The Messiah [1]

2: Athena

Squatting on the slate roof of the mess hall, Athena watched as her peers talked below. Dante, the second strongest in their class, gestured angrily to the dorms, his expression growing darker the longer her team waited. Athena smiled, knowing they were waiting on her.

Their small group was supposed to be training; working on sharpening their physical, as well as mental, states. Athena hated it. She was the weakest in their group, yet was destined to be the strongest because of a predetermined part of her. Fiona, their mentor, constantly pitted Athena against the others, trying to unlock her inner potential. Her teammates took it as a chance to remind her of how much they hated her. Every night she nursed new bruises and aches, vowing that when she became strong enough she would get them back tenfold for what they did to her.

"Where's Athena?"

Fiona's voice carried across the yard, drifting up to Athena on the same faint breeze that had her dark hair dancing across her bare shoulders. Athena sighed, shifting forward on the balls of her feet. Her time in hiding was drawing to a quick end; if she didn't let Fiona know where she was, Athena would be stuck making up twice the amount of hours.

"I'm here."

Athena jumped down from the roof, tumbling instead of landing on her feet. Sprawled in front of Fiona, Athena struggled to orient herself; she hadn't intended to tumble down. When she finally figured out which way was up - after a swift, yet unnoticeable kick from Dante - Athena surged to her feet, brushing the grass off of her thin shirt. The others mumbled around her, throwing dirty looks her way. Uh-oh. Training was not going to be fun.

"Now that we're all here, let's start warming up."

Fiona clapped her hands twice, her hair pinned to the top of her head in an attempt at one of the latest fashions. Fiona was in no way deadly looking. She was petite, very close to the same size as Athena, with long brown hair and piercing gray eyes. The same eyes that were staring expectantly at her. Today was really not going to go well.

"Athena, why don't you lead us through our chant?"

Sighing, Athena stepped forward, ignoring the snickers behind her. Fiona usually would call on Pixie, who would then recite the chant, pitching just the right amount of emotion to please Fiona. Athena hated the chant. She didn't believe in what it represented, and despised being forced to pledge an allegiance to an organization that only kept her surviving. Not living, just surviving.

"Brown, the color of the masses

Blue, the color of the future

Hazel, the color of the strong

Gray, the color of the few

Green, the color of the chosen

Only once the colors can live peacefully

Will the spectrum shine true"

Athena spoke the chant softly, her voice carrying clearly across the empty grass training grounds. Fiona sighed in response, but let Athena's unpatriotic recount slide, obviously unwilling to waste any more of their time.

"Alright, everyone line up. Let's get started!"

Φ

Grumbling, Athena limped her way into the mess hall, her muscles screaming out in protest with every step she took. Training had been brutal - more so than usual. Dante had taken extreme pleasure in being assigned as her fighting partner. His attacks had been ruthless, his hits decisive so as not to look malicious, but instead giving the impression that Athena was worse at defending herself than she actually was. Slowly, Athena made her way to the food line, holding her tray gingerly in her hands. The workers slapped small portions of meat, bread, and corn onto the tray. With the war going on, supplies were scarce, especially for the rebel camp that was supposed to have been blown off the map weeks before.