Austin's dreams were random images he couldn't make sense of: he saw fire, dead bodies and chaos — And death, lots of death. But it all came to him in quick flashes of images that he couldn't discern or make sense of. The only thing he'll remember upon waking up would be the chanting of a woman's voice, the chanting, of which, made no sense: "RAIDR knows best."
Then Austin wakes up to Reya nudging him awake.
It was still pretty dark outside Austin's tent, the moon was still visible above through the branches and vines of the Great oak, just as the sky was turning from deep, dark blue to a light blue, violet pink in color. Activity in the Meadows were at a minimum, with Preppers attending to the Oakhouse, the scent of morning meals wafting through the air, and the Wippers were attending to various places in the meadows, cleaning the bathhouse, helping in organizing the the Oakhouse, and mowing the lawns with that old, non-electric mower people used before electricity. There were some who were exiting their tent as Austin was coming out of his, but most were still quite asleep.
Outside his tent, Austin met Reya, who, wearing plain purple pants, a blue top blouse and a pair of black boots, seemed anxious to see Austin. "Are you up yet?"
Austin nodded.
"Good," she said, nodding her head. "Stryker wants to show you this."
Before Austin could even ask what it was she was going to show him, Reya had already begun walking south to the southernmost wall, past the Greylands, where a boulder-sized slab of stone rested, with names carved into it in various different handwritings. They looked like they were using a knife or a really sharp stone to carve the names into it; there were definitely over 70 names on this stone slab, too. Austin counted roughly 120 names carved into the rock.
But, Austin noticed that 50 of the 120 names had been crossed out with an x; it gave Austin the feeling that this was more of a memorial than just a roster of who's here in the Meadows. "Who are all these people? What are you showing me this for?" Austin was confused.
Austin noticed Reya held something in her hand, as she fiddled with whatever it was nervously, she spoke. "This place — The meadows — has a very dark history, and a tragic origin story," she said, staring into space with a thoughtful gaze, her voice almost robotic, her eyes diluted and nearly void of color, as if reminiscing of past long ago and getting swept into it entirely. "Since we created the Taboo, we've come quite a long way, but no matter how well we adapt to our situation or the total number of years we've been trapped here and the rules we always seem to be making in this place, we cannot always escape the chaos, the fear, the lack of rationality — the death…," Reya's voice was caught.
Austin could practically feel the pain in her voice and through her movements. He suddenly felt the urge to hug her, to reassure her. To just let her know she wasn't alone. But he didn't. He wasn't sure how she'd react to him doing that. — She might[most likely] find the notion a reason to make Austin feel pain.
Eventually, she was able to compose herself enough to continue. "We've lost over 50 lives because of chaos — the lack of order in this place. Some we've lost during the early days of this… this horror story. Some later down the line."
Austin truly felt for this girl. He felt for all these kids in this place. What kind of world is so fucked up and without order that this is allowed — that this kind f messed up treatment towards kids is acceptable and even allowed? What the fuck was the point, anyways? What the fuck was this Phase one bullshit? What was it designed to accomplish? And why are teenagers and children like them being subjected to the horrors of whatever it was this place was purposed for? What was any of this designed to achieve?
As Austin became lost in thought, some movement caught his attention near the northern gates. There were 20 or so boys and girls wearing leather protection and athletic gear over their clothes, like knee pads, shoulder pads, elbow pads and brown leather chest harnesses and body armor. They each possessed leather back satchels and bottle water made from leather hides. These 20 or so Meadowers begun gathering around the Shed, gathering supplies, tools and what Austin assumed to be weaponry like daggers and spears.
But this didn't really surprise Austin — if the Labyrinth were as dangerous as Austin was told it was, then, if anything, this group was slightly underprepared, but they did with what they had, Austin guessed.
What did surprise Austin was who was amongst this group: Stryker stood at the northern gate, just as a screeching sound was followed by the opening of all 4 vaulted doors. As he left with a flanking of 2 other scouts, Austin couldn't help but wonder why the Meadows leader, who repetitively told Austin passage through the Labyrinth was the most forbidden amongst the Meadows, was entering the labyrinth.
"Stryker and I were the first two to enter the Meadows," Reya said, catching Austin's attention again. "But, while we arrived here at the same time, Stryker, protected me from both Annihilators and Savagers those first few nights before we arrived here, had more traumatic experiences. Soon we learned the monthly routine — a fellow Meadower's cell would open, sometimes one, sometimes 10, or somewhere in between, and we'd learned to track when and where the cells would open up so we could rescue others before they have to deal with what we had to. We'd use my Traits: Psychic. I can see images, photo, events sometimes, into the future, typically 48 hours into the future, as well as read minds, if I try, anyways. It's how I knew where to find you Austin.
"Stryker possess no trait ability, despite us being siblings; His experience, however makes him the only exception in the villain to 5th and most important rule under the Taboo. Don't worry about him. He's just going on a important recon and rescue opt to find a newbie I had a vision about last night. It's bizarre, though, seeing as we normally get 2 or 3 newbies a month on the same day; never one one in two days each of the same month…".
As the two of them watched Stryker enter the labyrinth, and disappeared from view, Austin turned to the stone boulder again and looked at the horrid hand carvings of each name. Some names he did recognize, despite being a newbie here. He spotted Alyssa's name, as well as Zether Cleo beside it. He saw Aaroon's name and Stryker and Caesar and even Reya's.
When he got to a certain name, he remembered something. "Jackson…," he remembered from last night. "Last night, during the Initiation Summit, Alyssa said something about something happening to someone named Jackson. Who is he?"