Providence by Dwa-vi Deslouches (bts book recommendations .txt) 📖

to his feet Xzander then drew his twin blades plunging them into the base of the creature’s neck. The lion let out a harsh bark, being cut off by the killing blow, before crumbling to the ground. Karin now enraged jumped to her feet cringing at the pain of her broken arm.

 

         “What the hell Xzander!” Stormed Karin “Why did you kill the lion?” Xzander quickly recovered from his bewilderment and realized his mistake.

         “Karin, I am so sorry” Xzander said “I know you don’t like it when I kill animals, but you were in danger.”

Scowling Karin replied, “You know I can handle animals. You didn’t have to kill it.” Xzander drew in breath to answer before one of the hooded figures shushed him. Looking around the group drew together in an outfacing circle, back to back. As if on cue lions, panthers, cheetahs and other big cats prowled out of the trees, entirely intent on Enoch and the three hooded people. Karin, after seeing the animals, relaxed a bit before walking calmly up to the nearest cat. The panther growled a low sound before bowing its head to Karin’s touch.

 

         “Cats love me” Karin explained “These ones won’t bother us anymore.” Karin made a low whistling sound and gave the panther one last pet before the animals stalked away in astonishing silence.

 

         “That was some spooky stuff” Enoch marveled tensely “I guess now all that’s left is to find out who these guys are.” The two smaller of the three people threw back their hoods and Enoch’s jaw dropped. There stood two girls who looked exactly the same. They both had brown hair, cropped short, and tan skin. Both of these girls, presumably sisters, had brown eyes and were strikingly beautiful.

 

         “Who are you calling guys?” They demanded in unison.

Stammering Enoch replied, “I, uh, my name is Enoch. I didn’t catch your names.” The two girls glared at him with cold eyes and the one on Enoch’s right retorted, “I don’t recall us giving them.” Enoch nodded vigorously to himself before extending his hand for a handshake. Both girls laughed aloud and Enoch stood staring and puzzled.

 

         “Their amazons” Explained the last of the hooded people. The boy threw back his hood to reveal lupine eyes and a fanged grin. Xzander recoiled in shock at the sight of this person. He quickly composed himself, but before he could get back to the matter at hand he wondered if this is what he looked like when he went berserk.

 

         Enoch on the other hand put on a serious face and stepped up to the boy. “I think I smell a wet dog” He commented. The boy turned to Enoch stared at him and then, after a few tense seconds, laughed aloud and embraced Enoch.

 

         “It’s been a while cousin” The boy whispered.

Enoch replied “Connor, obviously there’s something you don’t know.” Connor gave Enoch a puzzled look before pushing him away playfully and introducing himself and the two girls beside him. The names of the girls beside him were Dianna and Krystal.

 

         “So Enoch how do you know this guy?” Asked Karin.

Nodding excitedly Enoch replied, “He’s my cousin. Last I saw him he was riding home and I had a broken leg.” Xzander glanced at him quizzically being answered by a wry chuckle. “He didn’t break my leg. We were hunting sand sharks even though…” Enoch explained before faltering, “my dad told us not to.”

 

The two girls laugh and the one that Enoch believed was Krystal put a hand on Chris’s shoulder and said, “So this is the bonehead you hunted deadly beasts with?” Chris let out a deep booming laugh nodding and put a hand on Enoch’s back leading him a bit into the woods. Xzander and Karin began clearing away their camp and the two girls quickly joined to help them.

 

In the woods Enoch stopped and turned to Connor mumbling, “ You already know don’t you?” Connor nodded and put a hand on his shoulder. “You hate me now don’t you?” Enoch whined. Connor froze as if Enoch had slapped him and glared at him. Under Connor’s glare Enoch flinched away and felt a sliver of fear run through his mind. Slowly Connor’s glare crept into a grin and his pupils became catlike in shape. His features turned more etched and his posture more hunched. Stepping away from him Enoch noted fangs protruding from his mouth and a long green tongue.

“Gotcha!” The creature rasped before lunging at him. Enoch tensed for the impact that never came. Before tackling Enoch the creature was met mid-air by a red and black wolf and was quickly ripped to shreds. Suddenly Three people that looked exactly like Connor, Dianna and Krystal burst from the direction the wolf had come from.

“Freaking doppelgangers” grumbled the Connor look alike “Where’s your camp?”

“Over there. What the …” Enoch directed before being cut off by the trios abrupt sprint toward the camp. The four burst into the clearing to see the other two doppelgangers already dead. Xzander and Karin jumped back, weapons in hand.

