Morningstar
Chapter I: The Newcomer

Lexan turns in his bed. He feels the sun hits his eyes. He opens them to watch the sun enter through his window. He sits up as a reflex. The sun should not be getting to him. He should have woken up before it did. If the sun is hitting him then that means that he is late.

He trips on his way down the bed. He pushes himself with his hands against the floor and runs to the bathroom. He urinates as fast as he can before grabbing his toothbrush. As he cleans his mouth, he strips down, not caring who is in the room. It does not surprise him to know that there is no one in the room. His roommates must have woken up in time and did not wake him because they want him to be late. If he is late, he will be expelled, and expulsion is not something that anyone wants.

He leaves the clothes on the floor and pulls the first thing that he replaces. They are all brown uniforms. As he slips into his pants, his toothbrush falls on the wooden floor. He does not care. He picks it up and continues brushing. He rushes to the bathroom and spits. He takes a gulp of water, spins it around his mouth, and throws it out.

He proceeds to place his pieces of grey armor on his uniform. Now where did he leave his spear? He looks around but he does not replace it. His roommates must have hidden it! He cannot arrive without his weapon. He moves the bed, the nightstands, looks on every wardrobe, and he ends up replaceing it behind a wardrobe of one of his roommates.

“Screw them,” he swears.

He rushes out of the room. He will get on time. He must get on time. His life depends on it.

***

Phoenix watches the man stand at the stage. He has black clothes underneath a gray cloak of the color of pewter which has a hood that covers his head. He is wearing a gray mask that covers his nose and mouth. The only thing that she can see is his honey skin of his hands and forehead and his blue eyes. He looks through the crowd, and even though he doesn’t stare directly at her, it sends a shiver down her spine.

He is talking to Morning, the Lord of the academy. Morning is wearing a yellow cloak around him, covering his clothes, with golden stars and suns stitched on. He does not have his hood on. His dark skin shines and his brown eyes are almost the same color. He nods at the man and turns to face the crowd. He opens his mouth, but a door opens.

Phoenix turns her head. She watches Lexan enter the room. She can even see him sweating. His brown hair is messy as if he did not have time to comb it. He straightens his back and rushes to the only empty space between the students. He places his spear on its place in his belt before rising his head and staring at the stage. A second more and he would have been a goner.

“Welcome, students,” Morning says, ignoring Lexan’s interruption. Everyone shifts themselves, standing straighter. Phoenix catches the man stare for a second at Lexan before looking away. That is bad news. “Graduation is in a month. It is a tradition of Morningstar and the other schools to bring a former graduate to be our assassin.”

Morning steps back and the man steps in. The assassin has found his prey.

***

Tilray is one of the strongest at Morningstar. She will not let the assassin get to her. She has heard many times before of how the previous assassins always try to intimidate in order to cause fear on everyone and make them commit mistakes. Just by the presence of the assassin, people give up. She will not be one of them. She will graduate.

“The rules are standard,” the assassin says, his grave voice sounding across the room. “At a certain time during the day, I will begin to kill some of you. You can hide and stay safe from me or you can hunt me down and get the glory. Whoever kills me will be excused from the trials and will have a safe place at the graduation. You will all have until dusk. When dusk arrives, I will stop hunting and you will pass the first trial. If someone manages to kill me, then the trial is over.”

Tilray is glad. She has memorized the rules before. She has practiced many times before. She will not hide. She will hunt for him. She will kill him and get all the glory. Everyone will remember her name.

“I am obliged to tell you the time when the trial begins,” the assassin says. “The trial will begin after I meet every single one of you. I will talk with each one of the five hundred students and after I talk with the last one, then the trial begins. If you break this rule, then I will be forced to eliminate you from the trial.”

Tilray wants to look at the side. She wants to see the look on everyone’s faces. She knew that the assassin could add rules to the trial, but they never added an odd rule like this one. He does not have a reason to meet everyone. It is easier to kill anyone if the hunter doesn’t know its prey’s history. What is he planning?

“Remember that with skills come luck and with luck comes skill,” the assassin says. Tilray knows what that means. He is wishing them luck. The assassin steps down of the stage and leaves through the back door.

“During this time, you will remain outside until he had met with each one of you,” Morning says. “When the trial begins, you are allowed to return inside of the buildings. You are dismissed.”

***

“What are you going to do, Tilray?” Ilya asks. She considers herself Tilray’s best friend, but she knows that she is close to Tilray because she is the best of Morningstar. Her blonde hair is tied up today in a short ponytail.

“I am going to follow the assassin,” Tilray answers as they walk towards the exit of the main hall. “That way, I will know when he speaks to the last student and I will kill him in that moment.”

