Amber’s Pov

Life is hard.

That's the conclusion I've come up with. Life is a sequence of challenges and either you can overcome them, or fail and some form consequence will manage to find it's way toward you. But if challenge that's happened to you is from outside forces, does that mean your life is hard? Or did all of my misfortune get bumbed up to the beginning of my life?

For the first eight years, my life has been... unpleasant. I used to fit into that catagory of the hungry and homeless. Surviving on the trash of others. Living without anything, but what I had learned. Which wasn't much, considering that I couldn't even speak any language. I literally had nothing. I was just an unamed, parentless, friendless, homeless, starving child.

But I guess my line of luckless living ended or was... postponed, 'cause in the best day of it, the best thing happened.

A man named Chen Liu saved me. He gave me food, shelter, clothes, money, and a name.

He wasn’t a loving man, but he gave me things that I needed to survive. He was wealthy and after teaching me how to speak English, which took a year considering that I had not even know what the word 'the' meant or how to even pronounce it, I told him how I had lived. He listened to me and told me, 'Although I have never intended to have a child or ever care for children, I will for you. I am no way fitted to be a parent, but you have come to my interest and my teachings are something not to go to waste. So do not address me as Father, but as Sensei.'  

With that he taught me everything he knew. He hired people to educate me, but taught me how fight and defend my-self. Martial Arts was something that he cherished most and was what he focused on teaching. Training was hard, but he told me I needed to be prepared. I always questioned myself why, but did nothing in the way to ask.

We never stayed in one place; and just recently we were in the States. Now we are currently residing in the unpopulated lands of China, but ever since I had reached the age of fourteen, training had intensified. I frequently experienced fatigue from the harsh treatment, but always recovered even stronger than before. Sometimes doing things that exeeded human strengths. When those things would happen, I would be confused, but when I saw Sensei reacting like it was normal, I'd shake the confusion away.

“Yiyun,” a stern voice woke me out of my thoughts. I look up from the ground that I had been staring at while in a squating postion. It was good for balance and strenth, but I had been in the same position for the last hour and a half and my muscles were starting to give out. Sweat beaded down the side of my face as the scorching sun burnt my skin. Summer had been moving in and the treeless lands we lived on had been getting worse in terms of tempeture. Heat would beam down then be reflected by the ground so even I felt like it was ten degrees hotter than it really was.

“Yes Sensei?”

“Do not let you thoughts wonder while you are in the middle of training."

“Yes Sensei," I answered a little discouraged from the scolding. I let out a shaky breath hoping time would fasten and I could move my body. It amazes me how he can tell when I'm thinking.

He turned back the book he was reading. Feeling dissapointment in seeing that he wasn't going to tell me to rest anytime soon, I shook my head from the feeling and emptied my mind.

 

-Hours Later-

 

I was in my room after a shower which made my aching body feel a little better. My room looked was bare, only a bed and a now hollow clothes dresser. Sensei told me toys and uneeded things were a waste of time. 

One black duffle bag lay on my neatly made bed.

“Young Master,” a voice said behind my door while knocking.

“Dinner is ready.”

“Thank you for telling me Alfred, I’ll be there in a second.” I bowed to him before walking downstairs to the dining room and sitting at the table. Alfred was Sensei's butler and had followed Sensei through everything. Alfred was important to me since he was less stern than Sensei. Sensei soon came down sitting across me. Food was brought to us and we began eating.

“Have you finished packing?” Father asked. Yesterday he had told me it was time to leave. Knowing that questioning him would earn me a scolding and extra training time.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Good, we will be leaving in the early morning. Wear something exceptional for the public.”

“Yes Sensei.”

I picked up the chopsticks and ate quietly. 

"I assume you are curious to where we are going?" He said more as a statment than a question. 

His question put me off. Usually when we go somewhere, he would never ask for my input. 

"... Yes Sensei," I answer with wide eyes. Was he going to tell me?

"... Good," He answer going back to his food. It took me a moment to process what had happened before I felt like a fool for being so naive. I let out a embarrased breath before continuing my meal.

 

---

 

I look at the cave we had hiked to in the forest. I didn't understand what was happening. He said dress for public, so why were we standing infront of a dark cavern of rock. I held my duffle bag in one hand while wearing black jeans, nike sneakers, black buttoned up shirt that had the long sleeves folded to my elbows. Not really hiking clothes, so I was a little discomforted.

I look at him in question. He doesn't not look back to me.

"Look ahead of you, Yiyun," He directs. I snap my head back the dark hole looking to see something, but I couldn't.

"Dark isn't it?" He quesitons. My eyebrows draw together in not understanding why he is asking such an obvious question. But I still answered.

"Uh... yes Sensei."

"That's good. Come," He says walking into the darkness. I stare at him. He has no light, how is he suppose to see? Where was he going? Why are we here? What is happening?

"Yiyun!," I heard a stern voice echo from the cave when I didn't follow. I jump, but follow hesitently.

"Sensei, I can't see," I say hoping he was close enough to hear me. I put my hands out infront of me to make sure I didn't run in to anything.

"You don't need to, listen and keep walking ahead," I hear him say. What kind of help is that? 

