The next day I overslept. I basically slept past my alarm. My uncle also slept his alarm. My alarm was set for 6am. When I woke up though, it was 10 in the morning. I woke up to him being super mad at himself because he would be late for his college classes and I was way past the time school would start. My school starts at 8pm So I would be over two hours late depending on the traffic.
My uncle was swearing all over the place. He walked into my room. He glared at me.
“The head mistress called me.”
“What did she say?”
“She has to enroll you for your cithian power class. So you have 15 mins to get ready. I also need to get ready.”
“Meet you downstairs then?”
“Yes, Sky.”
I got dressed in my purple shirt and blue jeans. I headed downstairs. Just like I thought, my uncle was not waiting for me and walked up the stairs and over to Uncle’s bedroom . I knocked on his door.
“Unkie, are you comin’? We’re gonna be late!”
“Go wait in the living room for me. I’ll be down in a minute.”
“Fine.”
I started walking down the stairs and heard footsteps behind me. I felt someone touch me on my shoulders and I turned around and my uncle was standing behind me.
“Boo!”
“No fair! You know I don’t like to be touched!”
“Eh, I can train you out of that.”
“No you can’t. It’s a part of me.”
“Fine. Just walk with me to the truck then.”
We both got in the truck.
My uncle started the car with an auto-start button inside the car.
“So what did it feel like to have your first malfunction?”
“Honestly, embarrassing.”
“I know what the moment was like. Tell me what it felt like.”
“Different. How was my dad’s?”
“I feel like that is something your dad should tell you.”
My unkie turned onto the highway. He looked around at the surrounding traffic. He looked at me.
“You are in for a surprise.”
He pressed a button above the radio. We hovered above the cars as the car became smaller and wings sprouted out the sides of the car. A portal appeared in front of us and we went through it. The car sat down in front of Haystead.
“I hope you’re ready.”
“I’m still in amazement of what just happened.”
“I was just in a hurry. But we should go before we are later than we are already.”
“We walked inside and to the headmistress’ office.”
We sat down in front of the headmistress. She looked at me.
“My daughter told me about what happened in class yesterday.”
“So you heard about his powers?”
“Yes. But more importantly, you best be ready for this class, Skylar.”
“”I don’t know if I am or not.”
“Wow, your speech sounded slurred so I will also enroll you in speech therapy with Ms. Jenkins. But I do see that you are pretty social already.”
“Okay. But let’s talk about my new class.”
“Well your dad was a power-cithian so I kinda feel like you shouldn’t try to outshine other people.”
“Outshine?”
“Yes. Your dad had unique abilities. His first malfunction was sitting on an orb of light.”
“Really? So do you think my powers will be the same?”
“They might be. Everyone is different.”
“What about my mom?”
“I feel like you're going off subject here.”
“That’s normal for him, mistress.”
“I had a feeling you’d say that. Most autistic kids can’t stay on the same subject for long periods of time. But, just like on Cither, our nation was built on people just like him.”
“You mean you’re excited to see what path I take with my autistic brain?”
“Yes. Completely.”
“So, are we done here?”
“Yes. It’s time to take you to your class.”
“Good. I’m ready to see Ms. Bloom.”
“I know you’ve already met her. But this is your first day actually in the class. So please try to be good and be the genius I expect from your brand of people.”
We walked to Ms. Bloom’s classroom. She opened the door.
“Great. I’m happy you’re here Mr.Skylar for your first official day of class.”
“So am I.”
“My uncle crouched down and looked me in the eyes.
“Sky please be your genius self but most importantly, be what you were born to be.”
“Don’t quote my Dad.”
This might be surprising but I used to live with my dad. So I know about his career. On my sixth birthday, I saw his last performance I can recall, which was when he sang his song born to be''. I don't dream of singing like he did. After his performance, he took me to my uncle’s house and told me I would be living with him because he didn’t want me to be living in the shadow of his career and the fame that surrounded it.
My dad left and I sat down next to my friend, Justin. He looks at me.
“I heard your dad is Alex Crop.”
“Yeah. So?”
“So, he’s a haystead legend. He was literally the first person to have a unique first malfunction.”
“I’m sure you’re following in his footsteps. I think yours is pretty unique too.”
“ Thanks.”
Ms.Bloom stood in front of the class.
“Class, today we welcome a new student. He’s the son of the Haystead legend, Alex Crop.” She looked at me. “Go on, stand up and introduce yourself.”
I stood up.
“My name is Skyrid Crop. I know my dad is a legend but please just treat me like any other ordinary new student.”
The kids all around me snickered. I hid my face. Justin smashed his hands on his desk.
“He’s right. But, nothing about this class is ordinary. I mean, we all literally have had malfunctions, right?”
Everyone murmured in agreement. Miss Bloom nodded.
