That sparks a little of my attention. Designated Chosen? Usually, when a kytaen is selected to protect a Chosen, there is no test involved. It’s decided based on the kytaen’s and Chosen’s strengths, and whether or not they are compatible. In fact, I’m sure all of these calculations are done on a computer.
‘Please note that the time is half past the ninth sun hour.’
I have the feeling that this announcement isn’t for us, but for the sake of documentation. Of course the Chosen wouldn’t address us. To them, kytaen are just tools, objects, shields that protect them. We’re not even worthy of the title slave.
Ah. It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. I let out a sigh, closing my eyes and resting my head against the bars. I listen to the woman’s voice as she goes on and on and on. I wish she’d hurry up so I can go back to my shadows, and if not that, so that they can just kill me. But on and on she goes as the sun blazes on above us.
‘And so to conclude…’
Finally, I think.
‘…whichever kytaen is left standing will be deemed the most satisfactory for the designated Chosen.’
Th-thud. I’d forgotten my heart until it begins to beat like a drum against my chest. ‘Whichever kytaen is left standing…’
‘Test commencing in twenty…’
I sit up, eyes wide. Wait… what?
‘Nineteen…’
Glancing around, all I see are confused faces.
And then…
Most of the kytaen that had been in their human form transform into their elemental form, barely fitting inside the cages. As I watch them, my head throbs at the realisation of my being here.
‘Sixteen…’
Wait. Just hold on a second. This can’t be happening. I was taken from my confinement, my solitary existence, for this, a test, a game? I was once powerful, formidable even, but after spending so long in confinement, my body is weak and worn. The other kytaen will have every advantage over me.
I look across to the kytaen nearest to me. She is still in her human form, hands clenched around the bars. She’s the only one who seems as torn as me.
‘Thirteen…’
I don’t want to kill my brethren. In the past, I have killed many kytaen, sometimes to protect the Chosen I called keeper, and other times simply because my keepers wanted them dead. But this is different. This is not killing for the sake of my keeper’s orders or survival, but for the sake of my survival. Killing them means I am putting my life above theirs.
Well, this is all right, isn’t it? Isn’t it? Hadn’t I always wanted death anyway? Before they put me in the shadow cells, I had begged for it. So isn’t it better to die by my own kind’s hand than a Chosen’s? That in itself is a form of rebellion against our slavers, to refuse to be a part of their game.
I put my hands on my head.
Ah, damn these thoughts screaming in my head. It had been silent there not long ago. I never imagined that this place was an arena, and that I’d have to face my own kind as adversaries. I clench my fists. Damn it all! Why is this happening? Why are they doing this? Are we really just cattle to the Chosen to do with what they please?
‘Seven…’
It’s sudden, but a flicker of life sparks inside me. Though it’s been years since I’ve felt it, it’s not unfamiliar to me. I had been content in my world of darkness. No, not even content—I’d been nothing, and nothing is what I needed to be. But once again the Chosen have taken away the one thing I owned, that one fragment of peace I had left to me, and now they are making me face my own kind as opponents. And, even though I am just a kytaen, even though I had wanted to die…
‘One…’
I want to make the Chosen suffer—I want to live to fulfil this wish.
‘The test has commenced.’
I look at the other kytaen. If none of us fight, then no doubt the Chosen will find a way to make us. But that doesn’t happen. As the cage doors open, panic takes over and kytaen bound towards the nearest enemy—because that is what we are to each other now, not brethren, not equals, but enemies to be killed. We are beings designed to kill, and I have. Oh, I have! But I don’t want to kill like this. I don’t want that. I don’t want that.
I don’t have a choice. A kytaen comes at me, all teeth and claws, and instinct takes over. The magic that has been dormant for so long explodes out of me, and I become the beast I truly am. And with fire and fury and the will to survive, I pounce.
LEONIE
COATED IN STARS
Dad opens the door.
