Chosen (Updates Once Upon A Time)

Chapter 1-- In the Beginning

 Chapter 1:

“Hey, princess,”

“Aiden!”

I threw my arms around him as he swung my around and set me back onto my feet. “How was your ascension?”

His expression darkened ever so slightly. “Awesome.”

“What did you get?” I asked excitedly, not catching on to the change of mood.

“An owl.”

I gasped. “No. Way. Let me see it.”

He rolled his eyes and whistled low and clear. A dark shape swooped down from out of nowhere and perched on Aiden’s shoulder. It was a large tawny barn owl, with patchy feathers, emerald green eyes and razor sharp talons. “Meet Talon,” Aiden said, brushing a tender finger over Talon’s beak.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Talon,” I curtsied. The owl was a sacred animal to us Benidicio. It represented wisdom and clarity of mind in our world. The owl tipped its great head in my direction, then spread its wings and flew up into the night sky.

“Oooh, this is so exciting! My ascension’s coming up and I can’t wait for the celebrations to start!” I gushed. People from all around the world would gather in my clan’s land to celebrate the ascension of the firstborn daughter of King Dylan, the ruler of the clan.

He laughed. “Conceited, much?”

Aiden had been my oldest and best friend since childhood, and was one year older than me. He had curly auburn hair and bright emerald green eyes, with tanned skin, freckles and a tall frame.  With him being a total prankster and fun-lover, I was practically a polar opposite of him. I had raven black hair and warm brown eyes, pale skin and not a lot of height on me. I also wasn’t much of a troublemaker, being more of the serious type myself.

“Come on, Aiden,” I said, latching on to his arm and dragging him away from the courtyard. “Archery.”

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Everyone was excited for Aiden, and he was even called in to see my father to be congratulated personally. Apparently he had to take over one of the council member’s seats because the last one with an owl animal was senile and couldn’t understand English. Oh well. It meant spending time at the palace (which was okay with me,) but not seeing me as often, because he was preoccupied (boo…). Whenever I saw him, he would be so distracted and busy I barely had patience to deal with him. I spent my time with my other friends—Ever, Alex and Raven.

Ever was a tall, blond, grey-eyed and beautiful girl. She and I could send any boy in the clan running after virtually anything, from rabid dogs to crazy mice.  In some ways, she was just like Aiden, with her infectious laugh and mad grin. She could make anyone smile on a rainy day. On the other hand, Alex was a little bit more like me.  With his vaguely Asian complexion—almond shaped brown eyes, black hair and dark skin, he was the serious version of his sister, Ever. We always teamed up to yell at the others when they were fooling around. Lastly, came Raven.  He had deep, soulful gold eyes, blond hair and burnished copper skin. Overall, he looked… golden. Add his dashing smile and catlike movements to the mix, and you have a deadly mixture of beauty and grace. He, Alex and Aiden were the clan’s school ‘players’, the kind who made girls swoon on their feet and blush whenever they talked to them.  Our ascensions were coming one after another, with mine, then Raven’s then Ever's and Alex's coming up.

First, I think I should explain the day-to-day lifestyle of a Benidicio. From the tender age of 10, we begin to train at a special school called Lightrise Academy, which has branches in all four clans. Contrary to what your Earth schools teach, we have more interesting classes, like demon hunting and combat training. Even so, we have literacy classes as well, such as English and history. All the students have to undergo an aptitude test to determine whether they are suitable for the job of demon hunting or just normal city jobs. Demon hunting is the most important job in the clan society, because otherwise, the demons would overrun the world and get superbly out of control. You start going on patrols one the instructors give you permission. I worked really hard to get put on patrols earlier with my friends, and now we were the youngest and one of the best around. As you all know, my father is the leader of the clan, while my mother is more of a spiritual leader. I have two 12-year-old twin brothers, who are already excellent warriors; their names are Logan and Damon.