Journey to the Edge

Chapter 2

Kira, Mariela, and Livy stopped talking and their smiles slowly fell from their faces when they were interrupted. Kira looked up, Mariela looked to the left, and Livy turned completely around in order to face who called to them. 

A small group of people were walking towards them. There were two females and a male. Normally, Kira noted, there were more of them than just three.

They must've been the first ones up, Kira thought to herself. Or maybe just the only ones who were up to seeing the crazy things we were going to do.

"So what have you three done this time?" the male repeated. He was around the same height as Kira and Mariela, so he was around the average height for his age. He had short, spiky, light blonde hair. His eyes were a light amber, which was often the subject of conversations about him. He wore a long-sleeved, green-gray shirt. The wrists were a little short, but no one knew if it was his own doing, he had grown and kept the shirt, or if that was the style. Whenever he was asked, he would either change the subject or not answer at all. His shorts were a dark khaki and had the bottoms rolled up. Normally, they fell to about the middle of his lower legs. However, since he rolled them up, they only came to below his knees.

"Nothing that requires your attention," Kira answered. She lifted herself off of the ground while responding. She walked to stand in front of her two friends, who were getting up, as well.

"Nothing illegal, I hope?" presumed one of the females.  She, in Kira's personal opinion, was the physically prettier of the two females there. The two of them always hung out together, and many people agreed that this one was much prettier in every way than the other one. Kira, however, only believed that the physical appearance of this girl was prettier than the other. She truly believed that every other aspect of the other girl was more beautiful than the first's. The first girl had short hair that fell to about right below her shoulders. It was rather wavy and was mostly dark brown with blonde streaks. Her eyes were a beautiful hazel. She wore a light brown jacket. It looked very soft, although Kira had never felt it. It had sleeves that draped far below her wrists. Underneath it was a darker brown shirt. It wasn't really underneath it, since the jacket was neither buttoned up nor zipped. She wore light blue pants that were cuffed at the ankles. 

"I sure hope not," Mariela said. She pushed herself up using the tree. She strode to stand slightly behind Kira. She lifted her arm and rested it on Kira's shoulder. Kira chuckled both at her response and her actions, but said nothing.

"What are you doing out here, anyways," Livy chimed in. She slowly walked over to stand on the other side of Kira. Kira glanced at her friend briefly before turning to the other group; awaiting a response.

"We just figured you three idiots would be out here," the male said. He verbally said an insult, but his tone revealed that he said it jokingly. He smiled after saying it too; it wasn't a rude or cocky smile. It was a friendly, humorous smile. 

"That's never concerned you before," Kira reproached. She titled her head upward, pointing her chin at him. 

From her view, she saw his eyes dart towards where the large rock and burnt patch of grass from where they attempted their "trio jump," as Kira had named it, from earlier.

"You guys never take a break, do you?" he said with a laugh. 

Kira lowered her head to make eye contact with him. "It's Saturday, Makai," she said. "There are no classes today; this is our break."

Makai laughed and the first female spoke again.

"Don't you have special classes, or something?" she inquired.

The three of them dropped their jaws. Livy was the only one to recompose herself. Kira and Mariela, on the other hand, looked at each other with wide smiles before bursting out with laughter. It was several, long moments before they finally stopped. 

"Extra classes!" Kira finally spoke, still laughing a bit. "What do I look like to you, Mireya? The Fire Hero's Apprentice?"

Mireya scoffed. "Everyone dropped that tradition decades ago."

"Well," the other girl finally piped up. She had long, brown hair slightly darker than dirt. It fell to around the center of her back. She looked to be a year or two younger than the others there; either that, or she was naturally a few inches shorter than the rest. Her eyes were bright, other than the fact that they were light brown. They were always bright a lively, despite her quiet personality. She also wore dark ginger glasses. Glasses were a trait rather uncommon to people in their region, so that was practically her signature trait. She wore a sky blue tank-top and dark blue denim shorts. She hardly ever wore anything long; and Kira always somewhat jokes that it's because her warm heart keeps her and others warm no matter what. 

"It's not entirely a tradition," she continued. "The heroes have always been chosen by the Ancients every generation. They usually send some sign or mark telling that child is to be the next one, so its not that we abandoned that tradition. It's more or less the ancients abandoned it." 

Mireya rolled her eyes. " We didn't ask for a full explanation, Roselyn," she complained. Roselyn lowered her eyes and diverted her gaze.

Kira scoffed, mostly at Mireya, but did it an anonymous way. "Still. No marks. Nothing," she said, waving her arms slightly and stepping around in a circle. 

Makai smirked. "You never know. The ancients could be late."

"Yeah," Mariela input. "The odds of that are minimal."

They continued their conversation for about half an hour before they were convinced to go inside by another student, who usually hung out with Roselyn, Makai, and Mireya.

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//Author's Notes//

Hello, few people who read this (both the notes and the story lol)! So, here's the next chapter where three new characters are introduced! 

So, there's a teensy bit of foreshadowing in this one, but I'm not gonna say anything other than it, okay?

Anyway, I guess that's it for now! See ya!