Standing outside are two men, and just by looking at them I can tell they’re not from my world. They both wear crimson-coloured cloaks—I mean, who wears cloaks?—with small golden pins attached, and both of the men have a foreign look to them. The taller one has dark skin, with black hair and a beard. He looks about in his thirties. The younger one looks only a few years older than me. His skin is tanned, and he has brown hair. I had been expecting something a little different, something along the lines of strange shaped heads and big black eyes.
‘Good morning,’ the older man says, in perfect English and with a wide grin. ‘My name is Harriad, and this is O’Sah. We’ve come a long way to talk to you.’
He says this to me, but I’m looking at O’Sah, whose eyes are wide as he stares at me. My cheeks warm. Why is he looking at me like that, as if I’m some glimmering lost relic?
‘You’re from the Imperium,’ Dad says, and I know it’s not a question.
‘We are,’ Harriad replies.
‘Have you… have you come to take her?’
I hold my breath.
Harriad glances at me, and then back at Dad. ‘For now, we have much to discuss. You’re Orin Woodville, I presume.’
‘Yes, I am.’
‘May we come in?’
Despite being total strangers, the sort of strangers that Dad would never give any attention to, let alone allow into his home, he moves aside and Harriad and O’Sah come in.
As they make themselves comfortable on the sofa, O’Sah looking around with obvious distaste in his expression, I turn to Dad.
‘Um, OK, so what the hell is happening right now?’ I say in a harsh whisper. ‘What is this?’
‘I told you about the Imperium,’ says Dad.
‘Uh, yeah.’
‘They come from there.’
‘I got that. But why? Why are they here?’
Dad glances past me to see if the others are listening, and then leans into me. ‘You’re Chosen, Leonie. That’s why they’re here.’
‘That doesn’t explain anything!’
‘Is everything all right?’ Harriad asks, and I turn to the living room.
‘Everything is pretty much a continent away from “all right”,’ I say.
He smiles. ‘It’s always a little daunting after you’ve awoken as a Chosen. The shock will fade as it does with everyone else.’
I take it he never exploded in a blaze of light.
‘So you… you have magic, too?’ I ask.
‘Certainly! And O’Sah.’
O’Sah, who is looking at Dad’s meerkat ornament with a look of repulsion, quickly straightens himself.
‘What can you do?’ I ask.
‘All in good time,’ says Harriad, grinning. ‘We have a few things to discuss beforehand. Ah, but before I forget, may I have your hand?’
‘My hand?’
‘Yes, if you please.’
‘Why?’
From his cloak, he takes out an object that looks like a stamp. ‘Just a standard precaution.’
‘Uh…’
‘Leonie, do as he says,’ Dad says.
I glance at him; he’s standing stiff.
‘What does it do?’ I ask Harriad.
‘It’s just to scan your vitals, to make sure your body is functioning correctly after your awakening.’
I take slow steps towards him, holding my hand out. He holds the stamp-like object over my hand and a red light flashes. My skin prickles and
then he takes the scanner away, smiling.
‘All done. Would you sit, my Lady?’ he asks. My Lady! Pah! Even my damn dog knows the untruth of that title.
I flex my hand. ‘No, I’m fine.’ I’m not fine, which is exactly why I’m not sitting down. Anyway, why is he asking me to sit? This is my house. My sofa. My mundane reality that he’s intent on destroying.
‘Is she your daughter, Orin?’ Harriad asks Dad.
‘Yes, an only child.’
‘I see.’ He takes out a small silver disk, and after tapping a button, a holographic image appears of a sort of notepad. My jaw drops. He uses the holographic keyboard to type information in, information about me probably.
‘What is that?’ I say.
‘This?’ He smiles, holding it up so I can see it. ‘It’s just a standard communication device.’
I’m pretty sure a device that can show holographic images is not standard.
Pegasus nudges my hand with his nose, and I look down at him. He’s looking at Harriad and O’Sah, keeping his distance from them. We don’t get many visitors, but when we do, usually Pegasus doesn’t leave them alone.
‘I have a few questions for you,’ Harriad says to me. ‘Do you mind if I ask them?’
‘Um, all right. But I have a few questions for you, too.’
He smiles. ‘I expect you do. May I ask your full name?’
‘…Leonie Woodville.’
