The Fall - (A Young Adult Dystopian Novel) Read online

The Fall

  David L Dawson

  Copyright 2013 by David L Dawson

  Prologue – The Savage Skies

  I hear something in a stand of bushes not ten meters away. I stop in my tracks, tense. There is a curious smell, invading my nostrils. My heart starts to beat faster. I clench my hands into fists and mentally berate myself for my carelessness. It’s just been raining. It is wet fur I can smell.

  “Felum,” I breathe in terror. My body refuses to move. There is a knife tucked inside the sock on my left foot. There is another in one of the many pockets in my jacket. I’m not sure where my slingshot is; maybe I left it at the trading station, or could it be in another pocket?

  There is a piercing yowl and something leaps out of the bushes at me. It is a tall striking figure wearing old tanned, leather clothing and thick boots. Black, silky fur lines its face and hands and its head is that of a panther somehow fused with that of a human. Its hands, five fingered, are sharp ivory white claws, stained with blood. Those claws are going to rip into me, and those sharp teeth are going to devour me and all I will be able to do is stand there.

  The Felum is mere inches from me when I whip my fisted hand out and punch it in the face. It screeches more in surprise than in pain as it flies backwards and lands on a bed of weeds. It moves around, dazed, before its angry, green eyes turn to look up at me in a sort of wounded wonder.

  “Hurt,” the Felum whispers.

  I bend down and pull the knife out from the sheath strapped to my ankle. It is newly sharpened, the blade glinting wickedly in the bright light of the day. I want the Felum to know it isn’t worth attacking me a second time, that if it did, it would end up losing its life. I’m not sure I could actually kill it, though. It may only be a Felum but it still looks, more or less, vaguely human.

  We continue to stare at each other, the human and the human/panther creature. The Felum appears to be male, judging by the clothes he is wearing. There is a scar running down his left ear and some sort of golden medallion shaped like a circle hanging from a necklace looped around his furry neck. I’m quite fascinated. I have never had the chance to see a Felum so close before. The Felum would have killed me by now if it were going to. All he did was crouch there, seemingly equally fascinated with me as I was with him.

  The Felum makes a strange yip noise and jumps to its feet. I can hear the noise still, like a sort of loud trilling, that pours from his mouth. The fur on his bare arms seems to be standing on end. Something has frightened him. Is it me? I don’t think so. I’m hardly much of a threat to him.

  “See,” says the Felum. He is looking upwards.

  The sky is blue like my mother’s eyes, not a cloud in sight. The sun is high, blazing away, even though it is mid-winter and the tips of my fingers and toes are feeling the chill. There isn’t anything there. There hasn’t been a sighting of the gods in this part of the country for two years, so I know it couldn’t be that.

  I’m wrong.

  “Hide!” screams the Felum. “Hide!” What do I do? The Felum still frightens me. When I hear a sonic boom almost knock me onto my back, I look my opponent in the eye. He pounces forward again, and I get ready to attack when his body collides with mine. The force of his body pushes us both from the path of a speeding blur that crashes through the trees. A swirl of leaves, grass and branches, and even small mammals are pulled along in its wake like a vacuum, left to tumble to the ground when the force tugging it leaves them. I can hear screams of incandescent immortal rage; the sounds of forest animals furious against the destruction of their warm habitats; the deep purr of the Felum as his body presses against mine, holding me in the dirt so I wouldn’t move and reveal our presence. He has saved my life. A Felum has saved my life.

  We look into each other’s eyes. His breath smells of something rotting and awful and I can’t help but be disgusted. The Felum grunts and gets off me, starts patting down his leather clothes to get rid of muck and dust. I stand up and do the same.

  We conceal ourselves under the bough of a small silver tree as we listen to the fight that rages on above us. I can’t make out much of it, especially not through the branches of the tree. All I can see is two figures in the sky, punching and kicking each other with such violence.

  “Gods...” the Felum breathes in awe.

  I look at the humanoid cat and can’t help but grin. The Felum are a savage and bloodthirsty race, but this one looks as meek as a kitten when faced with something so powerful and eternal.

  As quickly as they’d arrived, demolishing the forest and creating permanent paths through the trees, the two fighting titans leave the skies above us to continue the battle elsewhere. I’m glad. If they’d seen me then surely I would have been killed.

  The god who spun like a tornado, and the god with the blue hair. I’ve seen them and I’m still alive.

  “You are scared,” says the Felum.

  I ignore him. I don’t want him to know any of my feelings. I don’t want to show any weakness.

  “I am scared,” the Felum admits.

  I shake as the Felum puts his clawed hand on my arm. He gives me a smile, revealing very human-like teeth. He then removes his hand and makes a sprint for the bushes. As I watch him disappear into the undergrowth I dare to consider myself quite lucky. To escape sudden death, twice, within a five minute span is more than lucky; it’s a miracle.

  PART ONE - THE GLASS PALACE