First Strikes Disaster

by Tatiyana Perkins

  The ground began to shake and many grew scared. With the wave of Sahara's arms, the ground cracked and gave way to the biggest sinkhole Rose had ever seen in her life. Tyrants fell in crazy numbers, trying to scurry back up faster than lightning, but they couldn't keep a grip. Fifty. A hundred. Rose felt somewhat bad. The fall must have been at least one hundred feet deep, and they'd crash to the bottom after dying on impact. She'd tried to save some if seconds earlier they hadn't been trying to eat them.

  When the tyrant show was done, Sahara began to close up the ground, which was the most magnificent thing ever seen. Around her the earth began to fill in, for it was being recreated right before their eyes. At the end she paused to let the cat up. As soon as it was back over ground she began again. From the speaker in the school a voice was saying, “No, stop, leave that hole open." She stopped. A man ran out to her and they talked. For some strange reason they wanted that ditch, or at least the top part, empty. Rose turned to ask why, but the majority of the students had run as soon as they were saved. Evan, Kris and Kana made their way over, and she knew it was time for them to leave too. They all ran outside.

  “Rose,” Ana said when she saw them and hugged her. Vister watched from the sidelines like a reserved bodyguard.

  “I'm okay, ” Rose said back. “They came for us in broad daylight."

  “We know."

  Elesto and Naclipse walked up from behind, joined by Sahara. Rose blinked hard, and she heard many gasps from the school, for it had happened, the five counselors had joined back again. Seeing them all made Rose feel small and weak. It was as if they just radiated power and truth and wisdom, especially Naclipse. A small crowd of admirers formed from the edge of the forest that they ignored.

  She was the “hero of the day,” so they pulled her inside, and Ana bid her tell her account of what happened.

  “They were only tyrants, are you sure about that?” Naclipse asked seriously after she was done.

  “Yes. What else could they have been?”

  He cracked his knuckles. “It's been rumored that Maxilennium had a “secret weapon” Until we find out what it is, we have to ask around."

  When the talk was done, Rose made the trip back up stairs, ready to sleep. But the night wasn't over for, in her room, was Lena's mother crying on her bed.

  "What happened?" she asked and wondered if her friend was okay. Those were heavy sobs. Grief tears.

  "I swear I didn't know. He made it seem as if he was winning and told me that everyone was joining his side. I was so scared." Rose stared, perplexed.​Who is he? What on earth is she talking about?

  "I'm sorry, but what?"

  "I gave him the idea to put poison in the water. It was me. I'm the reason that day exists.”

  Rose opened her mouth to ask a question but then stopped as she remembered that, before Maxilennium's reign was over, there were three days everyone talked of. The day the wind died, the day the water turned, and the day of the lost. One seemed to match her words perfectly, and it scared her. Ana's soldiers stopped by the river for a drink, and when they did, they died. Two thousand, two hundred and forty seven of them died horrible deaths, screaming in agony, nearly clawing their eyes out.

  "What? Why are you telling me this?"

  "They'll find out, they all will, but you'll make sure it's at the right time." Madelyn looked up, so hopeful. If Rose didn't vouch for them, Lena would probably get arrested and her mother would die. What choice did she have?

  "I will," she said.

  The mother kept crying, but Rose could barely find it in herself to console her. Daniel always told her everything. Why couldn't other parents do the same? What good would this do, to keep this secret from her child? If anything, Lena could probably make everything right. Finally, she made her way up and left.

  After Rose fell asleep that night, she heard movement. She jumped up, her first thought being regret that she had been so unkind earlier. If it was Lena's mother, she would apologize. She looked to see who it was and happiness overcame her. It wasn't Lena's mother. "Lena," she yelled.

  "I'm back.”

  Rose hugged her - maybe a bit too much - she literally jumped as if she had no good sense. It was her way of showing that nothing had changed. Although it had. Lena now had a bigger, longer gash on her cheek, and the hug proved she had grown five times stronger.

  "We need to talk.”

  "I know," Rose breathed as she let go.

  Chapter 16☆

  "No, we really need to talk. I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but the reason why they made another holiday, and why school is cancelled all next week, is because a group of people sent a note saying that they've been taking the best fighters one by one: and on Monday they'll try to kill and seize all of us."

  Rose walked past her and closed the door, shaking. She couldn't help but see that it made sense, since as it was clearly the reason why they had double the staff, extra training, and new guards. There was not much she could do with this news now, and she wondered why Ana hadn't ​told her.​Would she make the announcement tomorrow? Saturday? Sunday?​And did she even know who was doing this to stop it?

  "You can't tell anyone," Lena reminded.

  "I know." Rose lingered over the words. Would Aylea and Noah and the maskers be alright? They were not normal citizens in the sense where people felt a need to protect them. It was indeed Maxilennium all over again, where people were left to fend for themselves; Rose could not find it in her to blame the places that broke away.

  "How did you find this out?" she asked.

  "Naclipse. That's also another thing. They swear he's not a part of it, but already he's told us so much he knows. He saw the people who had them all captured, and he knows everything about how to fight them, but somehow only he got away. All of our family and friends are alive, Rose. On Monday they might get used as bargaining chips, however, to do a government takeover.”

