The Chosen Dawnseeker

Chapter 7

Hannah, Rylan and Ethan walked into the medical tent to check up on Jenna. Hannah looked to Lena. "How is she?" Hannah asked.
"Well she's been slashed so I really don't know what to do, I've never taken care of anyone who was slashed. But I'll figure it out, I guess" Lena responded.
"I think we should discuss whatever the hell that message was about, huh?" Rylan questioned.
"We'll worry about it later, Jenna is more important now" Ethan said.
"Shouldn't you worry about it now? It was from the Druidic council, that means it's important" Hannah rebutted.
"We've got other things to deal with, ok Hannah? Not just you" Ethan snapped back. "Look, let's just wait it out, ok? At least until Jenna wakes up, maybe we can ask her some questions. There's gotta be some answers around here" Ethan said.
Hannah thought for a moment. "Yeah, there's gotta be" Hannah said before leaving. "If you need me, I'm going back into the jungle" Hannah said as she left. Rylan looked to Ethan and quickly followed her. Rylan stopped her in her tracks. "Hannah, hey. What's your deal, huh? Do you just want to die? You almost just got killed in there, now you wanna go back in already? Maybe you got lucky last night, but you could die in there" Rylan questioned.
"Didn't Ethan say that no one's ever come into contact with a baneclaw and lived to tell about it, right? Well now we have its body. We could investigate it, see if we find anything. You're not curious at all? About these monsters that are capable of killing us all?" Hannah asked.
"Well not really. It's dead, there's not much it can do" Rylan responded. Hannah rolled her eyes and began walking.
"Look, I get what you're saying. But what are you gonna do when you find it? Dissect it? We're not in a high school science class" Rylan said.
"If I gotta do it on my own, yeah I will. Have you talked to the other dawnseekers?" Hannah asked.
"Most of them quit after that message from the druids. Bunch of little pussies in my opinion. With the possibility that the baneclaws may be angry, they don't wanna risk anything" Rylan said to her. "Why do you want to so badly?" He asked.
"Well I can't just sit on my ass. I have to find out what's going on here, do anything I can to get some answers" Hannah said.
"Alright. But if you think you're going out there alone, you're delusional. Meet me at the lake in 30 minutes" Rylan said before walking away. Hannah sat on the side of the lake waiting and waiting for what seemed like more than 30 minutes. Rylan returned with other boys and girls from the village, about at least 4 of them, with Kieran and Ethan being two of the 4.
"I may be the youngest, but I'm not weak" Kieran told Hannah.
"And I volunteered to do this so.....yeah" Ethan commented.
"Alright, let's do this, huh?" Rylan said, helping Hannah stand up.

Hannah and the others slowly jogged out through and into the jungle. It felt like an hour before they finally reached the spiked rocks. Maybe when Hannah was running for her life, it seemed faster. The sight shown was absolutely disgusting. Remnants of the baneclaws head were splattered on the ground along with its guts. The rest of the body was still connected to the spike where it had been killed. Hannah tried to shake off the smell but it was so bad. She turned away and kept herself from throwing up. She turned back to it. "Ok help me pull it off the spike" Hannah said as Ethan and Rylan helped her move the thing off the spike and into the ground. Since the baneclaw was huge, Ethan slipped and fell as they pulled it to the ground. Hannah walked over and helped him stand up. "You ok, Ethan?" She asked.
"Yeah yeah I'm good. Thanks" Ethan said. "I'll always help you, Ethan" Hannah said, but she hadn't realized she said it until after she said it. She blushed slightly, feeling embarrassed and went back to focusing on the baneclaw. When it dropped onto the ground, Hannah couldn't help but notice something within the body. She closed her eyes and reached her hand within and pulled it out. It was a gem of sorts. It was a fist-sized, obsidian-like gem pulsating with dark energy, emitting a faint, eerie green glow and resonating with a sinister hum. Hannah twisted it around in her hand, looking at it.
"Look it's getting dark. Let's take this back to Misthaven, before its friends come out" Kieran commented. "Yeah, we should head out of here" Rylan said as they all ran back to Misthaven Village.

