Warriors: Dawn of the Clans #1: The Sun Trail

Great book!

AAAAAAAA TSYM!!! I want to make an app too! I have an uncle who programs video games so I might talk to him about it, and in Computer Science this year I think my teacher said we might make a game or an app. IF WE DO I HAVE A LOGO PLANNED OUT (all the Clan’s logos and even the FanClans with a speech bubble that looks like an orange cat) AND I WANT TO CALL IT WARRIOR CHATS .-.
Lol I’m kind of obsessed if you couldn’t tell…
*immediately disappears to check all A Vision of Shadows audiobooks*
It’s the year 4063. You’d think we wouldn’t have primitive things like history class anymore. Yet here I am, Kalimi Shadowdancer of Clan Shade. I’m sitting in the V-Classroom, a mimic-glass box hanging in the sky between space and the atmosphere. The teachers say it helps us “reach for the stars” and “have perspective”. I don’t mind, since I’m not afraid of heights and I know that mimic-glass is stronger than real glass and twice as durable, but my friend Calasa Tigerleap of Clan Fauna isn’t as easily reassured. Their face is determinedly fixed on the history teacher, Professor Liliana. I concentrated, sending little wisps of the shadows cast by Calasa’s head into their mind and their thoughts came into focus: mentally reprimanding themself about looking down. Most people are on guard against shadow tellings, and especially Calla, as they know I focus on their mind more than anyone else’s. It’s considered a social faux pas and I really don’t want to know what some of the others are thinking about me, since Clan Shade is the Clan with all the creepy weird powers like mind reading, shadow wrapping (where you basically smother someone in shadows, imprisoning them and sometimes suffocating them, if it’s not done right) and raising the dead. This serves to give most people an unfavorable impression of Clan Shade and it’s members, which is why we live by strict moral standards and try to be as nice as possible.
You might wonder why:
1. we have powers
2. what Clans are, and
3. why I don’t have more powers (if you know something about my culture already).
Well,
We have powers because of magic. Magic, or fantasium, was discovered in the year 2708. In fact, this is what Professor Liliana is talking about right now. Since she’s the expert, and I’m not qualified to teach classes, I’ll let you listen to her:
“Magic ran in everyone’s blood, but nobody knew about it until the year 2691. The scientists didn’t know how to access it, and it sat dormant for nearly five hundred years until they discovered the element fantasium on the planet Ayzeill. The first test subjects were four families, who came to be known as Clan Light, Clan Shade, Clan Flora, and Clan Fauna. It is from them that we get our birth ability, or Nii, and at our Summoning we manifest our second ability, or Dii.”
That answered two of the questions, so I’ll explain the third. You know how she talked about a Summoning? Well, first you have your Calling when you turn 11 and start going to ability school, and then you manifest your second ability at age 12, during your Summoning at school. You are born with your abilities from your Clan, but you can manifest abilities from any Clan, including the Roamers. (The Roamers are a handful of people who specialize in void magic, that is, manipulating the things that bind our universe together. They are often telekinetics, shapeshifters, teleporters, force-field-makers, etc.) For example, my birth ability was shadow telling (or mind reading), because I am from Clan Shade. It’s in my DNA. The Summoning alters your DNA ever so slightly, so I could have water manipulation from Clan Flora and still be unrelated to any of the members of said Clan. The Clans have one condition to keep the bloodlines “pure” with children inheriting the proper powers for their Clan. If my mother was from Clan Shade but had manifested Clan Light powers, and my father was from Clan Shade and manifested Clan Shade powers, I would have a 50% chance of getting Light powers versus getting the proper
powers for Clan Shade. Therefore the Clans ask that you marry someone with the same powers that you got at your Summoning, and then join that Clan. I’m not interested in any people as in I want to date them, but I do hope I get the same powers as Calasa for friendship’s sake. For some people, getting a certain Clan means everything, because of love, family expectations, or just awe of those powers.
The hologram of Professor Liliana flickers out and everyone immediately turns their chairs around to talk to their friends. I flick through my notes, satisfied, and then wink at Calla. She knows if I don’t have all my notes I’ll borrow hers out of her head. Not during the test, of course. I wear a special circlet to block my abilities, like everyone else with a similar power of information gathering and dispensing, to ensure that I don’t cheat.
“Come on!” Calla says, pushing her chair aside. Their face is a paler shade of brown than usual, like peppermint tea with milk in it, because of their acrophobia. We stuff our supplies in our holobags and slide out of the door before people stop talking to their friends and crush us in a stampede for the exit. The shuttle is nice and quiet, and we say hello to the driver, Ellie. The robot tilts her head in greeting as she runs the final diagnostics before takeoff. We sit down, and Calla rests her head against the window. I zone out as the stampede finds its way onto the bus, the swirling mists of time taking me back to my Calling…
Where everything went wrong.

LOL I forgot to put Kalimi’s description…
She has light brown skin and straight black hair. Her eyes are almond-shaped and light brown. In the story she is half-Chinese, half-African American.
And no I don’t look like her, but I WISH I HAD HAIR LONG ENOUGH SO THAT I COULD PUT IT IN A BRAID 😭
|vy

Great book