Wingless -The Heart of Darkness

Prince

Earth's Blessing
Staff member
#1
A note from the author:

Dear Reader
While I was reading one of my favorite books, I was puzzled by my imagination so much, that I felt my head blow up in tiny bazzillion pieces, and to top that off, everything went in slow motion. The next day, I felt so intrigued by the idea of writing a book, so I decided to write one. And so I started writing "Wingless". At first everything seemed easy and the words kept coming one after the other, but then later when I re-read the prologue, more and more ideas kept forming in my head until, I finally decided to write a series of books. I wouldn't want you dear reader to wait any longer so here is the first book in the series, entitled "The Heart of Darkness". Enjoy ~!

P.s Comments and critiques are always welcomed ^u^


Prologue

Prologue




-Huh ….huh ….huh ….



-Pain…my head hurts…as pain races to my head I suddenly jumpstart myself back to life…



-Why I am I breathing so heavily? My lungs ache in pain every time I inhale and exhale. I put my hand on my forehead. My god, I’m burning up. My body temperature must be at least 39 C’. I put both of my hands to my face. I can’t see them even though they’re so close. It must be dark in here. I try to stand up but my body feels so heavy. My knee’s start to buckle under my own weight, and I fall down on my behind.

-Hangover?

-I try to use my hands behind my back to balance myself but it seems it’s rather hard in my current state. Ok, ok, get a grip. I try to shake my head to get this nausea feeling away but it just makes things worse as pain shots through my head and neck.

" ARGH! "

I would probably use every curse I know right now, except that the pain is making my head blurry and I can’t think of any. My eyes start to adjust to the dim light. I try to look around but not much is visible. I take a few deep breaths and try to get back up. I try to jump on my feet but the moment I do that, the pain just bites me even harder, so I crash down, head first. Next stop, solid floor!

WHACK!...

A deep thud echoes through the room. Gravity one me zero. I feel something warm dripping from my forehead. I try to touch it with my fingers but it burns. I can’t see it and I can’t smell it either, so I try tasting it. It has no taste at first but then it gets metallic and spreads through your mouth.


-Ugh! The taste of blood the first thing you wake up, and on top of that I have to worry about this gash on my pretty little forehead. Frustrating, but not as much as trying to get up but you can’t. So I try the next best thing, crawling. I slowly get up on my knees, and start to move forward, using my hands instead of my eyes to guide me. I try to keep my head low to try and minimize the pain. I make my way to a seat … with sheets …that would be my bed I guess. I expand my arms as if I’m hugging the bed and then just roll on it. It doesn’t seem to be king size, but it seems to suit me just fine. I roll around it for a while until my headache passes, then I just keep staring around trying to figure out the things around me. 4 corners, I guess this is a room. A closet, with a missing door, and lots of clothes sticking out of it. A chair, a small sofa on the other end of the room , a desk , a small screen on it ,one of those new one’s with voice commands , but you get bored with them pretty quickly, a door, must be a way out, ok that thought made me happy for a moment, a bookshelf , but there aren’t many books on it , I guess I’m one of those guys who hates studying, and the window. It doesn’t seem to be closed shut so the sun seems to find a way to put some light in my room. I roll around the bed some more. Slowly I start to get some parts of my memory back, but I still can’t remember most things. I get up. I don’t want to repeat the same thing again, so I do it slowly this time. I manage to stand up straight. So far so good. I make my way to the window, maybe some fresh air will do me good. I open it and then I’m suddenly blinded by the light.


- Oh god, my eyes burn like hell. I cover my face with my arms. It takes a minute or two before I can look outside the window without squirming. A bright, blue sky with lots of clouds floating around.Its nothing special really but you gradually learn to appreciate it. A couple of trees here and there, a wide green field stretching far before me, and then some small buildings. The buildings seem to get larger as they get closer to the center of what looks like a huge, ball shaped structure. And when I say huge, I mean mountain size. It seems that the place where I’m staying is isolated from the rest like an outcast, because it’s located on the perimeter near some large boulders and there doesn’t seem to be another building near this one. At least not for another mile. I sigh. This is just crappy...


