Ten Years Earlier

I'm going to post some or all of chapter one of my story now...


The experiment had begun with no flaws, no catches, no panics. No worries, problems, or anything else could burst the doctors’ bubble of happiness they felt now, now that the experiment would begin. They had gotten children from everywhere, from the Air Clan, with wings and the ability to change into birds at a moments notice, the Fire Clan, with flame for hair and the ability to change into flame, the Water Clan with webbed fingers and toes and aqua-bluish hair, able to change into any water creature, and the Earth Clan, with their sharp, claw like fingernails, able to change into any land creature. Not to mention that they could use the Clans element: Fire could use fire, Water used water, and so on.
They were all descendants of Mother Nature and Father Time, the Mother giving them the ability to blend with their surroundings and the way to know nature and tap into other living things, to understand trees and frogs and why the wolves howled at the moon, and the Father gave them immortality... until they got themselves slain in some stupid battle with the humans, which, thanks to the humans seemingly endless stupidity, happened a lot.
For the thousandth time, the Head chief looked at the sundial, waiting for the shadow to move a few degrees over, when the time would be for the children to arrive... and for the experiments to begin. This project had started a few years ago, bringing kids in who were six years of age. This was supposed to go on for twenty years, until the last arrived. Each arrival was to test how the ones already there to their resistance or acceptance to change. The children of the Tribe of Fire had so far been the most aggressive, landing a six year old in the infirmary for two solid months once. The most accepting group was the Tribe of Earth, the Tribe of Water being after them and then the Tribe of Air. The Air clan didn’t show outward aggressiveness like the Fire tribe did, but the mental abuse and shunning were evident, and it took one a week to be allowed to even talk to the others. They had maintained silence for a week, being naturally cautious, and had only spoken when they were pretty sure the new arrival did not pose a threat. Of course, they could never be sure who posed threats nowadays.
The impatient, self-appointed leader began to pace back and forth in front of the dial, hoping the shipment of the new subjects was going to be here right on time or earlier. He hated lateness, and that was a fact that everyone tried to avoid. Lateness was laziness, and could either get you a gentle reprimand or a toss from the cliffs... with your hands and legs tied together, with your tongue cut out, eyes gouged out. They tried to make it as hard as possible for the late ones to survive, and to make it as painful as they could.
His pulse quickened as he looked out his window. There, just barely visible, was a mast, and it was slowly growing bigger, until at last the ship came into sight. Already, a fleet of his largest ships were being rowed out to meet them and bring them in.
He rubbed his hands together like a gleeful schoolboy who had just stuck a crayon up the bully’s nose.
“Get the other captives. Bring them out to meet their new... siblings.” He ordered two guards at his door. They opened the door and relayed the message to the eight extra guards outside, closed the door and turned to wait his next command.
He smiled. “Bring them in. Once we have the next experiments, you know what to do with the... late survivors.”
It was true. The shadow was just a sliver past the marker.
* * *
Hawk had a fierce face, even by a nine-year-olds standard.
His golden eyes were often squinted to tiny slits, like hawks eyes, his sharp chin made all the sharper from lack of a proper diet. His hair had been ‘fixed’ for the occasion: slicked back and put up in a ponytail. He liked it down more; it felt more natural than this stupid tie in his hair.
His lips were tight together, pursed almost permanently because of his often looks of skepticism at the new experiments. His cheeks were a bit hollow, and his eyebrows were almost nonexistent below his bangs. He now jerked his head to one side to get his bangs out of his face. His hair was mottled with tans and browns and a few blacks, and streaks of blond here and there. His eyebrows were thin, and he was not very strong, but what he showed in lack of muscle he made up for being very fast and agile. He was rather short, and it came in handy when he didn’t want to be found. He had made clothes with feathers sewn on everywhere, in the exact plumage of a hawk.
His eyes were much more movable than normal humans’ eyes, one able to stay in one spot while the other twisted around. He didn’t use this feature often, because it made him dizzy, but he thought it was funny that his eyes were closer to the sides of his head than humans eyes.
Yes, he was an odd looking child, but by no means ugly. In fact, he was quite handsome, even for a nine-year-old. His olive colored skin glowed in the sunlight as he was lead, surrounded by guards, out into the bright sunlight. He took a deep breath of fresh air. It was a miracle to be out here again, when he had waited for this for months. He had not been out since one of the others had managed to escape for a while. But they had gotten Wynd back, beaten and bruised, and another week of beatings later he was put back in the cell with Hawk and Angelica. Angelica hated her name, so everyone called her Angie for short. Hawk knew that he and Angie were probably meant to ‘go forth and multiply’ as the guards kept teasing them about. They said the next one would be Wynds spouse one day, and he split their lip. He still had the scars on his back from getting his back sliced open by the enraged guard’s sword. But no one had made fun of any of them since. Hawk examined Wynd again, as if expecting a freckle to pop onto his flawless nose.
Wynds eyes were a beautiful dark black, even most of the white part. The black was flecked with silver and gold, the eye colors of his mother and father. His lips were a pale color, just a shade darker than his skin. His peach skin was now tan from being detailed to outside work, but it had gotten lighter since they had begun the Great Confinement, as the Avian children called it amongst themselves.
Hawk was nine, the oldest and the leader. Angie was next, eight. Her hair was a beautiful midnight black with a blue sheen in the moonlight, but it reflected blinding white in the sunlight, like now. Her green, intense eyes took everything in, and she still hadn’t lost her wide-eyed, I-am-an-innocent-child-lost-in-the-world look. She was the most childish of them, in fact. She was often the happy-go-lucky of the bleak group, pulling them onto their feet after a hardship. Slowly, their friendships grew and they began to trust each other more.
Wynds blonde hair caught the sun and reflected, temporarily blinding a girl on the boat, gazing at it.