  That was nothing new for in Trearce, everyone threatened each other. People were stolen and returned only to be stolen again. It was normal when so many people had power. The only thing not normal, was that the throne took it seriously this time. They told no one, prepared in secret, therefore Monday, for Trearce, might mean war. Rose crossed the room. “I have to talk to Sakara again so I can ask him what he knows.”

  “Of course, I was already planning it. That was the first thing I thought of.”

  “And we have to see what they've told the people.”

  “I heard they're having a meeting first thing tomorrow. If we wake up early, we can go.”

  “I have to see what the teachers will say?"

  “You can if you- wait, you're going to school tomorrow?”

  “Of course I am.”

  Lena examined her. “Are you sure about that? Something could happen.”

  “Like what?”

  “Naclipse said they're most likely to go for kids first, so anytime between now and next week isn't safe.”

  “I have to go, though. I have a question for Mr Clark about something he told me.”

  “Then I'll go too.”

  Rose gazed at her friend and hoped Lena could not read minds. She knew she probably couldn't withhold herself from telling everyone if she went tomorrow and that's why it was so important.

  “You can't leave tonight.” Lena grabbed her hands. "I know you probably have plans of sneaking away, but Ana doubled the staff and all around there's- ”

  “I'm not going anywhere.”

  Lena appeared doubtful, so Rose said, “I promise.”

  “Good.” She looked up, hopeful. “Did my mom say anything to you?”

  “Just that she loves you, she also hoped you'd understand.”

  “I don't understand, I don't think I ever will, but it's okay."

  After that they both laid down. Neither girl was sleepy, but neither made a move to talk to the other. Rose was thinking about how life would have been, if Ana had not won the war. Lena was thinking about her father. At some point Le
na drifted off to sleep, and Rose drifted off to deep inside her thoughts, which was the most she could get to sleep.

  The next day in school, she tricked Lena into staying at the table during breakfast, and tried to find everyone before class started, but no one seemed to be around. When the bell rang, she walked defeated. All her friends were there in Mr. Clark's class, but he had set plans that left little room to talk. As soon as they all walked in, he said, "Today we'll be playing one of my favorite games."

  He went to the board and wrote​Dungeon,​then he looked to them and asked, “anyone know what this is?”

  No one raised their hands.

  "Okay. I will explain. The rules to Dungeon are simple. There are two groups that each receive different territories. Both groups get a symbol, and it is their job to find a hiding place for it. When I blow my whistle, both teams have to find a way to get to their other team's side, steal their symbol, and bring it back to me."

  Noah laughed and said, "It sounds easy."

  Mr. Clark shook his head. "That's not all of it. Over the years of playing Dungeon, we realized that it gets too competitive. When we first adopted the game it seemed quite harmless - you might get a nosebleed or a black eye - we quickly discovered that you guys are capable of much more than that. That's why we made this."

  He went to his desk and took the cover off an object, which was a big sparkling golden globe. "We decided that we needed a way for you to be able to get help if the game becomes too violent. This globe is connected to all the stars in the sky, and in this game, you can call Dungeon.”

  “What does the globe do?"

  "It traps the player inside of it like a dungeon, and only lets them out when the game is finished. The fact that it's connected to all the stars lets it see what's going on."

  Hazard, who had lately been failing at blending in, asked, "How could anything be connected to all the stars in the sky?”

  “We have the man of light to thank for that. Being able to see everything is a level of light magic few accomplish.”

  “Can I accomplish it?”

  He nodded. “I guess if you try.”

  “Who's on what team?" asked Bash impatiently.

  "The way I always do it is girls on red team and boys on blue team. Are you guys okay with that?"

  The class glanced around. Rosalie spotted Noah, and he gave her a playful smile. Kris caught her eye and winked.

  Mr. Clark beamed at them all and yelled, "Okay, come on, we have to go get ready.” He lead them all down into the gym to change into their outfits - black shorts and a t-shirt that was the color for their team. Once everyone was ready, they were allowed to leave. When they made it outside, Rose noticed it wasn't the usual part of the forest connected to the school. It made her, and a few others, deeply confused. They were in an area of the forest that none of them had ever seen before. Quickly, while no one was watching, she stepped up to her teacher and asked, "How?".

  "Light magic," Mr. Clark explained, not even bothering to ask what she was talking about.

  "Really?"

  "Yes, the gym is controlled by light magic, we can take it anywhere we want it to go, but don't tell anyone." He bent down to her ear and whispered, "It's kind of just a huge teleporter."

  Rosalie smiled, and he winked then yelled, "Okay class, I have to show you your two different sides of the forest."

  As if on cue, a golden line appeared on the ground, evenly splitting both sides. Both teams began asking which side they were on, but Mr. Clark shushed them.

  “Girls, your symbol is the giant peridot. Guys, your symbol is the big ruby. I'll give each team a minute to collect themselves after I blow my whistle. The rules to this are easy. No attacking before the minute is up. No helping the other team. No shots that seriously injure a member on the other team. No hitting someone while they're down. And no more than two people to fight a person, the globe will decide if the person is strong enough to handle more, but usually it doesn't. Do you guys understand?"

