Shadow of the Raptor: Part 1

Chapter 1: Recruitment

Madame Blade was driving over to the lonesome city of Rockstead Pass. The city itself was nothing to look at, but she was going on a mission. She turned to her colleague "How long do we have, Johnson?" Johnson turned his wrist over and tapped his watch "Darn thing never works." He grumbled in frustration. "So I'm assuming you don't know?" Blade asked, smiling to herself. "Oh, shut it, Blade! Just because you're my superior does not mean I will let you pull my leg." Blade shook her head. He was so easy to pick at, but his quick anger made it hard to nag at him playfully. Sometimes she thought that she should find a new right hand man, but Johnson was legendary in the battle field. She was an assassin, a warrior in the shadows, she was an expert and sneaking in, killing her target, and getting out. Though her mechanical tail had saved her life through many occasions where she was found out, she relied more on her knives that her massive poisoned tail. Madame Blade saw a glint in the distance, she unraveled herself from her thoughts, and looked forwards, spotting their destination. The town had low, mossy walls and dim lanterns lighting the night. Johnson walked past several buildings and stopped at a building with high gray walls and knocked on the door. A man opened the door that had black hair and a well trimmed beard "Hello, what can I do for you?" He was looking at Johnson, and when he saw Madame Blade move, his expression darkened. "You're here for my daughter, right?" He directed his question back at Johnson, who answered with a small nod. The man turned around and called out for his daughter, who came running to the door with a backpack strapped to her back. Blade crouched down "Are you Alexis?" The girl nodded "Yeah, and before you ask, I am finally of age to be trained." Blade smiled, that was what she said when her trainer came for her that first day. "Alrighty then, we need to depart immediately, so say your goodbyes and let's be on our way." Alexis stepped out the door "I've already done that, except for..." she turned and hugged her father "Goodbye, dad, take care of Liz." Alexis ran to the car that they traveled in. "So what race are we going to be visiting next? What world?" Blade answered "Well, theres one more person in Greedbush that we need to pick up. Alexis looked sad "Our world still? Why not Aquila? Or Grizzleheim?" "We will be visiting those worlds, but at the current moment, we are staying in our world." That ended their conversation for awhile, but at one moment, Alexis grumbled something about boredom, so Blade asked her "Why don't you list off all of our worlds in the Thread? And while you're at it, list the inhabitants of each world." The Thread was the name of the system their worlds existed in, the Thread is was allowed people to travel between worlds, Alexis brightened up at the question, "Well we have Greedbush, the human world, or the universal world, as many species live in Greedbush, but it is mainly dominated by humans. There is Aquila, the land of the Eagles and Vultures. Gizzleheim is the cold realm of the Bears and Ravens, and finally there is Eye Glass, the realm of the Golems." Madame Blade was impressed, "Good job, we're almost to Thalian's house, so sit tight and we'll visit Gizzleheim next."

The group stopped at the town of Barrel Hoop, and knocked on a small, rundown shack. A teenage boy, around the same age as Alexis stepped out of the shack. He had black hair, much like Alexis, and he was tall and muscular, and was wearing a long black trench coat with a hood and a mask attached to it. But, the most striking detail about him were his eyes, which were a piercing deep purple. "Hey, are you guys supposed to take me to my training?" Blade nodded "Yes, and this is one of your three partners, Alexis" "Ah,well hello there my friend!" Thalian said with a hint of excitement. "Alright, we need to get to Grizzleheim to pick up Yellowtooth as soon as we can, so pack up!" Johnson informed. Thalian went back into the shack and came out with a handful of weapons, a sword, a great sword, a glaive, a spear, and an axe. He put them in the back of the truck and got into the back seat of the car with Alexis. They stopped at Gleipnir, and met Yellowtooth, a larger than average, which at this point was 8 ft tall, bear that had a black body and a white head, with mechanical arms and a mechanical leg. (A/N See the cover for the photo of him.)

They went through the usual routine, greeting Yellowtooth, and telling him to pack up. They then made their last stop, Aquila, the soaring Eagle skies. They met their final member, Tacticus Graecelus (Pronunciation: Tact-e-cuss Grace-e-lus) who has a tall, muscular brown eagle with a short sword at his side. "Ok, so now that we have all four of you, let's take you to our HQ." Said Johnson. When they arrived, it was different that anyone had expected, there were no glamorous decorations, no high flying roofs, no regal furniture. Just a normal looking military outpost. Madame Blade led them to an elevator, where they went down 5 stories underground. They emerged into the quarters, cafeteria and training section. This floor was completely devoid of life, except for them. Everything was a blur for Thalian, they were told where they were sleeping, and where they'd eat, and finally, where they trained. They were also told that the curfew was 11 AM, in which it was 11:30, so they immediately had to go to bed. Thalian knew, that after todays rest, tomorrow held a hard day of training.