Chapter 1: Innocence

The young boy awoke just as the sun shone through the glass window in his barren room. He sighed a little, realizing that the morning only meant more chores. He also realized that with the crack of dawn, a new day awaited, giving him a chance to play, and possibly even make, new friends.

He got up, off the untidy bed. The fourteen year old boy thought about making it, but decided that it would be a waste of time if he was just going to sleep in it again in several hours. There was no need to make it, and nobody would notice either way.

The young boy was alone. He didn't know his parents. He didn't know any adults at all. They all managed to disappear by the time that anyone knew them. He heard that one of his friends, Livvie, had befriended an adult, but mere rumors managed to spring up often in a society ruled by youth. As a matter of fact, the rules and ordinances that the other children abode by were so ridiculous that they were often tried.

Of course, as to be expected by young ones, it was incredibly obvious that the lack of maturity was a factor to how many were punished, executed, and let off trial. Did it matter, though? Not to Terra. He couldn't care less if he was tried. He knew secrets about the hierarchy that couldn't be released to the public or there would be turmoil and uproar in the way things were governed. He decided that he would hold this information as an ace up his sleeve.

That was the thing that was special about this child. He felt emotions. The feeling of guilt or happiness or anger or glee, things thought intangible and therefore misunderstood, were shown to Terra in many forms. When others felt saddened around him, he would notice because they would radiate a smell similar to that of water. When he tried to explain that to another member of his neighborhood, they simply gawked at him and asked him what water even smelled like.

If there was any logical explanation that the twelve year old boy could find, it was that this extra sense, this sixth sense, was honing his other five senses to understand it better. It was progressing, but progressing faster, so it had to make the other five senses as sharp as it was itself. So when he was asked how water smelled, he realized nobody had even smelled water. There was simply no scent to describe when they were asked.

Terra walked to his closet and picked out some clothes to wear. He stood in the sunlight there, for a couple seconds, deciding what he would wear today. The shabby closet had within it a long, iron pole designed to withstand much weight. He picked out some rags, made of a light tan material, that was given to him by his best friend Jerri's older sister. It was his best pair of pants and it stood out, a seam in existence, from the other pairs of pants.

His deep, red hair shone in the light, the glass window warming to the sun's touch. The light warmed Terra's skin and he didn't want to move. He couldn't move. He just stood and imagined the warm summer days that had just ended. His body was cold, drawing goose bumps to his frail arms. He was badly malnourished, and it showed through his ribs; however for a twelve year old boy, he had more weight than most. He was the only child that remained independent in his community, so he had gained more muscle than most the other kids.

He scoped the room with his green eyes, deep and vivid. The brownish wall was covered with scribbles of Terra's own design. There was red paint on the wall, similar to the color of his hair only brighter, in the shape of a sun. The sun was shining light down on a single star, but the star wasn't in the shape of the stars that most children drew. The star was actually glowing an assortment of colors, ranging from light blue to a pale eggshell white. It was round and giving off more light than the sun.

The bed that he just got out of was covered in a light blue comforter and some white sheets. His pillow was covered in feathers as Terra beat it in his sleep to mold to his shape more kindly. The beautiful sunlight poured through the window onto his marble floor, a luxury to his kind, that seemed almost to be mad of tiger's eye. The mineral only seemed that way to him, which made him worry about the emotional effects it had on others, including himself.

He finally stepped around the room, pacing for a moment, knocking him out of his trance. He decided that he would put on a shirt, though it was torn and ragged. It was a tan color, darker than his pants, but in a similar tone. As he closed the closet doors, he heard his front door open slowly and then close quietly. "Why..." he said to himself, "haven't they realized I can hear them?"

There were giggles coming from the living room of the young boy's home and he heard three sets of feet march through the room. They were all walking in a hushed, almost suspicious manner as though they were trying to sneak up on Terra. He simply scoffed at the idea and put it off. As he heard them approaching the door, he opened it to give them a fright similar to what they intended to deal on him.

"Surprise?" Terra said in a questioning tone as the three jumped backwards in startle. That was the disadvantage to being so sneaky, your senses were more defined and so your ability to be scared was enhanced. As Terra realized who was trying to scare him, he also took in the information on how they felt at the current moment.

His best friend, Jerri, was the leader of the group. He simply smiled at Terra's rebuttal to his attempt and clapped him on the shoulder. He had white hair, an odd color for a child, with hazel eyes. They seemed to turn orange on occasion, as they did now, when he realized Terra was around him. Terra couldn't tell whether this was because he had an extra sense for emotion, or because this change was actual, but he never had the courage to ask anyone; he was cast out enough without him trying to push it.