 

         Putting up his hand in a placating gesture Connor began to explain the situation, “The doppelgangers have been posing as us to get away from some of our friends. We tracked them down.” Still looking confused Karin lowered her sword and complained, “What the hell. I haven’t gotten a break since the day started and now we have high class monsters in the academy.” Looking up Xzander noted that the sun was starting to drop and lifted his gear onto his back.

         “We should get to higher ground” Xzander suggested, “We can camp out on an outcropping a saw a while back.” The group grumbled their assent together and they set off behind Xzander. By the time they arrived and put together a small camp it was completely dark and they could her the students in the woods fighting the monsters that had been released. Around the fire the group shared jokes and stories before getting more serious. The first to speak was Enoch, and he told his story.

 

         “When I was eleven my cousin Connor here and his family had adopted me and my sister. One day we were out watching sprites work when his dad called us home. He was taking Connor on his first mission and they had to leave before dark. When Connor and his dad had left Salene, my sister, and I took care of the animals for a few hours. That night the camp was attacked by Centaurs. I didn’t know how to fight then and before I could react I was nearly dead and trampled. My sister, she suddenly just started shooting flames and lightning at them before they managed to catch her. I never saw her again and Connor’s mom died when they set the house on fire.” Enoch ended his story and shook his head.

 

         “No, she didn’t die.” Conner informed, “I saw her two years ago in the border push into the frostwind barrens. Radix the rat zodiac is holding her hostage to get my dad to tame hell hounds.” Enoch stared blank faced at him before walking to his tent and sleeping. The others soon followed suit and soon Xzander was the only one awake, thinking before he also drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 8

 

Karin heard the sound before anyone else. The group had woken up around mid-day and had planned and rested. The sound Karin heard was new to her it was a horn making a series of blasts. The message was clear, return to the barracks. The group gathered their gear and set off toward the dining pavilion in order to get their bearings. Along the way eerily enough they were met with the discomforting silence of a dead forest and their own wild imaginations. By the time they arrived at the dining pavilion the group spotted Chris helping a group of students along with two of the red and gold wearing second years. The group continued on to the barracks in silence until Xzander broke the ice.

 

         “This doesn’t make sense” He commented “why would we start survival week only to stop abruptly and return to the barracks?” The others shrugged and the one to answer was Connor.

 

“Maybe they accidentally let out creatures that were too strong for first years.” Xzander nodded yet still he was troubled, something about the situation was off.

 

         Upon reaching the barracks the noise was loud enough that the group had to yell to one another to be heard. Inside the complex weapons were being handed out units were being put together and the general working thrum of war time was buzzing throughout the area.

 

         Connor grabbed Enoch’s shoulder and yelled, “Looks like we’ve got a fight on our hands.” The group quickly joined the throng of people and were quickly equipped and headed to join their unit. The group was given padded leather armor and three smoke flares along with a pair of first aid kits and were added to a specialized unit. By the time they arrived at their unit’s rally point the Complex was mostly silent as the majority of the inhabitants were being briefed on the situation and their mission. Standing in this particular alcove were fifty students including Xzander and his party waiting for the orders of their commander.

 

         “My name is Leonardo Skydran, You will address me as sir or captain and I will be leading this unit in battle. The situation is as follows. The enemy right now is the Old Unitum Regime. The situation is grave and we seem to have no help until at least three days from now. As you may have learned in the earlier days of your stay at the academy the O.U.R. is a hostile nation under the rule of the badland grids and employ chiefly the use of destruction magic and the technology of old. A series of reports have come in verifying that they have not only breached the academy walls but are advancing to the ruined city on the Western border. We are unit one. The duty of this unit is to ambush them along with four other units from Viper platoon. The platoon leader is Lord Saarzin he will complete your briefing once we have moved out. Prepare your gear and Join the other units at the Western wall.” Commander Skydran gave the assembled students a crisp salute, mounted his brown battle horse and rode away. The unit then began to make their way to the wall in a disorderly group and when they were spotted by Lord Saarzin he scowled and looked down on them from his bleach white horse with black eyes.

 

         “What are you doing” Barked lord Saarzin “Have some pride for your nation. Form up in rows of five and march like soldiers!” The group hurriedly formed up and when Lord Saarzin was satisfied they set out of the barracks. Lord Saarzin and the five captains were mounted on various colored battle horses and the platoon itself marveled at the area around the west wall. The stillness of war was on the land and never before had they seen the land so dead. The group marched with agitation in silence