Rylan and Ethan called Aelar, Lyra, and Thalia to the council hall, where they were for the last meeting. Thalia twisted the gem in her hand. "What the hell is this?" She asked.
"We don't know. It was found inside the body of the baneclaw I killed" Hannah said. Ethan took the gem and wiped some of the guts off of it. "Weird. When Hannah pulled it out of the baneclaw, I couldn't help but remember something. Lyra has one just like it, she had it when she got here. It has the word Enigma on it, the same word that's on the supplies from Memory's Embrace" Ethan commented. That made Hannah oddly suspicious of Lyra now, but she decided not to make a big deal out other it. "Well if she had it when she was sent up, then whenever put us here clearly put the baneclaws here too. Maybe whoever this Enigma is are the ones who put us here. If it was found inside a baneclaw, maybe it could lead us somewhere" Hannah said.
"First of all, Cinderella, there is no us. We will go out there, we are prepared for it, you're not. You've only been here for like a week, that puts you nowhere. You're no saint, you are not our savior. You sure as hell ain't no fucking Chosen Dawnseeker, if that shits even true. We've done this for 2 years, you've been here for a week. You sit back and do fucks all, I don't care, and we will handle this fucking rock gem thing. But with that set aside, Ethan, she has to be punished. The rules have kept us in unity the entire time we've been here, and now we're gonna considering abandoning them because of her? Seriously?" Thalia complained.
Ethan looked to the group and then handed the gem back to Rylan. "Thalia's right. Hannah, you broke the rules. One night in whispering willows, no food or water for the night and no breakfast" Ethan said.
"Are you kidding me right now? That's not gonna stop her from going into the jungle, it's not enough" Thalia whined.
"Yeah but at least it'll keep me from listening to your whiny fucking voice always bitching about things you don't like about her, Thalia. Lay off. You've been breathing down her neck non stop ever since she got here. Whether you like it or not, she's a fellow villager. You are expected to treat her like such" Ethan snapped. Thalia kept quiet.
"It won't stop her from going into the jungle, but we can't have regular villagers running into the jungle whenever they see that they can. Today was an exception, but when you went into the jungle the first time, that was a direct violation of rule number 4. So this will be the next decision, and you can kiss my ass if you don't like it, Thalia. Hannah, you are officially a dawnseeker, effective immediately come tomorrow morning. Until then, you are expected to continue doing the tasks you are asked to do in the village. And I'm not gonna lay off your punishment, you did break the rules. So you'll be sleeping in Whispering Willows tonight" Ethan said.
Thalia scoffed and stormed out of the room.
Hannah looked to Ethan, and smiled slightly. "Thanks.....for defending me. Not a lot of people do that" She said. Ethan nodded. "You're welcome" Ethan said and Hannah left the room. Ethan followed her because he noticed Hannah rubbing her neck a lot.
"Hannah!" He called after her. Hannah stopped and looked at him. "What?"
"Whats going on with your neck? You've been rubbing it all day" Ethan asked. "It's nothing, don't worry" Hannah said.
"It's not nothing, ok? Show me your neck" Ethan said. Hannah hesistated, but she took her hand off her neck. Ethan's eyes grew wide. "Look, I'm not supposed to show you this but just come with me" He said before walking to a part of the village where they keep books and such. Ethan found a book and opened it. "It's called The Mark of The Dawn. According to legend, it only appears on The Chosen Dawnseeker. Now it might not be true and you had this on your neck when you arrived, but it's a possibility" Ethan informed her.
"You heard Thalia. I'm not the Chosen Dawnseeker, I've been screwing things up. I'm the last person to be some kind of savior for this place" Hannah said as she stood up and walked back out. However, she didn't have the mark when she showed up here, she only had it after her night in the jungle. Odd.