The girls’ full name was Falcon, and she liked the name. Her mother often called her Fal, though, and it soon stuck, becoming a childish nickname. But the six-year-old loved it, like any six-year-old would.
Her intelligent silver eyes gazed at Wynds hair, realizing they were surrounded,
all grim looking, none looking as if they had been loved.
She smiled suddenly, and leapt forward, onto the prow of the ship. The captain noticed her, and began shouting, his face white. But she ignored the guards on the ship running at her, and she did what she had always been forbidden to do.
She leapt off the edge of the ship, enjoying the rush of wind past her cheeks, and then, a yard before hitting the water, she unfurled her wings, hovering an inch form the water. She propelled herself up and foreword, trying to get away from the ship, and she flew up into the sky, swirling, twirling, spinning soaring, spiraling, flying. Her wonderful brown and tan wings caught the sunlight, making them sheen a gold color. She knew that to the guards below, she looked just like an angel.
And the six-year-old was just fine with that.

Hawk, Wynd and Angie were put into their shared cell once again. Wynd knew they might not be nice to the girl they knew was Falcon. Wynd watched Hawk unfurl his tawny blackish-brown wings speckled with lighter browns and even some white and tan.
“What do you think of her?” He asked the other two softly.
“She’s a pretty girl, even by Avian standards,” Said Angie, smirking at Hawk. He gave her a withering glance.
While Angie was looking at Hawk with a mixture of amusement and jealousy, Wynd was blushing furiously. He looked out the barred window, where she was still flying. He looked around, winked at the other two, who nodded. He quickly shifted into his eagle form and hopped out the window. The guards had put them in the wrong room. He smiled at their idiocy for a minute. Then Hawk followed as.... well, as to be expected, a hawk. Angie followed as her natural shape, a snowy owl.
The three flew towards Falcon, and she turned, saw them and smiled, letting out several chirrup sounds to show her joy.
Hawk whistled back, long and piercing and high. Wynd clicked his teeth like his family would have a beak severely, smirking at the funny sound. Angie let a long trill out and put on a burst of speed.
The four met in midair, and began to exchange old family greetings, news of the first three’s parents. Hawks eyes widened as she told him gently that his father had been shot down by a stray arrow during target practice.

None of this matters anymore, for it was all ten years ago. I’m just filling you all in with some facts, and telling you now the experiment didn’t have any delays. But there is one more thing that I feel you should know that happened four years after our meeting, six years after the... present.