Intro for a Story with No Name

by **Forest** Sat 11 Apr - 12:45

(Ah..so I believe that my mom signed me up for some class in which you get to write an actual book...so this is the idea I have for it ._.)

"How many times must I tell you?" Jadan stared at the man sitting in front of him, his emotionless gaze appearing to bore right through him. "I know you understand perfectly well what I am asking of you, yet no improvements are being made." The boy sighed quietly. He knew what was coming and had already heard it more times than he could remember. "You are the only one whose grades are below average, not just in my class, but in every class. And I know you aren't struggling, you just aren't applying yourself. You simply cannot expect to..." Jadan blocked out the rest. He didn't understand why grades were so important. All of his teachers were worried about them much more than he was.

Feeling irritation rise inside him, Jadan changed his focus. As soon as he was free of this lecture, he would have to drop his things off at his little house, then rush over to the town's message station and deliver his letters for the day. After receiving his pay, he would most likely stop and get a bit of food for him and Nova, his fox. Then came the ever-so-joyful process of completing the assignments given to him for his learning sessions. Jadan's basic day schedule was three meals and a few hours of sleep squeezed among work, work, and work. But oh well, without any parents, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Too bad Jadan wasn't the type to enjoy work.

"Understand?" Jadan's focus on the remainder of his day was shattered by the suddenly loud voice of his instructor. The boy quickly nodded. "All right. Now get going. I know you have work to do." Jadan got to his feet, snatched up his books, and rushed out of the classroom. After exiting the academy, he began running in the direction of his house. The scenery around his became as wet paint, swirling and smearing together until nothing had an outline.

As his hand reached for the knob to open the door of his tiny wooden cabin, he heard a scratching noise emanating from inside. He swung the door open, and discovered a small creature on the floor. Jadan smiled as he set his books down and closed the door behind him. The fox repeatedly jumped up into the air until the boy bent down beside her. "Hi" he said quietly, stroking her cheek. The fox's fur was incredibly soft, and whiter than the purest snow. Her eyes were a stunning sapphire blue. Three dainty horns came from her head, gracefully sloping backwards. She held the sweetly astounding essence of a star within her soul, which is why Jadan had dubbed her Nova.

After gently playing with the fox's ears, Jadan grabbed his books again and carried them over to a miniscule table, which sat at one side of the house. One the wall beside the table was a mirror. In its reflection, Jadan could see Nova silently padding up from behind to stand beside his leg. Taking his eyes off of his pet, he studied himself for a moment,

Jadan Riyavish, a fifteen year old Ralowith, possessed the characteristics that most people of his race had: an extremely pale gray skin tone that faded into a darker gray, and then into black on his arms and legs. He had light brown hair, which he allowed to grow down to cover his neck in the back, along with messy bangs in the front. His ears were elongated, and covered in a very short coat of black fur. A tuft of fluffy white fur tipped off both ears. His eyes were a glowing amber color, reminiscent of the still-scorching embers of a dying fire. Beneath his eyes were two inverted black triangles, the tips stretching down almost to his lower jaw. Over his body he wore a simple black short-sleeved shirt with a hood, which he usually kept off of his head. His pants matched the color of his shirt, as did his boots. Only his fingerless white gloves broke the color scheme of his outfit.

After ruffling his hair up a bit, Jadan stepped away from the mirror and back towards the door. "I'll be back soon" he said, petting his little fox's soft ivory coat. His mission now was to head over to the message station, gather up all the letters that the townspeople had dropped off, and deliver them to their designated recipients. Sure, it wasn't exactly dignified, but it got Jadan the money he needed to take care of himself and Nova, which was his only intention when he picked up the job. As an addition, he came to know the streets and buildings of the town quite well.

Outside, Jadan was greeted with a blast of cold air. He glanced back at his house for a moment. It seemed especially lonely, with the gray sky looming above it; the woods behind it seemed ominous in appearance. The house was just outside the town of Valriya, which was the largest town in this part of Nivayen. It also held the great castle within its boundaries, where the queen resided. How Jadan wished he could live in that town. He sighed, and started trudging in the direction of the message station, which was part of Valriya.

Even before he passed through the great stone gates of Valriya, he could hear the lively buzz of people rushing about along the streets. The paths were made of brick, cream in color, bordered by bricks of white. Along every street there were vendors calling out to passer-bys, urging them to stop and purchase some of their goods. Some were selling fruits and vegetables, others had beautifully crafted pots, and some had enchanted-looking jewelry made with glittering metals and dazzling stones. The people rushing about were dressed much nicer than Jadan. Most of the men wore clean collared shirts beneath vests of assorted colors. The buttons of their clothes were polished, and gleamed even though the sun was currently hidden from view. Thick woven pants were tucked into polished boots. A few men even went past clothed in rich red and blue robes, suggesting that they were of high status within the town. All the women were in dresses of lovely colors: vibrant crimsons, bold blues, spirited greens, elegant blacks. Even the children that ran giggling through the streets, dashing in and out of crowds were dressed just as well.

Jadan quickly made his way over to Valriya's message station and sneaked inside. "There you are" came the gruff voice of the man who ran the station, Mr. Lavuray. "Letters are all over there. Got a delivery to the castle today" he said, jerking his head in the direction of a bin full of letters. Jadan headed towards the bin, his mind beginning to race. 'A delivery to the castle.../ he thought. Excitedly, he grabbed his letter bag and put the messages in as fast as he could. "Don't you lose that letter now" Mr. Lavuray added as the boy stepped out of the station. Jadan nodded, his amber eyes glittering. "Yessir" he said.

The young Ralowith waltzed down the streets of Valriya, the thrill of delivering a message to the castle carrying him along his route with a cheerful energy. The sky darkened faster than usual, due to the sheet of clouds hanging above the town. Jadan now had to stop beside the torches that hung throughout the town to read the addresses written on the envelopes. Luckily there were not many left by this time, and soon all that was left was the letter to deliver at the castle. The boy took it out of his delivery bag and held it in both hands. He had never been very close to the castle before, even though many messages were sent there. This was because they were almost always taken care of by designated messengers of the queen for privacy and safety reasons. Jadan was very tempted to gently open the envelope and view the message written inside, but held himself back, albeit with much difficulty.

As he neared the castle, a strong gust of wind blew through the streets, and as Jadan lifted a hand to shield his face, the letter escaped his grip. He immediately began running after it, but each time he started to come within reaching range of the envelope, the wind took it farther along. Jadan soon found himself nearing the caves that led to the great mountains that lay outside of Valriya. Before the darkness within the passages could claim the letter, Jadan managed to snatch it up. Just as he did so, he heard a noise coming not from the caverns, but from the other side of a huge stone. The boy, curious, crept up to the stone, and slowly peered around the side of it. What he saw shook him with the thunder of terror. On the other side of the stone was one of the huge, fearsome birds that were the bane of Nivayen: a Korigar.