Without Joy Read online

  Without Joy

  Written By

  Calista Eve Brace

  Cover Art by Brad Fraunfelter

  © 2016 Calista Brace. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is specifically granted by the publisher or author.

  © 2016 Brad Fraunfelter. All cover rights reserved.

  Cover art may not be copied or used without the written consent of either the author or cover artist.

  ISBN-13: 978-1539141891

  ISBN-10: 1539141896

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2016918338

  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, North Charleston, SC

  This book is dedicated to:

  My best friends Rex, Shiva,

  And to those who lost their joy.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  I Kingdom Of Beral

  II Dawdling Through The Forest

  III Moth With Butterflies

  IV Sundown Forest

  V The Hunt

  VI The Snake Bonder

  VII Travel To The Castle

  VIII Travel To The River

  IX The Guy With Yellow Teeth

  X Down Hemings River

  XI Joy

  XII Spirit

  XIII When A Ghost Haunts

  XIV Trail To Spirit

  XV The Last Dance Of The Night

  XVI Waiting

  XVII Devil's Hill

  XVIII Heart Of The Ocean

  XIX The Plan

  XX Paperwhite Skin

  XXI Something Stolen

  XXII Feeling

  XXIII Shortlake Island

  XXIV Ozeana Royalty

  XXV Getting Ready

  XXVI Starting A War

  XXVII Du-Dum

  XXVIII The Past

  XXIX Arrows

  XXX Finding Joy

  XXXI The Whispering Willow

  XXXII Second Tear

  Epilogue

  Thank You

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Nate

  I'm a killer, a warrior, a monster. Everyone here is. It's not like we have a choice. We trained this way. There was a time when I believed I was a good man, that I wasn't an animal. Those days filled up with Joy, but now Joy is gone. It had perished, never to be seen again.

  We were born here, in this place more like a prison than a home. They had kept me here all 18 years of my life. There were always guards watching our every move. All the walls were gray and dull but our sleeping quarters had walls made of wood. We knew the guards kept a watchful eye on us. We had a huge training room full of boxing rings and equipment. There was a large glass window that overlooked us isolating us from the main guard who would watch our fights.

  Nobody knew why we were here; we weren't allowed to ask questions about that. One boy was caught listening through a door where guards were talking, and he was beaten so bad that he couldn't walk for two days. They had whipped his legs so he couldn't get around. They did this to show us that they weren't messing around and meddling would only get you in more trouble than needed.

  There were so many hallways, but we weren't allowed to explore any of them. Most of them led to the younger or older kids rooms.

  The dining hall was enormous. Hulking wooden tables were set up, and we were forced to scarf down our food as quickly as possible. They gave us good food because they wanted us robust and healthy. They said the healthier we were, the better we would fight. Eat lots of greens. We had to eat everything in front of us. That wasn't a problem for most because it was usually the only food we got that day.

  Guards always paraded up and down the halls to keep us in order. Most of us stayed obedient. Most…

  We weren't allowed to have friends or even talk to each other. Our friendships were always kept secret. My friend Joy was going to set me free.

  They have tried to teach me to be a cold-blooded killer, to be harsh and to never love. I have killed, and I hate myself for doing it. I do love someone, someone who is not here anymore, my best friend; Joy.

  I met her when I was only six years old. She had a smile that all of us had lost by then. The brutality of this place took our smiles from us, but not hers. Her smile was contagious, made us all a little happy even though happiness was forbidden. She walked with more certainty than most of us could ever have. She always wanted to be in charge. She was always trying to make things fun. Her hair was a pasty blond. Her eyes were a vivid blue that showed all of her feelings. I could tell she was a beautiful girl, even behind our plain clothes and dirty faces.

  Joy would talk to all of us even though she wasn't supposed to. She even gave us our only real gifts; that was our names. All the guards of this place called us by our numbers. My number was 424, but she made us new names, real names.

  She told me stories about the world outside, the thing she called nature. My favorites were about the forests. I had never been outside, and the only sunlight we ever saw was through the barred windows in our room that barely shone through. She started calling me Nate because I liked Nature so much. She swore to me she would take me outside and I would someday get to see real forests and get to roll around in the green grass.

  When we were seven years old, the Academy taught us how to pick locks. After that, I would find my Joy shaking me awake every night so we could sit on my bed and create the wildest stories. She would always make sure I was happy, and her laughter would light up the room way more than any barred windows could. She would also come to my room when she had nightmares. Most were about her family, something I never had. She would miss them so much that she cried, I had only asked once about it, she said I wouldn't understand because I never had a family. I would hug her and wait till she stopped crying, but she was right. I didn't know what it was like to have a family; I couldn't help much.

  When we were eight years old, they found out about her picking the lock on my room, sneaking into my room at night, and our forbidden friendship. I knew she was getting punished for it, but she still came every night. Some days I would see her with a black eye or a cut from the beatings, there was a weary look in her eyes, but she still had that same cheerful smile that never left her face. When I finally confronted her about it, she only scolded me, telling me it was none of my business and that she could do whatever she wanted to do.

