I wake up to see sunlight streaming into my eyes. Across my small home I see my father in bed still asleep. I silently slip out of bed, grab a silk basket, and head to our small backyard garden to pick breakfast.
We have a small garden, like every other house in my district. As I walk outside I examine the garden, witch is only large enough for a strawberry and blackberry bush, a small carrot patch, and a tiny well almost to small to fit a bucket down. It wasn't much but, it was enough to keep me and my father fed. You see in The Labor District (My District) we are expected to grow our own food but, we get weekly rations of a loaf of bread and some berries.
I go over to the strawberry bush and start picking, since it is my chore to tend to the garden. This is my job because two reasons. One, when I get home from school I usually have free time on my hands and two, my father is usually busy working at his job all day.
As I pick Strawberries, I see my best friend, Gossamer, walking up to me. Gossamer has light blue scales and a few white scales here and there and I have golden brown scales. We are both SilkWings and don't have our wings yet since I am 5 and she is 4.
"Hey, Skipper." says Gossamer leaning against my garden's fence.
"Hi, Gossamer." I say smiling at her.
I knew why she was here. She was here to tell me about how one or both of us could be picked in The Choosing and to come say a last good bye. Gossamer is nice but, always gets overly paranoid this time of year and starts to say all sorts of things about death and friendship.
"I just wanted you to know that if you get chosen I have always thought you were a great friend." said Gossamer.
"Gossamer, I will tell you this now, there is no way I can get chosen." I say to Gossamer. "I'm one out of hundreds in our district. The odds of me getting chosen are very low.
Gossamer looks at me with a sad look.
"Alright." says Gossamer. "But, if you get chosen I told you so.
As Gossamer walks back toward her house I consider her words. What if I am chosen?
I finish picking breakfast, I take the basket in the house and set it on our table next to our old projector TV, wondering if the dusty thing even worked. It only worked if there messages from the capitol or if The Stalker Games were on.
After waking my father up for breakfast, we sat at the table eating quietly. We both knew what my fate might be later.
My father's name is Swallowtail. He looks a lot like me other than his scales being more golden than mine and he has wings. He's a nice dragon, easily follows the rules, pretty smart, I only wish he could use his gifts instead of having to spew flamesilk out of his writs all day.
An hour or two before The Choosing, I scrubbed my scales to be as shiny and clean as possible in case I got chosen.
As my father and I make our way to the village square, I noticed a temporary stage and tables were set up to sign in.
After I signed in, my father made his way over to the area where parents could watch their dragonets get chosen (or not). I also made my way over to my age group where I would stand.
I also noticed a lot more Hivekeepers than usual. Hivekeepers are armored HiveWings that keep us safe. They were usually menacing, all had white blank eyes, and always moved in perfect unison. Gossamer told me once that the Hivekeepers when on duty are mind controlled by a general. I never believed her since you can't mind control someone.
Reminded of Gossamer, I scanned the crowd of dragonets and finally spotted her. She saw me looking and she waved. I waved back, then remembering what she said about getting chosen. I shrugged it off, looking at the stage and I noticed in was starting.
A NightWing walked on the stage. She had Purplish-black scales and had an amount of jewelry that couldn't be afforded here. She introduced herself as Moonlight and continued on to make a speech about the history of The Stalker Games.
So, there was this NightWing named Darkstalker, who after a 2,000 year long sleep had a dream about a united world under his rule. So, first he united all the tribes of Pyrrhia, except This dead tribe called the IceWings that all died because of a mysterious plague, Darkstalker united the tribes of Pantala (SilkWings, HiveWings, LeafWings).
For a while everything was ok but, then there was a rebellion lead by the SilkWings and RainWings. Eventually, The rebellion was crushed and the Leading tribes (SilkWings and RainWings) were forced to work hard labor for creating weapons and armor for The Hivekeepers. Also, Darkstalker's punishment for all the districts were they had to participate in The Stalker Games (named after Darkstalker). Each district had to bring forward 2 dragonets (2-8 years of age), 1 male and 1 female for the games.
When Moonlight finished her speech, she paused for applause. When no came she got strait to the choosing. Moonlight walked to a large glass container filled with paper slips, took a slip out and read it.
"Firefly." said Moonlight looking out across the females.
I saw a RainWing turn a pale green and quickly a confident indigo. As I watched the RainWing walk to the stage I felt bad for her but, I was glad it wasn't Gossamer.
Then fear filled my chest. It was time for the male's name to be called.
I watch as Moonlight picked a slip of paper out of the male's container. And what she said next gave me pure terror.
"Skipper." said Moonlight reading the slip.