A Purpose to Live

Chapter One

I REMEMBER my parents telling me that I had to complete my purpose. That was right after I received it. They said I had to, not for my own good, but for their own cause. They were already close to becoming elders. If I didn't complete my purpose before I become an elder, they would be even more shamed upon.

     But they aren't my real parents. You see, nobody has parents in this world

Every year, exactly 50 children are summoned at a ceremony, all already the age of 5. Just like that, materialized out of thin air. They are each chosen by a couple and they become bonded together.

If you become a rebel, your bond is severed. They call the rebels 'shadows.' I don't exactly know why. Maybe it was because they were thought of as only a shadow of who they were. Or maybe people wanted to think they weren't real, as shadows aren't.

Because of course, shadows are a big problem to people now. People that are known to be trusted, that are deeply woven into the ways of the city, are turning.

     Everyone knows what the belief of the shadows are. They are people who are stuck onto the hope of the tales we were all told as children. The tales of a world described as without purpose. There were no given purposes. Everybody could live a joyful life without the burden of a purpose. In that world, elders were loved, not shamed upon.

Now that I thought about it, I was clinging on to that hope too. To create a world like that.

That's way I'm running. Right now. Away from the city. To become a shadow.

I didn't like the ways of the city either. Nobody was caring.

All they cared about was getting their purpose done, dissolving into air, and getting reborn again. Sometimes I wonder why the gods created our sick world.

Only now did I notice that I had reached a clearing. Not just any clearing. A clearing inhabited by shadows.

Nervous, I approached a person walking by. Noticing me, his eyes widened and he looked around him.

"No, it's okay. I'm a not an enemy. I want to become a shadow." I quickly said.

He visibly relaxed and motioned me over to a large tent. As we entered, the man brought me over to an elderly woman. He whispered something in her ear. She gracefully stood up and welcomed me.

"Well," she said, "welcome to a shadow base, you're one of us now."

Nodding, I walked closer to her and shook her outstretched hand.

My name is Arcadia Northwood, and this is my story.