  When we were nine years old, she began to refuse to do what they said, and they grew even harsher. They would whip her in the back, and you could see the blood through her shirt at times. Her smiles sometimes wavered, but mostly she stayed the same old her. She would only talk when the guards weren't looking so we wouldn't get caught, and the times she would sneak in my room had grown few and far between. She would stop talking about her family, and when I asked her to tell me more stories about them, she would only look at me in a sad way, and say there was too much she had forgotten.

  When we were ten, our training had gotten harder, and that’s when I killed for the first time, one of my classmates. They congratulated me, but that night I had nightmares throughout my sleep. The boy’s face had haunted me, that's when I knew they succeeded, I was a killer. The next morning I found Joy asleep on the floor with a carving knife in her hand and a beautiful sculpture of the boy’s face on my wall. His eyes stared at me hauntingly, but something surprised me in the carving. He had a small smile and a tear trickling down his cheek and a look of forgiveness in his eyes. I woke my best friend up and thanked her while I sobbed, yet I never shed a tear. I didn't need to because she had forgiven me for being a
killer and in the carving so did the boy. She held me like I used to do when she used to cry about her family.

  When we were eleven I had a few deaths over my head, and so had she but others had more, each one would be carved on my wall, surrounding the first boys carving. Each more beautiful than the other, the older she got, the more realistic the carvings were. We had gotten closer, and her smile had gotten brighter over the previous year. She had hidden most of the forbidden stuff she did, so she didn't get as many whippings. Most the time she got the same amount as the rest of us. She was the only girl left in our age group. There were two other girls before, but they didn't make it through the harsh lives of the killers.

  When we were twelve our childish games were gone, and we had started to mature faster, I'm sure, than any other typical kid in the outside world. Joy would comment on how I was the best fighter in class. That year she didn’t kill anyone, saying that she would try to survive this place without killing ever again. Everyone else in our age group has killed, and I was worried she would lose her life trying not to kill someone.

  When we were thirteen, we had a tight bond. She was always looking at me in a strange way and talking about escaping this place. I hadn't heard her talk about the outside world for a long time, but now she did, and she told me she was going escape and take me with her. These silly dreams of hers made me smile; I knew there was no way we were getting past the guards in this prison-like place. My walls were full of carvings which made me frown at times. Joy found a chunk of wood, and she was carving a sculpture into it. She told me it would be mine when she finished.

  When we were forteen, something unexpected happened. It was the best night of my life, but also the worst. I had a growing love for my best friend. One night she picked the lock to my room crying. She kept saying she forgot but she didn't say what. I held her in my arms, and she spoke through the tears.

  “I can’t believe I forgot something so important,” she cried out.

  “What did you forget?” I asked stroking her hair calming her as she soaked my shirt with tears.

  “I will tell you, but not now, not until I feel better,” she said wiping away her tears away.

  “Okay...” I said.

  She looked at me with her big icy blue eyes. “Thank you, Nate, you're always so kind and understanding, and well, I just wanted you to know that I love you no matter what happens.” fresh tears shone in her eyes.

  “I love you too” I whispered back, but her last words confused me. No matter what happens?

  I had been waiting to tell her how I felt for a long time now. I just wished I could make whatever was bothering her better.

  She cried for a while more. I stroked her pale blond hair as she cried, and for the first time, I imagined leaving this place. I lifted her face to mine, and she looked at me with a searching gaze, a small smile played across her lips. I put my forehead against hers, and she whispered something I couldn't quite hear. Her icy blue eyes stared into mine. I kissed her forehead, and she just cried more for a reason I couldn't understand. She set something on the bed and got up; I looked at the small wooden key lying on the bed; I knew this was her carving from a year ago, the one she had waited to give to me till now.

  “What's this?” I asked.

  She whispered in my ear “A way out.”

  I could see her tears threatened to spill again, and I wanted to comfort her, but she took a step back.

  “Goodbye Nate,” she whispered. She calmly walked to the door so she could head off to her room. When the door finally shut, I leaned back and thought about what happened. A way out? What did she mean?

  I heard a scream only a few seconds later, a scream of terror and pain, a shout in a voice I recognized, it was Joy!

  I jumped out of my bed and threw open the door and ran down the hall. Guards were quick to try to stop me but I fought past the two of them, I punched the first one in the face and elbowed the other one in the stomach, then ran as fast as I could after the screams. I saw four guards dragging her down the hall. More guards approached, holding me back from her. She looked at me with fear boiling in her eyes, and she screamed my name. They dragged the two of us into the middle of the main training room surrounded by all the guards and classmates. A guard stood behind Joy with an eerie smile and then he spoke.

  “This girl has broken all the codes of conduct, and now death will punish her,” he said leering at me. I screamed and struggled to break free from the guards hold to get to her.

  They held my head up forcing me to stare into her fear filled eyes.