-Then the PAD on my desk vibrates. I pick it up. The thing I’m holding is called a PAD. Most people call them pucks because of their circular shape. They are about the size of my palm, slim, about 6 mm thick and fairly light, so they’re really easy to use. It operates in two modes, holo mode, which displays all the information you need in the shape of holograms, and then there is the wing mode , in which a semi circle around the top part of the PAD appears , showing the info that way. Most youngsters use the holo mode for its appearance, but I tend to use the wing mode because it’s more convenient when you don’t want people to know what you’re up to. I notice two new messages in my inbox so I quickly open the PAD and log in. Gabriel Gray...that’s me. I have my mother’s maiden name set as a password though I’m not telling you what it is. My picture appears on the screen with most of my basic information.


Age: 19

Blood type: 0 Negative

Eye color: Light green

Hair color: Black

Parental status: Under a legal guardian, refer to section 9/13 for more inf…



-I go back to my picture again… There are things about my past and parents that just don’t go well together.



-I keep staring at my hair for a moment. Long and simple, but when I made the profile picture they fell in front of my face, covering my right eye, giving me that dorky look. But I don’t care, cause I know I’m hot… yeah right.
Finally I get to the messages. I read the first one which seems to be from last night.



-“ Man you kicked ass, for a weakling. I didn’t know you had those moves, and you’re a hard drinker! A hole barrel of beer~! We had to take you out and drag you home after you drank it all. Ow yeah , Dunkan is after your head and he is flipped ! Watch your back dude”.

Sent by Unknown.


HUUUUUUUUUH ?
When the heck did all of this happen? Why the heck can’t I remember anything? My headache comes back when I try to remember so I’m going to leave it at that for now. I so need to stop drinking, I just can’t handle memory holes. I hope the other message is better, so I open that one.

“Dear best friend of mine. Your 3 hours late, and miss Yvonne is ragging. Your getting your ass branded when you get here, which better be soon, because we have War Arts next.
P.S. I ate your lunch box =D “

Sent by Adrian Stormwell


Crap. Just Crap. I hurry as fast as I can and put on my school uniform. It isn’t a cool looking uniform, but since its black, which happens to be my favorite color , I’ll wear it any day any time. Miss Yvonne happens to be my guardian while I’m studying here in this city. I promised her I would do better this semester but I blew it up the first week…again… and Mr. Burter aka Hammer Head is so going to nail me if I’m late in War Arts class. He’s going to make me clean the field, which took me three days last time. But the most important part why I need to hurry, is Adrian taking my lunch. That bastard is greedy and he always takes my precious homemade lunch from miss Yvonne. She’s a great cook, and I love her cooking, but Adrian taking my lunch… is unforgivable. I quickly fly through the stairs and almost trip forgetting that I live on the third floor. Luckily I make it out in one piece , grab my hover board by the door and race to catch the last two hours of my school day as fast as I can…

Next stop St. Erebus Academy

CHAPTER 1

Chapter 1





“And then there was a fist ? “




-I was already at full speed while I was zipping down the old dusty road that leads up to the old dorms where I stay at, when I suddenly felt the chilling sensation of pure adrenaline. It’s something that is hard to explain and more of a “try it out yourself thing”. The blood keeps running back and forth trying to feed my over intoxicated brain, while my senses try to adjust to the environment around me. I can barely feel the road in front of me any longer, but I keep pushing the hover board to its limits, trying to squeeze the joy out of it. The hole on the road and the bump that I get from it quickly brings me back to my senses. I start to see again once the tunnel vision clears away, a couple of blinks and I’m good to go. Now there is just one last major problem. I forgot what I was hurrying for. Oh yeah… A couple of seconds go bye before it hits me. Hammerhead is going to kill me. Just the thought of him sends a jolt through my body and right on my left foot as it steps on the accelerator all the way.



-I’m sure I’m going to regret this later. From everyday of the week I had to pick out the worst one to get drunk and get a hangover. Adrian’s got a lot of explaining to do. But first things first, getting to the Academy.



-There are several ways to get there, but the location of the dormitory is a major problem.



-Usually since the dormitory is located in the outskirts of the city, about 19 km away ,on top of a hill called Dead Kings Hill, you would seek out a fast way of transportation. The good thing is that there happens to be a LAV twice a day, but one is at 8 am in the morning and the other is at 8 pm in the evening.



-The bad thing is that the dormitory is empty even though it was built to accommodate about 100 other student’s. The facility is in a very bad shape. It has five stories but the upper two stories are burned down and only the 3rd and the 1st story are used for everyday living.



