The Chosen Dawnseeker

Chapter 4

Hannah pushed vines away from her, as she made her way through a wet rainforest. She tripped over a rock and fell on the ground. She looked up and she was met with a group of elderly figures with long beards and robes, gathered around a stone circle engraved with intricate Celtic knots, under a misty canopy. She scrambled to her feet and began walking towards them slowly. They were chanting something, something that Hannah could make out. "They shall emerge from the glade, wielding the old cursed blade. They will run, they will crawl, they will seek. They will escape the jungle's peak. The ancient entity will fall, but only with the Chosen Dawnseeker's call". It was chanted over and over again, and Hannah fell to the ground, covering her ears.

Hannah shot up from the bed, screaming and yelling. Something about that dream sent the fear of god through her and she hated it. However, there was a little girl next to her sleeping bag, calming her down. She had snow white hair. She couldn't have been older than Kieran, that's for sure. "Hey, hey. Relax, it's ok" the little girl said. Hannah sat up. "Who are you?" She asked. "That's Evelyn. My girlfriend" Kieran responded, already being up.
"Girlfriend? The kids 14 and he already has a girlfriend? Way to go, Kieran" Hannah said in her head.
Hannah stood up and looked outside and was, once again, blinded by the sun. She immediately covered her eyes and walked outside of the treehouse. She looked down to the village and people were already doing work. It was like 7 in the morning. Still tired, Hannah trudged her way down to the town where Aelar greeted her. "Mornin, Han. Oh wait can I call you that?" He asked.
"Sure, I don't really care" Hannah said. Aelar was sitting eating breakfast with Ethan and that Rylan guy. Despite whatever the fuck Thalia cooked up last night, the food here was surprisingly normal, like Hannah said. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs and bacon. She got her breakfast and sat down next to Ethan. She looked over to Rylan. "You're Rylan, right?" Hannah asked.
"The one and only" Rylan responded. To Hannah's surprise, Rylan's voice was deeper than she expected. Ethan took notice of Hannah's shock and laughed. "What? Not everyone in here has as squeaky of a voice as you got" He joked. Hannah smacked him in the arm, but couldn't help but smile. Hannah rubbed her eyes in tiredness and groaned. Ethan took notice. "Hold on, I know what will wake you up. Set your plate down and follow me" Ethan said as he got up and walked over to some lake. "Please don't kill me for this" Ethan said and didn't even give Hannah a chance to react before immediately shoving her in. Well he shoved her face in the water, as they were kneeling before the water. The water was freezing cold so it woke Hannah up in a heartbeat. When Hannah's face emerged from the surface, Ethan grabbed a towel and began to dry off her face and for a second, Ethan looked at her like she was glowing. Then he snapped out of it. "Sorry"
Hannah shockingly wasn't too mad. Oh she was mad, but that's just naturally because she got her face shoved into the water without any warning. But other than that, she wasn't mad. Not towards Ethan, that is. She just got herself dried off and went to finish eating her food. Right after breakfast, was time to get to work.

People all had different tasks, each task having a specific group of people that did it. Hannah and Ethan were assigned to helping the harvesters plant and grow food. But Hannah couldn't help but watch as Rylan and another dawnseeker travelled into the jungle. Hannah was taken right out of her staring trance as she was scared by a taller, older, blonde haired woman. "Whatever it is that you're thinking about concerning the jungle, get it out of your head quickly. You're not going out there" The woman said as she knelt down next to Hannah and began to help her plant. "I'm Lyra. I take it you're Hannah, the new girl. Little piece of advice? Do as you're told. It makes everything easier on you and everyone else" Lyra said in her ear. Hannah didn't know what to think of Lyra, she didn't appear demeaning in any way. But her words. They didn't sit right with Hannah, but she didn't know why. Hannah just nodded and Lyra patted her on the back. "You'll get used to this place, trust me. It'll get easier" Lyra tried to reassure Hannah. Ethan came up next to her and began planting himself. "Lyra bugging you? Must you do this to every new person?" Ethan asked Lyra.
"You know me. Of course I do" Lyra smiled.
"You two know each other?" Hannah asked.
"Yeah, she helped me get settled in when I arrived. She was really helpful" Ethan said, before returning to work. Something felt off about Ethan and Lyra's relationship. She didn't know if they were dating or not, she didn't care. It was just weird to her how Lyra's demeanor changed slightly as soon as Ethan came into the picture.

Hannah felt disgusting as she was dripping sweat in the blazing sun. Planting wasn't the only thing she was tasked with, she also helped move things around the village. Heavy things, like some of the supplies that came with her in Memory's Embrace. As she helped move them, she noticed one word was plastered on just about all of them. "Enigma". Hannah didn't question it out loud, but she did in her head. She took some of Lyra's advice and stayed quiet about some of these things. That took mostly all day, just moving stuff and it was almost getting dark. As she dropped off the last thing in one of the village's supply shelters, she looked over to Ethan. "Shouldn't Rylan and Jenna be back by now? Hannah asked. Jenna was another one of the dawnseekers. But it was getting late and they still weren't back. Ethan looked confused at this. "Yeah, they should. But we have to hope they'll get back" Ethan said. Hannah didn't understand. Yeah, there were rules and all but she didn't understand how they could just not try and intervene to make sure they do make it back safely. Pretty soon, they were all gathered up outside the Veil of Mystique, waiting and waiting.
"Oh Christ this is ridiculous. We can't have like a search party for them or something?" Hannah asked.
"We can't. We'd be breaking the rules, we just.....we just have to have faith" Thalia replied.
"What if faith doesn't save them?" Hannah snapped back. Thalia looked at her with annoyance. "It doesn't matter. We can't go into the jungle, that's final" Thalia said.
Hannah rolled her eyes and went back to looking at the jungle. Then she saw them.
"Wait it's them right there" Hannah pointed out. Rylan stumbled out from behind a tree, carrying Jenna on his back. "Somethings wrong. Look, Jenna's not moving"
She was limp, and was in fact not moving. Then Hannah heard the sound of the mist making its way through the jungle and Rylan booked it, attempting to get Jenna to the village but he couldn't. The mist got closer and closer. It was like the world slowed down for Hannah. Her fight or flight response kicked in.
"Hannah, what are you doing?" Kieran asked. Hannah broke out into a sprint and immediately slid into the jungle right as the mist formed the barrier between the jungle and the village.