“He is right. Everything comes with a price though. Today we will talk about the first two people ever to hold warrior powers, Judedick Crop and Furliceo Woolsley. Students, open your books to page 5.”
We all opened our books. Ms. Bloom looks at me.
“Skyrid, please read the first paragraph.” She says.
“Furliceo was born after the Markson War. He was the son of Jagon and Comsit Woolsley. On his fifteenth birthday, he was the first person to touch the Maroon Heart. In him awoke a door to demon a named Matrix she was a servant of Shirak. So you could say he is the embodiment of a demon servant. He was also the first person to be an embodiment of a demon that wasn’t Shirak.”
I raised my hand.
“Ms.Bloom, How does this pertain to us?”
“Great question, Skyrid. To deepen your understanding of what you’re going into with having your first malfunctions, we want to show both sides of the playing field. When you finally have your final Malfunctions and gain your power rings in your wrists, your powers will overtake you and we will not be able to help you. But, we hope to prepare you for this battle. Your powers will definitely test you. For some your powers will open doors to demons and for others they will just be unique. But for one of you, you will make history and be the one to reawaken the memories of the strikers and all other Hitons.”
“Wow, that’s quite an answer.”
“Any other questions?”
Justin raised a fist in the air.
“I suppose you have a question.”
“Yes.”
“I do. How many servants does Shirak have?”
“Shirak has a numerous amount. Every human civilization stretching far across the cosmos has had people who might’ve been possessed by demons.”
“Like Adolf Hitler?”
“Yes, Sky. But how do you know about him? You’re only six right?”
“My dad taught all I know about people who he thought might’ve been possessed by demons. Adolf was a crazy man/ It is a definitely possibility that the holocaust was caused by demons. But we also have to say this: Jews have been attacked in history multiple times.”
Justin glared at me.
“Do we have to bring religion into this?”
“No. But they don’t believe Jesus in infact the christ!”
“That’s because they thought he would be the one to defeat the romans.”
Ms. Bloom rolled her eyes.
“Boys, religion does not play a factor in whether things happen due to demonic possessions. But there are people out there who think that demons have been the cause of a lot of distress in different civilizations. But now let’s get to the flipside of this conversation. Skyrid, please read the next paragraph.”
“Judedick was the second person to touch the marron heart. But unlike Furliceo, his malfunction did not awaken a demon in him. Jude came from a family that was birthed from the one and only Harris Longer and his wife Riley Gertrude. His malfunction awoke a nation of people from his DNA that awakened the warrior power Gemini.”
Justin dropped his jaw.
“Are you saying that Skyrid’s family tree started the gene pool on cithians having powers?”
“Yes.”
I hid my face.
I knew what was now coming with this namesake. My family started the crop of the gene pool of cithians. I now realize that I do come from a long line of greats. MY grandpa started the namesake of warrior powers and I intend to make him even more proud of the legend surrounding my family.
Ms. Bloom smacked her hands together loudly.
“Class has now ended. I will see you all tomorrow for our next subject which will be prophecies surrounding the crop and woolsley families.”
The next day was a weird one. I woke up in fear because of a nightmare. I’ve always had nightmares but this was a frightful one. I even woke up screaming. My uncle Kodyack was right there beside me when I woke up. “What did you see?” “I dreamt that I was in a field and a spacecraft appeared above me. A beam shot down from the ship and I saw an alien with big black eyes and he opened his mouth to speak to me and...” “So what did the alien say?” “I don’t know. I woke up before he could spat out the words.” “Well, you need to get ready for school.” “More like history about cithians academy!” “Stop mocking the school and just get ready!” “Fine! I will!” I got ready and headed downstairs with my backpack and we got my uncle’s truck. When I got to school I sat down as Miss Meghan stood at the blackboard. “Today our lesson will be on what made the Sayis Council wipe the Hiton’s memory of us. But before we do, let me welcome the fifth graders.” The fifth graders sat down.