-The kitchen is located on the 1st floor, though I rarely use it, since my cooking abilities are way beyond awful, and there isn’t much joy in cooking when you’re all by yourself. You may have guessed or I might as well tell you that I live alone. So I have to get up all by myself and that’s how I usually get to miss the LAV.



-The LAV stands for Levitating Automated Vehicle, which looks like a flying lunchbox to be more exact, is about 3 meters wide and 4 meters long. I think it’s a great way of transport since it takes me really close to the Academy, almost at its entrance, and most of the time it’s deserted so I don’t have to worry about finding a seat.



-Even though the system is way out of date it can get me where I need to be in about 10-15 minutes. The LAV’s main disadvantage is the weather. Whenever the weather is bad, so is the LAV. Most of the LAV’s breakdown due to a thunderstorm or heavy rains, so the city decided to shut down most of the ones that were being used in the city. You can only find them in the outskirts nowadays.



-After 5 minutes of speeding down the hill, I finally clear the old dirt road and hit solid concrete. The shake that I get from the hover board helps me clear my head. I can see a small one story building, painted in bright colors with a neon sign hanging over it that says “Mr. Zanabis Magic Shop”. Every time that I pass through here I get a chuckle.


-Mr. Zanabi is a 67 year old man. Most of the people are afraid of him cause of his dark skin but Mr.Zanabi has a really warm heart for youngsters and he loves to show them magic tricks and lessons. In fact Mr. Zanabi owns a food store but loves the flashy colors and name. I don’t blame him, you don’t see that many colors in one building anymore.



“ Hey Kiddo “ I hear Mr. Zanabis voice as he comes out of the store to greet me.



“Late again ehh? “



I want to hide the fact that he knows me really well, since I come here most of the time to get supplies and stuff or whenever the dorm gets lonely so it’s no surprise that he can read right through me. Think quickly.



“I forgot my homework”



“At this time of year? Who are you trying to fool kiddo, I was a student once too you know” Darn he knows me to well, and the fact that he was also a student at the Academy.



“Fine, I overslept again “ I try to reply with a casual voice.



“I heard of having nightmares while you sleep but hangovers? Let me help you with that “ And with a clap of his hands a wave of crystal blue water splashes over me , materializing out of thin air, giving me a fresh look and my headache is suddenly gone too.



-Mr. Zanabi is great with magic, though I’m still wondering why he quit the Academy. He would be a great teacher




“Now of you go kiddo. I don’t want Yvonne spiting fire all over me for keeping you here.” And as soon as he finishes his words he quickly disappears inside his shop.



-I take a look around first. Mr. Zanabi has a habit of pulling jokes on me whenever I’m least suspecting it, but luckily his not around. A huge spherical shape, a giant among titans, sticking out of the ground, catches the corner of my eyes.



St. Erebus Academy, the glory of the Midian Nation and all of its cities and villages.



-Well I better get going unless I want to get a piece of that glory.




-I hit the acceleration on the hover board and with a humming sound I’m off to a speedy start. It’s a wonder how this hover board has lasted so long in my hands. I happen to have a really bad habit of tinkering with electrical devices and the hover boards are my favorite ones.



-Most of my greatest creations were serious failures. The first ones blew up several times, one time while I was riding back to the dorm. It burned of my eyebrows and I had to jump in a nearby river to save the remaining hairs on my face. I was ashamed to go to school for a few days, but Mr. Zanabi helped me with that problem.




-There was one that zapped me into nirvana. I was taking out the power source and the moment I touched the naked cables, the core discharged all the energy into this one painful jolt which rendered me unconscious for a few days, until miss Yvonne came to check me and found me laying down on the floor in my burned off underpants while hugging the hover board. It was rather embarrassing that she dressed me up and put me to bed, and telling her female colleagues about it.




-There were other hover boards that I tinkered with, in order to make them faster, but sometimes they went to fast and I would be blown off them, and sometimes they would do the opposite and play turtle race with me.



-I never have to worry about how many hover boards I break, since they’re really cheap to buy and the Academy pays for them, so I could say that I have an endless supply. Now all that’s left is to take over the world …on a hover board. I cough and zigzag through the parking lot in front of me.



-Now the fun part is coming. Suddenly I get that feeling like I’m a ring master and something daring is about to happen. Ladies and gentleman, at 614 meters wide, and an astonishing 4.3 km deep, stretching almost through the entire length of the city, just about 100 meters away from our daring young challenger, I present you the Dead Man’s Smile.



