Pick Your Path: Book 1

14

" I want Morphia to be my mentor.." you respond. She is the kinder of the two and she has a great position in the kingdom. Maybe if you trained under her, you could assume the same position as her? Of course, you'll never match her experience in the field.

" Really?!"

" Very well, Morphia, you will mentor our new recruit. I trust that you will train him/her well." The Queen states calmly. Raven was expressionless as always. The grey half-breed on the other hand... Was practically busting with excitement.

" Yes Your Highness. I will." Morphia said, trying to keep a serious face, but her constantly flicking tail and ears gave her away. 

"She's really looking forward to training," you think, watching the excitement spark off the half-breed next to you. " I hope I can live up to her standards." you follow the sisters out of the castle.

" I-I know..."

" Just admit it, you wanted to have an apprentice."

" N-no..! An apprentice would only get in the way..!"

" I know you're jealous that he/she chose me over you." you listen to the sisters argue back and forth. Raven sounded the same as always, but was she actually jealous? She didn't sound like she wanted an apprentice in the first place..

" We'll start training tomorrow." Morphia drop back to where you were, leaving her sister to lead, " We'll start at the training grounds. See you then, um, uh..."

" ( Y/n) ( Your name)" you told her your name. If the two of you were going to be training together, you might as well know each other's names. " See you then, Morphia."

Next morning...

You wake up to the sunlight shining through the curtains. You groan, rolling over, trying to escape the harsh light.

" (Y/n)? You awake?" you hear the door open as a familiar voice calls, " We're starting training today."

" Nope... Not awake, " you mumble, bringing the blanket over your head.

" Come on." you feel the blanket be pulled off you. You grumble, reaching for it again. " No, you're getting up." you open your eyes, Morphia is standing by the bed, the blanket in her hand. " Breakfast is downstairs. Come when you're ready."  you slide out of bed and get ready. The sisters were kind enough to let you stay with them, you were using a spare room. 

On your way to breakfast, you catch a glimpse of dark fur in a hammock. With her tail sprawled over the edge of the hammock, Raven slept soundly as you sneak towards her. You reach out your hand to shake her, when Morphia stops you. " Let her sleep, she's had a long night. She'll need it."

" A long night?" 

" Shh..!" Morphia quickly leads you away from the hammock. Raven's ear flicks as she curls into a tight ball, giving a quiet whimper, before protectively wrapping her tail around herself. You hear Morphia sigh in relief as the two of you continue to breakfast. You have a small breakfast of berries and fish.

" Who's that for? Raven?" you spot a piece of smoked eel and mango on a plate set aside.

" Yeah. She'll be up later, maybe around noon time. Her Highness gave her some work to do last night, saying it was due the next day. And Raven, being herself, decided to finish it last night."

" Oh." you didn't push the matter further. It was probably better left unknown anyway. You gaze out at the scenery. Morphia had set up breakfast on the balcony of the tree house. On your plate you had ( f/s/f) (favorite sea food) and (f/f) (favorite fruit) ' It's always better to be in nature than be cooped up indoors.' She had said that earlier. She's right; not only is it an amazing view, but there is a sense of freedom and relief. You enjoy it as you finish your breakfast.

" Let's get going." You follow Morphia out the door and down the stairs. Raven was still asleep, you asked if she'd be alright, Morphia assured you that she'd be fine. " To the training grounds." she's still trying to keep the mask of seriousness. Guess she wants to act more maturely than usual, now that she's a mentor... Wonder how long the seriousness will last before she stops?

" This is it..?" you stare at the building before you. It resembled a house of some sort. You hear soldiers training behind it.

" Yep." Morphia confirmed, " I asked before hand if you could join one of the training classes for your age."

" O-oh, really?" you've never had training like this before. What if the others go too hard on you? What if you don't know what to do?

" You'll do fine." Morphia said with a smile, as if sensing your nervousness. " I'm sure it won't be too hard." the two of you walk around the house to the back. The students were formed in a ring. You couldn't see what was going on in it since the students were crowded and packed together.

" Sparing day.." Morphia's ear flicks, " What do you know about fighting, (Y/n)?"

" All I know is that two people or half-breeds exchange kicks, punches and blows.." you admit sheepishly. You don't have experience fighting, other than the occasional hostile pure-breed animal you had to fight in the forest.

" That's a start. You should get a better look at the sparing matches. You might even pick up a move or two for attack or defense." she squeezes her way through the crowd of students, some of the students move apart to let her pass. You quickly follow her. You feel some of the students cast glances and some glares at you. You hear some of them whisper to one another, though you catch any of what they're saying. Morphia leads you to the center of the ring, where you see two of the students engaged in hand to hand combat. One girl and one boy. Both seemed pretty evenly matched. You decide to pay close attention to one of them...

Pay attention to the boy?  Go to page 26

Pay attention to the girl? Go to page 27