I told you that this wouldn’t work,” he said, as he tilted the screen forward, checking for any other places he might try plugging them. “There shouldn’t be so many places to plug these in. And they should be labeled or something. And the instructions said it had to charge for a few moments.”

  “How will you know if they are in the proper places?” Lolina asked. “I mean, if it has to charge?”

  “Allegedly the screen will start blinking,” Duncan stated as Mo tilted his head slightly towards the screen. It reminded Vivilyn of when she was trying to puzzle out exactly how to mix her different paints to create a specific color. Duncan continued, oblivious to Mo’s concentration, “The blinking is supposed to stay steady until the picture forms. And those pictures will last a few moments after it’s unplugged which is why it’s so important to unplug it when we aren’t using it. Can’t waste the energy, can we?”

  “Can I look?” Mo asked as he stood next to Duncan.

  “Be my guest. I can’t make heads or tails of it,” Duncan handed one of the three cords to the boy. “Don’t touch the part that goes in the screen. It hurts. Don’t ask how I know.”

  “How do you know?” Vivilyn asked as she made her way to the empty chairs. She wasn’t used to the obstacle course of children, but they remained still, sprawled on the ground.

  “I may have done it once,” Duncan said.

  Mo quietly asked Duncan to move the screen a bit so he could see around it. Then he plugged the wire in his hand into something in the back of the screen.

  “Once?” Vivilyn turned her shoulders so Duncan would clearly see her raised eyebrow.

  “Okay, twice,” he said. When Vivilyn didn’t alter her expression, he raised the hand he didn’t hold the wires in. “Fine, fine! Three times. I had to see if each of these things did the same thing.” Duncan handed another wire to Mo’s outstretched hand. “At this rate we won’t get to see the prince choose.”

  “I wanna choose!” Eso said, rolling directly into Vivilyn’s path. Vivilyn barely managed a last-second hop to avoid stepping on him.

  “You can’t, dear,” Lolina said, shaking her head with a small smile. “At least not like this. They are choosing the future spouse of the crown prince.”

  “Then I wanna be chosen!” Eso replied. He rolled back to his original spot.

  “The only ones here who could be chosen are Duncan and Vivilyn,” Verno said before he reached forward to pat his son’s head. “And since I’ve never even heard rumors of the prince nor Duncan being interested in men, I’m going to say only Vivilyn has a chance.”

  Verno winked at Duncan who just shrugged. After a moment, Mo gestured for Duncan to hand him the next wire. Once Mo held it, Duncan looked down at what the boy was doing.

  “I won’t get chosen,” Vivilyn said for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She sat down in one of the empty chairs. The moment she settled, Iza jumped off the ground and into her lap.

  “Why not?” Iza asked, as she nuzzled into Vivilyn’s side.

  “You are aware it’s a random drawing, right?” Duncan asked, lifting his head away from whatever Mo was doing at the screen to face everyone.

  “They probably select certain people out of it first,” Vivilyn said. She shifted Iza on her lap, “I mean, they can’t randomly select from all the eligible men and women in Ettilidus.”

  “Yeah!” Iza said. “Not from all of them.” Duncan rolled his eyes.

  “Was I the only one who paid attention last Trials?” Duncan shook his head while Vivilyn lowered her head slightly. They both knew she’d spent most of Princess Elissa’s Trials sketching. Duncan looked at Iza, her hands were lifted to her mouth as she realized Duncan was getting ready to teach her something. “They put all the names of Etilideans ages seventeen up to twenty-six into barrels. From those they draw 2000 names after spinning the barrels for four days and put those names in other barrels that spin for two more days. Tonight, they’re drawing the final 200 Choosings.” He looked up at Vivilyn and in an I-told-you-so voice said, “It is random.”

  Duncan handed Mo the last wire. As soon as Mo plugged it into the screen on the opposite side of the other wires, it started blinking. Everyone cheered.

  “Well, tip me over and steal my feathers,” Duncan said. “How did you do that?”

  With a confused look on his face, Mo responded, “Yuh’ve got no—” he stopped and swallowed visibly, “I mean, you don’t have a feather. But the screen is color-coded.” Vivilyn saw Magnar smile widely as Mo rephrased his sentence. Her father was amazed by how quickly the boy was learning things.

  “He’ll be reading full books in no time,” he’d told Vivilyn. “I’ve never met someone who absorbs as much information as quickly as that boy. It’s uncanny.”

  The screen slowly began to form a blurry, colored picture before it finally focused on the face of a middle-aged man talking. Sound started to come from the sides of the screen.

  “… us welcome the man of the hour, our crown prince and the man we will follow on this journey to true love for life and for country. Prince Aiden!”

  The screen shifted over to the nineteen-year-old prince. From the little Vivilyn remembered from Princess Elissa’s Trials, they shared the same copper hair, large owlish silver eyes, and slightly crooked smile that made it seem like they thought something was funny that no one else knew about.

  “Thank you, Adontus,” the prince said. “I have to admit, I can’t decide if I am more excited about this or nervous. I’ve never courted someone, much less many at once. It’s going to be a new experience. Especially since these will only be the second Trials shown directly to the people on screens instead of being sent out as newsletters to each town.” He looked forward, directly into the cameras. “I do have faith that everyone in this country will help me choose well. For this won’t just be finding a life-long partner for me, but a co-ruler, a queen, my equal in everything, to keep this country on the path of peace and strength we’ve been blessed with for so long.

  “My great-great-great-grandfather started the tradition of the Enchanted Trials in hopes to bring the entire kingdom together. For every royal born since then, everyone in Etilidus has come together to create a unified country. Each Enchanted Trials begins halfway between the nineteenth and twentieth years of a member of the
royal family and lasts until he or she turns twenty-two.

  “Since those times, we have grown together. Etilidus has become stronger than any other nation, with our wealth of resources and our pride in each other.

  “In fact, I am so proud of what this nation has to offer that my Enchanted Trials will differ slightly from the ones we have known in the past. If we are to Choose the right woman to stand next to me, she needs to know everything about this country. So once the number of women reaches 100, we will begin to travel around and visit different places important to this nation.” The crowd erupted into loud applause. Prince Aiden gestured for them to quiet down after a few moments.

  “I do apologize in advance,” he continued, “for we won’t have time to visit every single area, but my desire is that we will hit at least one per province. We will be accepting suggestions of where we will go through the Administrations Offices as soon as the Choosing has concluded.”

  At that point, he turned toward the barrel behind him and reached in.

  “Daisy Clove of Frinta.” He handed the slip of paper to Adontus standing beside him. Adontus handed the slip to someone out of view. “Serinta Alosa of Mantle. Darissa Elaine of Crysteal. Mayla Atu of Seabrill. Crynstolis Eleanor of Bristlevill.” And the names went on and on.

  “How many names has he called?” Vivilyn asked what felt like an eternity later. Iza kept nodding off but stubbornly refused to give in to sleep. Vivilyn was sure the child wouldn't be awake much longer.

  “He’s almost hit 140,” Mo said while he dramatically let his head fall against Lolina’s leg. It made sense to Vivilyn he was the only one of the three little ones still fully awake since he was the oldest.

  “There are only sixty more names,” Suzetta sighed. She sounded disappointed.

  “Brayleigh Dawn of Libros. Anetta Schill of Shreville. Vivilyn Minette of Treelyn. Reanna Mason of—" Vivilyn did not hear anything that followed. The entire room filled with loud shrieking. Suzetta began jumping up and down so excitedly while squeals escaped her mouth. Vivilyn was slightly concerned her mother would injure herself.