Overworld: Ascention

Graduation Day

Life is different here than when the ancestors lived in the Overworld. People here are barely scraping by, and people say we have a bit of a "pest" problem. Usually I'm part of a hunting group that ventures down into the caves; but today is graduation day. Every year the new Hunters go through this process. Not everyone makes it in to the Hunters but I just know this is where I belong. I'm meant to be a hunter.
I suck in my already thin stomach as my adoptive mother pulls on the strings of my dress.
"Evelyn, not so tight!" I just barely manage to choke out before she pulls even tighter. "I need a little air at least so I can make my speech later."
She smirks "You have to look presentable before the Queen." She pulls again and I wince, "Now for your hair." She says proudly as she ties off the end of the dress. I stroll over to her "hair chair" as my 6 year-old sister calls it.
"Where is Paige?" I think aloud as I remember that I haven't seen her since this morning. Mother shrugs her shoulders and pulls out hair ties and pins from her bag on the desk. I hold my head straight and zone out as she pulls to and fro at my thick, tangly brown hair.
Suddenly Paige comes tearing around the corner but stops dead in her tracks when she sees me and looks at me with the grandest look of awe in her face, which brings a smile to my own.
"Wow!" She exclaims, "you look amazing, Valkerie! When I grow up I wanna be just like you!" Mother had just finished my hair so I stood up and ran to my sister and picked her up.
"Silly girl, you need to be yourself when I grow up. It's far prettier." I say before kissing her cheek. She smiles and hides her face on my shoulder. I turn to face our mother, who stands with her mouth gaping open admiring her handiwork. "We should go." I say and she nods, closing her mouth.
We exit the house and come down the intricately carved stairs, littered with carvings of kings and hunters on fields of battle from long ago. I hold the rail with one hand and bend slightly to hold my sister's tiny hand with my other hand. From around the corner comes Isaac Atwater. I've known he has a crush on me ever since we joined the Hunters at age 9.
"Valkerie McKinley, you look absolutely stunning today," he says bowing like a proper gentleman. I try to curtsy in return but I lose my footing and he notices and catches me before I fall. He says "you're not seriously wearing heels, are you?"
I feel my face flush as I release myself and step back. "Hey Isa, this is..." I start to say.
He cuts me off, "Evelyn White and Paige McKinley, very nice to meet you. I am Isaa..."
This time I cut him off, "Good, everyone knows each other. Now Isa, isn't there somewhere you have to be?"
He checks his watch, "Oh yeah! Thanks Val. Goodbye Mrs. White. Nice meeting you!" He shouts as he runs off.
"He's a nice boy." Mother says as we continue to the lift.
"Yeah, a nice boy with an awkward crush on me." I scoff as if it's a curse and mother rolls her eyes. "Oh come on, we're gonna be late."

Will Val make it into the Hunters? Who will she run into next? Find out next time.