How to be of shadow and light (bxb)

Chapter 2- A cry for help

Alex snuck out at early dawn to revel in the last of the darkness. There was a curfew on the village because there were lots of the cursed in the area. Since Alex was a hybrid of cursed and castor he could travel both day and night safely. To him the darkness and shadows had always had a certain allure, as though they were calling to him. It was undoubtedly the cursed side of him that felt the call. The cursed were creatures of the night as they were killed by sunlight, though their magic was strong it couldn't protect them from the rays. He did not know his mother and she could have been any one of the many variations of cursed kind. It was the curse of being a bastard. 
    Nobody knows exactly where the two enemies started out. How did they constantly oppose each other without one species eventually winning out? Well the only story he had was from a religion called the worshippers of the three. It goes like this. In the beginning there were three supreme beings the father, the son and the daughter.  They were the only creatures in that world with magic, there were other castoroid creatures but they were empty of magic, blank's if you like. These supreme beings grew bored of being alone, as with all beings they felt the drive to procreate and since they were related that was not possible. So the father decided to hold a competition, he told his two children to make a creature each. The best would get to rule over the world and be gifted with magic. The son created an early ancestor of the cursed and the daughter an ancestor of the castors. Both creations were so impressive the father could not choose between them. He decided to instead give one the rule of the night and the other the rule of the day. 
    Alex had class today, his first lesson was combat, then magic practise and finally his favourite, magical beast care. Each were held in a small meadow with the only building being a small shack full of medical supplies. Because when dealing with magic, weapons and wild animals you never knew what was going to happen. 
    When he arrived the instructor greeted him graciously, after all his status was not limited to young people. Alex brushed the man off briskly not liking the attention. 
   "Alright then guys today we are gonna let you practice with a weapon of your choice. Choose from the selection and then practice your technique on a dummy. As you work I'll come round and critique you." Okay everyone? Good then get to work."
     There was a table set up with lots of varieties of weapon on it. Alex had been trained from a very young age by a private tutor in most types of combat, mainly to keep him out of his father and stepmothers way. So he didn't rush over to the table but took his time as his classmates squabbled over the swords and battle-axes. To them bigger meant better. Once he got there only a rough slingshot and and sleek metal boomerang remained as he had expected. The boomerang took too much work and people felt the slingshot was too wimpy. Throwing knives were his weapon of choice but he still preferred these to a sword. They were too clumsy and heavy. Most of his classmates were muscular and strong but he was more skinny and light. That's why he relied on skill rather than strength. 
    While his teacher went over to the other pupils, Alexander proceeded to fire small holes into the dummy with the slingshot. One between the eyes, one through the heart and another in the last very crippling part of the male anatomy. When his teacher finally arrived at him Alex was ready to pull out the big guns. Everyone quieted down to watch. "So what did you choose Alex," he asked curiously. 
   "A boomerang and slingshot sir," Alex replied shortly. 
"Go ahead and show me then." Alex did and turned with a small smile on his face. Smiles were rare for him which was a shame as they lit up his normally gloomy face. He squinted in concentration, leaned back and fired the weapon. It flew way past the dummy and everyone spluttered into laughter. Alex just crossed his arms with a smug smile. All jeering stopped when the weapon returned slicing the dummy's head clean off and Alex caught it with ease. 
    "Well done Alex perfect form. You lot should all take a lesson from his book. It's not about having the flashiest new gadget, it's about knowing your weapon.That's it for today pack your things. "
   With smug satisfaction Alex went off to his next class. The spell work was dull and the lesson uneventful. They were working on growing plants from seeds in a few seconds which he had mastered in a few minutes. He just spent the whole time anticipating his next class, the one he was really good at. 
    Today in beast care they weren't in the meadow but instead taking a trip to the outer edges of the villages. This was where the animals were held so that the wilder ones couldn't do too much damage. Alex couldn't wait to see what the teacher had in store for them. Miss Haley was his favourite teacher because she didn't care about his ancestry. She regularly told him off for being too soft on the creatures but at the same time respected his passion for the work. 
   "Today class I'm going to show you your first ever wild chamrosh. Like the griffin they are a hybrid of mammal and bird except these are of the canine variety. This makes them much easier to tame and in a few years some of you may be experienced enough to become a chamrosh rider. Then you can fly wherever you want and fight the cursed on it's back. Not much can bother these guys as once they are broken in they will be totally focused on your command. 
    So I'm gonna be showing you the differences between the wild animal and the tamed one. I want to warn you not to go near the wild creature as it can and will kill you."
   With that she wandered off and waved for us to follow. Outside a barn in a large paddock were several huge creatures. Each had a different combination of colours and species of bird and canine. Their eyes were all the same soft brown colour though and they looked very placid, if a little wary.
    "This is the tamed variety of chamrosh. As you can see they are pretty chilled out and larger than you'd expect. This is because the body of the canine and head/wings of the bird are much larger than they would normally be. Their eyes you'll also notice are a soft brown but the wild ones have bright yellow eyes. Nobody really knows why this is however it really helps us to determine whether we have successfully tamed one yet. Go over and pet them. They won't let you ride them as they will only pick one rider for their whole lives."
   Intrigued Alexander wandered over to pet the huge creatures. While impressive he thought it was sad that they were all cooped up and had been taken from their natural habitat. He could see that they had pack bonds like most canines and he could imagine these bonds were taken away when they were captured. These all seemed to be a mix of different dog breeds rather than more predetarial canines like wolves. It was a little disappointing and he hoped the wild animal would be more impressive. 
   "Now onto the wild animal. He was caught just yesterday in the plains, we lure them using the females we already have as bate and vice versa for catching females. Since the animals are always searching for more flock mates thy are lured in by the sounds of the individuals we already have.
    What I'm going to do is give you a sneak peak now and tonight I'll call you back to see the first stage of the taming tonight." That said she lead us to a huge glass room in which a magnificent beast was pacing. It was tall, around seven foot in height as well as being pure muscle. It's fur and feathers were a smoky grey and it was immediately clear this was part wolf, part falcon. He would make a formidable foe with his razor sharp talons and beak lined with wolf fangs. "It's a rare find actually and very interesting," the teacher commented noticing me admiring the animal. It was then that the animal locked eyes with me. The thing had overlooked all the other students but when it saw me the reaction was immediate. The animal let out a low keening whine pawing at the glass desperately. In it's beautiful golden eyes was a plea to Alex for help. Shaken he turned away feeling sick.