I will say that I didn’t expect what happened surrounding meeting my childhood nemesis. It was definitely not a normal day. When I got to school that day, I heard this on the radio: “Bloodbringer Gunderson has become even more crazy. He is now predicting that in 2050 the cithians will definitely invade Siraka and start the next war against them. Some people say he’s going beyond crazy. The war of 2024 was what started this whole thing some experts say because that was the last time Cithians were talked about and eventually outlawed. Ever since then it's like our minds have been erased of memory of all cithians and terror that surround them.” “Uncle, how come Bloodbringer Gunderson still remembers our people?” “It is said that he is not truly a hiton so the rule does not apply to him.” “What do you mean? Is there something you aren’t telling me?” “It is said that after the hitons' minds were erased, The human embodiment of Shirak made Bloodbringer Gunderson touch the Maroon He
My uncle opened my bedroom door. “Skylar get your ass out of bed! It’s your birthday! Time for birthday breakfast!” “Uncle, just let me sleep! It’s the weekend after all!” “Skylar, get up we’re going to go to Quffle cookery for your birthday breakfast!” “Oh, yeah I forgot!” I got up and out of bed and got dressed. I raced downstairs and my uncle followed me outside. My uncle turned on the radio and smiled. “Today isn’t just your birthday! Today is our 2 year anniversary of you living with me!” “Oh, you’re right! Two holidays at once!” The radio buzzed and we heard Bloodbringer Gunderson speak. “As you all know this has been my 21st year of serving this great country of Jasper. But it has also been the weirdest! People have been saying that I'm going crazy because i’m talking about the cithians all the time and no even remembers their existence!” My uncle chuckled “Of course they don’t remember us! The Sayis Council wiped their memories! Remember what I told you about
I awoke from a weird dream. In the dream, I was standing in front of a Shadow. The Shadow was standing in a beam of light. It looked at me. “Skylar Ridian Crop, it is the day of your awakening...” was what I heard from the shadow before I woke up. I knew what this meant. Today is the day I might get my powers. We talked about this day all the time in my warrior powers class at Haystead Academy. Miss Bloom was always the teacher who talked about it. She always talked about how it will be different for everyone. She said if we weren’t supposed to get our powers that we would get our power rings taken away from our bodies in a way that would be a different experience for everyone. But if we were supposed to get our powers, then something spectacular and special would happen to us. For me at least, I also hoped that it would be something special and spectacular and not the other one. It was also my twelfth birthday. I will admit that I didn’t think that both my awakening and my bir
I was enjoying a nice day outside with my class for class out on the lawn. We were rushed inside as sirens went off continuously. Ms.Bloom turned on the tv as we all sat down. She turned the channel to the local news. The newswoman was standing in front of a skyscraper. Behind her a portal opened and out stepped a man with a blue face. Two families screamed as their cars crashed into the skyscraper. One family was in a mustang. The other was in a Prius. The blue-faced man shot beams of darkness at the skyscraper as it fell to the ground in rubble. Another portal opened beside him. A man in armor stepped out of it. Kandriths were seen shouting praises to the devil and his servant Shirak. Ganthiras were out protesting the event. Rangrates joined them. My nemesis Jaren rolled his eyes. “It seems that the Strikers' memories have been returned to them and the Kandriths are all to blame!” Yellow orbs went into my wrists as he stood up and threw his desk at the wall. I got up from m
The strikers’ truck arrived in front of a white dome. They dragged me inside as a woman with black hair walked up to us. “You must be the person to thank.” “For what?” “For giving us our memories back.” “Why is that a good thing?” “Because your kind don’t deserve to live. Plus, I have a job again now.” “That may be good for you but, it means my kind is no longer safe from harm.” “True. But I'm just glad that no one can say that the Bloodbringer is crazy anymore.” “True. But I can’t ever guess what you people plan to do with me.” “Oh believe me you’ll find out soon.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” The lady whistled loudly as two strikers appeared. “Men take him to the initiation room.” The strikers dragged me to a small tent. They locked me down to a chair as an old tv was put in front of me. I looked at and a small black man appeared on the screen. “My name is General Ellison. All cithians are jerks and assholes. They say their lives are hard from the minute t
“So what are the chances that my mom is here among us.?” “Very slim. Not all the people caught are in the same concentration camp.” “ “Yeah. I knew that . Doesn’t mean the spies who are caught aren't in the same one though.” Maybe. But that wouldn’t make sense because there are only about 50 prisoners of war in this camp.” “My uncle told me that only 250 Cithians were killed.” “Yes, that's true. But there have probably been about 1000 or more who have been caught not counting the number of SPS members who were caught.” “So you took down the death toll of all the cihtians who were caught versus killed but you didn't write down an estimate of how many spies were caught versus killed?” “We know how many people were caught versus killed that were spies. We just don’t know how many of them lost their memories.” “Wait , does that mean that it’s possible that there are spies who didn’t lose their memories?” “I wouldn’t get your hopes up .” “Why not ? There is a loophole to every
When we came upon the other side, we were standing in my classroom at Haystead. Alarms were going off and no one was in sight. It seemed as if a bomb had gone off. The classroom door swung open as my uncle and my dad appeared. My dad glared at me. “You must come with me while we still have a chance to save Jaren.” “So you heard what happened?” “Heard? It’s splattered all over the news. But I never thought my own son would be the one to put all cithians back in danger.” “Really? From what I heard from Uncle Kody you were a part of what caused us to be outlawed in the first place.” “True. But I didn’t think that the warning of the reawakening could actually happen. I mean that is why Haystead was established. We needed a way to make sure that if more people became cithians whether by injection or by being born with the powers that we could hide their malfunctions.” “Well, it still happened though.” “Okay Fine. We need to save Jaren though. So follow me to the car.” “I f