Everstone(old)

Chapter 2:The Teams

        Like usual, everything is dark. It doesn't matter anyway, because my eyes are covered by the same black blindfold I first wore six years ago. It doesn't bother me much anymore, unless I'm trying to be silent. But that's because I found out how to do a kind of echolocation with my voice. I talk, and I can tell where people are by how the sound waves come back. Also, sometimes I just sigh instead of talking. Right now is one of those times. A person is approaching. "Quit sighing all the time, will you? It won't help." They're annoyed. I can tell by the tone of their voice. "So sorry I can't see, Purple." Even though Purple is the name of the team, I refer to everyone as Purple, as if it's their name. "Shut up, kid." They're angry now. "I'm just defending my case, why is that bad?" They've raised their hand. Not good. "Well? Why should I shut up? What authority do you have over me, Purple?" Their hand comes down, fast. But not fast enough. I catch their wrist. "What's wrong? Afraid of being bested by a blindfolded youngster?" Their other hand tries to grab me as I talk, and I grab that wrist, too. "What's this? A girl who can't see caught your wrists as you tried to attack her? What a shame. Should I tell Head Purple? Or are you the Head Purple? You aren't, are you? There's no way the head of Purple is slow enough for me to catch them." I smirk as they try to kick me, and I block. It took a lot of practice, but my reaction time is finally quick enough.

...

       I lift myself up to a sitting position, and see a limp Everean being dragged to a nearby slab. Or should I say, cube? Now that I think about it, these are not really slabs. Maybe 'tis because 'tis made of a material similar to coal. Yes, that must be why I have confused slabs with these cubes. Anyway, back to the Everean. Although it is dark, I can see that her hair is a slightly pale purple. Her eyes are covered by her eyelids, but someone has just lifted up one lid, revealing eyes that are a saturated pink, both on the irises and 'whites' of her eye. Waiting until the others leave, I hop over. The arrow design on my arm flares up, telling me to leave her alone, but I ignore it. Her symbol is on her leg, partially resembling the roman numeral for two, but there is also another blue mark on her knuckles. I do not remember any other people with blue on both their hand and the area of their design that proves they are a member of the Blue Team, so perhaps she found Blue herself, and her hand drifted into the paint? I shake her awake, and I must have accidentally shown my obsidian teeth because she looks scared. "Pardon me, Everean. I was ensuring thy safety after being dragged around. Thou appear unnerved. Art thou alright?" She looks at me, confused. "What do you mean? I don't understand how you're saying things. Thy? Thou? What are you, anyway?" Suddenly I realize that this girl is a Newcomer. I change my wording slightly. "I meant to say that I was making sure you weren't badly hurt by the other members of the Blue Team. You looked a bit... nervous. Are you alright?" Her expression becomes calmer, and she goes to stand up. Suddenly, her right leg goes limp, and she falls. She rubs her symbol as she speaks. "Guess I can't stand. They must've hurt my leg." I watch her with curiosity, confused by how she can't see the connection between her symbol and the limpness of her leg. "Ma'am, that's not why you can't stand. You are being stopped by the symbol there, on your leg." I study her expression. "Are you sure? I don't see how. Also, my name is Promim." I seriously cannot understand Promim's lack of understanding with what I am saying. "No, you do not understand. I am not a Newcomer, I am part of the game." I pause for a moment, thinking. "What about your knuckles? Did they hurt when you went to stand up--ow, shoot, my arm." As I rub my humerus, Promim thinks. "Now that you mention it, yeah. It did hurt." I try not to smile, but fail. The fact that I was right made it hard to keep a serious expression. "See, this is proof that it is your symbol. The blue on your knuckles is the same colour as your symbol. It is meant to keep you from disobeying the Blue team. She eyes me warily. "Alright, then. Do you know how to stop it?"

...

        In retrospect, the glitch didn't turn out so bad. I got a bunch of cool abilities that I wouldn't have otherwise. What worries me is what it did to my older sister, but that isn't the point of this. The point is that I have to pretend I'm an NPC, or a villager programmed into the game. I hear footsteps, and my glitch tells me they belong to Lady Fortuna, named after the Roman goddess of luck. "Greetings, Lady Fortuna. What brings thee to this side of the House Green?" She looks startled at first, but quickly regains her composure. "Good day, Lady Neutralis. I came hither to share an important announcement. Thou art to travel the lands to recruit new Lords and Ladies." I smile at her. "Very well, when shall I start?" She hands me a map, and replies, "Right now. Is that alright?" I stand up. "Yes, 'tis. Well I should be going now. Farewell!" I then do a quick curtsy, and Lady Fortuna does one back. I then proceed out of the spherical room, and scowl at the realization that I will not be successful. But since I have already accepted the quest, I must go and at least try a miniscule amount.

...

        Sometimes, when I first wake up, I forget all that's happened over the past six years. It usually lasts about a minute or so. But then, it all floods back. Katy's face as she was dragged away by masked people in green, as I got bound up by members of the Pink team. Being put into initiation, where everyone except for one teenage boy and I got brainwashed as part of the "training." The afore mentioned boy was killed mercilessly, and I, in rage and grief, attempted to attack the leader of this whole team. Luckily, she figured I could make a pretty good offense-based follower, so she spared my life and put me back into initiation. It was almost as terrible as the first time, but it was still extremely scarring. However, for some reason it didn't work on me, again. I quickly realized that the other followers spoke differently than the people back home, on Earth. I knew I wouldn't be able to relearn English in the way that they spoke it, so I kept quiet. The leader simply assumed that I couldn't speak, because whenever she asked me to do something, I did it. Or made it seem like I was trying to, at least. She seemed content with that, so my façade was believed by all to be truth. "Hey, Tessa. Offense Lady. I got a mission for ya." The suddenness of the leader's words snapped me out of my flashbacks. I look up at her, putting ony poker face, as it was called back home. She hands me an old map, and explains, "Dere're several locations marked on here. At dese locations, dere're people who we wanna have on our side. Ya know what ta do, right, Offense Lady Tessa?" I nod, letting no emotion show through my figurative mask. "Good fer you. I expected nothin' less from ya after de 'ole 'initiation fiasco' and so fa' you've been livin' up t' it." I nod again, and she leaves. I stand up, walking out the door to the outside area, where we have a few kilometres in between us and Purple. I try to avoid that team, considering that they're our nemesis. I also avoid the Green team, since we're their nemesis. Even though I don't go around broadcasting to the world that I'm on the Pink team, I might as well be with how obviously pink my hair is. Yes, I have considered dyeing it a different colour, but they have no hair dye here in Everstone, the land of confusing politics, so I'm stuck with my long, pale, peachy-pink hair. Luckily, my eyes are grey, and not green, blue, or purple. Then, I would truly be a walking target.