Pyra

Chapter 3: Runaways

I was eating dinner with Maesyn, Krystahffer, and Bodenn. I felt different being three years younger than everybody. Not to mention being a lot shorter. My teacher, Mr. Chiseler, walked up to our table. I knew what was going to happen.

"Dieannah, come with me," Mr. Chiseler told me. He had been saying that same phrase to everybody in my year. They were forbidden to talk about what happened when they went with Mr. Chiseler.

I stood up. Mr. Chiseler started walking towards the exit of the cafeteria. I followed behind him. The colossal hallway was lined with stained glass. Each window was an accurate picture of a member of the government. I reached a giant door at the back of the hall. We went through. The door led to another hallway, much smaller than the last. It had stone walls and a wooden floor. I always hated walking through this hall of classrooms. There was always one door I never entered. It was small and had a bronze handle. All the other doors had iron handles. Mr. Chiseler opened that door with the bronze handle.

Behind the door was a small white room with a white bed, desk, and chair. On the bed was a small round metallic disk and a syringe filled with yellow liquid. Mr. Chiseler sat on the bed and gestured for me to sit next to him. I walked toward the bed and sat on it. My heart beat loudly in my chest. What was he going to do? What was going to happen to me?

Mr. Chiseler reached for a drawer in the desk. He opened it and pulled out some medical tape. He then took the metal disk and taped it to my forehead. I tried to look at it to see if it was special.

"Mr. Chiseler, what's going on?" I asked.

"Just relax. This might hurt if it's you," Mr. Chiseler told me. I relaxed as he said. I knew I was just like everybody else. This was going to be easy and painless. Mr. Chiseler picked up the syringe and stabbed my bicep with it. I had never received an injection before. It was quite easy and slightly painful. Mr. Chiseler slowly pushed on the end of the syringe and the yellow liquid was injected into my body. Nothing happened. He pulled out the syringe. A drop of blood squeezed out of the small hole the needle left in my arm.

"Okay Dieannah. You're good to go," Mr. Chiseler said. I nodded. I stood up and began walking towards the door. He forgot to take the disk off my head but that didn't seem to matter. Suddenly, my mind went blank. I had no idea what I was doing or where I was.

"Mr. Chiseler-" I began but suddenly a bone crushing force began to squeeze my head. I grabbed my head to try to ease the pain. The pain made it impossible to even think. A sharp pain rocketed up my spine and I fell to the ground.

"Very good..." Mr. Chiseler began to say but the pain muffled all sounds. My brain couldn't focus on anything but the pain. My breathing quickened until my lungs just couldn't function anymore. I felt dizzy and nauseous. I threw up on the floor next to me. My body began to spas. Every muscle in my body was shaking uncontrollably. I ached for air. I clawed at my head, trying to release whatever was causing me pain, whatever was possessing me. Blood started  streaming from my nose, ears, mouth, and eyes. The white room became red with the blood in my vision.

I tried to call to Mr. Chiseler for help but my throat closed up on itself. I clawed at my throat for air. Black spots inked my vision. I could feel conscience slowly seeping away. Was this how I was going to die? In traumatizing agony? My eyes closed and everything I knew, was gone.

My eyes fluttered open. Everything was blurry. I was laying down on the bed in the white room. Mr. Chiseler was sitting at the desk, staring at me. I tried to speak but my vocal cords wouldn't work. What happened? I tried to sit up but every muscle in my body ached. All I could do was raise my hands to look at them. From halfway up my forearms to my knuckles were black outlines of dragons. The scales seemed to wrap around their bodies. Their eyes seemed like they were staring at me.

I tried to scream but of course, nothing happened. Mr. Chiseler opened a drawer in the desk. He pulled out some gauze and a small vial with a thick, ruby liquid inside. I shook my head. The muscles in my neck creaked and groaned like an old tractor. After what happened the last time he gave me something, I didn't want to take anything again. Mr. Chiseler stood up and leaned towards me. He opened my mouth and poured it in. I was too weak to resist. Mr. Chiseler than took the gauze and started rapping it around my hands and forearms.

"You shall never let anybody see these marks," he told me. "If they see, kill them." All I did was stare at the dragons on my arms. What were they? How did they get there? Mr. Chiseler stood up and gestured to the door.

"You may go," he told me. I got up and went. My mind was blank again. After a few seconds, I began to think again. Why was I in that white room? What happened in there? Why did I not remember anything after eating with my friends?

"Dieannah..."

"Dieannah!" Krystahffer whispered in my ear.

"What happened? Were you dreaming or something cause you were shaking and sweating and stuff," Krystahffer whispered.

"I know I was dreaming but I can't remember what it was about. I feel like it was important ," I whispered. I looked at my gloved hands. The leather gloves stretched up to my elbows, had holes on the knuckles, and the fingers were trimmed halfway. I knew I had dragon tattoos under those gloves and nobody could see them. I didn't know why the images were there but I knew what they allowed me to do. I knew they were special and unique. Only I had them.

"I get that a lot," Krystahffer whispered.

 "Come on. We have to go." I nodded. We had to go before anybody could wake up. Krystahffer gestured to follow him. I got out of bed, fastened on my armor, and sheathed my giant sword. We both left the barrack into the small corridor. The corridor was gray with multiple doors leading to different rooms. We crept out the barrack centre and we were in the small square. Heavy snow fell from the invisible clouds above. Even in my shorts I didn't feel cold. All the buildings had the lights off. The moon was high in the in the sky. Dark metal buildings surrounded us. We headed to the colossal gate at the edge of the square. It was made of steel and was reinforced with titanium.

Krystahffer started to climb the metal gate by the edge of the square. He held on to the metal bars used to open and close the gate. I was about to leap over when I heard footsteps. I instantly unsheathed my sword. I held it steady, ready to strike at any second. Krystahffer didn't seem to notice the person walking towards us.

"Come out. I know where you are," I said to the person following us. A figure stepped out from behind a building. It had pointed ears and long hair. It's curvy silhouette indicated that the person was female.

"It's me Dieannah," the figure said.

"Ke'rahnda?" I asked. The figure nodded. It was hard to tell it was her. The darkness made it impossible to recognize features.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked Ke'rahnda.

"I heard you guys talking about running away and I want in," Ke'rahnda explained. I rolled my eyes. Of course, something like this was bound to happen. She must have been scared or something because she was shaking like a rag doll.

"You can't come. We don't know what's out there and you just graduated. I can't let you risk your life. Honestly, you might be safer playing the game than coming with us," I told her.

"Well then I want to come even more now. I want to see the world," she said. I sighed. I gestured for her to come. Ke'rahnda jumped up and down excitedly. She began to climb the gate behind Krystahffer who was nearly at the top. I leaped over the colossal gate with ease. Ke'rahnda watched with admiration. I landed safely on the other side. Maesyn and Bodenn were waiting on us. Krystahffer and Ke'rahnda hopped off the top of the gate and landed next to us.

"What is she doing here?" Bodenn asked.

"I let her come," I replied. Bodenn looked at her suspiciously.

"Sure. Why not bring the elf," Maesyn said. I looked at Ke'rahnda and gave her a knowing look. I looked around us. We were surrounded by tall trees and the ground was covered with dirt. I had never seen real trees before. It was amazing. There was a sweet scent of pine. 

Maesyn started heading into the trees and we all followed. The dirt was soft and the trees smelt good. We walked leisurely until a loud noise rang out.

"Runaway...Runaway..." the alarms blared.