He types this in using the holographic keyboard. ‘Lovely name. I think its meaning is lion in… French?’
‘I think so?’
‘Ah bon. Where were you born? France possibly?’ he adds with a smile.
I purse my lips. I didn’t know the questions would be so personal.
‘Belmont,’ Dad answers for me. ‘She was born in Belmont.’
‘Belmont?’ Harriad says.
‘In Australia.’
‘Very good. And how old are you?’ he asks me.
‘…Seventeen,’ I reply.
‘I see. Quite a late awakening you had, then. You must have been worried your magic was never going to appear.’ He says it in an almost joking way, but I’ve missed the punch line. ‘Have you ever had any signs of your awakening as a Chosen besides today?’
‘Why do you want to know?’
‘Well, these are the standard questions we—’
‘Yeah, but why do you want to know?’
‘Leonie,’ Dad says, ‘just… just answer.’
I shoot him a glare. Why is he being so compliant with these strangers? Are they like the police force in their world or something?
I fold my arms. ‘No, I haven’t had any signs.’
Harriad is smiling as if he’s amused by my small rebellion, but O’Sah looks irritated.
‘And have you got your things packed?’ asks Harriad. ‘That’s not to say we won’t have clothes for you at the Temples, but you might be more comfortable in your own for a while.’
‘Why would I pack my things?’ I ask. ‘What temple?’
‘The Temples of Elswyr, in Duwyn.’
‘What?’
‘Leonie,’ Dad says, ‘I was going to explain in more detail…’
‘Explain what?’
‘I’m sure your father explained everything to you when you were younger,’ says Harriad. ‘All Chosen that awaken in the human realm must come to Duwyn.’
‘I… wait, I have to leave here?’
He raises an eyebrow. ‘Well, of course.’
I shake my head. ‘Um, can we just, I don’t know, stop for a second? I’m just… this is all hard to accept right now. I mean, I didn’t even know Duwyn existed a minute ago, and now we’re talking about leaving to travel there, and I haven’t processed all of this, and my head is starting to spin right now…’
Harriad sits forward. ‘You didn’t know about Duwyn?’
‘Well, no, I…’
‘You mean to say your father never told you?’
I glance at Dad, not wanting to get him into trouble or anything. ‘I mean, he did… today.’
‘Today?’ He looks at Dad. ‘Surely you told her about your origins, about the Imperium, about magic.’
‘I didn’t want to confuse her,’ Dad replies, his face losing all its colour, ‘just in case she was powerless.’
‘Your name hasn’t been forgotten by the Imperium, Orin, nor the nature of your magic. You were once an esteemed oracle; surely you knew she would be Chosen.’
‘I don’t see everything.’
I tense. Dad had told me he knew what I would become. So why is he lying to Harriad?
Harriad is silent for a moment. ‘I have to admit, when our systems located the energy your daughter emitted and we found you near to her, I thought it strange. You haven’t even got your tracing device anymore. It’s all rather odd. But you haven’t even told her about us?’ He types something on his keyboard. ‘I’d like to ask you a few questions, Orin.’
Dad nods, and I notice how pale he is.
‘You were granted removal from Duwyn more than seventeen years ago.’
‘Yes.’
‘Who is, or was, Leonie’s mother?’
‘A powerless one, a normal human.’
‘And you’re quite sure?’
‘Yes.’
‘You do realise that even if she was born to a powerless mother, it is still expected of you to inform the Imperium of any children you might have?’
Dad pulls an expression I’m not accustomed to, one I’ve seen twice today: fear.
‘Yes,’ he says.
‘And yet,’ says Harriad, ‘you did not inform us.’
Dad says nothing.
‘You have a communication pad, I assume?’ Harriad continues. ‘The one they give you when they grant removal.’
‘I lost it.’
‘…I see. Then, why did you not travel to Agerath Island and use the portal there? You could have used it to come back to Duwyn and inform us that way.’
‘She was born in Australia, as I said.’
‘Very well. Why did you not use the portal at…’ he raises the electronic tablet he’s holding, types in a few words, and a holographic image appears of some barren place, ‘…Mulligan Creek?’
