Chapter 1
Storm. A raging storm lurks above our heads slowly making its way over the land. A Storm is what is becoming of this once beautiful and loving land. The lightning strikes come closer and you can almost hear the drums; the drums of war.
It is not something we can run away from, it's not something that we can just ignore. We live in such a world that peace is merely a dream and not a reality. We are living in a world where the events that we see define us. We as people are so alike but yet we are so different. We fight for what we believe in but we all fall as one in defeat. War is such a dark and vicious thing. It's that leads us to fight for all the right and wrong reasons. But is there ever a right reason to go into war? That's how it has been for years now in Terra Bellatorum; for as long as I can remember anyways. It's really nothing new.
Let me break it down for you.
The Defenders are the perfect people. They keep Terra Bellatorum unharmed and untainted from the Rebellians that are the damned. They are the people who steal and cheat and are not the nicest people. And that's where the war came in to play. The Rebellians were sick of the Defenders and being pushed away because they were not good enough and decided to fight back. The defenders didn't like that as some of their own ended up falling from grace and joining the other side. And that's where we, the misfits come in. Misfits are a group of children and teens who are neutral, not good or evil and can be easily swayed. Every year, the defenders take children of age seventeen, and they sort them into Defenders or Rebellians. Unfortunately, if you are a Rebellian, you go missing. I'm not exactly sure what happens, but I will soon find out.
My name is Pandora. Just by hearing my name, the Defenders and the misfits look at and treat me like I'm some sort of disgrace while others look at me kind and fearfully. I suppose it's because my name symbolizes the box contained the seven deadly sins but yet kept it hidden from the world. The Defenders always had it in for me I guess. They were not exactly nice to me when I asked questions or when I disagreed with their logic. Anyways, I am 16 years old and I have golden hair with bright green eyes. Also, I'm almost 150 pounds in weight. As if the Defenders didn't yell at me or scold me enough. Yeah, that's right. I get scolded for being that weight. I don't think it matters how much you weigh as long as you are healthy.
"Pandora, go and fetch the new misfit will you? Warner Road, house number 57." Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I live in an orphanage. It's not that bad living in this orphanage, but I've been here my whole life and I don't know who my parents are and I don't have a family tree. It's almost like I just came out of thin air. Or I as a Defender once said, it seems that I was grown in a garden. Worst thing is though; they said that I had grown up a rotten plant.
"Yes, Miss Edmond."
"Good girl. Now go and come straight back. I want you to cook for the other children here."
I opened the front door of the huge brick building and hopped onto my rocket powered scooter and head off to find the house of the new misfit.
"Turn left." My GPS spoke. "Watch out for the incoming tree branch." I moved the handle bars to the left and ducked, missing the tree branch. Boy would that hurt if I would have taken that to the face!
"Warner Road, house number 57 arrived." I pulled up to a small white house that was surrounded by cherry blossom trees. I smiled and landed, pushing a button on my scooter that turned it into a key and chain. I was about to knock when I heard voices from inside.
"You have deliberately gone against the rules Quinn. You're a Defender; you know it's against the rules to breed with such a monster!"
"I'll have you know, I am no monster!"
"Shut up, we didn't give you permission to speak." And with that, I heard a piercing scream. I shivered and jumped in some nearby bushes and listened, peaking up every so often to watch. "Be gone, demon! I'm very sorry Quinn but for you have sinned."
"No! Please don't-" another scream was heard and covered my mouth so I didn't cry out. I've never heard of anything like this happening. And with what the official said next, they were careful enough that no misfit ever heard or say any such thing.
"Now, to clean this up before a misfit comes for the child." With a snap of his finger, everything disappeared. The bodies and the blood stains were gone as if they were never there. The defender was gone with a snap of his fingers as well. I don't understand. Demon? How had she sinned?
I jumped out of the bush and went through the window like a ninja and ran upstairs to the nursery, hearing the cries of the baby. I went into the room and over to the crib and picked up the baby girl. There was a note in the crib which I picked up and read. It said,
"Dear misfit,
Please burn this letter right after you read this. No one can know about what I'm about to tell you. If you're reading this, Fabian and I are already dead or running for our lives. There is a misfit named Pandora Winters, and I wish for you to take our daughter to her to care for. This is important because I knew her parents and I've watched her over the years."
The letters on the page started to move and formed a new letter,
"Pandora,
I know that you never got to know me or your parents and I'm terribly sorry. I want you to listen to me though. Protect our daughter with your life and don't trust any defender. There is something terrible going on behind the scenes that none of the misfits see and none of the Defenders or Rebellians talk about. Remember your friend Matthew? He said he'd come back but he never did. That's because he was-"
The letter burnt away the next few words that completed that sentence. But still, it continued.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't really tell you. You'd look suspicious if you suddenly started acting out of the ordinary. Just be careful, Pandora; especially after you get a letter on your 17th birthday, which happens to be in a few days."
I tilted my head sideways in confusion and curiosity and put the baby girl back into the crib for a second. I pulled out my lighter and lit the edge of paper and watched it turn to nothing. After the whole page was gone, I picked up the full diaper bag near the crib and pick up the baby once again. Once we got outside, I pulled out my "key" and pushed the button on it, which made it turn into a small car. It even came with a car seat in the back. I opened the door and reached in with the baby and put her in the car seat. She smiled up at me with the sun reflecting in her eyes and giggled. I smiled back at her. "I'm going to call you Sparkle."