The Katapies Experiment; Part 4

Avia 

     Today was it. I’d been preparing and preparing, and finally, the day was here. I shook out my budding wings and smoothed out the little feathers I had. Soriie, my cousin, helped me arrange my brown, curly hair into beautiful swirls with a flower crown. She would normally never do this, but it was my birthday, after all. 

     The beige jacket proved difficult to put on, but I eventually was able to cut out holes in the back and squeeze my wings through. I picked up the brand-new wing extensions that kids in Nephele (the city of Messengers) got on their thirteenth birthdays and clipped them on, slowly extending them and knocking over a glass sculpture. I sharply pulled them back in but ignored the sculpture, opening the doors to my balcony instead and letting the light stream in. 

    I breathed in the fresh air and looked down at the clouds floating by. I spread my wings out again, heart pounding, and jumped off, falling fast before picking up a wind current and gliding. I saw so many things, so many sights, so many feelings. 

    And I’d never see them again. 

     I knew what was going to happen, the consequences of what I planned to do. Messengers had wings, beautiful white wings that were absolutely gorgeous when allowed to grow. We were the only Katapies race to have some sort of physical amalgamation, despite having no real combat skills or experience.  

    My mother didn’t care; she adored beauty more than anything, even her own life. Most Messengers were like that, actually. All the kids I knew were named after gemstones or colors their parents were fond of. Soriie and I were an exception; my father insisted I have a normal name, and Soriie’s family followed soon after. 

     I saw other teenagers soaring through the air with wing extensions; wings usually grew in fully by the age of twenty. Soriie had ran to my balcony and began cheering with Citrine Mindaro, one of her friends who was still too young to use the extensions. 

    Citrine shouted at me to hurry up, and I scrambled to fly back up to the balcony, finally getting the hang of the extensions and landing shakily back down. I took them off slowly and put them in one of the beige jacket’s pockets.“Avia! I’m so surprised you managed to do that! Celadon fell straight down on his first try, Dad had to catch him mid-fall.” 

    “To be fair, your brother put the extensions on wrong, right? Celadon’s an idiot, but he is gorgeous!” Citrine and Soriie giggled while I frowned and looked back out at the balcony again. Citrine and Celadon Mindaro were the beauty king and queen of the floating Messenger city of Aureole. They both had pale freckly skin and auburn wavy hair, complete with green eyes that made half the city blush. 

    I had no interest in either of them before Soriie managed to befriend Citrine and started getting invitations to parties and lavish banquets. She dragged me along to all of them, and I (begrudgingly) started to enjoy it. It wasn’t exactly the people there, more the food and decorations I appreciated. 

     Citrine had scheduled a birthday party for me, and it was expected for right before the Experiment picking. She ushered me and Soriie into a winged horse’s chariot (we called them Mistrals, although most will know them as pegasi) and told the driver to hurry to the Mindaro residence. 

    The party was amazing; ice sculptures and paintings of birds were arranged neatly around the enormous hall in Citrine’s house. All the children of age were wearing the beige uniform, although some had managed to make it fancier by sewing flowers or bows to the collar or sleeves. 

     I ran up to Amethyst Cerulea, my best friend, and was handed a small, wrapped box. She smiled and said, “Open it! I spent a lot of time making it, hope you like it!” I tore open the box and picked up the small golden hair comb inside, decorated with a purple clay flower on top.  

    “Amethyst, this is amaz-” 

    “I told you to call me Amee.” Amee laughed and picked up the comb, sliding it in one of my hair spirals. “It looks nice on you! Just like I expected.” Amee had an uncanny talent for clothes; she could make even the ugliest person look stunning. I was astounded at the amount of flowers in her violet hair. 

    Everyone came up to me to present gifts, even some people who I wouldn’t have expected to do so. Citrine and Celadon’s was the most extravagant, a carved wooden music box that played a cheerful song when wound. I tucked it into one of the many pockets on my uniform. 

    I completely lost track of time until the gong rang, signaling for the picking to begin. Several Mistrals carried us all to the town square, where a man dressed in gray held several pieces of parchment paper. He didn’t have any wings, so I supposed he had come from down below. 

    “Alright, alright, settle down. Candidates of age, step in a line for me, please.” We all arranged ourselves in a neat line. “Good.” 

    “Welcome to this year’s Experiment picking! I am Anemis, and I will help you all through it.” He snickered before quickly composing himself and continuing. “Most of you probably know how this works, but I’ll explain it again for some of the younger candidates.” 

    “Every twenty years, Katapies requests four children from each race to be sent to the Disarus Forest, as part of a social experiment. With that out of the way, let’s begin taking roll.” 

