Sabien

I drew my eyes up from the floor at the sound of footsteps, praying it wasn't someone who wanted to talk to me. I sucked at small talk. And just socializing in general, but that's beside the point.

Eldya curled her tail up and tugged on my earlobe, as if to remind me to at least try.

I sighed. It's first impressions that matter most, right? Better make it a good one. So I plastered a smile on my face and greeted the girl who walked up.

She was gorgeous.

Sabien! I scolded myself, but couldn't take my eyes off the girl.

She had long, reddish-brown hair that flowed past her shoulders. Her eyes shimmered, they were clearly a light colour, but she was too far away to tell which. A wolverine trotted eagerly at her side, which made me gulp as soon as I saw it.

Of course you'd fall for the one with the scariest animal. I groaned internally.

The girl halted about a pace from me, pushing her fingers through her hair and offering a shy smile that made my own lips quirk up higher. "Hi there." She greeted brightly.

"Hi!" I squeaked in response. My ears turned hot. Oh Tellun, this is going to go badly.

She gestured to the wolverine. "This is Cerco, and I'm Navia!" The newly-introduced Navia offered another dazzling grin. "And you are?"

"I'm meet, Sabien to nice you!" I blurted back. Horrified by the nonsense I'd just spewed, I clapped a hand over my mouth. "I-I mean..."

Navia burst into laughter. "Say that again?" She giggled.

I ducked my head, but a laugh bubbles into my throat anyway. "I'm Sabien, nice to meet you." I tried again.

"Sabien, got it." She wiped at her eyes and nodded. "Who did you summon?"

"Oh, ah, Eldya." I pointed to my shoulder. "The chameleon?"

She raised a brow. "She seems shy."

"Well," I turned and shot a glance at my shoulder. "Oh." The chameleon had camouflaged herself when the girl had approached, but I hadn't noticed, because I could still feel her weight. What happened to good first impressions? I grumbled mentally. "Sorry about that, I guess you scared her." I answered sheepishly.

Navia shrugged. "Yeah, Cerco has a way of doing that." She looked back down at the wolverine. "Don't you, boy?" Looking back up, Navia flashed another smile.

I blinked and returned the grin, too dazzled to think of how stupid I looked. By Tellun, she smiles a lot, I thought to myself.

It was only after she walked away that I realized I didn't mind it.

Zay

Who is this stuck up brat? I wondered angrily. I ground my teeth and glared at the horse girl the Ryan had brought over.

"Lucia, this is Zay." The oblivious guardian squeezed the brunette's shoulder and smiled cheerfully at us.

I could already tell that I didn't like either of them. Ryan's smile and optimism hurt my head. And Lucia– which is an ugly name, by the way– was staring down her nose at me.

Yeah, you're so much better than me. I growled. With your fancy dress and pretty face. I narrowed my eyes and resisted the urge to snap the words out loud.

"I'm from Eura." Lucia finally broke the tense silence. Her tone was smug and she flicked that stupid braid of hers behind her shoulder. "What about you?"

I imagined grabbing the knife from in my boot and slicing the plait off. "Stetriol."

She blinked at me for a moment, then recoiled. "You're not."

I tipped my head to one side and bit the words out harshly. "Why would I lie to you?"

"I don't know. How did you even get here?" Lucia chewed her lip. She looked nervous now. Her spirit animal, the horse, pawed uncomfortably at the ground behind her.

I rolled my eyes. "Same way as you did. I'm part of the prophecy! Why else do you think I'd want to come here?" To the home of the people who took everything from my country?

She reached back and pulled her braid back over her shoulder, stroking it uncertainly. "I don't know."

"It seems there's a lot you don't know." I snapped, anger surging in me. "So why don't you go back to your perfect life in Eura, princess?"