Ilya swallows. She does not think that that’s a great idea. She is risking her life to skip her way into graduation. Ilya will not kill the assassin. She will play it safe. She will pass every trial without trying to risk herself. Slow wins the race.

“I should do the same,” Shin says. He is taller than Ilya but around the same height, if not an inch or two taller, as Tilray. He has spherical brown eyes and a skin a tone darker than Tilray.

Once they are outside, Ilya sees the gunslingers. Phoenix, the leader of the group, watches them walk by. Her ginger hair is longer than most of the women at Morningstar. Long hair is a disadvantage when it comes to fighting. The opponent can grab her by it, and it would be easier to kill her.

Tilray pulls out her middle finger at her. Phoenix smiles without showing any teeth and continues walking with her group. “Bitch,” Tilray whispers. “I hope that he kills her first.”

“Would he?” Norm asks. He is smaller than all of them. His light blond hair is so bright and so close to his head that sometimes makes him seem bald. “Don’t you think that she will probably hide until the trial is over?”

“She won’t hide,” Tilray says. She separates from the crowd to move towards the lake nearby. “She will try to kill him to try and show everyone that she is better than me.”

“It does not matter,” Killam says as he moves closer to Tilray. He is the tallest of all their group. His white skin also makes his biceps almost unnoticeable. “We will kill him and at least one of us will skip to graduation but we will all hold the glory.” Urho, who is the shyest of the group, nods in agreement.

The lake is empty. Almost everyone went to other places. Shin sits by a tree. Ilya searches for the cleanest part near the tree but ends up sitting at a boulder. Norm leans against the boulder near her. Urho sits at the ground.

Then a shadow appears. She almost jumps away from the rock. Someone leaps down from the tree’s branches and lands in front of them. It is the assassin. Tilray’s hand goes to her shotgun at her waist, but the assassin holds out a hand.

“You do not want to break the rule, Tilray,” he says.

“How do you know my name?” Tilray asks, still her hand on her gun. He only stares at her, his icy blue eyes not moving.

“Being an assassin does not mean that he only kills,” Norm answers. “He needs to know his targets’ weaknesses and strengths.”

“Correct, Norm,” the assassin answers. Ilya swallows again and the assassin’s eyes go to her. Then they move again. “Tilray, Norm, Ilya, Shin, Killam, and Urho. Out of you six only four will survive. Would you like to know who are the two that leaves your group?”

“Are you trying to psych us?” Tilray asks. “It will not work. We will all remain alive by the end because we will all kill you.”

“Very well,” the assassin says. He climbs the tree with such ease that he almost looks as if he is levitating. He disappears through the leaves.

“Who do you think that is going to die?” Urho asks.

“None of us,” Tilray answers. “He is trying to make us choose between us. We will be all right.”

But even though Tilray assures them, Ilya cannot help but think that it is her.

***

Lexan wants to yell. He was almost late and all because of his roommates. He walks down the small steps of the campus of Morningstar and continues the white stone path. He should have grabbed some knives or daggers to prepare himself since he is not allowed inside until the trial starts.

“Hard day isn’t it?” someone asks. He turns his head to the side to replace the assassin walking next to him. Lexan’s guard rises for a second, but then he remembers that the trial has not begun.

“You have no idea,” Lexan says. He isn’t in the mood for small talk, which is hardly uncommon for him. “Well, now you met me. You can continue your tour.”

“No,” the assassin answers. “You have not even told me your name.”

“Lexan,” he answers. “Now, can you please continue? I want to spend this time alone until the trial starts. I have not even eaten breakfast and now I cannot go back inside to get some. I am as dead as I can be.”

“You might be,” the assassin says. He hands something to Lexan. It is a green apple. Lexan takes it. “You have potential. Don’t waste it.” He turns to walk away. “See you at graduation.”

Lexan stares at him walking away. What is he playing at? He checks the apple that he gave him. It should not be poisoned. If it was, then he broke the rule by killing him before the trial begins. With confidence, Lexan takes a bite.

***

Wither stands by the statues of the Times of Day. There are seven statues, each one made of stone. They are hooded figures, each one with different symbols drawn at the cloaks. They rule Morningstar and the rest of the academies with different names. He reads each one of them. In order, there is Midnight, Dawn, Morning, Midday, Noon, Dusk, and Night.

Yenta, his closest friend, pulls his middle finger out at Morning. He is the Lord of Morningstar. Wither laughs.

“They are mysterious people, aren’t they?” someone says. Wither replaces the assassin standing in front of the statue of Night, looking at it. “There was a rumor, once when I was enrolled in Nightlight, that the Times are not human.”

