The Neutrals

“The Neutrals are a dangerous and forbidden species. With the combination of their parent’s powers, they can influence humans and other gods to whatever parents element they want. They can’t control it completely, as that would be dethroning the god/goddess, but the influence to help one of the gods destined to be enemies is too great of power for the gods to keep in their haven. Most always the Neutral infant is killed in front of its parents, to teach the two a lesson. Then the two gods must work or do whatever tasks Enthro (king of gods) assigned to them and only stop when he sees fit. Occasionally though, they spare the Neutral infant and banish it to the mortal world. Only a few Neutrals were ever spared. The most recent and well-known one happened around 13 years ago. It was the child of the gods of Peace and Chaos. Aluris (Peace) and Chaslura (Chaos) sent their child to the mortal world without the permission of Enthro. They gave the child to a family who had been praying for a child for years. Only because he favoured Peace, he let her go without punishment. To keep Aluris from doing anything else wrong or trying to rebel, he married her. Chaslura was ordered to work as a servant, and forced to watch Aluris and Enthro throughout their marriage.”

I quickly closed out of the website before I could read the rest. No doubt this information would only fuel the idea that I was a Neutral. I was bullied a lot about how similarly everything lined up as it was, being born the same day as the infant was cast to the mortal world by the goddesses peace and chaos. Not to mention that my parents, Riley and Jacklynn, had once lived where the baby Neutral was rumoured to be found. Everything seemed to line up, except for one thing...I had no powers. Even when cast to the mortal realm, gods and neutrals alike keep their powers. While Neutrals usually have no idea, they always manage to figure out by their powers unlocking when the child needs them most. You’d think that between bullies and multiple threats to my parents for both being female (even though it’s completely legal, and multiple gods are married to the same sex) any powers I possessed would have appeared. So far, nothing, and I doubt I’m ever going to be in a spot where I need them more than I do right now.

The one decent person I’ve met in this hell hole is Alex. We can’t even be around each other much as it is, if they were seen with me he would get bullied too, and I didn’t want him to get hurt or picked on like I was.

It was finally the end of school, and I couldn’t wait to get home. Hopefully, I could get out in time. Jordan, Michael, and John were all ruthless when it came to me. The only reason they kept me in enough shape to get home was so that they could continue their little game of using me as punching, kicking, and beat-it-up bag. I quickly packed up my things, hoping to be fast enough to get home.

Unfortunately, I didn’t even get to start my walk home, because the three walked into the classroom.

“Well well well, look what we have here. A little freak all alone.” John chuckled, causing a shiver to go down my spine. Gods, why did it always have to happen every day?

“Heh, and teach is gone too. How convenient.” Jordan laughed as Michael stood near the back, looking slightly uncomfortable.

I never hated Michael, he seemed to dislike having to be with the other two. He was probably threatened into joining them, anyway. We made brief eye contact and he looked down.

“I-I’ll go take watch so we don’t get caught,” Michael said as the others nodded. They didn’t pick up on the fact he simply didn’t want to be there. I watched him go but was brought back to reality as the collar of my shirt was seized by John.

“Ready for your daily dose of creaming, Neutral?” John spat the words as if they were a curse. Before I could even hope to reply, he landed a punch on my stomach, causing me to fall to my knees. Then Jordan winded up a kick, which hits my side. I lay on the ground, but I refuse to cry. I try to get back up, but John shoves me down again.

“Ha, since when did that ever work? You really are an idiot-”

He kicked me again, harder. I fell to the ground and hit my head on a desk. It started to bleed. Along with the abuse I was enduring, Jordan decided to destroy my things. I had all of the important stuff in a safe spot, but I still needed some of what he had demolished.

“S-stop.” I managed to get the words out between kicks. They mocked me and my pleas and continued their assault.

Michael called out “Guys, Mrs Levla is here!” he said it in a tone as if they had been waiting for the teacher, rather than looking for her so they wouldn’t get in trouble.

