The Proteus Trilogy: Book One: Warrior

Chapter 1.1

Author's note: Hello there! Welcome to the Proteus Trilogy, if this is your first time reading this! I've divided this chapter into two parts to make it easier to read. If you have any questions, give me a PM, and for anything else, feel free to leave a comment below!

Thanks for reading!

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I wake from my sleep, my muscles tense. I know that I had heard a sound that was out of place, but from where, I don't know. I analyze the sound, replaying it in my mind and decide it must have been the door opening. Nothing else would make that noise. I listen for anything else, but all I hear is the sound of nine others sleeping, just as I should be. Then I frown. Only eight others.

I silently slip out of my bed, a top bunk. I open the door and walk out of the room into the dimly lit hallway, which is meant to simulate night, even though it is artificial lighting and we are inside.

I sneak down the hall, and hear the footsteps of a guard approaching. I smile. Avoiding him will be easy. I run toward the wall, completely silent, and run up it. All the way to the ceiling, where I brace myself against both walls, between two of the lights. I would be practically invisible here, especially to a sleepy night guard.

He walks past under me, without even suspecting that someone is out of their dorm. As I wait up there for him to get far enough away that I can get down, I chart my next course of action. Whoever else is out of the dorm either went right or left. The sentry had come from the left, and they, like me, probably know the habits of the guards. So they probably went right.

I drop to the floor like a cat, and go down the hallway behind the man. The place that the other person out of the quarters went is probably a room off the hall, where it wouldn't be as suspicious if they were actually found out, but still not frequented very often.

After this reasoning, only one option remains. The astrology room.

I pad down the hall, with the distinctive sound of the guard's boots allowing me to keep a safe following distance. I make my way down the slightly curved corridor, and come to room 0104.

I press the button to open the door, and it whooshes to the side. I enter, and it closes behind me. Inside, the room is mostly dark, except for the holographic constellations.

There are couches and seats all over, and I can't see anything else except for the constellations, but someone could still be hiding behind the furniture. I take a chair and put it in front of the door, so that if whoever is in here wants to get out, they'll have to move the chair, and thus tip their hand. Then I start to search.

They already know I'm in here, because of the door opening. They'll be on their guard, just as I am, but they have the advantage of being hidden, while I have to find them. I smile. This is much like many of the different exercises that we have to do every day.

And I'm the best at them. Not because I'm necessarily good at seeing people hidden, but because I can figure out where someone is by thinking like them.

So I do that now. They have obviously done this before, so they probably have a hiding place already picked out, but somewhere that, if they were found, could be explained as where they are watching the constellations from. I drop down so that I'm lower than the couches and chairs, and start to search, all the different possibilities flooding my brain.

Then I see the spot. In between several seats, a sort of nest, with good visibility in almost every direction. As I look more closely, I see that there is a faint light emitting from it. I slowly move toward the hiding spot, from one of the blind zones. I get within six feet, then abandon caution. I vault over the final chair in the way, and land in the hiding spot. There is indeed a dim light here, as well as a blanket and several cushions, which are still warm from a body, but there is no one. I cock my head, thinking.