Chapter one:


I crouched at the edge of the roof, the smooth glass tiles cold underneath the soles of my feet, and the tips of my fingers. I watched the Sun God slowly raise over the horizon, splitting the Moon God’s hold he had upon Benata. The mist that lazily blanketed the Earth God in the night slowly started curling into the shadows, soon to be swallowed in the breath of the Sun God. I slowly straightened myself upright and then lept off the edge of the roof, to stand floating high above the ground, to watch as the Sun God awaken over the horizon. The view was different here in the Reds territory than it was in the Blues territory. The crystal lake resided here in the Red territory, so when the sun raised here the lake would look aflamed. Something that doesn’t happen in the jungled terrain in the Blue terrain. You had to hike or climb far to find a view like this in the Blue territory. The Red need only awaken, look up and they have this view.
The Sun God has now touched me with his rays. It felt pleasant, at least before I felt a sharp burning pain on my face. I flinched and knew I had been burned by the Sun God. I could hear the Sun God give a laughing at me, in my mind. I rolled my eyes and slowly gave up my grip of the gravity field plummeting down to the ground. I landed on my feet in a crouch, as the Earth God sighed in annoyance, but allowed me to walk on his back. I knelt down on one knee, and kissed the dark gray ground, giving my thanks to the Earth God for allowing me to walk freely on his back.
I arose to my feet and walked to the silver door, a back entrance to the War Council room, the main room to the large building I was previously standing atop of. I brushed off the gray dirt from my knee as I pushed the heavy door open, allowing the quiet darkness inside to be cut through by the Sun Gods finger. It touched the silhouette of the empty chairs and tables set up randomly about the room. As the light reached the farthest corner a silhouette was lit up by the Sun Gods touch. The silhouette was laid down on a table the shallow noise of breathing filled the air. As I stepped forward I recognized the silhouette to be that of Meeka. She must have been up studying scrolls late into the Moon Gods hold of the world for she normally doesn’t sleep atop the tables.
As I walked across the room my feet slap the ground, giving an echo to Meekas light breathing in the room. As I near Meeka’s table I can start to make out what the scrolls around her have written on them.They are all written of the information we have about the Humans as we had studied them and their ways when they first landed.
I stood over Meeka looking down at her. She lay curled into a ball one hand resting under her face, the other resting on a scroll laid next to her head protectively. Her skin was so pale the purple blood in her veins glowed under layers of transparent skin. Her hair is of a sliver yellow, styled in the popular short cut of the women of war.
When the people of Benata are born we either are born the Spotted, with splotches of red or blue on our skin, depending on the clan you are born into. Then there are the ones who are chosen by the Sun God himself born Pure, where there are no splotches of red or blue on their skin, only a single splotch in the shape of the sun on their right cheek underneath their eye, like a tear on their cheek from the Sun God himself. The birth of a Pure is random, anyone can be chosen, and when they are they are given to the elder Pures to raise. Pures have a longer lifecycle than those of the Spotted. Each one has one gift in life that the Sun God has given to them to be better than the rest. Meeka’s is the Talent of War, and mine is the talent of the Gravity. Being able to switch through the Gravity fields easier than others. Meekas’ talent is only one in each generation, as for mine there are many Pures born with it, even a few special chosen Spotted can do what I can, and it is a lower ranking talent in the Pures.
Meeka’s eyes fluttered for a moment and then settled back down as if the Moons illusions wouldn’t let her mind go. Her red Sun spot nearly sparkled in the Sun Gods touch. Unexpectedly she heaved in a large inhale of air, releasing it slowly as she opened her eyes.Her pupils dilated as they focused me. She made me jump back as she quickly arose to her feet upon the table, a knife in her hand. I’m not sure where she got it, for she was wearing the the everyday clothing the women of our planet wear that consisted of a long scarf that wrapped around her chest and over her shoulders tied in the back, with a long red and gold skirt that was slit down the side for more convenient movement. I was wearing the male outfit of a simple pant, my bear chest born the tattoo of my Clans claim, a blue circle in the middle of my chest that spread out in jagged lines down my chest and around my neck. Meekas Clan claim tattoo was one of more intricate detail, it started at the hollow of the throat with a red diamond shape that went down her chest in a line made of circles and stars to her be navel where it circles it in a diamond shape with stars bursting from each corner. We are given our clan tattoos at the age of five. The age when a Pure is given up by their family to be raised by other Pures so they can find their calling in lives. When excepted in they are given the tattoo. Spotteds don’t have Clan tattoos.
Meeka took a moment to calculate who I was, and that I was no threat before she settled back down on top the table. She did not put the knife away, but flipped it between her hands glancing at my direction.
“How long have you been standing there, watching me?” she asked her voice slipping into the language of my clan.
“Don’t flatter yourself, I wasn’t watching you, I was studying your scrolls.” I said glancing down at the scrolls once again. I could hear Meeka give out an annoyed grunt. She slipped down off the table, placing the knife into a sheath strapped around her thigh.Which is where she must have had it when she pulled it out from. She turned from me and started cleaning the scrolls up. Our two Clans had become enemies long ago after a disagreement between the two groups. A Reds fault of course. But the two clans look past it to get along so we could conquer our new enemies, the humans. Some might think I had been acting rude, but it was mild compared to the history of impolite things that have happened between the two clans.
“It may not be a custom in your clan, but here we don’t normally stare when a woman is alone sleeping. So the next time you have the need to read my scrolls, awaken me so that I don’t have to wake up to such an unpleasant surprise.” she said as she scooped up the scrolls in her arms. There was more than she could fit in her arms and a few started to slip out of her hand. I went to take them from her, which made her pull back. She let out a grunt as the delicate balance of the scrolls was tipped and all of them fell from her arms. She bent down to pick them up as the scrolls rolled away. I grabbed the one nearest to me and lifted it from the ground as Meeka got the rest.
