Page 47 of Green Ravens

And then he woke with a hard jerk.

Silence consumed him in his dimly lit room. His new living quarters smelled of polished wood and fresh linen.

Valor exhaled, his senses tingling from the remnants of the dream. It all had to mean something.

The images never changed: a black bird with intense gold and green eyes, unlike any bird he thought existed, and a soul, a screech that screamed for him to understand it.

He tossed the sheet from around his waist and sat up.

He walked across the room, his bare feet making no sound on the white marble floor.

Valor’s suite was nothing like the clinical walls he’d once been confined by. But he recognized his new plush environment for what it was.

A psychological trick to make him feel as if he wasn’t still captive, to make him feel at ease, as if he had privileges.

He didn’t.

At least he had fresh air and knowledge of when the sun rose and the days turned to night.

Valor stepped onto the wrap-around terrace that resembled a hidden paradise suspended high up in the sky.

At least they’d gotten this part of his list right. He’d simply asked for a place to sit and enjoy the weather and meditate beneath the night sky. They’d gone above and beyond.

The moment he’d entered his suite, he marveled at the sight of the towering pine trees, thick ferns, and climbing vines cocooned in verdant greens.

The scent of damp earth and blooming orchids made the air crisp and fragrant at such a high altitude. It gave him a sense of being in an untamed wilderness despite the steel and glass horizon.

Valor walked along the stone walkway that led him to an intimate corner with a beam of sunlight early in the day.

The sounds of the city below were muted and replaced by the rustling of leaves and the trickle of a fountain flowing between smooth rocks and thick roots.

Over the last week, he’d received his treatments in his room. The serums were still injected, but he was no longer put under sedation. He felt stronger and wiser with each dose.

He spent the rest of his days acclimating to his new body and environment.

The weight of his dream lifted as he sank into the lush grass, waiting for the warmth to soothe him.

The dawn meditation had become his anchor. Hours passed as he remained still, the only movement being the slow rise and fall of his chest. His body was motionless, but not his mind.

The jungle-like terrace reminded him to breathe and exist for now, but the day was coming when he’d truly be free.

Valor sought out who he was. Tried to put together fragments of memory he’d experienced over the weeks he’d been forced to change into a different man.

Faint footsteps broke into his quiet time. He counted them. Six, no eight, all moving in the same direction. He listened to their measured pace, the cadence of their breath. Seven of them stopped short, but one continued until he stood outside his door.

“Valor,” a man called out.

Even through the steel door, Valor could hear the caution in the stranger’s tone. “I’m here to escort you to the training facility.”

He growled low in his chest, no longer surprised he could make that sound. Now, he needed to learn to control it.

He stood and stretched, hearing more heavy breaths and hushed murmurs in the hall. Additional guards were waiting around the corner.

Valor smirked.

“The fourteen additional men were not needed,” Valor said as he opened the door, his voice even and dull. “I’ll come willingly.”

A plain man with a forgettable appearance stood a few feet from the door. He wore a pair of well-fitted khakis and a puke-green button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up his forearms.

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