Xaiden Caelus slid his notebook into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. The other students had long since cleared out the class room at the sound of the bell, but Xaiden was engrossed in finishing the chapter he'd started writing during the monotonous droning from the hunk of metal in front of the class so he hadn't even realized class ended.
Xaiden preferred listening to the lessons through his imprint at home, and didn't see the point of sitting in a class room just to hear a robot talk, so he used his classroom hours to work on his novel, today he was working on a fight scene and got a bit lost in the world he was creating. Walking past empty desks as he made his way out of the room, he shot one last glare at the machine, already powered down at its charging station in a corner. "Useless," Xaiden muttered.
His friend, Jax was leaning against the wall in the hallway next to the door, completely distracted by whatever was playing in his imprint.
"You ready?" Xaiden asked, purposely bumping into Jax as he walked by. Glancing back as he asked, "Are the others already outside?"
"Am I ready?" Jax was incredulous, he poked Xaiden's shoulder accusingly, "Are you kidding me? I've been trying to get your attention for ages! Now you want to come waltzing out and ask if I'm ready?"
"Easy now," Xaiden sighed, "Sorry, I lost track of time." He tapped his imprint to check the time display. They'd already lost 30 minutes of daylight and he had an almost equal amount of notifications. Most of them were probably from Jax, who's imprint wouldn't allow him to step foot in Xaiden's classroom after Jax hacked into the class droid and made it play punk rock music to get Xaiden's attention under similar circumstances. "The least that thing could do is turn our imprint notifications back on once class ends." Xaiden complained.
"If you didn't notice everyone around you leaving, I doubt even your imprint could get your attention," Jax shook his head. "You're really intense sometimes, you know that?"
"Yes, but I bet you won't be complaining when you're done reading the chapter I just finished!" Xaiden deflected with a grin and tapped his left temple, ignoring his own imprint springing to life in the corner of his vision. "Write some more, Xaiden, what happens next Xaiden?" He mocked.
"Yeah, yeah," Jax nodded, "I'll read it when I get home." He was quiet for a moment, then said, "I'm just saying, you should pay more attention to your surroundings." He sighed defeatedly and continued, "The others already went ahead, so we need to hurry and catch up." Jax started walking towards the front of the school before he even finished his sentence and without a backwards glance.
If Jax was this upset, the others would be even more so, Xaiden worried as he tried to catch up to Jax who clearly was done waiting on him.
They walked quickly through the corridors of the school and past the gate at the entrance. They slowed to a steady pace as they passed the school guard and slipped behind some tall shrubs along the busy street, then broke into a full sprint to the forest behind the school. Xaiden had discovered this gap in the chain link fence when he first started attending this high school and was chased around by some obnoxious seniors. He quickly pushed the memory aside and focused on pulling the rusty metal out of the way as Jax tossed his backpack through and squeezed past. Xaiden may not be as athletic and quick with his fists as the main character in his novel, but he was proud that he'd still been able to outsmart those guys and even form his own band of misfits in the weeks after that incident.
Not many people would venture into these woods, even if it wasn't completely illegal to step foot past this deteriorating fence. History books from the first grade on covered the horrors that these woods contained in increasing detail. They warned of artifacts from past wars, chemical spills, and the ever present chance of walking into a derelict trap. Many had lost their lives trying to satisfy the greed of investors who believed with enough money, they could clean the forest up and use the wasted real estate on something more profitable. After an explosion caused air pollution for the surrounding cities for several years and severely damaged the delicate ecosystem they maintained, the Archon[1] at the time had completely banned all access to the forest. That was over 500 years ago now, and this forest was still the most feared place on the planet.
Getting caught accessing these grounds would be enough for lifetime imprisonment for endangering the community, and Xaiden knew this better than most since his own ancestor had been the one to declare it off limits and entrusted each generation after to uphold this decree with the utmost care. That's exactly why he chose to slip into this forbidden land back then, he knew those guys wouldn't follow him no matter how tough they acted. Xaiden wasn't sure if they ever told on him, but even if they had, no one would believe that a member of the prestigious royal Caelus family would ever cross that line - no matter how estranged that member may be.
Xaiden felt a bit guilty about risking his friend's lives and futures, especially back when he first showed Jax the way through, but desperate times, desperate measures. Still, it'd been a long time since they had needed to use this as an escape. It had soon become a fun adventure and an ironically safe space for them as their gang expanded and they spent their afternoons carefully exploring and mapping the land.
His reverie was broken by Eliana's sharp voice, "About doggone time!" He turned to meet her indignant glare. "We are not waiting for you next time," she warned with heavy emphasis on each word. "You're not the only one with a life, you know. You can't keep us on standby like we're your subjects, or did your obscure claim to the throne suddenly start to go to your head?"
"First of all, I wasn't keeping you on standby." Xaiden responded cooly, "If you guys want to explore without me or go do your own thing, be my guest." He shrugged, and returned her glare as he continued. "Complain as much as you want but I bet you're counting on that same obscure claim as your 'get out of jail free card' if you ever get caught."
"E-e-easy guys, let's not waste t-time arguing," Ewen cut in softly, his hand shaking a bit as he waved it between Eliana and Xaiden, who maintained their stare down despite the interruption.
"ET is right," Jax added calmly, then tapping Eliana's shoulder lightly, he continued. "Come on, Eli, let it go. You know how focused he can get. I already gave him an earful, so let's just move on."
Eliana's gaze wavered momentarily before she huffed, "Whatever." She picked up her backpack, stuffing a worn book back inside, then added sarcastically with a half bow and pretend curtsy, "After you, your Majesty."
