The Katapies Experiment; Part 2

Novis 

    I woke up and sighed. Today was the Culling. My clothes were already made for me, sitting on my bedside table. I dressed and walked downstairs, pulling on the ugly beige jacket and lighting the lamps dotted down the hallway. Clode was sitting at the table, already wearing the uniform that the Katapies government had provided us with. 

    She smiled at me, hiding a cold mask of terror. “Hi, Novis. You woke up late. Remember, Mages have to get up with the sun! Especially ones like you.” In case you didn’t know already, Mages are one of the four races of Katapies. 

    I shrugged and got a glass of water. “Why do I have to get up with the sun when I’m strongest at noon? It’s pointless.” 

    Clode stared at me for a while and frowned. “You know, you’re my least favorite brother.” 

    “I’m your only brother.” 

    “Exactly.” Clode laughed and poked me, giving me a slight static shock in the arm. 

     I gave her a look and glanced outside. Despite all that garbage about ‘getting up with the sun’, it was actually pretty early. Dune and Lychnus were already outside, so I pulled on some boots and dashed out the door. Hydran, Dune’s brother, was crawling on the ground, looking for bugs. He was smarter than most, so I asked him what time it was and immediately got an answer. A long winded, tiring answer. 

    “It looks around seven or so, although by the current position of the clouds, it’s hard to tell. You see, the light refrac-” Dune cut him off with a resounding thud to the stomach.  

    “It’s seven.” Dune glared at Hydran and started making mud. Not in the way you’d think; Dune could control dirt and earth. While he did that, I said hi to Augur, who had just come around the corner, and Lychnus, who was just, you know, standing there, his white hair flying in the wind.  

    The rest of the morning passed uneventfully, with most of the kids in the neighborhood coming over to either help Dune build his mud sculpture thing or standing a couple meters away from Dune and the mud sculpture thing.  

     When the gong finally rang, we all trudged to the town square and stopped talking. Dune helped some of the younger kids clean off their clothes and led the way. A man with a fluffy orange mustache was standing at the stage and arranging a strange, small piece of metal around his ear.  

    The crowd was small. Only toddlers and kids who barely missed the age limit were watching. Parents and elders had escaped, running from our town, Divinios, with an accomplished Mage by the name of Abrin. They didn’t tell us why, just left without a trace, leaving the children for the Culling. 

    The man on the stage cleared his throat, leaving an irritating feedback noise resonating throughout the town, presumably from the tiny microphone he was adjusting. “Hello, people of Divinios. I am Oris from Katapies. As you may know, the ‘Culling’, as you call the Experiment, has come again. Children of age, please step forward for roll call.” 

    I walked forward and made a line with the other candidates as Oris pulled out a sheet of parchment and reading glasses. “State your age and element you can control when you are called. Augur Iniq?” 

    “Seventeen, mind.” Augur was frowning, chewing a strand of long raven hair and scratching her chocolate-colored skin. Her black eyes were darting around like an insect, paranoid and a bit annoyed.  

    “Clode Fernis?” 

    “Thirteen, electricity.” Clode wasn’t nearly as scared as I thought she would be, standing up tall and puffing up her chest, although I did see her blond-haired head quiver. 

    “Dune Glacius?” 

    “Sixteen, earth.” Dune looked almost stoic, blue eyes fixed on Oris and Oris alone. 

    “Elan Elec?”  

    “Fourteen, nature.” I hadn’t seen Elan in a long time, years, maybe, and I vaguely recalled his pointed nose and dark green eyes and hair. He was short for a fourteen-year-old, and I could barely see him from behind Clode. 

    “Extos Gale?” 

    “Sixteen, time.” Extos’s voice was clear and pristine, a welcome beam of light from Oris’s tired grumbling. Her short gray hair matched her eyes perfectly, and she looked slightly irritated by Oris. “I changed my name to Aurora, by the way. I’m not a boy anymore.”  

    Oris gave her a confused look and continued. “Hydran Glacius?” 

    “Fourteen, water.” Hydran was one of the only people who looked genuinely scared for the Culling, shaking and sweating like any normal person would do.  

    “Lychnus Chro?”  

     Lychnus looked up, eyes full of terror, and didn’t say anything. It wasn’t that he was just scared; he never talked. I’d known him for my entire life, and he’d never said a word. Eventually, Nova, his sister, took over, saying quickly, “He’s fifteen, and he can control light.” 

    Oris nodded skeptically and moved on. “Nova Chro?” 

    “Fourteen, light.” Nova was breathing heavily, brushing a strand of white hair with her fingers and closing her eyes. 

    “Novis Fernis?” 

    “Fifteen, fire.” I looked up at Oris, but when his eyes met my gaze, I quickly turned my face to the floor again.  

    “Alright, we can start now. I’ll read the names.” Oris pulled out another, smaller piece of parchment from a breast pocket and unrolled it. He adjusted his glasses and started to read. “Novis Fernis, Lychnus Chro, Augur Iniq, and Dune Glacius, you’re going to the Disarus Forest this year.” 

    Dune and Augur immediately began protesting, voices overlapping each other and increasing in volume. “I can’t go! I’m the oldest one in Divinios now that everyone’s left! The kids need my help!” 

    “You think that you can take me away from all those kids; those orphans? I’ll fight you, I swear I will!” Dune started to tear up the dirt below him, quickly shaping them into hardened clay spears.  

    Oris, noticing the danger, quickly shouted for guards. Dune and Augur were brought away in the carriage, screaming things almost incomprehensible. After they were safely carted away, Oris sighed and pulled out another roll of parchment from his pocket.  

    “Thankfully, the good folks in the Katapies court gave me a spare list. Novis and Lychnus are still permitted to go, but this time with Clode and Hydran.” Oris, looking exhausted, directed us to the carriage.  

    “We need to hurry. I’m skipping the element test for the sake of time, so please just get in the carriage.” The four of us hoisted ourselves into the carriage and drove to the Disarus Forest, traveling a bit faster than was comfortable. Oris walked us to a little wooden platform and told us to wait until we could see the lights glowing, then follow them.  

    We asked him for more information, but he shook his head and smiled eerily. “That’s all the knowledge I’m allowed to give you four. Have a good trip.” Oris ran back up to the carriage, turned around and waved, then sped away, making the horses go as fast as they could. 

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Hello everyone! This story doesn't exactly fit in with the prompt, but I had already wrote the chapter before the prompts came out, and couldn't find a way to incorporate any of the plot in with the prompts. (Yes, I know I'm saying prompts a lot.) I hope you had a fun time reading this chapter and I wish you all a nice day! :)