-A chill runs down through me every time that I remember how I tried to jump over it, with my magically awesome hover boards and the times that I barely got away by a hair, clinging to the edges of the insanely deep trench that was stretching right in front of me.



-Dead Man’s Smile can’t be crossed by normal means, that’s why there are bridges that link the city to the outskirts at every kilometer of the trench. There is a reason why it’s called Dead Man’s Smile, since pretty much everyone who tried to jump over it would end up at the bottom, dead, and the curve that it has making it look as if the earth is smiling at idiots who try to challenge it.



-Allot of people have tried going down there to investigate, but most are afraid of the corpses and the things they might find down there. I’m always temped to try to jump over it again , but I would rather be the person with the most tries then end up dead at the bottom.



-There’s a link bridge about half a kilometer from where I am so I head for it as fast as I can. It doesn’t take much time for me to cross the bridge since the hover boards work better where there is steel and metal. At the highest point of the bridge I get a full view of the city.



The city of Eridin, the center of all magic and the capital city of the Kingdom of Midia, and right in the center of the city, towering over the tallest buildings, St. Erebus Academy.



-I don’t get to dwell much on the view as I’m heading down the bridge that connects to the district, and not just any district, the hunter’s district to be more exact.



-The hunter’s district is the most infamous district from all the rest. It's a district where things like law and order simply don’t exist, and only the rule of the strongest is respected. It’s one of the worst districts to find yourself in.



-I glide through the roads as silently as possible, trying to avoid any contact with the local residents. During this time, the district falls silent but not dead. Just because you can’t see anybody doesn’t mean there is no one.
There is always someone watching in the Hunters district, always and that is what scares me the most.




-I’ve been here several times with miss Yvonne but no one would want to pick a fight with her since she has a well known reputation for being the boxing champion for 5 years in a row. They would always look for ways to scam people and unless you were careful you would lose most of your money either swindled or you would get pick pocked.




-I make my way through the district carefully and slowly before I catch up to the LAV. The moment the door close, I feel a sense of relief wash over me, and I stretch my tired legs on the empty seats. The LAV hums slowly as it flies over the rest of the districts and heads for the Academy.




-Most common folks never notice but the Academy has a powerful barrier wrapping over it, and it’s impossible to enter its perimeter without going through it. The LAV stops at a nearby station just before the barrier and I get off. I pick up the hover board since normal electronic devices can’t pass on their own.



-I stop about a meter away before the barrier, hold my breath and walk straight through it. At first it feels like your hitting a solid wall, but then the force loosens and you get this tingling electrical surge over your skin, before you pass through and your just blown away by the magic that lingers through the air.



-St. Erebus High is a place only for those with a connection to magic, and it is here that they feel the strongest. The scent and feeling of magic is almost overpowering and it gets stronger and stronger the more closer you go to the center of the Academy but not before passing through one of the most beautiful garden in the kingdom.



-Just before the main entrance of the Academy, is the Garden of Divine Whispers. There is no type of flower that you can’t find here no matter what time of year it is. There are magical spirits running around most of the time but not many can hear them well, so they call them Whisper Spirits. They don’t have a shape of their own so they change according to the things that the person nearby is thinking of.



-Suddenly I spot the shape of Hammerhead appearing around the garden. I guess that’s my cue, so I better hurry. I look at the time on the grand masters clock in the main entrance as the huge doors open and I walk in. 1.57 pm. The class should start at 2 so I only have 3 minutes to spare.



-I drop the board at an empty locker in which I can place the electronic things that I bring in, because beyond the garden and the entrance hall, all electronic devices are forbidden. I close the locker and rush off to catch the elevator. The door opens half way across the hallway and just before I reach it, I’m confronted by a huge muscular arm, that knocks the wind out of me and sends me flying through the hall while spinning wildly, slamming in the elevator door when it closes, leaving a perfect face print on it. Who said I sucked at modern art?
 

HappyNisa

Super Moderator
Staff member
#4
*chuckles* Yep I still like it~~ Though I wonder why you put a - before every paragraph :huuh: And sometimes it's a bit confusing for me if he's tlaking thinking or telling ^^" other than that me like~~ :D
 

Prince

Earth's Blessing
Staff member
#5
xD Thank you for your support Nisa ^^ , your probably the first one to like it, so I'll continue writing it as long as I have one faithful reader >w<