Fate - Prologue & Chapter 1

PROLOGUE:

There was once a time when Jamaa was green. When it had seasons. When it wasn't corrupted. When it was safe. When it was peaceful. 

That time was over. Ever since the group of animals named Gofnak had taken over, the land had been launched into eternal winter, and phantoms roamed freely. The alphas were defeated--locked away in cells at the Gofnak headquarters. Memberships were taken away from the non-Gofnak animals, leaving nearly everyone with a plain name tag to signal their lowly status, and the Gofnak with shining badges to demonstrate their importance and power.

Members of the Gofnak now bent Jamaa's people to their own desires. Many had camps, where they rounded up orphans to do work--and the work wasn't pleasant. The Gofnak believed that there was a gold mine beneath the hundreds of pounds of snow, and forced orphans to spend days digging through the freezing, bottomless flakes, not allowing them any rest or relief. Half the orphans died of the pure cold and harshness of the work, and the other half was about to as well.

And here our story begins--at one of these camps.

CHAPTER 1

The orphans snoozed. They curled themselves up, inching as close as they could to the tiny oil lamps by their beanbags. The previous day had been especially hard, and the two hours of rest they were allowed had been greatly appreciated. 

"GET UP YOU LAZY PEOPLE!" The head of the camp, Countess Frozenivy shrieked. She was a dark purple and white otter, and could always be seen wearing the traditional outfit of the Gofnak: dark sunglasses, a black spiked collar, and white leafy anklets. Her pink badge gleamed in the morning light, it's shine bouncing off of the walls of the camp's sleeping quarters.

Groaning, the four orphans of the camp sat up, rubbing their eyes wearily.

"YOU HAVE WORK TO DO!" Countess yelled, kicking Flora's beanbag until she woke up. "GET OUT THERE AND START SHOVELING!!!"

The orphans headed outside into the freezing day. Even though it was in the middle of summer, the chilly, bitter wind whipped at their faces, and their paws stung as they stepped into the frigid snow. There was so much snow that they had to swim through it, often having their heads go under the layers and layers of the frosty flakes, as they desperately tried to get their heads above the snow banks again.

The four of them were broken up into working pairs--Mythical and Sparkle would dig in the upper part of the camp where the ice cave was, and Flora and Eternal would dig in the lower corner, where the frozen pond was. 

"It's so cold out here," Mythical said, shivering. She and Sparkle made their way towards their working area.

"I know..." Sparkle replied, her face flushed with cold.

 

"YOU BETTER NOT BE COMPLAINING!" Countess screamed from inside the camp. The owners of the camp got to spend the days in luxury--with plentiful delicious food and surrounded by crackling fires. 

"We're not complaining!" Mythical called back, her teeth chattering as she spoke. She picked up one of the shovels leaning against a tree and began digging. 

The problem was--every night it snowed again, covering up that day's work. The orphans had no idea how they would ever find the gold that the Gofnak was looking for if the snow kept coming down. 

Sparkle picked up the other shovel and dug into the frosty layers. Behind her, a growling came from the ice cave. She had grown used to the occasional rumble of the cave, but every time her heart still skipped a beat. What was in the cave, making all that noise? All she knew was that the creature who lived in the cave had two, big yellow eyes that glowed in the darkness of the cave. 

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I hope you enjoyed the story! :D Stay tuned for more! :) If you have any comments, please leave them below! ^.^

~awesomepanda868