The Mission

Hey readers!! I would love to send a shout out and a thanks to heathershipsanything for making the cover!! I absolutely love it!! Check out her stories. She's a great writer and an awesome cover maker.
Enjoy!!

-Chapter 1-
*Jerome's POV

The fire spread over the small village, smothering the houses and shops in its bright blue flame. Everyone was screaming, shouting for help, but I couldn't do anything.
The Bacca king told everyone that humans were evil and that if we helped them, we would be shunned from the Bacca village. As someone who works for the king, I believed him, but I've been watching the humans from my favorite tree and they don't seem that bad. That's why I felt terrible about setting the village alight.
It's not like I wanted to kill all those harmless humans. The king told me I had to or else I would be shunned. In the Bacca village, you don't want to be shunned. It means having everyone turn on you and in some cases, kill you for not following the king's orders.
As I sat in my favorite tree, which was a two block by two block jungle tree, I glanced down at the village. All the houses seemed to be either on fire or in ashes and the few who survived were kneeled on the grass, crying, screaming, or staring at the village in utter shock. Studying the survivors, I noticed that they all had a weapon.
There were 5 survivors in total; two girls and three boys. The youngest was probably around 7 years old and the oldest survivor was in his 50's. The smartest survivor was chopping a small tree down with his fists. Soon enough, the tree has been cut down and the boy, who looked to be around 17, was making tools.
I felt like the boy knew I was there. He had looked up at my tree many times, but he never made a move to climb it. Well, that was before he made a wooden sword.
The boy climbed up my tree, sword in hand. "Who are you?!" He yelled when he got to the branch I was on.
"I-I'm..." I held my head down in nervousness and shame.
"C'mon. Spit it out." The boy stepped closer to me.
I backed away, just noticing how close to the edge I was. "I-I'm a Bacca."
The boy smiled at me. "I'm a Benja. What's your name?"
Why is he being so nice? I just burnt down his village. "Jerome. Yours?"
"Mitch." Mitch sat on the branch and leaned back on the trunk.
"So... Uh.. Mitch..." I looked behind me to see the Bacca army coming in the distance. "I got to go. I-I'll see you sometime." I jumped off the branch, catching another before I hit the ground. I looked up and saw Mitch looking over the edge.
The leader of the Bacca army walked up to me. "Was the mission completed?" He questioned. The leader of the Bacca army was tall, his voice deep. He had greying fur from old age, but us Baccas live a long time.
I jumped down from the branch and landed on all fours. Standing up, I dusted my suit off and saluted the leader. "Sir, yes sir!"
The leader, who hated being called anything besides 'leader' or 'sir', gave me a salute and walked off. The rest of the Bacca army followed close behind.
I looked back up at the tree and found Mitch still looking down at me, but he moved to a lower branch.
Mitch jumped down to a branch that was only a few blocks from the ground. "W-what mission?" He asked.
"Mission?" I played dumb. "What mission?"
"Please don't play dumb. I hate when people do that." Mitch shook his head.
I sighed and looked around for a distraction. Nothing. I sighed again and looked back at Mitch. "Do you really want to know?" Mitch nodded. "Ok. Follow me. It's not that safe here." I walked back over to my tree and started climbing. Because I was a wonderful Bacca, I could scale the tree in a few seconds. Within seconds, I was on my favorite branch, waiting for Mitch who was halfway here.
When Mitch was finally at the branch, he leaned against the trunk. "So, what was the mission?"
"Well, I decided to tell you who those guys were first. Then, I'll tell you everything. In return, I want to know about your life before you possibly kill me."
Mitch laughed. "Ok."
The laugh made me smile, but the smile faded when I remembered what we were talking about and I looked down. "Those Baccas that were here were part of the Bacca army. The leader, the tallest one, gave me a mission." I looked up at Mitch and grabbed the sword that was laying in front of him. I threw it off, watching it fall to the ground, before I continued. "The mission was to.." I took a deep breath. "Burn down the nearest village. That village, however, just happened to be yours."
"You... You were the one that burned down my village and killed my family?!" Mitch screamed. His hands were in fists and you could see the hatred in his chocolate brown eyes.
"I didn't want to!! The king says that humans are evil and that we should kill them, but I watched the village and learned that they are harmless!!" I spit out.
Mitch took a deep breath. "That doesn't mean you didn't kill hundreds of humans!!"
"I-I'm sorry Mitch." I stuttered. "Now tell me about your life, then you can kill me if you want."