I close my eyes and focus on what's around me as I listen to the echos of two pairs of feet hitting wet ground. I hear his footsteps stop. 

"Stop," He says. I stop immediately, but keep my eyes closed. I shifted my duffle bag in my hand since it was falling out.

"Look ahead of you," He tells me again. I open my eyes only to see black.

"What do you see?"

"Uh... black," I answer turning my head in different directions, but it didn't make a difference.

"Look harder," He says. I squint and tried to look deeper into the darkness. Still moving my head and eyes around to make sure I look at everything. At one point I saw a gleam of light. It wasn't very big and could be easily missed, but I saw it. But from what was it from. There was no light in the cave and suddenly I realized that not even the light from the opening could be seen. Had we gone that far? I didn't feel like it.

"Now what do you see?"

"I see a gleam," I say turning my head to see the gleam again. Once I saw it, I stilled my body and stared at it.

"Good, walk to it," His calm voice made me a little on edge. I was so confused on what was happening.

I walk in the direction of the gleam until I come close enough to see it. It didn't look like anything, but a small penny sized smear of light.

"Touch it," What? Touch it? I don't think I feel all that good about touching some mysterious light in some cave in the middle of the forest. When I didn't move he repeated what he said in a stronger tone. I take a breath and reach my hand out shakily. I saw my hand cover where the light was and moved my hand toward it. My heart was beating fast and my breaths were shallow and suddenly I felt something cold on my hand and my stomach dropped.

 

Is this some kind of joke?

 

It was a handle.

 

Why was there a handle in the middle of a cave?

"Open it," His voice woke me out of my thoughts. Wait, was this a door? 

Not feeling scared anymore I turned the handle and pulled. My body felt hot for a moment as blinding light shone through the opened door. I flinched back and closed my eyes from the light. 

"Open you eyes, Yiyun," I heard beside me. I open them slightly letting some light in. I couldn't even see anything. I squint before opening my eyes a little more after getting used to the light some. I smelt the air and it smelled like... coffee. And I hear a bunch of talking. Through the cracks of my eyes I looked at what was infront of me. 

What the-!?!

I don't understand what is happening!

 

 

It was a train station. Now used to the light coming through the windows, I look at the train station infront of me. I look at the corner and see a coffee shop.

How in the world...

I look at Sensei to see him smirking at me already inside the train station. I look behind me to see black, then back infront of me to look at him with bewildered eyes.

"Come," he said walking. I closed the metal door behind me and caught up with him. Looking around in wonder I see crowds of people walking around the station, coming out out of metal doors like the one we came through. I saw lots of different ethnicities, but most of them were asian. 

I stayed walking next to Sensei refraining from busting out and asking all the questions running through my head. He had a blank espression on, but seemed very comfortable where we were. 

This was too much...

We stop infront of a desk and the women behind us looked at us with a very welcoming smile.

"Two tickets to Kewesing," He told her in Korean. Why was he speaking Korean? And where is Kewesing? I have never heard of this place. Ugh, more things to be confused about.

She gave him two pieces of paper in rectangle form. 

"Have a nice ride!" She said a little too sweetly.

We walked away he brought me on to a train at the number that said seven. We sat and I looked at everything around me. Looked a like an average train.

"Confused?" He asks and I look at him like he just stood up and danced.

"Yes," I answer strongly.

"Shadows." What?

"What?"

"Shadows," He repeats. I was still lost. "This is the world that hides behind them."

"Sensei, I don't understand," I confess. 

"I know, but you will," He says, "The Earth is a wonderful place, but humanity can be very ignorant and blind. You can speak freely. I would like to hear you input and questions."

"Eh, Sensei firstly, anything can be ignorant, not just humanity. Secondly, how is there a train station in a cave?"

"Hmm, rather than a train station in a cave, why is there a cave in a train station?" I sigh. Now was not the time to be philosophical. I needed answers. Noticing my dissapointment, he answered again.

"Like I said. There is a world behind the shadows. This is not a place for Humans, but the home for Shifters."

"Shifters? But how are they different from Humans?"

"We, Yiyun. How are we. You are one too," He says with a grin.

"I am, how?" How am I one? I'm just some kid he found on the streets.

"Well your parents were one."

"How do you know?"

"Because you are one," He says like it was obvious. I took a deep breath to stay calm. He looked happy to be here and I didn't want to ruin it by blowing up and getting scolded. I run my hand through my hair and pat it back down.

"Eh... then how do you know that I am?" I ask curious.

"I can sense it."

"You can sense it?"

"Yes, sense it. Don't worry, you'll get that too."

"Uh, so what exactly are Shifters?" I changed the subject.

"Shifters are people with human bodies, but more enhanced. We can run faster, jump higher, smell better, hear better, are stronger and some other abilities that you will learn later."

I nod trying to process this. This was very... bizarre. I don't think I could of ever guessed any of this.d

"Sensei... where are we going?" I ask in a leap of faith. 

"To a school," He answered.

A school? That's where we're going? All of this... for a school.

"No more questions, observe your new environment," He says as the train starts moving and we travel. Hours pass by as I watch us go by cities and towns. It looks like Earth, except that everything was in Korean. Is that like the language they use here?

 

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