Edan & Hima: The Awakening

Chapter One

The sounds of birds chirping loudly filled the air as the light tore away the darkness of the night sky. Yet, one would think that the sounds came from regular, everyday birds. These birds, however, were different. One would've initially thought it might, perhaps, have been a strange sort of robin, or blue jay. No, they're bigger than that. Perhaps an eagle, or falcon? No, no, far bigger than that, too. Their wings were the length of cars, and their tailfeathers half the size. Some of the birds' beaks were long, and some were short, yet a few would still call it long due to the bird's size.

The chirps and songs that the large birds sang gave way as an announcement. It awakened many of the residents in nearby houses, and many children would begin to run out of the small buildings with excitement. They gazed up at the birds that flew overhead, giggling and clapping happily. And the birds would fly through the length of the entire area, the First Village. It was named this for the reason of it being the very first settlement to have been founded for the inhabitants of the village before more began to spread across the nation, even travelling to other continents. There were, collectively, over three hundred fifty-six villages, with one more under development.

These villages were for a certain special type of people, for the inhabitants of each village carried with them a special ability–the ability to shapeshift However, their ability wasn't like the folklore shapeshifters where they were able to become anything or anyone. They were animal, or even beast, shifters. When each shapeshifter, or simply shifter, was born, they were also born alongside their animal, which only resides in their conscience. Their animal grows within their mind and grows stronger every passing year. Yet they do not show themselves until the time was right. This was generally around the age of nine for male children and sixteen for females.

Not everyone was born with the same animal. There were six different categories: the bear, the wildcat, the wolf, the horse, the bird, and the mythical beasts.

The First Village was widely more of a wildcat and wolf population, with bear and birds falling close second. Horses weren't entirely common, but they had a significant population. And finally the mythical beast, they have categories of their own. Mythical beasts were the less common type of shifter to be in a village. There population was incredibly small, but the strength of just one was incomparable. Some villages even believed that the death of a mythical beast, or even simply the presence of one would cause chaos for years to come, so they discourage the species from ever stepping foot in the village, or refuse to allow one to be born.

Yet, the First Village welcomed all shifters, even the mythical beasts. Some mythical beasts were even in charge of some of the militia in the village.

Lastly, there were the once-so-well-known, but not anymore, shifters. Some had even begun to forget the name of these special shifters. In fact, that was their name: Specials! That was merely the common name of the species as everyone, since earlier times, had referred to the species by that name. But, they are really called *Quattons. Not much is known about the species as all record of their existence came to an end around the thirteenth century—five centuries after the disappearance of another unusual species and the fall of an ancient kingdom.

The birds that soared the airs dispersed into every direction. Four had perched on nearby buildings. These buildings were tall and made of brick. Several bricks of the building was beginning to chip and vines and ivory were growing all along the walls. The four birds who had landed on the tops of these buildings sat on a small step and ruffled their feathers before their bodies began to suddenly morph and slowly turned into the figure of a human. The humans that were now on the roofs stood to their feet and approached a small podium. On the top of the podiums sat brass horns. All four shifters held the horns in their hands and lifted it to their lips before blowing into the horn, creating a beautiful tune that reverberated throughout the village.