18

Daleria. “Exactly where you are supposed to be!” they tell us but then nowhere at the same time. We live in a world surrounded with color and happiness but behind the color? No one knows.

All we know is that we are the only ones out here and that if your are chosen, you will only know happiness and content for you know who you are. For now I will start from the top. Hello I am Lillian Jean but you can call me Lily like everyone else does.

I live in the country of Daleria which is separated into the 4 islands. Herbias, Halia, Helectite, and the main island. Three of the islands have their own monarchy and the main island lives the capital, the academy, and the non-chosen community. You might be wondering what are all of these things are. Well to start off when kids turn 6 their parents send them to the academy where they live for the next 11 years. The year they turn 17 the attend their choosing ceremony which chooses where they will live and work for the rest of their lives. How the choosing ceremony works is that the kings and queens of Herbias, Helectite, and Halia are given a tablet of everything about the students, and if they want them in their kingdom the choose them.

Students are chosen for their traits in which the islands pride themselves for. Herbias is known for being kind and their connections to nature, creatures and the people around them. Their island is a beautiful lush green forest, with cottages and small towns and a very relaxed happy atmosphere and people say its like living in a fantasy. People from their are usually veterinarians, herbologists, economical people, and things like that. They also often decide to teach at the academy. Helectite is the biggest and most powerful island. People from there are chosen for being very intelligent. Pretty much every nerd at the academy wants to go there.

Their island has beautiful sculptures, architecture, art, culture, and lots of libraries. They are known being mathematician’s, architects, doctors, surgeons, some types of scientists, and so much more. The final monarchy is Halia which is the smallest of the three islands. They are picked for their creativity and their new ways of thinking. Most of them are musicians, artists, poets, dancers, pretty much anything in the arts. Halia has a big town with golden fields, and orchards. People often call it the golden land. Then there is the non-chosen. You can probably guess who they are. They are the people who are not chosen by any of the monarchs. After they are not chosen they are dragged out by guards and thrown behind a tremendous wall and into the non-chosen district. We don’t know what happens afterwards. We are supposed to forget about them for they are failure to society. The opposite of them though are the people who get picked for more than one. Usually you only get picked for one but on a rare occasion some students get picked for multiple. These students get treated almost like royalty for a few days while they tour all the islands and eventually choose the island that they think they belong to.

I woke up this morning like every other morning. I am an orphan so I have lived at the academy all my life. No family. No story. No clue who I am, but I guess that all changes today. Today is the choosing ceremony and since I am 17 it’s my year to be I the spotlight. Yay. Seriously though today will change my life. I looked around my room. The dark blue and white paint engraved in my skull. Dark blue and white are Daleria’s colors so it’s plastered everywhere in the academy. I put out my school uniform in all its glory, with its blue plaid skirt and white blouse (like I said these colors are everywhere). I personally hate wearing the skirt. Its short and it scrunches up in all the wrong places.

Next I hopped in the shower and let all of my worries and problems wash away. With the scent of lavender and thyme in my hair I stepped out of the shower, dried off and looked in the mirror. I looked at my curly strawberry blonde hair, which falls over my shoulder like a waterfall and dances gracefully behind me when I walk down the halls. I looked at my body which curves and falls. My ivory skin, littered with freckles. My piercing green eyes, long eye lashes, and full lips. I stepped out of my bathroom and slipped on my uniform. I took another look around my room. My desk and bookshelf full of poetry, classic lit., and hundreds of beautifully sculpted worlds, characters and plots. I would love to spend the day in another world instead of being prepared for the choosing. I sighed, picked up my book bag, and opened my door, unsure of what my day would hold.