CHAPTER 1 - Elsie
Elsie Carroll remembered falling asleep, but she didn’t remember waking up.Instead, she was just… there. Standing upright, in a stone-walled room with around fifty other teenagers, all of them dressed in plain white robes. She didn’t understand it - it should be Monday, and on Sunday night, she’d been staying over at Kate’s house for one last sleepover before she went to boarding school.
Boarding school.
Woodford College had described itself on the website as "an institution allowing students with potential to fill the gaps in their knowledge,” which everyone knew was code for Helping Smart People Who Went To Crappy Schools. That included Elsie, as far as she could tell. Many of the students at her old school failed class after class, and so the assignments were made far too easy. People like Elsie and Kate zoomed ahead.
Elsie wanted it to stay that way. She didn’t want to be pushed. But her parents did want her to be pushed, so they’d signed her up for a school where she’d have actual competition, where she could learn what her old school didn’t teach her. Where she could be challenged.
Well, it didn’t look like she could go to Woodford, which was good. Unfortunately, it was starting to look like someone might have kidnapped her, and a bunch of other people in their late teens. For some reason.
To her left was a boy of around seventeen. To her right was a muscular, dark-skinned girl. The boy turned to face Elsie, and she shrieked.
His eyes were yellow. Not hazel, not golden brown, but lemon yellow.
‘What? What is it?’ His accent sounded Canadian, but Elsie wasn’t sure. That wasn’t what she wanted to find out.
‘Your eyes. They’re… yellow. Why are they yellow?’
‘Are they? Huh.’ He didn’t seem all that bothered. ‘That girl has yellow eyes, too. What do you think that means?’
He pointed to a redhead who was trying to soothe the crying girl next to her.
Elsie frowned. ‘What colour are my eyes?’
‘Purple. And they’re very pretty.’
Elsie felt sick. Her eyes were hazel, they always had been. Why would they change now? She had wanted other colours, when she was younger, before she realised that you were stuck with what you had and there was no use moaning about it.
Did her parents know she was here? Did Kate? Elsie didn’t know if she’d even see them again. Memories washed over her, memories of small details she’d never forget, like how her dad knew exactly three songs on the piano, how Kate always set her username to PhonyPony, how her mum loved cinnamon and hated spinach. She wasn’t overly close with her parents or her friend, but the thought that she might not see them again hurt. Badly.
She looked around the room. The captives were all talking to each other nervously. Elsie caught words like “dungeon,” “university,” “eyes” and “kidnapped.” Some of them were trying to force open a heavy wooden door at the other end of the room, when suddenly a humming sound became audible. It was coming from the center of the room. Everyone backed away nervously as the humming sound grew louder and louder, and a glow was emitted from the center of the room.
Then a woman appeared.
She was wearing the same robes as the captives, but they were black, not white. She looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, and had thick, muscular arms, wavy honey-coloured hair and green eyes - but they were a deep, rich green - emerald green, like some sort of horrific Photoshop creation. Elsie hoped her purple eyes weren't so bold.
The woman looked sad and wistful, but she shook her head and immediately cleared the expression from her face.
‘Put your hand up if you cannot understand what I’m saying.’
She smiled at her own little joke. No one else moved.
‘Now, put your hand up if you do understand what I’m saying.’
Slowly, all the hands in the room went up.
‘Splendid. Welcome to Elkenmire Stronghold, also known as the Unbreakable Fort. It’s the safest place in the Clylalt Plains.’
So they were in a fort of some kind. Elsie had no idea where - the Clylalt Plains didn’t sound familiar.
‘My name is Magister Cordelia Goodwin, and I am the mentor for the English-speaking division, the third largest of the ten divisions here. You all speak English…’
‘I’m bilingual,’ one girl declared.
‘But you speak English fluently?’
‘Y...yes.’
‘Then that’s fine. I trust that all of you are signed up to attend Waterfall Secondary School, Bluelands High School, Woodford College…’
Elsie's boarding school? What did Woodford have to do with Elkenmire Stronghold, or their eyes, or anything?
Cordelia continued to list a bunch of schools and universities that Elsie had never heard of.
‘...or Canyonview University? Put your hand up if you were not signed up for any of those.’
No hands went up.
‘Alright. Well, I don’t know how I could reveal this to you gently... but none of those actually exist.’
Elsie shook her head. That couldn’t be true. But then again, she’d never seen it, aside from photos. She’d always found that suspicious, but she’d put it down to the distance. Elsie’s family lived in the north of England, and the college was supposed to be in the south.
‘They were part of our search for worthy guardians. You or your parents signed you up, and we selected the people who best fit our cause. Intelligent people who still struggled with school. Athletes who weren't quite good enough to be professionals. Oddballs, misfits, people looking for an escape. We will be the answer to your prayers, as long as you are the answer to ours.’
Elsie frowned. Cordelia sounded like she was trying to make some kind of deal with them, and chances are it probably wouldn’t end well.
‘Our people are weak, starving and afraid. Crime and disease strike down more of them every single day. Now that we’re under attack, they’ve lost all morale.’
‘They’re starving? You look alright, so you must have enough food,’ Elsie called out, then immediately wished she hadn’t.
‘Our supplies are expanding. Do you know why? We established a portal to your world. While we were reluctant to take your crops, we found we had no choice if we wanted healthy soldiers. Of course, then we discovered something even better. People. You… you’re exactly what we need. Your world actually has an excess of people. You’ve been healthy and well-nourished for most of your lives, and so you’re taller, stronger and faster than any of our native residents. Ideal warriors.’
‘Warriors?’ The boy next to Elsie frowned, his yellow eyes wide with concern.
‘Yes. Do not worry, you won’t have to fight until you’re ready. In the meantime, you’ll be well-treated, and revered by the native residents. Oh, and the eye thing. In our realm, individuals have distinctive eye hues in accordance with their personality. I mean, how do you feel safe talking to someone if you know nothing about them?’
Cordelia smiled knowingly.
‘You are young, and your personalities are still taking shape, so colour changes aren’t unheard of. But whether they change or not, they’re worth understanding now. Those with red eyes are leaders and risk-takers. Blue eyes are for entertainers and charmers. Grey eyes are for mediators and pacifists. Yellow eyes are for optimists and defenders. Purple eyes are for dreamers and artisans. Green eyes, like mine, are for scholars and organisers.’
Everyone in the room began inspecting each other’s eyes, all thoughts of “warriors” forgotten. Except Elsie - she knew her new eye colour, and it didn’t seem to be the most important thing right now. She spoke up again.
‘Excuse me… I’m not sure about this. We don’t know anything about you, or this world. Who are we even fighting?’
Cordelia’s smile faded. She took a deep breath, fixing her eyes on the floor. Then she answered, in a voice barely above a whisper.
‘The dead.’
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