Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Jade’s brothers – Judah and Gerome

Judah Onyx, Jade’s older brother, was eight years older than her. He was twenty-six. He too, was goaded by their father to work for the Military Mechanical Department.

Judah graduated in Land, Major in Machinery eight years ago with a superb result for his final year project. He invented a kind of cell that accumulates power to keep a Richo bike (a bigger, heavy duty version of motorbike) operates for 120 hours after a full charge of only 3 hours, which is pretty impressive for a student.

Judah loved fiddling with machines. He could spend the whole day altering his vehicles, his weapons, and sometimes the sibling’s bikes. It wasn’t Jade’s intend to flaunt her extreme souped-up bike at school, but she would say it was rather awesome that people were induced to admire her cool looking, aqua blue bike. Well, it was a good thing having Judah as a brother, because she could really use his help to fixing things.

Judah was lean and toned, a normal six foot tall young man with pale skin, probably because he had been spending too much time in the lab, lacking sun exposure. Jade had always loved his signature look – almond brown hair with top knot sometimes. What made him attractive the most were his beautiful, bright green eyes, just like hers. Both Jade and Judah inherited their mother’s lovely green eyes and beautiful skin, hardly any freckles. She was sure her parents would have named him Jade if he was a girl, because that was the reason why she was named Jade, after her beautiful emerald-green eyes.

Jade had another older brother, Gerome Ryder. Gerome was sort of taken in to home by Jade’s father. Gerome’s father, Sergeant Arbone Ryder passed away in a sudden invasion by Monad when he was eight years old. Arbone Ryder and Jade’s father, Rhu Onyx were close friends. They used to serve in the same district as sergeants until Sergeant Ryder was transferred to Weatherspoon (one of the twelve states in Velvet). Ryder’s wife too, unfortunately, died during the attack. Rhu Onyx found young Gerome in the basement of the Ryders’ house, not knowing that his parents were already gone at that time. He was hiding, and waiting for his parents to return with a hopeful heart. Rhu took him home and he had been living with them since. Both Rhu and Marteena Onyx treated Gerome just like their own child. They’ve loved him as much as Judah and Jade.

Gerome had always been the taciturn type, never really show much of his thoughts, and always present himself with minimal expressions. His parents’ death was probably the main reason he became so close up. It took him a long time to assimilate himself with the new family.

Despite being quiet and inscrutable, Gerome enjoyed the country’s most popular game called SOAR. He was gifted with the innate ability to jump twelve feet high, which gave him a big advantage during the game. It is incredible to jump twelve feet with bare feet, without relying on any jumping paraphernalia. It is unreachable for normal people. Most of the normal people could jump about seven feet, trained armies could jump up to eight to nine feet high if they try hard enough. For Gerome, it was an extremely precious gift, something extra that he possessed besides those soldier-calibre aminas he already had. People tell him that he is the luckiest person ever to have that kind of rare, special gift, and he had always been proud of it. Gerome currently serves in the Air Force as Master Sergeant at the moment. It was a remarkable rank for someone who has got into the military service for only five years.

Green Sand Military School

Purple epitomises royalty, nobility, and power; a colour that was chosen to represent Velvet. The Green Sand Military School buildings were mainly purple with black slate tiled roofing, and whites at some parts. Glancing at the buildings with her head up, Jade was sure that she is going to miss that pleasant-looking purple building too. Green Sand had the best and most prestigious military school ever. The school itself was almost a hundred years old, the oldest yet elite military school in Velvet. The chancellor of the school was a veteran commander of the Green Sand Land Force, before Jade’s father took over his place after his retirement. General Orris was a very experienced commander, respectful among the generals and the armies he had worked with. He was a rotund man with chummy character and always in ebullient mood, especially during speeches. It was evident that many of his works had clearly preceded the previous chancellors. He was undeniable the best chancellor of Military School of Green Sand had ever had.

There was too much to be reminisced about Velvet Military School, too much memories of herself, her brothers and her friends. Too much about the trainings and fun competitions they had, and how her brothers cheered for her in every archery competition she had been in. And of course, the trophies. Those trophies she had gathered from competitions made her military father proud. His face literally lit up as a result of his billowing proudness from the heart. Jade wondered why her father was never like that to her brothers. Probably he thought it was truly rare for women to have such capabilities to be soldierly-like.

Her mom, however, was somewhat proud, but had never shown as much excitement as her dad. Jade guessed her mom fancied a more feminine daughter. She would like, never get tired of giving ending praise and oodles of compliment to her friend’s daughter, Ira whenever she could. Mommy’s little precious Ira did the same course as Jade, and a top student, and a musician, and a great chef… God knows if she can even do a summersault and land on her feet. The girl looks so delicate she could break in pieces with a touch. Nothing against girls with brains but weak aminas, but it irks Jade every time when Ira and her mom stopped by their house to promote the new delicacies Ira had made. Jade had the feeling that Ira has her eyes on Gerome. Pathetic. She thought, with a spasm of detest in her heart. My brother will never like you, Ira. Don’t even dream about it.

It never snows in Green Sand, but the temperature turned colder during winter. Early springtime in Green Sand tend to be windy, and could be tempestuous at times. The soft yet constant blowing of cool dry wind made Jade’s lips dry, almost parched. She delved in her sling bag, ferreting for her lip balm to salvage her lips from cracking. Lip balm was an essential item that could always be found in her bag to retain the moisture of her lips, because she gets ratty when she sees parched wrinkly lips of hers. Her long auburn hair with a little wave at the edge, streamed behind her as she strode across the field to the stable for her Mymmur. They were creatures which people used to have them in battles and transportation long before vehicles were invented. Their appearances were quite similar to lions, except they don’t have any manes, and they have strong legs and paws like bears with heights varied based on their breeds. Their bodies were covered with shiny, downy fur usually in maroon or mocha brown. With their extensive feathered wings, they could fly fifteen to twenty hundred feet in the air.

Mymmur could be ferocious, especially those trained for battles. But they were usually tame and loyal to their owners, and only military personnel or students could keep Mymmurs. The owners would need to get licenses to keep them, and make sure they stay out of the street. For an additional remark, Mymmur wasn’t the only strange looking animal found in Velvet, it would not be a big deal to see animals with four eyes, or sparkly furred chicken, or ducks covered in scales.

The students or staffs who ride animals to school could keep their animals in the stable for a temporary care, along with the other animals that were professionally trained for battles, rescue jobs and assisting other law-enforcement personnel in their work. Keeping Cider (her Mymmur) too long in the stable seems a little cruel for him. She had no choice since her bike was in the garage, waiting for Judah to come home to fix it. She could have borrowed her mother’s car, but she said she had an appointment for her skin treatment already. Mom was obsessed with her skin, wouldn’t miss any good products and treatments to maintain her youthful look.

The thoughts flitted away when she finally reached for the stable, and yanked the door opened, couldn’t wait to get into the stable for a quick shelter. The wind was turning bone-chilling outside, it felt so much better, so much warmer inside. She quickly closed the door behind her, rubbing her almost numbed hands together and turned to find Cider. Her heart almost stopped when a figure loomed in front of her.

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