Keeper of the Veil

Committed.

~~~Denali.~~~

“Damn it Denali,” one of the Council Elders growled at me, “three Orders broken in one night? That should be enough to land you in a life sentence,” he paused to look down at the parchment he was holding, “for the twenty-fifth time in a row. Do you think that maybe, just for once you should actually try to find us a suitable candidate from the Other Realm? The only reason you're still here is for your strong blood lines, but even that may have to be overlooked.” He yawned, briefly allowing me to avoid his tired, yellowed gaze. Silently I shifted the brown haired girl in my arms, careful not to hurt her. After all I did to bring her here safely, including drugging her, the last thing I would want is to cause her physical pain. Yet.

I looked around the courtyard at the other two elders, a small male with nervous brown eyes, and a hefty female with kind green eyes. The two of them looked at the oldest of the three, Ichiro, knowing very well that I would of course be let off the hook again. I laughed because I knew it was true, “Ich, unless one of my… protégés… have learned how to cross the Veil, and bring back a person alive, I think you're pretty much stuck with me.”

Shaking his head and scratching his temple, he looked at the other two at his sides. “I am almost thinking that we need to stop bringing in one candidate from the Other Realm all together.”

The female at Ichiro’s right shook her head, “Elder, the reason we keep that tradition is to honor Alevra. She was the last, and the greatest Keeper of the Veil, and she was from the Other Realm.”

“Yes, Ami, I acknowledge that, it is well known I was there at Alevra’s Calling,” he looked like he wanted to continue, but the youngest of the group interrupted him.

“But we could widen our search of the Homeland if we were able to fill one more spot. It is more likely that a child from here will be a Keeper, than a child from there,” the look of disgust on Athumani’s face as he looked at the unconscious girl was apparent. But he didn’t understand why I chose her because he wasn’t there that night, he didn’t see what I saw.

Rolling his eyes Ichiro silenced any argument, “Regardless, we honor Alevra’s memory through this Calling, we can revisit this later. More importantly,” he turned to me again and leveled his face with mine, “You knew you were supposed to bring along a second council member during your Scouting. It was part of the provisional from the last meeting.”

“I understand Ichiro,” I bowed my head, easily giving in to avoid trouble. I should have never gone alone. I knew that. But I didn’t plan on recruiting anyone that night. Scouting is hard, the council expects me to choose someone like the last true Keeper, powerful and down to earth. I'm not sure what called to me about this girl, but I knew that it had to be her, and I couldn’t let her escape. The council wanted to start the trials, their impatience with me grew, and I had to make a fast decision. My entire career was counting on this Calling I needed the right person or I’d be out of a job. It didn’t help in the least bit that the Homeland candidates weren’t the cream of the crop. They all had the drive and determination, but none had the Soul.

Shifting his weight the youngest of the three cleared his throat, “So what are we to do with this one?” The disbelief was plain on his face, but Ami seemed to be captivated by the girl I held before them.

Looking disappointed Ichiro replied, “She does what she was brought here to do, train.” I almost kicked myself for putting Ich in just a hard place, but I was betting this girl would pull through. Everyone thinks I made the wrong choice. This girl, she was everything the council didn’t want. She was overweight, out of shape, wore glasses, inattentive, careless, anti-social, nerdy, unattractive, everything about her was wrong. Maybe her lifestyle suited her in her world, but she would never make it in ours. So why did I choose her? It was against every logical thought, but still there was something about her that I couldn’t ignore. Maybe, just maybe, she has what it takes to survive, somewhere, deep, deep down, way deep down, she could be a Keeper. She had the Soul, I knew she did, I just needed the others to see that, if they even could anymore.

It was on pure chance that I happened to see this girl at all. She happened to fling open her car door last night just as I passed by. Maybe it was the perfume she was wearing, maybe it was the way her hair shone in the moonlight, I don't know. But she was interesting to watch, I enjoyed just following her movements. The way she carelessly sat in her drivers seat, without a worry in the world. How she thoughtlessly flicked her hair over her shoulder. Her movements were slow and smooth, unlike any girl from my world.

I continued to watch her, mesmerized by the differences of a lifestyle raised without war. I was envious of they way she was able to just reach into a cabinet and pull out whatever food she wanted. The carelessness with which she sauntered around angered me, how was it fair that she could be so at ease?   Her house had been empty when she fell asleep that night, but still she wasn’t worried about a surprise attack from enemy lines.

Perched on a building roof below her window I continued to follow her, fascinated with how simple and boring her life was. Before I realized, I was watching her fend off what looked like a nightmare. She was running, I could tell that much from the way she kicked at the blankets around her body. There might have even been a fight going on in her dream, from the way her body jerked, recoiled, and eventually fell still, it didn’t take much though to assume she had lost. Even still, that wasn’t what caused me to pick her for the trials, although I admit it would be a good laugh.

Her breathing was borderline hyperventilating. I could physically feel the dream nearing its climax, just watching her caused my heart to speed up and had hot adrenaline pumping through my veins. It almost felt like I was about to jump out of my skin when what I was least expecting happened: a scream escaped her lips that pierced me to my bone. From everything I've witnessed in my years, that is saying something. Frozen to my hiding spot I was just able to see her body jerk up into a sitting position and her eyes fly open. They glowed a crystalized purple that lit up the entire room in an eerie haze. Suddenly a gust of wind circled the house, distressing the surrounding trees. As if having a destined path this wind passed through her screened window and consumed her body. Just as the purple glow in her eyes was dying I swore I heard the Song of the Veil riding out on the now calm winds.

That’s how I knew this girl was going to be my Chosen. She clearly had untold power welled up inside her, I just needed to know how to access those powers, and maybe I could get her to survive the trials. If I was lucky, she would be the one the Council was searching all these generations for. If I was lucky, she would be the new Keeper of the Veil.