Chapter One:
Artificial, cold light. You're bathed in it. Freezing white snow falls on you. The black-hooded figures are behind you, their electric taser guns pointed out directly at you. All because of your deformity. You're running, running as fast as you can, but they are surrounding you. You feel tired, hungry, and weak, but you don't stop. You can't stop if you want to keep out of the asylum. Your cat ears pick up an odd sound, one always found where you used to live. Silence. The wind. A squirrel climbing. The things that calm you.
Maybe it'll be alright, you think. Confinement has never really bothered me, and what would they do, anyways? Torture me? A shiver runs down your spine as you realize they WILL do that. Panicked, you leap on to the branch of a tree and try to lose them by jumping from branch to branch, tree to tree, in desperate hope of escape. However, you don't fool them. New York City's never ending lights make it hard for you to get away from prying eyes.
Your eyes make contact with a small, dark alleyway. Perfect. Leaping onto the ground, you run fast. Faster than you normally go, in fact. Your fingernails elongating into claws, you swipe at them as you reach the alleyway. One of your pursuers throw something on the ground. A sleeping bomb. You gasp as a voice sneers, "The end of the line for you, runaway." Already you are falling under the effects as the people chasing you go off for five minutes, for they know you will be unconscious in a matter of seconds. With all the consciousness you can muster, you run deeper into the alley, hoping to run far from this city, far from dangers. As you make your way deeper and deeper, you can pick up footsteps behind you. Fear takes over as you run faster and faster down the alleyway, suddenly smacking head first into a wall. You fall onto the ground, about to faint, not caring about what happens to you anymore. The footsteps grow louder and louder with each passing second. Then you hear two voices.
"Tali, are you sure there's one down this way?" murmurs a man, with a voice full with uncertainty, yet also bravery.
"I'm not sure, Mick, I'm positive," confidently states a girl, speaking loudly. You hear a set of footsteps growing so loud, it's almost unbearable to your sensitive cat ears. Then, your worn eyes make sense of a blurry figure standing over you. You can make out something on the girl's back--Wings? Before you can try and make sense of it, you black out.
~
You are aware of a bandage around your head. Your eyes flash open, in fear of them. You make out that you are laying on a worn bed with quilted sheets. It is soft and comfortable compared to what you're used to. You sigh in relief of having lived another day, but where are you? Gazing at your surroundings, you realize that you're in a small but comfy room consisting of a bed, a bedstand, a table, a chair, and a mirror. You try and walk to the mirror, but your legs are too unstable to carry you that distance, which is only one feet away from you. The door creaks open and a girl around 17 enters the room. Brown hair, amber eyes, and hawk-like features, wearing almost skin-tight white leggings, and a brown cardigan. Then you see the wings. You realize this is the girl from last night. You think her name is Tali, but you aren't sure.
"Ah, the sleeper awakes," she jokes lightheartedly.
"Where am I?" you ask, guarded, but curious.
"Romul," answers the girl in front of you.
You raise your eyebrows, interested. "What's Romul?"
"This explanation will probably take a while, so dig in to the food," she motions to the food in front of you, warm bread with butter, and soup, potato and cheese soup. You grab a slice of bread and eat. "My name is Tali, I'm seventeen, and in a way, I'm like you." She pauses for a moment, then continues. "In order to know what Romul is, you need to learn how it all began. In 2019, a young girl was born--I think in China--with qualities, and parts of her appearance, that resembled a husky. Her name was Kiasia. She and her family moved here, to America on business in 2024. After that, more and more kids were born with attributes of animals. They were called Kiasii. Some people accepted and embraced this change, thinking that life could go on pretty normally.
"Others, like government officials, weren't as accepting of the odd births. They were only just tolerant enough to let them have most rights, as long as they kept their main attributes hidden. They mainly followed this rule, until 2039, when a boy, by the name of Romulus, with wolffish attributes, let slip what he was. He started this whole thing. The government ordered all Kiasii rounded up and imprisoned. Most didn't agree with this. In 2041, a civil war broke out. The states against the new law were Michigan, Wisconsin, and all the way across to California. There were only three states for the new law, and that's New York, Washington D.C., and Maine.
"Romulus fled, but not that far from his home, which was New York. He knew there was still many Kiasii in the city, so he founded a small city. Romul. The base for The Rescuers, a group of humans and Kiasii. The city and group was created 2045. The place we are is a mansion, created for medical and rescuing purposes only. A major turning point came last year, 2049, when this organization went public. A lot of people fled the city in fear of the two encroaching forces.
"Now a lot more Kiasii have been rescued, since we have more help from all of the Kiasii Protection Fighters supporting states. I was rescued only last month. Rescuing you was mine and my best friend's first mission." Tali is silent. "Say, what's your name?" She asks perkily, as though the story hadn't been told.
"Leah," you say. "Leah Mason."
(Yes! Finally done!)
Normal User