New Challenges- Chapter 1- Intro.
Well this is my first attempt at something non-yiffy, I'll be posting the next chapter some time soon.
New Challenges.
I crossed my legs with my foot paws pointing up. 'Clear your mind, Clear your mind.' I cassided myself silently. I was failing miserably at my sad attempt to meditate.
My emotions were barely in check as they rolled like the waves of a violent storm just underneath my fur. I let out a growl of frustration as I got up, giving up on my meditation and started to pace the bare room.
How could they? So they think me so dumb? Why should I have to go to High school? Why should I, their most talented Alise, be subjugated to such a mundane practice? I laughed out in frustration of their feeble excuse; "To gain some social skills." They had said "You've become too hard, too brittle. If you get hit in the wrong way, you may shatter."
I scoffed and shook my head at those words rang through my head; 'They couldn't be true, could they?' I asked myself. Sure, my job required me to be strong in mind, fast if reaction, and strong in body, but that was about it. I was exactly what my job required me to be, and that was why I was one of the best at the young age of seventeen.
I pivoted to the direction of the door and exited with a slam. Pacing the halls, letting my legs carry me to where, in the back of my mind, I really wanted to go, was my own way of calming down. I looked up a few moments later to see where I had arrived; I was at a large steel door that looked like it weighed a ton.
In truth it weighed five-hundred pounds; that much because you were only allowed to go in if you could open the door. I closed my eyes and focused, drawing on inner strengths, I shoved my paws out in front of me, palms flat, striking the solid steel door. It flew open and I entered the room; it looked exactly the way I had left it.
'Of course it would' I thought dryly; only I and a few others could open that door. And two of them were off on assignments. I took a look around and took inventory; three weight benches, two squat racks, and a full set of dumbbells, all the way up to 120lbs. Two treadmills, one elliptical, and a whole slew of other machines whose names I hadn't bothered to learn.
I heard the door open behind me and my master entered. Instead of bowing my head and greeting him like I normally do, I choose to turn my back and walk over to the bench and load up the bar with two 45 pound plates on each side, my standard warm up.
I lay down and started to pump the bar up and down with my eyes close... 5... 10... 15... 30... 45... I opened my eyes to see my master standing above me, spotting me.
"You know, you really shouldn't life that much without a spotter, it's dangerous." His tone was tender, as if he was sticking his toe into the water of my mood, testing.
"Only if you aren't comfortable with the weight." I replied, my tone black, letting him know I was still mad. I got up and added two more plated to both sides, and then lay back down. My master took his position and I lifted the bar with a grunt. Taking my time, pacing myself, and breathing, I was able to pump 25 repetitions before returning the bar to its resting place. I sighed, sat up and turned, looking at my master.
He was a silver wolf; his fur had gone from grey to silver over the years of his life. Besides this, only his deep golden eyes gave any hint at his true age of 243. His body was that of a 25 year old, though he regularly complained about the aching of his joints, and his mind was as sharp as ever.
The more powerful the Alise, the longer they live.
"Is it really all true? Have I become brittle?" I started, pausing, letting my master answer.
He sighed softly and looked like he was about to say something, but thought better of it, and then he began
"It's not so much like your having become brittle, but more that you... Just don't know how you care, or love for that matter." He started to pace the room, a common practice of his, "You need to know how to love, if you don't you'll be consumed by hate, and become a monster." He stopped and looked into my eyes, his golden orbs cutting through me like nothing else. "You have the most potential for power that this order had ever seen. Your sense of judgment is amazing, you are ingenious at times; but this will all add up to nothing if you cannot care for others."
I looked down at my bare foot paws as I thought through this. As usual, he was right, I didn't care. I never had a reason to care, there was nothing holding me to this job, nothing motivating me. There was no one that was close to me, no one that I cared for. Had this job really put me in such a state?
I sat back down with a slight thump and rested my elbows on my knees. I felt my master's warm paw on my shoulder, giving me a slight squeeze. I looked up at him to see a soft smile set on his muzzle; he knew I had realized that he was right.
"This'll be a whole new challenge for me I guess." I said with a laugh, which drew a laugh out of him, and soon we were both laughing until our sides hurt.