“Many thanks.” Meeka said as she reached for the scroll in my hands. I pulled back hiding the scrolls behind my back.
“Give me the scroll.” Meeka ordered. As much as I tried to be stiff and stand off like I had been taught from birth towards the Red’s I couldn’t do it for long when around the pretty Reds like Meeka.
“Come get it warrior princess.” I said backing up away from her. She gave a sigh and laid her scrolls back on the table. Her hand floated over the hilt of her knife at her thigh for a moment but she decide to leave it be, instead turned towards me, her hands placed on her hips like a mother about to scold her child.
“I am giving you one more chance give me the scroll or get beaten back to your home land, sky boy.” she offered.
“I give you permission to try.” I said bluffing, knowing fully well that she could kill me if she wanted to.
“Then no one can blame me when our clans start another war because of your dead body.” she said stepping forward.
Her attack was so fast I hardly had time to shuffle to the right to avoid getting punched in the jaw. But she must have known that was coming because she thrust out her other fist and got me in the stomach. I stumbled back gasping for breath.
“That all you got?” I asked trying to catch my breath.
“Oh fly boy i’m just warming up, unless of course you can’t handle anymore. I can stop whenever you’re done.” she said kicking me in the stomach, sending me flying across the room, landing me crashing into one of the stone table. It’s a good thing that the people of Benata have bones that can’t break as easy as those of the humans, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to stand up as I am now.
Meeka strode across the room calm and collective. She looked frightening, like this wasn’t a game. As a quick reaction I jumped into the air, my jump taking me to the next gravity field, so that I floated above Meeka. A small grin spread across her face as she jumped up as well. One of the abilities that come with my talent is that the higher up in the gravity fields I go the easier I can manipulate them, changing the force of gravity for myself, or forcing it onto someone else. The lowest level of Gravity fields is the hardest so I leave the manipulating to the Earth God, but up where I am now, manipulating the gravity is almost like second nature. So when Meeka jumped I pulled the gravity field away from her, making it so the gravity field below us pulled down on her. She let out a startled cry as gravity took it’s toll on her and she fell back to the ground unexpectedly. She landed on her feet with a loud thud that echoed through the room. She shook her head as she looked up at me.
“All right fly boy, you can stay up there all you want, but eventually you’re going to come down, there isn’t any other exit besides the back door and the front door. And you can only access those from the ground. And I can wait all day.” she bluffed hopping atop the table below me. She laid back and pulled the knife out and started trimming her nails with it. I laid down on the gravity field floor leaning my jaw on my fist and looked down at her.
“What’s your plan fly boy, you’re really going to hang there all day?” she asked studding the knife she had in her hand and looking up at me. She judged the distance and then chucked the knife straight up at me. I rolled over to avoid getting knifed in the gut. I watched the knife fall back down and Meeka catch it in her hand. Objects do not remain in the gravity field. They can pass through as many as possible by the force that sent it up, but it will always be brought back down to the ground.

“Maybe if you call by my name I would feel more obliged to tell you my plan.” I said rolling back to my comfortable position.
“Fine. Takona. Your Plan?” she asked sounding a little bitter about having to use my given name instead of the nickname she so grew so fond of calling me. She again threw her knife, and I again dodged it rolling back.
“My plan is… nothing. I am just gonna make it up as I go. It’s how I do everything. I’ll just wait until an ideal opportunity opens up for me escape.” I said grinning. Meeka rolled her eyes as she threw and caught her knife again.
“Not unless I stick you with my knife first. At least I wouldn’t be wasting my time anymore.” She said sitting up.
“I am offended warrior princess. Spending time with me is not a waste of time. In fact it’s an honor to be spending time with me. You should count yourself lucky.” I said rolling and sitting up.
“Warrior Princess?” She asked feeling the way the name sounded to her. “ I don’t like it. And an honor to spend time with a Blue Pure player? I doubt it’s an honor.” She said glancing one more time up at me. She smiled and flicked her wrist. The knife stuck through the scroll, and tore it out of my hand taking it back down to Meeka. She gave a mock nod of thanks my way before she got up and scooped the scrolls to leave.
I dropped down and landed next to her. I gripped the upper part of her arm and leaned in close to her ear.
“You should stay.” I said my breath tickling the hairs that curled around her ear. She glanced at me raising an eyebrow.
“You do realize I could kill you where you stand?” Seriousness laced in with her threat. Instead of backing up I leaned in further.
“But you don’t want to.” My lips brushed the tips of her nose now.
“Says who?” She asked. Instead of answering I tried to kiss her. I didn’t get far enough before I got punched square in the jaw.
“Don’t ever try that again, Fly Boy or it will be a knife in the heart than a punch in the jaw.” For the third time this morning she picked her scrolls up from the ground where she had dropped them when she punched me and left the room. It was improper to kiss one who is not companioned to you. Doesn’t mean that we don’t do it anyways. At least some of us. I had a reputation being the Blue Clans ‘Player’ as Meeka said it.
You only have that reputation because your an idiot. I heard the Sun God say.
“And I am only an idiot because you made me one. If you had stayed out of it, I wouldn’t have a reputation you forced on me to uphold.” I shot back to the sky. I could hear the Sun God laughing as I stormed my way out of the war room. I looked around and way Meekas retreating back as she stormed off into the building across from me. It was the housing building for all Red Clans soldiers. Spotted or Pures. Blues were not allowed to enter. Instead the Blues had set up a war ten camp not to far from here. I leapt up into the air pulling the gravity field down underneath me to lift me higher into the air. Once level with the surrounding gravity field I started jogging making my way to the war camp. I had things to do, people to see, and a reputation to uphold.