The Estate Of No Man's Land

Chapter 3: A Photo Worth A Thousand Words

-Flash Back to Eris, Age 16-

Eris grunted as he dug his blade into the side of a shadow vulture's skull. His team had been in this cornfield all night killing one vulture after another. By this time Eris was the only one still able to move his arms and fight off the ugly creatures. In primary school the children of the order learned that shadow vultures feed off of other people's shadows. Not the scary, lurking in the dark type shadow, and not the physical shadows you see everywhere. These shadows, known by the children of the order, are what they referred to as mind protectors. The things that can make someone feel safe, and secure. Those tiny little thoughts that creep into your head and tell you that everything is going to be ok, that you are going to make it through whatever is hurting you. The shadow vultures prey upon those thoughts until people are left hopeless and miserable.

Eris slashed through five more vultures before he collapsed on the ground. He had never seen so many of them in one place. He looked around sensing that there was still one left. He could hear its awkward little heart beating, its crookedly taloned feet unlatching from the mud, its horrible clicking of its rotting beak. Suddenly a high screech filled the air as the horrendous creature came running towards him. He waited as it got closer and closer, knowing that he didn't have much energy left in him. Once the vulture was hovering its beak over his head, its sharp talloned foot digging into his knee, he grabbed his dagger and quickly shot his arm up with an impressive force. The bird let out loud shrill screams as Eris pulled the dagger downwards, slicing open its throat, then slowly rolled out of the way as the creature lost the battle and fell to the ground, lifeless.

He laid on the ground for a moment, staring up at the night sky. With all of the creatures dead, the night had become peaceful, and Eris couldn't help but feel that even in the sweet arrival of pure peace...there was something missing. He could feel how his heart ached, and while it had felt like this for as long as he could remember, he couldn't remember exactly why.

Groaning sounded near him, disturbing the peace he had just created. Bane Massey sat up and looked groggily around him, taking in the disturbing scenery of 34 dead shadow vultures surrounding them.

"Don't try to stand up yet Bane, give yourself a moment."

Bane nodded, his rough voice a sign of dehydration. "For a moment there, I was sad that I wasn't dead. I thought the vultures could only feed on you if they latched onto your neck."

"The stronger ones just need to be close, it's uncommon but not unheard of. How do you feel now?"

Bane thought for a moment, looking up at the moon as he slowly smiled, "I'm glad to be alive now. Could you imagine? One of us dying could really fuck things up."

Eris laughed in response. It was true though, the council didn't even want the members of the Selected joining hunting teams, or doing anything even remotely dangerous. The council, however, quickly came to realize that each of the Selected had an insatiable desire to fight and defend, and preventing them from doing so only resulted in them rebelling and causing trouble. Eris and Bane were the only 2 out of the 7 that were on the same team, mostly because Bane had a talent for finding trouble and Eris had the talent for getting him out of trouble. The other 5 Selected had their own teams, though they all respected each other, got along well, and occasionally collaborated on hunts.

Eris sat up and tilted his head from side to side until his neck cracked. He looked at the other members of his team and smiled, they were all breathing, which was a good sign. To the left of him is Don, a member of the Berchrew order. It was extremely uncommon for a team to have members from different orders, but Don and Eris had known each other since they were in middle school, and "uncommon" never bothered Eris. He knew that Don was a good person who wasn't happy in his own order. The Sigrew order was known for being healers and caretakers, but Don was a fighter through and through. When Don's father died tragically, it was Eris that he went to. Eris taught him how to fight, and gave him an outlet for his rage which healed him more than anything else his family had tried.