The other two quickly stopped and roughly pulled me up. I gathered my things (all that I could, anyway) and walked out. The teacher glared at me, then walked in the classroom. Once I was out of sight and started running.

Alex saw me running past and yelled at me to slow down so he could catch up. I started to slow to a walk, and they caught up with me to talk.

“Hey! Are you alright? Your head is bleeding!” Alex asked, his voice seemed overly concerned.

“Oh-! I’m fine, I just...” I tried to think of an excuse. Alex wasn’t amused.

“Dakota, you’re really hurt. You need to tell your parents what has been happening. I know for a fact Jacklynn would want you to tell her.” There wasn’t a need for Alex to ask how it happened. He already knew about the bullies.

“Yeah, so she can go with Mom to kill them. Not a smart plan.” My parents knew I was picked on, but they didn’t know the full extent of it. If they knew it has gotten physical they would go crazy.

“Still, you need to tell them. You can go with them so you can talk to a teacher. Maybe you can get them expelled!”

“The teacher hates me just as much as the numbskulls do. It won’t help.” I looked down, glad that the bleeding had finally stopped.

Alex paused, thinking of what to say. He hated seeing me hurt almost as much as I hated getting hurt. We both wished we could hang out more, but I insisted it shouldn’t be too often, or they might start getting bullied too. So for Alex’s safety, our talks were short. We did hang out more as fewer people walked home due to colder weather, but I enjoyed it. I loved the cool, crisp air and colourful leaves. Alex did too, though he preferred spring, with all the blooming flowers and warmer air. We both agreed on two things though. Outside during winter and summer, in general, is a nice concept, but executed it feels like varying levels of hell. As I was replaying our conversation about the seasons, Alex snapped me back into reality.

“Dakota… I’m really worried. They drew blood, this can only get worse. If it’s as bad as you say it is then they could-”

I interrupted them “Gah-”

“What is it?”

“My Moms are home.”

“Oh. Ha, I guess you’ll have to tell them now.” Alex said, a bit smug.

“Alex, you’ve gotta help me! I need an excuse, something realistic.” I said anxiously.

“How about, ‘I’m getting bullied.’ That might work.” Alex retorted, not finding my needing a cover-up story very useful.

“Alex, I’m serious!”

“Alright, alright,” Alex thought for a moment, “You could tell them you fell and hit your head.”

“Yeah, maybe. Well, in any case, I can’t just stand around in my front yard, can I? Wish me luck.”

I walked to the door and unlocked it as Alex waved goodbye. I walked inside, bracing myself for what might come.

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My mom, Riley, greeted me at the door.

“Hello honey, how was your- Oh my gosh are you ok!?” Like I expected, she completely panicked.

“Y-Yeah, Mom, I’m alright. I just fell and hit my head.”

Jaklynn soon entered the room after being alerted by Rylie’s yelling “You fell...and managed to hit your head hard enough for it to bleed?” She sounded sceptical.

“Yes..?” I said, hoping that was all it took to convince them.

Somehow, it was. They bought the story, though whether they actually believed me or just decided to let the topic drop, I wasn’t sure.

I walked to my room, hoping my haste wasn’t noticeable. Once I got inside, I closed the door and locked it, even though both of my parents knocked and waited for my ok to enter. I had nothing to worry about of them barging in, yet I was a bit paranoid. I got out all four pages of homework, only one of which was mine. As I got them out, there was a knock at my door.

I quickly hid the extra pages of homework and asked, “Who is it..?”

“It’s your mother, may I come in?” It was obviously Jacklynn, but I decided to have a bit of fun.

“My mother? I have two, you should be more specific.”

I could almost hear Jacklynn’s faked sigh and over exaggerated eye roll before she said: “It’s Jacklynn, you know, the cool one.”

She almost laughed when we heard Riley yell up “I’m cool too! I can be cool! Watch!” there was a pause, probably for dramatic effect. “Coolness.”

Jacklynn laughed at that, and then corrected herself “It is I, Jacklynn, the slightly-less-cool-than-Rylie.”

