"Rise and shine sleeping bear. It is time for breakfast then we must jump into the day. You have too much to learn in not much time." Nova groaned into the pillow, maybe she would change her mind again about working with him if this was how early he was going to be waking her up.
Nova wasn't silent as she made her way down the creaking stairs. She was beyond tired, and she didn't have it in her to pretend any less. Her hair was a curly mess of bed head, and she wore nothing more than a large shirt. Gooseflesh freckled her body from the feel of the air on her body. She missed the warmth of the sheets already. She had stayed up all night murmuring and memorizing the curled lines of the alphabet that Reyn had given her. Pride welled in her chest slightly at now being able to at least identify the letters. Nova tucked her hair behind her ear, batting it from her eyes as she poured herself a fairly large cup of coffee. When she'd first tasted the substance she hated its bitter taste, but the workers were quick to pour milk and sugar into the dark substance. Enough so that the bitter black water faded to a creamy tanned color. They explained to her, with waving hands and facial expressions, that the bitter drink would help to wake her up. Nova glanced around the room then, noticing the absence of such mades, before turning to face Reyn. He raised an eyebrow to her and gestured to the table, as if to say, eat then we'll talk. Nova did not have to be told twice.
Nova sighed at the fullness of her belly, and leaned back into the chair bringing her feet to nestle on the other side, she held her warm coffee to her chest and took gentle sips of the bitter drink."I'm glad to see you enjoyed breakfast," he gave her a wicked smile, and this time it was not the air against her skin that made gooseflesh rake her body. "Now go get dressed, you'll be doing a hundred laps around the property this morning."
Nova's mouth dropped open, "A hundre- Reyn that's ridiculous- I can't-"
"You can, you're Adovi now." another wicked smile.
"Reyn," Nova pleaded.
"Do I hear two hundred?" Nova growled as she stood from the table, he chuckled at that and she stuck her tongue out at him as she walked by. He shouted at her as she traveled back to her room, "Oh and I do hope you practiced your letters, I want to hear you reciting them as you run the laps!" Nova let out an exasperated ugh as she dressed.
The sun was just cresting the rocky peaks of the manor when they arrived outside. Nova had dressed in a tank top and leggings. Suitable for the trying task she was about to embark on.
"This time I keep the pace. Keep up or you'll be cleaning up the whole house on your own after training." Reyn snorted, Nova just signed and tied up her hair. With that, he took off letting gravity send him flying down the hill. He didn't keep the normal trott, he started at a brutal pace. Rounding the corner of the house he took the opportunity to look back over his shoulder. She was red faced but only a few strides behind him. He smiled a bit as his long legs tore up the terrain. After 10 laps at that steady pace the girl was lagging but he just poured on a bit more speed.Nova wiped the sweat that flooded her brow. The sun was like a hot overseer that poured its liquid rage into her back. She had thought she'd known torture, but this was a new kind. The kind that ripped at her muscles and made her side ache with each inhale of breath. She should have stretched. Should have spent the night preparing for this agonizing run, or at the very least, eaten less. She could feel the bile in the back of her throat as she ran.
She glared at Reyns back, throwing up a vulgar gesture, as she continued, and failed to keep pace with him. She rounded the corner, twelve, she counted they were only on twelve. Twelve out of one hundred, she let out a little whimper at the thought. This was just the starting pace, and just the start of her day at that. They neared the front of the house, Reyn throwing back a crooked grin at her. A grin that tore through her inside, a mocking grin. She glared at him. Half-breed, monster, abomination, human all these words tore through her from that one single look. Then another word Adovi. She was Adovi now. New energy ripped through her as she rounded the corner. She threw all her power into her legs, skidding as she raced the corner, skidding as she slid up behind him now just a hair's breadth away. His eyes glinted in delight at her presence, and she grinned back. She could do this. She could be one of them.
YOU ARE READING
Monsters
FantasyHuman or beast? Mutt is more like it. Nova is caught in the middle of an age old war. Lines were drawn in the sand hundreds of years before her birth. Being a member of the last surviving human setlement on earth and her years being trapped in a lab...