The Venerate Order

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Strafe

Every once in a while you wake up and you get the feeling you're going to do something amazing.

My name is Strafe Rocknus. On this particular morning, I was sleeping in my hammock in our main city park under some trees. When I woke up, I felt that something was going to happen that day, something that would be unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. I let out a loud yawn and "Ahhh!" My giant wolf that I'd named Brutus Maximus sprang up from his sleep, alert and ready to defend me. He's my spirit animal, my guardian, and my greatest ally.

I'm half Native American, a quarter Irish and a quarter German. From my father's Native side, we get paired up with an animal when we are eighteen years old to signify our coming of age and to pledge our lives to protect nature. The animal that a person chooses reminds us that nature is always at our side. Brutus is five years old.

I think I scared him, which is funny because most people find him scary. He trusts me completely and is actually my main means of transportation because he allows me to ride on his back. Ever since he was two he's been able to carry me. We've developed a mutual trust seldom seen between our species that allows me to do so.

The day was bright, with no clouds in the sky and the smell of freshly mown grass in the air. I thought I'd just relax for a while, but I must've fallen asleep. I'd been working on designing my project to cross a gorge close to my town. Easing out of the hammock, I picked up my flight jacket, a blue one, with round white shoulders and my flight patch on the left side. As I grabbed a banana from my backpack, I saw someone riding up on a Mag-Cycle. He parked ten feet from me and gave me the peace sign. It was my friend Gain. He wasn't going to miss an opportunity to rib me.

"Dream was that bad huh? You must have been about to try out the ramp!" he called out as he walked over to pet Brutus.

Brutus was really a big sweetheart in a wolf's clothing. I'd vacated the hammock and Gain hopped into it. His hair was blond, always cool-cut, slicked-back with a touch of black. As usual, when he rode he wore his midnight black Mag-Cycle gear. The whole outfit consisted of black leather pants, high-top black shoes, black gloves and a yellow shirt with a rooster on the front. Gain was a 25-year-old cycle guy, proud of the many tattoos on his arms and a few piercings on his eyebrows and ears. He had bright blue eyes and always wore a bandana with our country's colors on it. He was good with tools and was a motorhead through and through. He might've looked weird to some, but he was my best friend.

"Careful now, you forgot I put a failsafe on that!" I said. I pushed a button on the hammock and it folded up, dropping Gain to the ground. He winced in pain but we both started laughing.

"Speaking of the ramp, I need to get back to that. Is Yessa down there?"

"Yup, still tinkering around. She actually asked me to come fetch you. She said it might be done," Gain replied while rubbing his back and stretching.

"You hear that Brutus! All that hard work might pay off and help me buy my own plane! Don't worry, it'll be big enough for you to ride along!" I cheered.

Brutus tilted his head; he did that often while listening to me. We folded up the hammock and headed off, Gain on his ride, and I saddled up on Brutus.

My town was once called Santa Barbara; but now, in the year 2088, it's called New Santa Barbara and has been ever since it became 100% clean energy-dependent in 2016.

I grew up here.

We enjoyed the life outside the big city but were close enough to it to go bar diving or to a game. New Santa Barbara had shopping centers, arcades, beaches, movie theaters, good police and everything else needed for our idea of comfortable living. Many of the houses were nestled in the mountains surrounding our city. At night, the occupants of those houses would look down on the glittering city lights.