Xaiden scoffed, but let it slide for Jax's sake. He'd been the one to bring Eliana into the fold despite Xaiden's reservations at the time. She's the daughter of the school headmaster after all, but Jax pointed out Xaiden's own unlikely background and insisted that she would never tell on them and needed the escape as much as they did. It's hard to imagine Little Miss Perfect needing refuge, rather the opposite would seem more likely, but she continued to show up each day after school. More importantly, she provided them all with a perfect cover at school and home with her excuse of "Study Group Meetings" and short tutoring lessons that helped them all get their grades up a bit. Still, Xaiden couldn't quite shake this deeply uneasy feeling around her.
"We're covering the west sector today, right?" Xaiden asked as he picked up his own pack and started off along the carefully, yet discreetly, marked path towards their makeshift fort. Ignoring the lackluster grunts of agreement, he continued on contentedly.
He wasn't surprised that the others still waited for him at the entrance rather than at the fort deeper in the forbidden lands, even after the years they've spent in these woods, they've always kept one foot out the door. Ready to bolt back to the fence and into reality if things ever went sideways. It wasn't like that for Xaiden. For him, this was his world. It meant freedom, and the ability to create his own story apart from the legacy that had been weighing so heavily on him.
He was already considered a stain on the Caelus name, so why bother trying to appease them? The moment he stepped foot into this land, he gave up on that life entirely. If they were caught, yes, he and his friends could escape public punishment to protect Archon Aurelian's image and the Caelus legacy, but it would just underline a fate he had already accepted. He was never going to be truly considered one of them and they'd much rather he stay out of sight and out of mind.
"I-I worked on the map a bit more last night," Ewen broke the silence, pulling his bag around so he could reach inside as he walked. "Based on my calculations, this next sector should be the border of the grounds on the opposite side. I expect we'll run into the fence again."
Xaiden smiled and nodded, happy that Ewen was getting more comfortable speaking up. Ewen was the final addition to their crew after Xaiden stepped in to stop some childish name calling that seemed to have gone much further a time or two before. Xaiden took him under his wing from then on and he quickly became a valuable member of the team. "Great work, Ewen."
Eliana immediately settled into her little nook when they arrived at the base and pulled out the worn book from earlier. Early on, she'd claimed the hammock strung across two trees with a line run for netting to keep the bugs out, leaving the rest of them to the sleeping bags and camp chairs strewn about in the tent in the center if they wanted to nap or rest. The tarp above her provided shade and protection from afternoon storms, and she kept a surprisingly cute blanket that she curls up under as soon as she arrives. If it wasn't for the cover story she's got going on for us, she'd really be dead weight, Xaiden thought, shaking his head. This place is nothing but a personal library for her and a quiet place to read.
It's safe to say, Eliana was not a fan of Xaiden's web novel. She much preferred reading books from previous eras and seemed to put up with all the discomforts of the woods just so she could read the random books they found out here. Xaiden liked reading too, so they often clashed over who got to read the new discoveries first. She'd taken more interest in joining their explorations after they all agreed to "finders keepers" for the random junk they came across in the woods.
"You're not coming today, Eli?" Jax asked as he cleared some leaves off the table they'd been using to plan their routes.
She shook her head curtly and tapped her implant, probably turning on the classical piano playlist Jax had told her about yesterday.
Ewen had finished pulling the folded sheet of paper out of the jacket on the case for his favorite video game. Even though Ewen talked of little else outside of these woods, Xaiden still couldn't remember the name of the game, but it looked like a first person shooter zombie game from the cover. Ewen spread the paper out on the table and tapped the spot he'd added.
"Wow, we went further than I thought last time!" Jax exclaimed.
Xaiden nodded as he studied the lines for their previous paths and marks for known dangers. "Should we try cutting cross here to get there faster today since we're short on time?" He asked as he pointed to a gap Ewen had found. The map made it a lot easier to track the ground they covered, and Ewen was really a genius when it came to logging their trips accurately. Xaiden and Jax had relied on the time it took to get places to give them an idea of the ground they covered, but Ewen used a black market GPS tracker that he kept in the tent so it could never be tied back to us.
Having the map was dangerous enough, that tracker would prove that he'd really been out here. At least with the paper map he could say he just made it up, and who would be willing to compare it to the real life woods to prove him wrong? They used to turn their imprints off completely in the beginning until Jax figured out how to loop the one time they all went to his house when they left school. He lived with his Dad who was almost never home, so it was the safest place to pretend to be. Not that anyone would be checking Xaiden's location, of that he was sure. It was still a good precaution, especially now that the other two had joined them out here.
"I-I'm down, it would be nice to fill in that area on the map too." Ewen agreed.
"Let's do it," Jax nodded and started grabbing his gear. Ewen and Xaiden followed suit, ditching their school bags for the packs they kept stocked with first aid supplies, rope, food, water, lights, knives, pliers and everything else they might possibly need.
"Eliana, last chance, you coming?" Xaiden asked.
"I already said no." She replied sharply.
"Any new books are mine then." Xaiden reminded her, not even sure why he was bothering.
"Whatever, I doubt you'll find any anyway. It's already so late and you're still covering a lot of ground we've already seen."
"So you say. Don't be mad later." Xaiden spoke over his shoulder as he led the way down the path they'd beat down with sticks last week. This was a spot they had overlooked for more than a year now. It could be insignificant, but at least it'll make a good shortcut later, Xaiden thought happily as they walked along. "Just tell me when we need to turn, Ewen!"
[1] Archon is what the rulers on the planet Zenith are called, similar concept to Emperor, basically supreme world ruler.