I unlocked my door and opened it, Jacklynn was there, waiting. “Yes?” I asked, hoping that it wouldn’t take long. Four pages of the exact same thing over and over was tedious and time consuming.

“You should take a shower. Can’t have all that bodily fluid in your hair.”

“I will take a shower, just never say that again. You make it sound like I have something else in my hair as if someone dunked me in spit or something.”

“Haha, alright. Just make sure to wash your hair, ok?”

“Ok, mom.”

I walked to the bathroom, thinking a shower actually sounded good. Jacklynn shut my bedroom’s door and walked back downstairs to help Riley. I turned the water to warm, well, more like hot and washed my hair. As I did, the water that had gone through my hair ran a rusty red, washing all of the blood down the drain. I rinsed my hair, better than I normally did. I never used shampoo or conditioner. Shampoo dried it out and conditioner made it greasy. It’s always clean, but I never use product. Only water. Soon enough, I could run my hands through my hair without anything sticking because of blood, and the water that flowed through my hair was clear now. As I turned the water off I let the temperature stall at cold. The cool water rushed over me for a moment and waiting till it actually felt freezing rather than refreshing, I turned the water completely off.

I dried off and changed into something comfortable. Something I could sleep in. Although, they could still pass as real clothes, in case we were going out to eat or something like that. I walked downstairs to make some tea, but instead of the kitchen being empty, my parents were talking anxiously together. They didn’t notice me, and I decided I didn’t want them to.

As I walked carefully back up the stairs, Jacklynn heard the stairs creak under my foot and turned around.

“Oh, Dakota, there you are. We thought we heard the water turn off but we weren’t sure” she said, her tone tense. Anxious.

I hated when she used this tone of voice. She rarely did, and when she did it was never good. “Uh, yeah, I’m done with my shower. Sorry, I only wanted some tea, I didn’t realize you guys were talking. I’ll go back to my room…”

“Wait- actually, we wanted to come to get you. Here, sit down.” She motioned to the empty seat.

Oh, gods, this couldn’t be good. They never wanted to ‘talk’ unless it was about school or a death in the family (even though I had never met any family members I liked)

Slowly, I walk over. I don’t sit down, but instead, I hovered by the chair. My parents exchange a quick glance as if I wouldn’t see it. Once they looked back at me, they looked worried. Very worried.

“Dakota…” Riley started and looked at Jacklynn again and then back at me “We’re worried. The way your head was hurt it couldn’t have been caused by a fall. How...how did that happen?”

“We want the truth too, not an excuse.” Jacklynn interrupted her voice suddenly stern. I had never really lied to my parents before, so I guess I hadn’t done a very good job.

“Well, I mean, I did fall, but it wasn’t while I was walking home. I fell at school and hit my head on a desk. It was after the final bell rang, so Mrs. Levla just made sure that it wasn’t bad enough for her to get in trouble…” They already knew my teacher was an absolute arse, so this was a good enough excuse.

“Maybe we should tell the principal...or someone else at least.” Riley thought aloud.

“No.” Jacklynn and I both replied in unison.

“We’ve already tried talking to her about some problems, and she completely disregards them. The principal or anyone at the school board will be no better.” Jacklynn reasoned with her.

Riley sighed and shook her head “I just wish that we could do something-anything- about how biased all of this is… we shouldn’t have to put up with this! Dakota could have been badly hurt, then who knows what could have happened!”

“Ri, I understand more than you know. Just don’t yell, we don’t need extra attention if they here.” Jacklynn said as turned to look at me, but I wasn’t behind her anymore.

The electric kettle clicked off and I poured the hot water into the three cups I had set up while they were talking. The cream was sitting by the cups, and I picked it up.

“You guys want cream, right? You usually do.”

They looked at me seeming confused at how I was so calm. The truth was that I really wasn’t fazed. All the pain had worn off, and my head was fine now.

Jacklynn was first to speak, getting over the mild confusion. “Yeah, thanks, Dakota.”