She bristled at that. "I'm not a princess-"

"No?" I interrupted spitefully. "You sure seem to act like one." I stepped forward, getting in her face. "You better get off your pedestal right now. Because here?" I gestured to the room around us, then jabbed my finger into her chest. "We are the same. You're no better than I am. Remember that, princess." I spat the word at her, watching with satisfaction as she drew back. Fuming, I then spun and stalked off. Stupid entitled rich kids.

Sasha

I'm a coward.

The thought made me dig my hand into the pommel of my sword. I shook my head angrily. But I couldn't deny it. I'd run from my responsibilities, and even now, I was too scared to even look at my spirit animal.

Save Erdas? I scoffed internally, feeling my face twist into a scowl. A warrior gets nowhere on dreams of grandeur, I thought darkly. Nope. All it'll get you is killed.

"Hey, you're Sasha, right?"

I blinked from my thoughts and looked up through my brows.

One of the guardians stood in front of me. His arms were crossed, but his face held only friendly curiosity. "Sasha Leuko?"

I sighed through my nose. "Yes sir."

He snorted. "I haven't been called sir in a while. Please, Tyler is just fine." Tyler offered a hand.

"Well, I don't have to introduce myself, I guess." I shook his hand, slightly pleased by the firmness of it. "How long have you been a Greencloak?" I scanned his face. It was set with scars and lines, though not nearly as many as Pa's had been.

"Eight or nine years." He answered easily. "But it took me a while to bond to Charlie."

Charlie? I raised a brow.

"My spirit animal." He supplied vaguely, reading the look on my face. "Speaking of which, what's the jaguar's name?"

"His name is Delar." At the mention of the animal, my eyes scanned the room in search of him. The jaguar had found the small patch of sunlight that poured in from the high window. He lounged in it. Lazy cat. I grumbled.

"Delar." Tyler repeated. "Interesting name."

I shrugged. "I was just trying things out and that's the one he liked. I'm not going to argue."

A brief grin flashed over Tyler's features. "Fair enough."

We stood in silence after that. Despite my disdain for this place and all it said about me, I found myself enjoying the company. Tyler was easy to talk to. Steady, in a way. And suddenly I was glad he was our guardian. Somehow, I had a feeling we'd need someone steady.

Tazi

"Hey, kid."

I turned from where I'd been not-so-subtly trying to edge out of the door, suppressing an annoyed groan.

A dark-skinned boy leaned against the wall beside me, his brows arched in an amused expression. "Where you running off to?"

"The docks." I admitted after scrutinizing him for a moment. "I wanted to go for a swim."

"Ah, you're the stingray kid."

I tried not to be offended by that. "It's Tazi, actually. Who're you?"

"Niko. I'm ostrich boy." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder to where the bird in question was standing. It watched us with unnervingly dark eyes.

I licked my lips. "Cool. How'd you know about Ian?" I lifted my hand to show the stingray's tattoo, situated on the fleshy part of my left thumb.

"Seriously?" He laughed, his brows climbing up his forehead. "Who else would wanna go for a swim? The water's freezing."

I flushed. "Okay, that's fair." I agreed with a light chuckle.

"Nice passive, by the way." He leaned closer to my hand. "How'd you do it? Did it hurt?"

I shrugged. "We just clicked, I guess. And it only hurt a little bit. Like a stinging pain, but brief."

"That's cool." Niko nodded. "Yeah, I think it may take Jesse and I a little while to click."

I hummed in a noncommittal kind of way. "That's what I thought too, at first. But you'll get there eventually."

"I sure hope so." Niko joked. "Thanks, Tazi."

I smiled back, for the first time that day. Maybe this whole team thing wouldn't be that bad, after all.

Hola peeps. Hope y'all liked this chapter. I decided to and the narrator as a POV, what do you think? Should I do it again? Until next time! Peace!

edit: 03/04/21
dang i guess it's too late for an april fools prank huh.
anyway, enjoy this update! school's been sh!tty and i haven't had much time to write.
stay safe my lovelies xx