The Benja took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before speaking. "All my life, I was trained alongside my sister and my brother to fight. The three of us were responsible for protecting the whole village after our trainer died from a heart attack. The trainer just happened to be my father. My mom fell into depression for a few months and it became my responsibility to take care of my sister and my brother even though I was only 10. When I was 13, a nearby town decided to attack us. Many died including my brother and three of my best friends. Last year, when I was 15, my mother got very sick with the flu, but she didn't die. She just got very weak. Then, you came along. You started my village on fire, killing my mother, friends, everyone except my sister and a few other people." Mitch stared off into space. I'm guessing he was reliving memories. "Tell me about you." He turned his attention back towards me.
"A year after I was born, my father sent me and my sister off to an army camp. There, we learned how to fight, survive, and climb trees. After 5 years, my sister was sent back home to care for the house and run a small shop while I was sent off to the Bacca army. By the time I was 10, I had already fought many minor wars and one major one. At 14, I went into war with Spawn City. I almost died, but the medics healed me and set me back to the Bacca village to complete missions ordered by the leader and the king. Now here I am, at 16, burning down another village. The only reason I go through with the missions is because I don't want to be killed by the king." I thought back to the good times in my childhood.
"I understand why you burnt down the village. I would of too." Mitch whispered, obviously stunned by the story.
Out of nowhere, an arrow came whizzing by. Mitch and I jumped and looked down at the forest floor. There, holding a bow, was a girl. She looked to be around 15 years old. She shot another arrow, nearly hitting me in the arm.
"Stop!!" Mitch yelled down at the girl, but she shot another arrow which missed me by a few inches. "Rheanna!! I said stop!!" Mitch shouted again.
Rheanna pulled another arrow from her backpack and strung it. "First, tell me who that... Bear is!" She shouted back up.
She called me a bear?! "I am not a bear!!" I called down to her. "I am a Bacca!!"
"Shush. She knows." Mitch whispered. "The Bacca is Jerome. I just met him." Mitch called down to Rheanna.
She unstrung the arrow and put it back in her backpack. "I'm coming up. I want to meet this.. Bacca." Rheanna started climbing up the tree. She wasn't that fast, but she never stumbled. She grabbed an iron sword from her backpack when she got to the branch we were on.
"Rheanna, this is Jerome. He's a new friend of mine. Jerome, this is Rheanna. She's my sister." Mitch introduced us to each other.
"Hi, I'm Jerome." I waved at Rheanna.
She just glared at me. She looked from me to Mitch then to me again. "Why are you trusting him?" Rheanna asked Mitch.
Mitch put his hand on her shoulder. "W-what do you mean?"
Rheanna lowered the sword and looked at Mitch, tears welling in her eyes. "H-he killed mom... He burnt down the village!! We can't trust him!!"
I quickly shook my head. "No. You don't get it. I didn't want to burn the village. I was forced to by the Bacca king." I told her my life story, hoping she will forgive me.
"You... You killed our mom!!" She started crying and tried hitting me with the sword. I stepped back as far as I could, but I was on the edge of the branch too soon. Mitch was trying to pull her back, but to no avail.
Suddenly, a familiar female Bacca swooped down from from the tree top and tackled Rheanna. The Bacca held a diamond axe to her throat. "No one messes with Baccas!!" The Bacca yelled as she pushed Rheanna off the tree, causing her to fall.
"Rheanna!!" Mitch yelled, worried. He looked at the female Bacca. "Who are you?!"
The Bacca stood up and looked at the Benja. "I'm Jerome's sister. My name's Sierra. What's yours?"
"Why did you just push my sister off the tree?!" Mitch shouted. Little did he know, Rheanna was right behind him thanks to the magical power of ender pearls.
"What?" Rheanna said, scaring Mitch.
"Wha- Rheanna!!" Mitch grinned, hugging his sister. "You're ok!!"
"I know." She turned to look at Sierra. I expected her to be angry, but she wasn't. "Hey. What's your name? Mine's Rheanna."
"Sierra." Sierra jumped to a different tree and Rheanna ender pearled after her, going somewhere else to chat.
"I'll trust you." Mitch started. "If you do me one favor."
"What do you need?" I asked.
The next words he said shocked me. "Protect my sister. I can't protect her all the time."
I thought about how skilled Rheanna is with a bow and arrow. "Why? She's very skilled."
Mitch sighed and looked towards the tree our sisters were in. "She may appear strong on the outside, but on the inside, she's fragile." Mitch looked at me and must of noticed how confused I was. "She's seen too much death. She practically watched our mom die and our brother die. When she sees a monster, she gets scared and starts to shake. She can't survive."
I felt terrible. "Y-yes... I'll protect Rheanna with all I have." I said. I then remembered the first thing the king tells us every week at the meeting, 'If you are seen with a living human, you and the human will be caught immediately and taken here to be punished.'
Mitch smiled at me. "Thanks dood. Oh and by the way, 'dood' is benj for 'best friend'." With that said, he jumped down from the tree, catching himself on a branch just above the ground. He jumped off and started punching a nearby tree for some logs.
