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It’s dark…. I can’t see shit. I knew it was a bad idea to go out for a hike when it was so close to sunset. I didn’t think I’d stumble off trail. Since when was there a boulder in the middle of the trail anyway? How did it even get there?
I was only seven when my mother smuggled me into the Authorized Safe Zone. Normally, someone like me would never end up with a roof and a bed on this side of the divide. Let’s be honest, I wouldn’t have stood a chance of seeing my eighth birthday if my parents hadn’t sacrificed themselves. They knew their hope was lost, but they saw a glimmer of it in my young eyes. Now it takes absolutely everything in me to remember what hope feels like. Most of the time, everything I have still isn’t enough.
“Give me another,” I called to the bartender, raising my empty glass and pointing to it. At her nod, I dropped my arms back to the bar top with a sigh. The golden cuffs around my wrists clanked delicately against the wood of the bar. I remember thinking how beautiful they were, back when this all began, but no longer. The symbol of my people’s indentured servitude could never be beautiful to me, not when I was forced to do such terrible things.
CHAPTER 1 ""Begining of experiment"" The greatest gift you can give someone is your time. Because when you give your time you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back.
“This stream is dried out too,” I say weakly, patting my horse’s chestnut side more to comfort myself than her, as I stare at the winding sand pit that was flowing with water only a week ago.
Introduction I couldn't possibly say where or when other than explain the here and now. The story of Catman came to me in 2018 when living on the Worlds End Island in Norway. I had already experienced many glimpses and visualisations of varying movements, forms, places, sounds and creatures around the area and on the adjacent island. The Elf like figure who called himself Szasta was a guide and they chose a few human forms as he called me to interact with. Szasta explained he was part of a team and part an alliance to keep the planet healthy and evolving by seeding, breeding, sampling and realigning sources.
The Druid I considered my options. I’d been sitting in the roof garden of The Druid pub for a couple of hours, travel brochures spread in a fan before me. I picked one up, gave it a cursory glance and dropped it back on the table. I’d been through them five or six times without making a decision.
In all the annals of history there have been great deeds done by virtuous men. But, too many times the good that was done is violently obliterated and obscured by villainous acts perpetrated by the evil intentions of those who thirst for power, control and wealth. And, so begins the most diabolical plot for global domination in the history of man. The year was 1307 King Philip of France desperately needed money and both he and Pope Clement realized that the Templar Knights order had amassed huge fortunes ever since their humble beginnings. Together they set out to take down the order of the Templar Knights and confiscate every last bit of their vast fortunes.
"Are you up, Sa?" Turning my head as I gripped the railing, I glanced over at my closed door. "I'm awake." From my balcony, I watched as the slide doors opened, my ma stepping inside my chambers with the robes in her arms. "You are going to be late."
Sixteen year old Urami Venatari awoke from yet another nightmare in a cold sweat. He quickly calmed his nerves, then surveyed his surroundings as he was trained to by his father. The room was dark, illuminated only by the moonlight that flooded in from the balcony. Uru Sunai and Ashina Nayi were sleeping peacefully just on the opposite side of the room from him. He was still at home. He detected no foul odors or toxins in the air. He heard no one creeping in the shadows. Which meant they were relatively safe. Urami let out one more breath, then donned a pair of black trousers, dark shoes, and an ornate, black robe with golden designs etched into the seams and stepped out of the room through the massive, ornate doors that led into the palace halls.
I walked through the front door and my foot hit a book. It was face down in the hallway. "What happened here?" I wondered aloud.
The ride from Hanada to the university was quiet. The person who met Logan and Sara at the airport was also their driver and didn't speak a word of English. He was of average height, in his late thirties, and wore a suit. Logan looked around the car as the buildings blurred by him, catching a business' name every now and then. Sara was asleep next to him, lying on his arm. Her cancer was on Logan's mind now. How long she had, what she'd been through so far, and what the university could possibly do for her that she hasn't tried herself.