  “You two are fools! You think we haven’t been watching? We know about all the sneaking around, and friendship is forbidden! I’m going to teach all of you a lesson you will never forget!” he yelled with his deep cruel voice. He pulled a long blade from behind his back and showed it to everyone. “This is what rule breaking will get you!” He grabbed her hair at the top of her head and yanked her head back violently.

  “NO!!! PLEASE DON’T!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

  He took the knife and plunged it deeply into her stomach. Her mouth opened in a silent scream, and her eyes were wide with panic. Rage boiled within me. I screamed out for her and struggled again to get free. I kicked and pulled and twisted, but the guard's grip only grew stronger. I watched as she fell limp. I was in total disbelief and agony.

  The man shook his head disapprovingly “This is what happens to friendship. May this be a lesson to you all,” he said. He glanced over the class, and then stared directly into my eyes with his wicked smile.

  “Dispose of the body,” he said to another guard.

  The guards left me there while the class left with their heads down. I lay sobbing on the floor, desperately wishing none of this had happened, but it had. There would be no more smiles here ever again. I would hear no more laughter; the only thing left was the body left of my best friend dragging away and the pool of blood that covered the floor next to my knees.

  “Clean that up,” the man said to me as he walked away.

  That was the day I shed a tear, only ONE, my first tear and my last.

  Her name was Joy, she was my only friend, she died four years ago, and her blood still stains that floor, and she enters my dreams every night.

  I Kingdom Of Beral

  Amaryllis

  I stood in front of the gates, a place so familiar to me that I had every detail memorized. The eerie feeling of the building still touched me in ways I could not explain. Tears left tracks down my cheeks, the only sign that Magnolia was ever alive. I wiped my tears away. It pained me to think of my sister, she was my best friend when I was younger. I looked up to her.

  Father, King Saffron, would be mad that I came here; he didn't even want me in the forest, to begin with. I knew I had to get home soon before he sent an army looking for me. I hopped onto Zinnia’s back, gently petting her long flowing mane. Whenever she ran, her muscles would flex. Her skin was dark as night. Her mane and tail was long. She looked so wild. So beautiful. She was the horse everyone stared at with open mouths.

  I looked at the stone building for the last time that day, many people spoke about how that's where the Lumine came from, the soldiers with pale skin that made them look like they have never touched the light.

  Some spoke saying that they were stolen children. The Lumine were cruel people, living only for fighting. We would be stupid to fight the Lumine’s country land. Their Queen, Petunia was evil, and she owned Lumine’s training areas all over the world, and also her own country for the Warriors. Our nation is a calm one for the farmers, my father King Saffron is a peaceful ruler. Without him, none of the 6 kingdoms would have their crops. My father rules the Kingdom of Beral.

  I sat on Zinnia, staring at the Lumine training when I noticed something; the gates were moving very slowly, they were opening! My eyes widened, I must tell the father that the gates were opened. Panic rushed through me. Trained killers came from that place.

  Zinnia ran like the w
ind with my command, she maneuvered around the trees covering the forest and leaped over fallen logs. The light that shone through the trees made my dark black hair sparkle and glimmer. I knew my way around the forest from all the times I secretly snuck out without my father's permission. He always scolded me but knew I wouldn't change my ways.

  We finally reached the end of the woods, my long black curly hair that touched my hips was braided, but that didn't stop the wind from pulling strands free from the braids grasp. Zinnia sped past lands and lands of farms off the dirt roads. I watched the farmers of the Kingdom of Beral. When we got to the main city of our kingdom, we slowed down. Beral was mostly farm lands, people stared and waved knowing that I was the princess of their lands. I smiled at them all and watched the city come to life with merchant stands. People walked on the paths, in crowds, everyone knew everyone here. This place always made me excited and happy. I loved the people. I still had to tell my father of the Gates.

  The horse riders stayed on the other side of the chaos so not to trample people with their horses. I stayed along that side with my black stallion Zinnia, she was tough and braver looking than the rest of the horses. I saw the castle loom ahead, the sight made me smile, this was home.

  Many servants scurried in and out. I saw the mail post on the left side of the kingdom; it was filled with all kinds of birds that would deliver letters to the right territory. Horses, mules, and Rangers carried the other stuff in large wagons to the other kingdoms.

  When I entered the Castle grounds, I was welcomed by a stable boy to take Zinnia back to her stable. I walked towards the entrance of the castle with long strides, a straight back, and my head up; a smile had formed on my face.

  To my right was my mother's flower garden, a small wooden gate surrounded it to keep the critters out.

  To my left were the horse stables and the stage. Guards opened up the doors to the castle for me, and I walked in with my bright smile. A long wide corridor that had dark brown wood doors lining the walls that led to the servant’s quarters and the ballroom and the dining room and the kitchen, and library. There was even a door that led down to underground dungeons for royal prisoners, but that door was made of iron, several guards protected it. On the other side of the hall was a room with 2 glass walls that showed the miles and miles of farmland, it also showed Lake Fantare the lake I took a dive in from time to time, in the middle of the night without my father's permission. I stopped a servant from his scurrying down the hall.