“It is hard to believe, isn’t it?” Yenta speaks.

“Could be,” the assassin says. “I am not here to tell you how to think, Yenta. You have spent many years being molded to think like them.”

“We do not think like them!” Yenta says, rage already showing in his voice. “We all hate them!”

“Usually someone hates whoever is similar to them,” the assassin says, now looking at them. “You should agree. You and Wither are opposites and that is why you two get along.”

“What do you want?” Yenta asks.

“Nothing,” the assassin says. “I am making small talk.”

“Before you kill us,” Wither finishes for him with the little courage that came.

“No,” the assassin says as he shakes his head. “Before I kill one of you.” He waits a few seconds, but Wither nor Yenta knows what to say. “Well, see you later.” He places his hands inside the pockets of his black pants before leaving.

“He is kidding, right?” Yenta asks.

“I do not think so,” Wither answers. “He must have already made a list of who he is going to kill.”

“Then we won’t let him,” Yenta says. He smiles. “We will kill him before he kills any of us.”

***

Meer is sitting at the wooden steps. Several buildings in the campus are connected by wooden hallways with ceilings that appear to be bridges. It technically counts as being outside since it doesn’t have walls. Rin is sitting at one of the railings of the hallway. Her raven hair is loose like everyone in their group. Her oval eyes are a dark blue that almost seem like purple.

Zanna is sitting on top of a rock right next to the stairs where Meer is sitting. Her curly black hair is lying loose also. Her black skin is something that Meer has always envied because she is as white as snow.

Right next to Zanna is Phoenix. She is standing, with her back against the elevated wooden hallway. Her double-barrel shotgun is against her waist while she has a small version of it at the other side.

There is another group at the end of the hallway. Meer does not know their names. She only knows that one of them has a crush on Zanna but has never approached her. Zanna acts clueless about it; she doesn’t even mentions it.

“I will try to kill him,” Meer says, continuing their conversation.

“I do not know if I should,” Phoenix says.

“Come on, Nix,” Meer says. “Since when do you back down from a challenge?”

“He is a professional killer, Meer,” Phoenix says. “Killing him will be difficult.”

“And there would be others trying to kill him,” Rin says. “One of someone’s shot can accidentally hit us.”

“That’s a great point,” the assassin says, standing right next to Rin. His arms are resting on the railing. Meer does not know where he came from. She stands up quickly as Rin jumps down from the railing.

“Ah, the infamous assassin,” Phoenix says as she turns and look up at him.

“Thanks for the nice words, Phoenix,” the assassin says. “Now, continuing Rin’s statement, there would be many people trying to kill me. There will be a bloodbath out there and it won’t be because of me.”

Meer’s hand goes to her gun. What if she kills him now? He will be done for. There would not be any bloodbath.

“You will do your part of the killing,” Zanna says.

“I will,” the assassin says, “but that’s my–”

A gun goes off. Meer has her gun out and pressed her trigger quickly when she pointed the assassin. But the assassin is gone. No. Her shot missed. She looks around for him, but then, she hears a crack.

***

“What did you do that for?” Phoenix yells. The assassin is standing behind Meer. He has let go of her head and she has fallen to the floor. She is dead. Another body for Phoenix to see. Another person for her to mourn on her own time.

“A rule is a rule,” the assassin says. His eyes fly from Meer’s body to Phoenix.

“But she did not kill you,” Phoenix says. “You should have not killed her.”

“But she tried to, Miss Phoenix,” the assassin says. “If she would have succeeded, then what?” He rises his leg and walks above and past Meer’s body. “Pity. She was not meant to die in this trial. Life works in mysterious ways.” He walks the steps and heads down the hallway to the other group.

“He is frightening,” Phoenix hears a familiar voice say. She replaces Tilray standing at the hallway with her group. Rin moves closer to Phoenix. Zanna stands up from the rock and stops beside her.

“What do you want?” Phoenix asks. They have been taught to not mourn any dead people, but this is not the time for Tilray to test her.

“I do not like you either, but he threatened my group and killed one member of yours,” Tilray says. She looks at the assassin and Phoenix does too. He is talking to the other group. “That is his last group. After he finishes talking, the trial will start. If we work together, we can kill him. You can get your revenge and I will keep my group safe.”

“Work with you?” Phoenix asks.

“Until we kill him,” she answers.

The assassin has his hands behind his back, talking to the other group. She wishes to see him dead. She wishes to see his gray cloak stained with blood, his blood. She wishes to see the life disappear in his eyes.

“Deal, but just until he dies,” Phoenix says.

“Excellent.”