The mood quickly lightened as I finished off making the tea and we all sat down to chat about our day while sipping our still-hot drinks. Riley asked if I was alright and I, of course, was. I had always healed quickly, my parents always joked that I healed faster than was humanly possible. There wasn’t even a scab on my head anymore, though, if I ran my hand over it I felt a very tiny ridge along where I had gotten cut.

I had a scar. That wasn’t good. The last time I had gotten a scar I was 5, and it was because I split open my chin by falling off of a swing set. I almost had to go to a hospital, but as my parents looked at how bad it was (they said it was a really deep cut, they could see bone) it started to look shallower and shallower. Soon it was barely a scrape.

No one at the park would have thought twice about it, except for the large stain of blood down the front of my shirt that couldn’t have possibly come from that tiny scratch. Stares followed us. Some looked curious at why I had been wailing two seconds earlier and now I didn’t seem bothered at all. Some looked worried as to why I was covered in blood. Others had seen it all, and look scared or revolted. Or both.

All I remembered from it was a shooting pain, and my parents rushing over. Then the pain slowly went away and I calmed down. My parents’ faces looked scared and they had exchanged a glance. They said that they had looked scared because of how I was hurt, although I remembered them looking scared and exchanging a glance after all the pain was gone. Then again, it was a long time ago. I was just misremembering. That was the only logical explanation.

The shock of my new found scar must have shown on my face, as I heard Riley ask “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

“N-Nothing!” I stammered out. I pushed my hand back to my tea.

“Not buying it. Dakota, what did you do?” Jacklynn said as she looked at me.

Figuring that lying would do me no good, I told them “I think I feel a scar where my head got cut.”

Riley went pale. Jaclynn asked, “Are you sure it was a scar?”

“Well, it felt like the one on my chin, and it’s right where I was cut, so yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s a scar,” I told her.

She looked at Riley, her expression anxious. Riley looked outright terrified.

“Mom..?” Their expressions had scared me. I never saw them like that, but the expressions were familiar. I realized that those were the faces they wore when I had gotten my first scar.

“H-honey, can you go to your room?” Jacklynn said, still anxious.

I ran up to my room without another word, then pressed my ear to the vent. I could hear them through it.

Riley started “What are we going to do? If Dakota gets one more scar then-”

“Then nothing. Remember, one is always under the careful eye of Enthro and the other is too scared for Chaslura to do anything.”

“Jacklynn, they are literal Gods! We have to be careful, and you should be more worried. One more scar, and we’ll lose Dakota.” Riley sounded to be on the brink of tears.

I quickly got away from the vent and jumped onto the computer. I re-opened the website that I had found at school. I scanned over the part I had already read through until I found where I left off.

“Aluris stays by Enthro’s side, for one reason only. If she dare not submit to his will, Chaslura will pay for it. Aluris learned this the hard way when she refused to marry him, in the beginning, crying out against him. After the wedding, the two were taken by Enthro; Chaslura to be tortured, Aluris to be forced to watch. After that, Aluris never defied him like that again. Even though her ‘deficiencies’ were as minor as not wanting to leave her room, or not being ready on time, she was forced to watch the goddess of Chaos tortured time and time again. Now, after witnessing what happens if she doesn’t obey, Aluris never refuses to do anything Enthro says, and Chaslura is forced to watch her broken-souled lover.”

There was another page. It had more information about the Neutral child. I started to read.

“There is a legend that states that if Chaslura and Aluris’ child is to return, that they will end Enthro’s rule, set Aluris and Chasura free, and create a new haven where anyone deemed worthy can find peace.

To return to the haven, the True Neutral must complete many tasks and challenges. For any of the challenges to even begin, however, they must manage to acquire three scars. As we know, gods and neutrals can only acquire scars if they encounter a wound that would end a mortal, by blood loss or otherwise.”

The website closed in on itself. My computer started glitching and sending out so many error messages that it almost crashed. I had to restart the computer, and when I searched up the webpage again, it was nowhere to be found.