chainless DISCONTINUED

1 - Prologue

Soft humming, the creak of an old rocking chair, and the frigid wind hitting the side of the cabin.

The humming lulls the young child in and out of sleep, the warmth of the adult's body he clings to releasing soft puffs of air, cold blue eyes staring intensely into the dying flames. The child is safe here, in and out of consciousness, with no shadows grabbing at his legs, no whispers of monsters in the deep dark. Peace. Comfort.

"One day, you will be bigger than me, stronger than millions of mountains, and hold the voice of the angel of authority. You will be what provides this warmth, one day, you will be better than I." If the child would have been coherent enough, he would have responded to the adult he clung to, "I can't." however, those two words never passed his lips, as he fell further into sleep, so deep into dreamland until he could no longer hear the soft hums of the adult, the creaking of the old rocking chair, or the harsh winter wind hitting the side of the cabin... nor the heartbeat of the owner.

He is startled out of unconsciousness when multiple growing boys jumped onto him, shouting out profanities and 'wake up!'. He struggled to push them off of him, the quiet boy, huffing as long bangs fell over his eyes.

"I'm up... I'm up..." He tilts his head back, looking to the window above his bed. It was early morning, the sun just barely tilting over the horizon of the mountain peak.

"Come on Ra, you are taking up too much time, we need to go out onto the pitch for warm-ups." The boy nods, rubbing his eyes once more before getting off of the cot and bending down to grab his shoes. He fastens them onto his feet, hearing the other children rush around in the room, getting ready for the rough and tiring day ahead of them.

He stands, shaking his hair out, then doing his best to flatten it down from the horrible bed head state that it was currently in. His tiny fingers run through his locks, releasing a small huff. He already wants to go back to sleep, back into the state that he was in. To that lucid dream. The lucid dream feels so familiar, but just out of reach for it to be a memory.

A whistle goes off, and suddenly he is outside, his memory foggy as to how he got out to the pitch, or when he did.

He feels disconnected for a couple of minutes, as he grasps hold of his grounds again. This happens every day... multiple times of the day. He doesn't know what causes it, or why it happens. It just- does. And, it sucks honestly.

"Ra! Move it!" He moves out of the way of a group of boys carrying a large log on their shoulders, the strength training for today was grueling, but at least it wasn't as bad as days prior when they had to swim in a rushing creek while carrying bags of stones upon their backs.

The boy looks around, seeing groups formed, five in each team, ten teams.

Oh, he was alone again.

What was he supposed to be doing then?

He kicks at a patch of upturned dirt, biting his lip then releasing it, remembering that he wasn't supposed to do that for some reason.

"What to do..." He surveys the pitch again, the wide-open field muddy and grim. Everyone was tired, he could see, but they pushed through so they would be allowed to have thirty minutes off for lunch. He hums softly, staring at the many faces, he barely recognized them at times. He couldn't remember names if they have ever told him theirs.

They knew his name, well, given name, Ra.

A group of children walked past him, having finished their task of carrying the log as a team already, the antlers of a deer catching his eye.

He glances down at his own hands, seeing the conflicting shades staring back at him. He remembers now, like every day, he is reminded why he is here. This wasn't just a regular institution, this was for hybrids. Like him.

The child who walked by him was a deer hybrid, small stubbed antlers, and a small doe tail on the back of them. He doesn't recall their name, but he supposes that they were nice.

Another child in that group was a boar hybrid, and then the one next to him was a bird hybrid, a swallow.

He could easily recognize the type of hybrids, and yet not their names.

His tail wraps around his midsection, the fluffy end splitting off white and black. His fingers mess with the fluff, running the soft pads of his fingers across the fur then down the tail, where it felt velvety.

He was able to recognize the other types of hybrids... But not himself.

The administration doesn't even know what he is, his characteristics at first made them believe that he was a sheep hybrid, until his tail grew into what it was like today, and his legs growing longer... Among other things.

But even so, in the paperwork, he was classified as a sheep hybrid, since they presumably found him at their doorstep as a three or four-year-old.

"Ra." He blinked, looking up to seeing one of the drill sergeants. "Are you done daydreaming now? Go and finish watering the plants." The back of his head is biffed harshly, sending him forward before he catches himself and regains balance.

"Yes sir..." He quietly replies. He looks around the field, searching for the big building of the greenhouse, spotting it after a minute search.

He makes his way over, passing by two different groups of child hybrids, who were too busy lifting up their log to notice him walk past.

He enters the greenhouse, seeing a few other children already working their way with the plants, some using magic, others not. He was one of the few who didn't know how to use magic in this world, and to be honest with himself, he enjoyed not having that pressure upon him.

Different colored eyes, the boy having what is called heterochromia, forest green, and ember red, looks for his spot, where he had unexpectedly gotten up from.

A girl hybrid, a frog, notices him searching for his place. The other children in the greenhouse were used to Ra getting up from his work and walking off, so it was no surprise to any of them when he did it again today. It was usually within the first hour, but today he lasted to the third hour.

She stands up from her stool, walking up to Ra and grabbing hold of his hand, her slimy and textured hand off-putting at first, but it wasn't uncomfortable enough to make him recoil.

"You are over here." She leads him over to his spot, where he was taking care of a wither rose. Ra is sat down on his stool, his feet dragging against the ground as he shifts on the seat to get comfortable.

"..Doing?" He mumbled, not understanding what he was supposed to do with this wither rose. He couldn't remember what his task was. The frog hybrid girl chirps before pointing to a notebook that was on display.

"Follow the instructions here, and make the petals into ingredients for the..." She points at the text displayed in the book, not saying what the ingredients were for. Ra tilts his head, peering at the notebook in front of him, eyes squinting as he reads along. In boldface letters, the title of the recipe haunted him. 'Withered Poison'.

He didn't know how to go from here, or if he actually should make such a thing. Ra glances at the girl, and nods, thinking to himself, 'I am an idiot.'.

The girl heads back over to her station with a smile, grabbing a bucket on the way.

Ra reads the instructions over again, his fingers drumming against his thigh as he tries to find where he had left off. Days like these, he didn't miss. He was always left in confusion and dazed. And looking back on how he was then, this was barely living. This was just surviving for him. He was walking on a tightrope with no end to it.