‘It was too difficult to find.’
Harriad stares. I don’t know if he believes him. If he’s telling the truth, then fine. But if he’s lying, well, why? Why did he never tell the Imperium I was born?
‘You do realise withholding the information of her exist-ence puts you in an unsatisfactory position?’ Harriad says.
I step forward. ‘Unsatisfactory? What d’you mean?’
‘It’s fine, Leonie,’ Dad says and turns to Harriad. ‘I understand. What will happen?’
‘I can’t say for sure,’ Harriad replies. ‘It will be the collective decision of the Council rather than just my own.’
Dad nods, but I don’t like that ambiguous answer, and I don’t like that Dad is in trouble with some government I had never even heard of until today.
There’s a beeping noise from the silver disk Harriad is holding, and he half turns away, reading whatever information he was just sent. He then leans towards O’Sah and speaks in a low voice. I can’t make out all the words. ‘… kytaen… victor determined… KY… test complete…’
‘That kytaen won?’ I don’t think O’Sah meant to say it so loud, because he glances over at Dad and me. I look away, pretending to be interested in the slightly fading wallpaper. He and Harriad then go outside, and I take the opportunity to talk to Dad, like, really talk to him, when he shakes his head at me. What I want to ask Dad is private, like why he lied to Harriad and O’Sah, and why he never told the Imperium about me, but the look he’s giving me now makes me sure that nothing important should be discussed while Harriad and O’Sah are here. I don’t want to get him into any more trouble.
After a few minutes, O’Sah and Harriad come back into the cottage. They sit on the sofa, and it only just hits me how funny it is seeing them sat here,
all crimson cloaks and otherworldliness, on my sofa.
‘What was that about?’ I ask and then add, ‘If, y’know, you want to share.’
‘We’ll talk about that in length later,’ says Harriad. ‘For now, we should really start to discuss your voyage to Duwyn.’
‘Oh. Right. That. Um. You’re going to have to give me a human minute,’ I say. ‘I’m feeling a little… a little overwhelmed right now.’
Harriad nods. ‘I understand, and I’m sorry we piled this on you so suddenly. We assumed you at least knew something about our world, but…’ He gives Dad a dark look, and Dad looks away.
‘It’s all right. Just… just give me a little bit, or something. I’m fine, though,’ I add, ‘so don’t worry.’ I head towards the stairs.
‘Leonie, maybe we should just talk about it here,’ Dad says.
‘Yeah, in a bit.’
‘Leonie—’
‘Please. Can I just invoke the privilege of wanting to be alone?’
He says nothing. As I walk up the stairs, Pegasus following, I hear Harriad say, ‘She obviously needs some time to understand what’s happened today. O’Sah and I will leave for a little while and come back later. In the meantime, Orin, you—’
I walk into my bedroom and close the door, collapsing onto my bed. The lights in the room flicker on and off for a few seconds before staying turned off. I put my arm over my eyes for a few minutes, trying to not think, which is pretty much impossible. So instead I think about everything, that strange, impossible everything, until I feel mentally exhausted.
I don’t realise I’ve fallen to sleep until I feel something wet and ticklish on my feet. I sit up, rubbing my eyes, and see Pegasus licking my toes.
‘Ew! Gross, Peg, gross.’
I notice it’s dark outside, and I look at my alarm clock: 17.34. Wow! I slept for a long time, not that I’m surprised. I did turn into a glow stick, learn that I’m Chosen, discover Dad can see the future, view a vision of death and destruction, and meet two people from another world, all in one day.
I sit up and go over to my desk, open up the bottom draw and rummage around at the back. I pull out a small box, full of little things like key rings, ticket stubs, receipts—worthless to anyone else, but to me they are treasures. I laugh when I see the train ticket to Blackpool. It was the first and last time Abi and I ran away from home, and we had no idea what we were doing. We ended up using most of our money on the bed and breakfast, so instead of having the whole day at the theme park as we’d planned, we spent it in an arcade, trying to win our money back with what little we had, and failing miserably. She even—
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