New Swans

New Swans
By Bananazilla the Telepath

Coral and Blake walked side-by-side until they reached the heart of the Redleaf Forest, a dense and giant forest neither had ever been to. In the center of the forest was a small circular clearing. In the middle was a small Wanderling.

"Dad always had strange tastes," a boy said, walking out from behind one of the tall trees. The boy had shaggy black hair, dark cobalt blue eyes, and a light skin tone with some freckles on his face. He was a bit taller than Coral. He went out to shake both of their hands. When they hesitated, he said, "Lance, Descryer and son of Councillor Terik."

"Wait...so that's his Wanderling?" Blake said, pointing to the small tree.

"Mr. Forkle had his planted in a much more bizarre place," Lance said. "Dad never wanted to be normal. I guess that's how he got murdered, though. Well, let's go! Come on!"

Lance outstretched his hands once more, and they held them this time as Lance pulled out a magisdian swan-shaped pendant, and held it up to the light.

"Shall we?" Lance asked, looking at the black beam refracting from the pendant. Lance pulled them in, and the light whisked them away.

They were standing on top of a grassy hill. They looked down at the small green valley, scattered with wooden buildings, the space bustling with people.

"The Collective live there," Lance said, pointing to a big wooden house. "Those are the recruit treehouses, where you'll be staying." Lance pointed to four wooden treehouses, blooming vines intertwined around all of them, making it look fresh and welcoming. "So...one of you is a Hydrokinetic, the other a Pyrokinetic?" They nodded. "The Hydrokinetic, you'll be training with Abdul. And the Pyrokinetic, you'll be training with Qianru. That should be fun for you two. We need as much help as we can get for the cause."

"The cause?" Coral asked.

"Yes," Lance said. "The Neverseen are planning a war, and they have some powerful new recruits."

Coral walked ahead, looking for her treehouse, but Lance stayed back to talk to Blake.

"She's quite the girl, ain't she?" Lance asked.

"Uh...yeah," Blake answered. "Sure."

Lance patted Blake on the back. "Hope there won't be any hard feelings."

"Excuse me?" Blake asked.

"I see some potential in you, Blake," Lance said. "You better use it."

Blake didn't know what to do after that, so they walked until they reached the treehouses. They were split into two sections. Two of the treehouses were for the boys, and the others for the girls.

Lance's bedroom was right across the hall from Blake's. Blake's room was big, water-color paintings that kept changing what they showed were on the wall, a fluffy bed, a desk, flowers that were supposed to keep the nightmares away, and a big forever-lasting flame in the middle of the room.

On his way out of the treehouse, he bumped into a kid named Jacob. Jacob had wavy light brown hair, pale skin, and teal eyes.

"Hey, you're new, huh?" Jacob asked. Blake nodded. "Well, welcome!"

"Thanks," Blake said."What's your talent?"

"I'm a Telepath," Jacob said.

"Nice," Blake said. "I'm a Pyrokinetic. Don't be scared of me, please."

"As long as you promise to not kill me on purpose, we're good," Jacob said. "I can show you to Night Orientation by the campfire! Come on!"

Blake followed.

Meanwhile, Coral had been checking out her room. A few bookshelves filled with books, a squishy and comfortable water bed, a desk, and a small pool of water in the middle of the room.

Coral closed her door, but ran into someone who was doing the same thing.

"Oops!" the girl she had bumped into said quickly. "I really didn't mean to. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine," Coral said. "What's your name?"

The girl was a little shorter than Coral with long, wavy raven hair and lots of freckles that dotted her light olive skin, very light teal eyes, and a pearly white, energetic smile.

"My name's Kacy," the girl said. "I'm a Conjurer!"

"Ooh, that's cool," Coral said. "I'm a Hydrokinetic."

"You're one of the new recruits, right?" Kacy asked. "Coral?" Coral nodded. "I like what you did to your hair."

"Thanks," Coral said.

"If you're new, I guess you don't know how to get to Night Orientation, then," Kacy said. "Follow me, Coral!"

Coral did.

And so sparked two friendships, one rivalry, and quite the interesting organization. But the real question was: were they really ready to fight the Neverseen?