The Chosen Dawnseeker

Chapter 2

"What is this place? Where are we?" Hannah asked Aelar, as they walked outside of the Whispering Willows. They were walking on a platform, a wooden platform and there were houses all around her. There was an innate misty fog that shrouded the area. Trees encased and draped over the roofs, and vines hung down from them. Birds and bugs zoomed past her as she walked. But one thing stood out to her. The giant gates. There was a jungle that was shrouded with the yellow mist, but even past it, she could see the huge black, almost cyberpunk esque metal gates that loomed over the place.
"The place we're in right now? We call it Misthaven Village. It's a sanctuary of sorts. We live here, we sleep here, we eat here. But don't expect comfort to just be handed to you just because you're new. We all do the work here. We grow food, take care of the animals here, you get the gist. Whatever we need for it, it comes from Memory's Embrace" Aelar told Hannah as they walked to the center of the village.
"What is that? What's Memory's Embrace?" Hannah asked. Aelar pointed over towards the box that Hannah arrived in. "Every couple months, fresh supplies we need and a newbie are sent up. This month, you're the lucky newbie" He laughed.
"Sent up? Who's sending us here though?" Hannah asked in her head. She looked over and saw what looked like a jungle, along the edge of Misthaven's wooden platform. "What's out there?" She asked.
Aelar's expression turned serious. "Look, we don't have a lot of regulations here, alright? But we do have 4 very important rules. 1. Never ever attempt to harm someone else, unless absolutely necessary. Nothing here works if we hate one another. 2. Do the work. We strive because we're committed. Things don't come to us, we bring it to ourselves. 3. Always do what the right thing. We're a unit here, we always do the right thing. And 4. The most important one of all: Never go into the jungle. Do you understand me, Hannah?"

"Y-yeah, I do" Hannah stuttered.
Then along came trotting a boy, to lighten up the mood. Seemed around Hannah's age, however old she was. He was taller than her, but she didn't care. He walked up to the two of them, and only one word could describe him: excitement.
"Hannah, meet Ethan. Since you're new, you'll be rooming with him" Aelar introduced the two of them. There was something about the boy, she just felt the tiniest twinge of relaxation. Hannah shook his hand and Aelar walked away, some other villagers having called him over. Ethan looked at her with a smile. "Come on, I'll show ya where you'll be staying" He said and began to walk forward. Hannah didn't know what to think of this place, or any of the people here but she followed him anyways.
The house looked like a treehouse that was on the ground. The floors were made of barely stable hardwood, and the walls were made of some kind of wood Hannah didn't recognize. There was a bedroom with sleeping bags on the floor, and a bathroom with a shower and toilet. Thank god. There was a living room and they walked into that and she saw a young, curly blonde haired boy sitting on the ground, petting a small fox. Ethan whistled, getting the boy's attention. "Yo. We got a newbie here. Don't try to stress her out, for her sanity" Ethan told the boy.
"Calm your shit, Ethan. I get it, I'm not the best at conversation, but I'm not all that bad. I swear, every time we get a new person and they just so happen to be a girl, you do this shit. You try to act all different" the boy said back. The boy looked to Hannah. "Give it a few days, and he's gonna ask you out, I guarantee you" The boy joked.
"Yeah yeah, that's enough, you fuckin' twat. Get her settled in, I'm going to go grab something to eat" Ethan said before leaving. Hannah sat down on the ground next to the boy. "What's your name?" She asked.
"Kieran. It means little dark one, which I don't get because I don't think I'm that bad of a person. This here is Blaze" he gestured to the fox. Hannah hesitated, not knowing if he would freak out about it, but she eventually began to pet the fox and it burrowed into her. Guess it liked her.
"I'm-" Hannah started.
"I know. You're Hannah. People have been talking about you" Kieran told her. Hannah didn't know how to feel about the fact that people were already talking about her, without her knowledge. Hannah looked Kieran up and down and she couldn't help but ask. "How old are you?" Hannah asked Kieran.
"13. I'm the youngest one here" Kieran responded. Jesus, he was only 13? Poor kid.

Hannah and Kieran left the house and walked around the village. Hannah looked to her left and saw something. "It's the same for all of us. We wake up in Memory's Embrace, we get thrown into Whispering Willows, Aelar gives us a tour, and we're left to adapt to the environment here" Kieran started but Hannah had already walked away. He knew where she was going. Close to the edge of Misthaven, was a jungle. It was a huge jungle, with streams and drooping trees and plants, exactly what a jungle is. She made her way towards it but Kieran stopped her.
"What are you doing? Didn't Aelar tell you we're not supposed to go in there?"
"Just give me a second, ok? I'm not gonna go in, I just wanna take a look real quick" Hannah tried to reassure him. Curiosity rippled through her as she took wary steps over towards the green jungle, and then heard a woman shouting "Hey!"
She turned around and saw Thalia, walking up to her and aggressively shoving her down to the ground, her back being slammed into the wooden pathway. "You have a brain, don't you, Cindy?" She barked at her. Hannah scrambled to her feet. "What the hell is your problem? Get the fuck off me!" She shouted. People came rushing over and Hannah looked at them all.
"Look, just relax, alright?" Ethan said, walking towards her.
"No! There's something out there, why won't you guys tell me what it is? If you're not gonna tell me, at least let me see it for myself" Hannah demanded.
"We can't let you go out there" Aelar said sternly.
"Why the hell not?!" She shouted. Then everything got quiet. She heard the sound of some kind of faint spray, almost like the sound of a snake slithering up behind her to grab her and pull her down to the depths of hell. She turned around and saw the jungle become enveloped by a thick, swirling fog. The foggy mist had some sort of faint yellow glow to it, concealing the lush greenery and dancing around the towering trees and tangled vines. Hannah reached her hand forward towards it, and when she made contact with the yellow mist, her hand was sent hurtling back towards her body, a sharp pain being sent through her entire hand.
"What the fuck...?" She whispered, questioning the yellow mist. The scenery remained quiet and the crowd that had been drawn walked away, returning to their normal activities. Aelar placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Welcome to Etherea"