  “Yes, Mr. Clark,” they said in unison.

  “To make things easier, I'm picking team leaders. Lena for girls, Bash for boys, any complaints?”

  Everyone seemed happy at the prospect, but Rose wasn't. She felt that Kris should be lead.

  Mr. Clark blew his whistle so abruptly that it took them a few seconds to gather themselves, and then they all ran. “Rose, Hazard, I want you to hide the symbol over there at the top of that high hill,” Lena called out. “Maria, Thea, and Scar, we'll handle the area in front of where they hide it. Lauren, Morgan, and Chase, you have border patrol. The rest spread out.”

  The second the minute was up, a blast knocked Rosalie down even though she wasn’t even over the border yet. How could that have possibly happened? Quickly she recognized the loophole. You had to wait till the minute was up to attack but not to switch sides. How many boys were already over here? Evan ran to her, and he lifted up his hand, ready to strike again, when someone hit him from behind. Rosalie looked up and saw Kristofer. For a second she reached out to him, but then Hazard called out "Dungeon," and Kristofer disappeared.

  "Why would you do that?" She argued.

  "Sorry, he was playing on the other team, it's still a game."

  Hazard grabbed Rosalie's hand and pulled her up.

  "Come on. Plans changed and Lena has the symbol. I'm assuming it's me, you, and Thea after their ruby, isn't it? We're the fastest."

  She shrugged, and Hazard called Thea over.

  They made a plan - Rose would get close and they'd break away and cover her so she could get it. They ran back out into battle completely ready. Someone hit Rose on her left, she threw the hit right back. Another two hit her on her left and she dodged it while she ran as fast as lightning. This time a really powerful guy tried to strike on her right. She put a thick ice ball around herself and the other two girls. Someone shattered hers and she was stabbed, but it didn't matter. They started getting closer and closer to capturing the other team's symbol. Another boy jumped in Rosalie's way, but she pushed him and ran farther. She grew closer and closer. Nothing could stop her. Almost there. In the back of her mind she waited for more attacks but, for some strange reason, she noticed that everyone, except her, had stopped fighting. Instead they all started up at the sky, scared, so she slowed down. A hideous thunder roar sounded. Rosalie looked up at the clouds, completely still. The sky appeared as if something huge cast a shadow, like a mountain. Then, everything went dark. Many people screamed, so when Mr. Clark called out something, nobody heard.

  Then they heard his voice again like they had never heard it before. “EVERYONE STAY QUIET. DON'T MOVE. DON'T SPEAK TO ANYONE. CONTROL YOUR BREATH. I'M GOING TO FIND YOU.”

  Close to her, a girl called out, "Hello is anyone there? I'm scared."

  "I'm here," Rose said, forgetting the instruction and then quickly putting her hand over her own mouth. Whatever the thing was, monster or girl, it walked closer and said, “Hello, say something again. I'm trying to find you and I'm really scared.” Rose held her breath, knowing her life depended on it. The thing was so near her that she saw no way to get out of this without a fight.

  A light appeared ahead of her, small at first, then it grew bigger. The “girl” hissed and ran, and Rose released her breath, then focused her eyes. The light seemed to be a huge train that stopped to pick people up. She could hear kids yelling for it to pick them up and let them on. When it finally came in her direction, she squinted her eyes to see that it was really Ms. Cassandra, with a huge light riding on an enormous boar. She could hear her insisting to a student that she get on, but the student just kept crying, so she grabbed her and kept going till she had almost everyone.

  Rose didn't bother calling to her because, already, everything was starting to clear up. It started with the huge shadow in the sky disappearing, and then she could see everything again. Something tapped her on her shoulder, and she turned to see Mr. Clark on a giant elephant. He pulled her on. All around there were other ani
mals, scaring monsters and helping students out.

  When they made it back to where they started, he said, “Kids, you know what to say.”

  The whole class rung out, "Thank you Ms. Cassandra."

  She smiled down at all of them.

  Now it was time to hear Mr. Clark's booming voice again as he said, "That was the earth equivalent of what the sea would call a trench monster. Many don't believe they exist, but they are very real. They tend to cover huge areas, and monsters use it as a time to lure as many people as possible. Exactly what happened is still unknown, so for now we're going back to school. I'm going to get the students from the dungeon.”

  As he went, it remained quiet. Nobody wanted to talk about it, and some still had large tears. The ice broke when Ms. Cassandra told everyone it was a good game, but Rose was scarcely up for pretending she believed what her teachers said. "We need to talk," rang in her head. She was the first to head back to the gym.

  "Stop," said a guard at the door. Rose didn't hear him, so she kept walking, and he yelled, “I SAID STOP." Rose ceased to move. “State your name."

  Where did he come from? Did Ana send him?​He had on black pants and a pretty gold and black coat.​They upgraded the uniform?

  “My name is Rosalie."

  “Are you documented with a special power?"

  She shook her head. "Not yet."

  "What are your best skills?"

  "What?"