    As Anemis called out the names, I saw Citrine and Soriie fidgeting with their uniforms. We had received word from the Shifters that Katapies was only picking candidates fifteen or younger, so there was a very good chance that they’d be picked.  

     Anemis finally finished calling all eleven names and looked around at all of us, pulling out a tiny slip of parchment. “Katapies has picked four more candidates to travel to the Disarus Forest. Those candidates are-” 

    “WAIT! I’m... sorry, but you have to wait.” I took a deep breath and looked at Anemis. “Is volunteering still an option? Can I volunteer for other people?” He looked at me, shocked and a little dismayed that I had ruined his moment in the spotlight. I moved my gaze back to the crowd of horrified Messengers and smiled sadly. 

    “Yes, volunteering is still an option, but I’d have never expected it from a Mes- I mean, it hasn’t been done for centuries. You are free to volunteer. I’ll have to contact the Katapies government for something like this, give me a moment.” Anemis scurried away, asking around if any of the adults could send a letter for him. 

    I was immediately overrun with the other candidates, who were screeching things and tackling me, wondering why I had done what I did. I gave them a simple answer; I just wanted to see what a forest looked like. It was the truth, but not the full one. I just wanted to protect Soriie and Citrine. 

     It dawned on me then; I hadn’t stated that I wanted to volunteer in place of both of them. I dashed to where Anemis last disappeared and looked around wildly before seeing him leaning against a wall in an alleyway, drinking from a small flask. He looked at me and said his greetings, then went back to drinking.  

    I carefully walked up to him and said, “Sir, I think I forgot to mention that I wanted to volunteer in place of Soriie Hayze and Citrine Mindaro, is that okay?” 

     Anemis looked at me and shrugged. “I already sent someone to deliver the letter. You can fly, right? Go change it yourself.” 

    I stared at him for a while before slowly taking out the wing extensions and clipping them on. I jumped over the low fence between the floating platform and the endless sky below and started gliding. I could see the slight outline of another Messenger flying and flapped my wings to try to get closer to them. 

     As I got closer to the other Messenger, I saw the outline of a mane of curly brown hair, just like mine. My mother. I plummeted down to her and grabbed her arm gently, but she didn’t respond. I shook her a little bit, but she kept flying down. I looked at her face, but instead of the warm brown eyes I was used to, hers were a pale gray. 

    It clicked immediately. Anemis was a Mage, a Mage who could play around with minds and thoughts and people’s consciousness. Mages were feared, and every sane Messenger who lived tried to stay away from them at all costs. I eased the letter out of her hand and quickly made a few adjustments, then slipped it back into her clutches and flew back up to the town square. 

     Amee was waiting for me, helping me slip off the extensions and walk back to where everyone was waiting. Anemis finally returned from the alley with my mother, her eyes back to normal. He was holding the letter and unsealed it, pulling out the sheet of parchment within. 

     “Now that that fiasco’s over, we can finally begin.” Anemis sighed and started reading. “Avia Fye, Amethyst Cerulea, Celadon Mindaro, and Fuchsia Ecru are all going to take place in the Experiment. Say your goodbyes or whatever, I’m going to wait in the carriage with the flying horses.” 

    I wasn’t that sad; in fact, I was ecstatic. It had worked! I was terrified that Katapies would refuse and pick Soriie and Citrine out of spite. I ran over to hug Soriie, but she nudged me away and looked me straight in the eye, then said one word. “Why?”  

     Soriie kept staring at me, but I couldn’t look back. She had the same eyes, hair, and skin as me, and it almost felt like looking in a mirror. I couldn’t deal with it. I ran to the carriage pulled by Mistrals and sat down, pulling at my hair and hyperventilating. Anemis was sitting in front, talking to someone next to him. 

    I didn’t pay attention and dozed off in the back seat. When I woke up, Amee was shaking me and pointing to the forest. I had never seen anything like it before. Gnarled trees were tangled together, intertwined, hand in hand. Small shrubs were scattered around a small wooden platform, which was carved with intricate, curved symbols. 

     Anemis was yawning and rummaging through his pockets, finally pulling out a coil of black wire. He pointed to me first, and I turned around and let him bind my wings. Messengers had to be bound before going into Disarus, as most would try to fly away. 

     Lastly, he drew a small symbol on a piece of paper and tied it to the wire. The seal tightened the wire, making it unbreakable. It was uncomfortable and I’d never felt anything like it before. I shook off the pain and walked over to the wooden platform Anemis told me to stand on. 

    As the sun dropped slowly, making the atmosphere gloomy and tired, my mind wandered to that one word. 

     Why?