Sierra jumped from her tree to mine, catching herself on the branch I was on. "Hey. Uhh... Where's Mitch?" She looked nervous.
"He's on the ground. Why? What's up?" I patted the spot in front of me and she sat down.
"Uh.. Well.. Rheanna sorta.. Ender pearled away. I dont know where she went." She giggled nervously.
It took a few seconds for the words to process. "Wait, what?!"
Sierra quickly nodded. "I tried to find her, but I couldn't!!"
I started pacing on the branch. "Oh God. This is bad... I promised Mitch I would protect Rheanna, but I have to know where she is to do that!!"
Sierra looked down to the forest floor. "Mitch is coming up!! What do we tell him?"
I shook my head. "The truth. I'll tell him."
Sierra gave me a hug and jumped back to her tree. Her favorite tree was right next to mine.
Mitch arrived on the branch. He had some stone and some wood with him. "Hey dood."
"Hey. Uh.. Listen. I have to tell you something. Important." I patted the spot in front of me where Sierra was sitting before.
He sat down and asked "Where's my sister? I got some apples for her."
"Ya.. About that.. Rheanna teleported away and now I don't know where she is." I spit out.
Mitch just looked at me and laughed. "She's probably at the pond. She goes there when she's tired and sleeps."
I laughed, relieved. "Ok. Where's the pond?"
Mitch explained the lake's location and I knew exactly where it was. "Let's just leave her alone right now. I'll build a house by the pond until night. Then we'll sleep. Sound good?"
I nodded and we started walking. Well, Mitch was walking while I was leaping through the trees, Sierra close by. When we arrived, we found Rheanna sleeping in a small cave next to the crystal blue lake. Mitch started building a frame for the house, Sierra went into the cave to sit by Rheanna, and I decided to get some more wood for Mitch.
"Hey dood. Do you have extra wood?" Mitch asked, making me jump. "Didn't mean to scare you."
I laughed and gave the wood to Mitch. "It's ok. I normally don't get scared though, but it happens."
Mitch laughed and thanked me for the wood before running back to the pond and continuing the house.
I decided to take a break from collecting wood and see how Sierra is doing. I walked over to the cave, knowing she was in there. I knocked on the stone. "Anyone home?" I whispered, careful not to wake Rheanna.
Sierra giggled and patted the spot next to her. "C'mon. Sit."
I sat down next to her and we sat in silence for a few minutes. "How was the village before you left?" I asked, breaking the silence.
Sierra sighed. "Spawn city attacked us with the Mudkip army as their ally. Half of our troop died in the battle and we surrendered. Spawn city killed many of the shopkeepers." Sierra took a jagged breath in, on the verge of tears. "Mom died. The Mudkip army invaded her shop, robbed the shelves, and killed her." A tear formed in her eye and she wiped it away.
I pulled my sister closer to me and hugged her. She quietly cried. After a while, the tears stopped and she sat back up. "It's ok. She's in a better place." I whispered. We sat in silence once again until I broke it. "Are we ever going back to the village?"
Sierra shook her head. "If we do, they'll probably stick us in prison for being around humans. I'm sure someone has seen us in the trees with Mitch and Rheanna."
She had a point. It's strictly against the Bacca law to be around humans unless your in a war and you're about to kill the human.
Mitch appeared at the mouth of the cave. "Hey doods. The house is done. You can each choose a room to live in if you want, but can you help me decorate the house? I'm bad at decorating."
Sierra and I helped Mitch decorate. Every half hour or so, I would walk to the cave to make sure Rheanna was ok. By the time we were done, the moon was high in the sky. Mitch ran outside and got Rheanna before the monsters spawned. He returned to the house just as the monsters started spawning.
"C'mon. Lets go to bed. It's late." Mitch said, carrying Rheanna to her room and putting her on the bed. Sierra yawned and went to her room. Mitch and I stayed in the living room and talked for a bit.
"Thanks." Mitch mumbled.
I looked over at him. He was looking down at his hands which were resting on his lap. "For what?"
"For protecting my sister." Mitch whispered.
I just nodded, studying the Benja more. He had short brown hair, deep brown eyes, a checkered red and black shirt, worn out blue jeans, and red shoes. He looks a lot like his sister.
"I'm going to bed. See you in the morning. Night dood." Mitch said, lazily standing up and walking to his bedroom.
"Night." I whispered. I'm alone again. I thought over my day like I do every night. I burnt down a village, I became friends with a human and his sister, I reunited with my sister, I choose to abandon my village, I learned that my mom died, and now I'm living in a human's house. Never thought this would happen.
I stood up and went to bed. My room was next to my sister's and Mitch's room was across from mine. Rheanna's room was next to Mitch's.
I laid on my white, soft bed, waiting for sleep to take me. After a few minutes, my mind became fuzzy and I entered dreamland.