The boy on Jerri's left was named Seth. He had brown hair and green eyes, but there seemed to be no change in his appearance when Terra jumped out and scared them. He was always quiet and almost motionless, but Terra knew better than to take his veiled emotions seriously. This boy gave his emotions off in an aura centered about him that changed color. Terra gathered that as the color changed, so did what he felt. When the white glow suddenly gained a purple tint, Terra noticed the change as surprise. The boy flipped his brown hair over his eye with the simple flick of his neck and stood, waiting for something more pleasing to happen.

The person on Jerri's right was actually a young lady. She also smiled, taking on a more enthusiastic posture than Seth. Her hair was brown, waving down past her shoulders and barely cutting off at her shoulder blades. She had blue eyes and a smooth facial expression, and Terra had an appreciation for this. It showed that her emotions didn't vary much, and since she was always smiling and smelled of lavender (he sensed her emotion in smells), Terra knew that she was happy. Hey light, clear blue eyes shone through even the darkest nights, and Terra could imagine that they could be used as a light source in absence of the moon.

Terra nodded towards all of them, but stopped at Jerri. He watched the orange flood over his eyes and he noticed that the boy was still smiling. Terra looked in confusion at the boy as there was no reason to be smiling this long, but saw humor in his eyes. He realized that the hilarity was directed towards himself as the boy's smile started to laugh. He felt pressure in his chest on his left side, right over his heart, as his friend pushed his finger there.

Terra looked down as he realized the shirt he had put on was the worst one he could have chosen, ripped down the left by a lynx he was hunting the other day. The bob cat left its mark as it slashed through the clothes and onto his bare skin, the scar still showing in a left diagonal down his abdomen to his side. He smiled and then turned into his room, leaving the door open.

All paced behind Terra as he opened the closet and pulled Livvie by the hand to it. He took the shirt off, his red hair once again shining in the sun, and shrugged at the closet. The girl giggled and pulled out a white vest, hung by yarn, and pushed it against my chest. I resisted a giggle, boiling in my chest, and put the vest on. I shrugged again and she smiled. "That's all you need," she said, her hair bouncing as she took a step back. "It makes your eyes brighter," she speculated while enjoying her piece of work.

Seth and Jerri just stared at me, almost astonished. Terra quickly took the emotions in, Seth's aura glowing light pink and Jerri's body flushing to a pale, ivory colored tone. Terra realized that these visible effects of emotion showed affection, or rather the acknowledgment of the presence of affection, but he didn't mind. He couldn't change their minds if it was brought to argument, so he simply smiled and said, "She knows what I look good in."

Seth smirked, his first physical expression of his feelings of the day, the week, and the month, and Jerri just shrugged. He knew it was true, but the fact that there was some childish compassion being shown was something that he couldn't ignore. So he just turned and walked out of the house. Everyone followed except for Terra.

He stood there, wondering if he should follow them. Being the most responsible, if not the most mature, of the small village of children, he realized he should have taken care of his chores: cleaning the house, feeding the livestock, perhaps weaving some new clothes. He shrugged it off and followed close after the group of kids.

They marched through the village and noticed a couple children, ages ten and up, throwing balls of mud at each other. Terra laughed when Jerri got pelted by one on accident, dirtying his spiky hair. He picked the little kid that threw the ball up by the collar of his shirt, or at least started to, until the thread broke clean completely. Terra just kept walking in order get Jerri to leave the kid alone.

The day was beginning to draw to a close as all the children sat on a rock that sprung from a shallow lake near Terra's home. They all held something in their hands, each one holding on to a prized possession. The time of day when the sun began to finish its cycle downward was when people would hold onto their adorations and hold them close to their hearts. It was ritualistic amongst these children as they had no other way to show their affection without being ridiculed.

Seth held a pendant, a ruby engraved into gold and diamonds tracing around it. The pendant opened to reveal a powder, but only Terra knew that because he could smell it. Not even Seth dared open it.

Jerri held an object that was a mystery to everyone, including Terra. He couldn't see it, even though he had the precision of a hawk locked within his eyes. The only part that he could make out was a small gleam, colors from all points of the spectrum flying from the object. There was such a large combination of colors coming off it, Terra couldn't name it exactly one color other than white. The way it glowed, the beautiful hue, the saturation to the colors, all meshed together to form something that Terra was drawn to. He didn't understand why he couldn't resist it.

"What... is that?" Terra asked hesitantly, color flying to his face. He didn't speak, usually, but only spoke with body language. As Jerri realized that Terra was looking at the thing in his hands, he frowned and responded with a shrug. The light died down and almost all of its essence died; he could no longer feel it, hear it, smell it, taste it, or see it.

"Nothing..." retorted Jerri as everyone else's eyes shot towards him. Nobody seemed to realize that what he was holding was giving off such a powerful sensation.

Terra tried to not think about it, but couldn't help thinking about the other distraction the night offered him. His hand was constantly occupied, being intertwined within Livvie's. She smiled at him and was laying her head on his shoulder almost all night. Life was good, but the innocence was slowly slipping away. The younger children noticed.