The Prophecy

Camp 2: The duty city and Performium

The same night, in the taiga forest only a few thousands blocks away, the bird shapeshifter sat in the camp he had found new friends in. They were eating together, all five of them. Doni was enjoying some fish he had caught in the river that flowed past close to their camp, the others had found some wild sheeps that they had managed to kill. Giving the whole camp some new blankets as well, to keep them warm at night.

Although Doni had found comfort in the camp, his mind was often on his cousin. He didn't know if the Puffin had found some food or warmth anywhere during the last two weeks. And sure, he sometimes wanted to go fly to find him, he knew he couldn't. He also didn't want to leave the camp with his friends, he's new friends had open their camp for him, offering him both warmth and food, and most importantly some sort of safety. Even though the constant thought of guards ending up searching the forest often was with him.

"Are you thirsty Doni?" Bajan, who was the oldest of the five, asked him, holding out a bucket of water to him.

"Yeah" Doni replied, taking the bucket and lifting it to his lips. He was still deep in his thoughts, where he wondered if this would end when they thought it would. If the leader of their country actually would stop killing people his age after his 100th anniversary on the throne. Sure, that was what everyone was hoping, but no one actually knew. But this was a good way of finding friends, he supposed. That was the only good thing he could figure out of the whole situation.

"Are you alright Doni?" The blonde tall guy, which he had learned was named Lachlan, asked him with worried blue eyes.

"Yeah yeah, I'm just thinking" Doni explained, passing the water back to Bajan.

"About what?" the shorter guy with a blue T-shirt with a red and blue diamond on, which supposedly was meant to look like a star, asked him. The guy, who was named Vikkstar or just Vikk, leaned his head on his hand as he seemed interested in the answer.

"Just everything. How are we meant to know when to go back?" the owl asked, sighing deeply.

"The anniversary is in 83 days, so we should be able to go back home around then" Jerome explained with a shrug, Doni wished he could know more about what was going on at home. Was his family okay? Was his friends alright.

"That's when we can get back home, and maybe find back to our lost friends" Bajan added, looking away into the distant. "I pray to Notch that Laake and Quiff is alright" he whispered, just loud enough for the people sitting closest to him to hear, which Doni happened to do.

"Who are they?" Doni couldn't hold himself from asking, even though he felt like maybe he shouldn't. Jerome, who sat at Bajans left, sighed deeply.

"They are the two friends we left home with. Laake helped us flee with a lot of food and armour, as well as our weapons, but we lost him and Quiff in the woods after only a few weeks" Jerome explained, looking up at the night sky.

"And while Quiff is a great fighter, and probably easily could find both of them food, Laake isn't that great of one. You see, Laake is the son of the Swamp city's mayor, he never learned how to fight and kill animals. And sure, he is smart, great at many things. But surviving in the wild? That's not his strongest side, and Quiff can't do that for both of them. I really hope they found allies wherever they are, otherwise I fear they might be dead by now" Bajan continued, sighing at the end as he looked at his Bird friend.

"I'm sure they did, there's loads of young guys in this woods, from all over the country" Lachlan reassured them both.

"We've all lost people in these woods. Myself I lost two of my best friends, Sidearms and Speedy, while we ran away from the Side city" Vikk explained, looking up at the stars just like Jerome.

"Wait, you knew a guy called Sidearms who lived in the Side city?" Lachlan asked, giggling.

"Those two were the only two of my friends who wanted to run, the other ones wanted to fight back" Vikk continued, ignoring Lachlan completely.

"I had friends who tried that too, and although they were great warriors, I watched them fail. I didn't know the guards were coming until they arrived by the doors, so I hid under a loose floorboard in my parents room. When they had searched through our house I sneaked and looked out of the window to see if they had left, there my best friends were fighting for their lives against the guards who have trained their whole life. It wasn't a pretty sight" Lachlan explained with a sigh.

"What city did you come from?" Doni asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder to comfort him as the blonde had tears in his eyes, I think all of them had at the thought of what was happening.

"The Duty city, where most guards are recruited from. Most of the guards fighting on the streets were family members of my friends or me. Imagine having to kill your sons, cousins or nephews, and even friends" Lachlan sighed, looking down at the ground. "My mum is one of the guards that worked that night, I watched her kill one of my best friends" all four other boys put a hand on the blonde to comfort him, as he now had tears streaming down his face. Doni didn't even want to feel what Lachlan must be feeling. He didn't want to experience anything close to it.

When Lachlan had calmed down a bit he turned to Doni, forcing a smile as he dried his tear with the back of his hands.

"Which city did you come from?" he then asked.

"Performium, it's a small city a bit south from the Sky city" Doni explained, smiling back at him. "It's a very divided place, we have all kind of people from all kind of places" he then continued.

"I've heard of Performium before, it's that friendly place where everyone knows everyone" Vikk pointed out.

"I mean, I suppose we are really friendly. But we don't know everyone, and we do have a lot of problems too" Doni explained.

"I also heard that the mayor is kinda a troll, especially when it comes to law breakers" Bajan remembered.

"Rga? Yeah sure. But believe me, he is easy to troll as well" Doni explained, with a laugh as he smiled.

"You know him?" Jerome asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Everyone knows him, kind of. Most of us has been trolled by him at one point" the owl continued. "But yeah, he was my friend for sure" he then sighed. Thinking at his very high statused friend. He remember how they became friends while in Uni. When he was preparing to take over from his father, and Doni was just studying. Sure the mayor was a lot older than him, 7 whole years, making him safe at home with his wife and daughter. He hoped they were happy, whatever they were doing...