Celeste Simone

OPENING SCENE - These are the first 4 pages of my YA fantasy novel, Oriana's Eyes: Book One of the Great Oak Trilogy. These first pages introduce the oppressive dystopian world that Oriana lives in, her internal/external conflicts, setting, and antagonist. Thank you for reading! The bleached ceilings, walls, and floors gleam in perfection. Drained of color, wiped of contamination, forever untainted they exist; a cold reminder of my purity. I walk down a blank hallway lit by a series of white lights from above. Each is a half orb, emerging from the ceiling like an unblinking eye. They’re practically blinding as their glow reflects off the stark white walls. There are no openings for us to see out of—only for Odon to see in. A clump of books rests on my hip while my arms cradle them close: The History, The Faith. They’re practically attached to me. I can’t remember a time when they weren’t close by. I’ve read them over and over for class, but no matter how many times I read them, I still can’t find the answers I’m looking for. The History, which takes up two of the volumes, speaks of how Odon created us and rescued our race from our own ignorance. At first the Rebirth did not exist, and we were of many races that thrived on violence. We battled constantly for anything we could contrive to fight for. Then Odon arrived and divided us into our purest forms, the Winglets and Finlets. The Winglets have a light complexion, while the Finlets are a darker people. He taught us that being pure made us stronger and brought us peace. Of course some didn’t agree with this, because they were not pure, and they started to rebel. Odon decided the only way to stop this was by separating the races so that we were only in contact with our own. My other two books, held tightly, tell of our Faith: how to follow Odon, how to live life in accordance with his standards. I know all his rules well. I must not question them. It would not be approved of. It would cause suspicion among my peers, regardless of my pureblood. In this place, everyone has the potential to disappear. I try to avoid the gazes of other purebloods. Some are male Winglets, searching for some meaningless connection with the opposite sex. Their interest in me doesn’t go beyond my golden hair and blue eyes, both Winglet features. The purest Winglets achieve both traits with the palest skin to match these hallways. I am no exception in that regard either. Some show the darkness of the Finlets in their eyes or hair. They are called part-bloods. Finlets can be part-blood too if they have Winglet in their blood, but these combinations of races hardly ever happen anymore. Odon makes sure of that. It’s the half-bloods that are the least respected. They’re barely thought of as Odon’s children. They are neither Winglet nor Finlet, yet equally both. They’re rarely seen in the University. Following the Rebirth there are said to be none at all. They have a habit of simply disappearing, never to be seen again, but no one cares. I head to the library. I have a test tomorrow, and I’ve decided to study a bit more before I go to sleep. Another male Winglet passes, and I avoid his eyes completely. The effect is the same as if I had made eye contact: a dull pain in my stomach. I immediately notice a passing half-blood. His combination of black hair and blue eyes upon darker skin are a beacon in the crowd of identical features. Something urges me to look straight at him, maybe to test him. He is expected to look away. It is unheard of for a half-blood to meet the gaze of a pureblood. Our history says that his race doesn’t deserve to exist, much less live with us. It’s because of what he is. He is the offspring of two purebloods, the ultimate defiance of Odon. It frightens me to even think of going against Odon. All the books tell of his limitless power, endless knowledge, forgiveness and insatiable wrath. I have no doubt he would find me, persecute me if I ever—the half-blood continues toward me. He is the representation of two fallen servants of Odon, and yet my eyes will not turn away. Something leaps inside me when his eyes meet mine. I have a moment’s thought—Doesn’t he know I’m a pureblood?—but he doesn’t seem to notice at all. I’m surprised by my initial dislike which fades into an aching fear. He continues to meet my gaze. I wonder what expression has formed on my face, although there should be none at all. When we pass on opposite sides of the hallway, an unmistakable smile forms on his face. I gasp and drop my books. He is nowhere in sight as purebloods help me gather them back up. The thought of him follows me into the library and festers at the back of my mind among other open sores. The question of whether I should report him continues to resurface in my thoughts. I’ve only told on a student once before. She was a part-blood, and we were eleven years old. I remember her brown eyes and wavy blond hair. The Finlet in her had given her the darker eyes, but they were not as black as a pureblood Finlet’s would have been. She had fair skin that wasn’t quite fair enough to be pure. It was obvious she was a part-blood. We were waiting in line for lunch. A part-blood is always expected to sacrifice their spot in line to a pureblood, another privilege we are taught to uphold. But when I asked this girl to let me take her spot, she wholeheartedly refused. Her mouth twisted into a pout and her eyes narrowed into a stubborn glare. Even after I politely explained that I was pure and showed her my eyes and pointed at my hair, she just shook her head. I was surprised but pressed no further. Instead, I did what I was told to do, being too young and ignorant to understand fully. I approached a nearby teacher and explained what had happened. I was told I had done the responsible thing, I was told I was a good little Winglet—and I never saw that girl again. The memory makes my stomach cringe. Despite the time that has passed, it remains vivid. I try to keep it hidden, to save myself from the wave of anxiety that overcomes me each time I recall her face. Do the others suffer in silence like me? If they do, it never reaches their eyes. I consider for a moment asking Lenora what to do. Should I report the half-blood for his curious behavior? After all, he not only met my gaze but defied mine with a smile. But I already know what she will say. She will tell me the only honorable thing to do is to tell one of the professors and let the faculty deal with him. I decide I’d better not tell her. The softer light of the library is a relief to my eyes. I enter between rows of square desks. At the back of the room a single bookcase holds two shelves worth of the four different books that each student already has: the two of History and two of Faith. Looking at them now, I can’t understand their purpose. A student would never lose their own copies, not if they wanted to remain at the University. From here I can see plainly that the library’s books have never been opened. Their bindings were never creased; the pages have never seen the light of the room. When I start to covet them, I turn away to quickly take a seat at the side of the room that is furthest from the Odon’s Eyes. The only way to describe Odon’s Eyes is as large oval mirrors that sit on at least one wall of every classroom at the University. Hideous in their enormity, they are unbearably blinding when they reflect one of the many lights ranged in rows above the students. When one happens to align, it’s impossible to ignore. The beam bores into my eyes, practically burning through them. What’s worse is that, no matter where I sit in a classroom, they seem to reflect my pale image, a hollow ghost. When my eyes meet the look of indifference on my face, it frightens me—the lack of affect even more so. Other times it doesn’t seem to be me at all, but another being staring out of the blue eyes. Sometimes she’s screaming. The Eyes are meant to keep us from disobeying and maintain our focus, but I can never fully concentrate around them. I feel their presence penetrating through my mind, glaring into me as if I’m transparent as if I’m a blank board with my thoughts scribbled out for them to read. I fear glancing in their reflection, afraid I might find some grotesque embodiment of myself staring back from another plane, or worse: I’m afraid I might see Odon, a knowing look in his eye. I steal a glance at their imitation of our white world. For a moment I attempt to find a flaw in its interpretation but see only the infinite glow of perfection. My white robe moves with my body, falling lightly around me as I shift to an upright position and prepare to focus. With an inaudible sigh, I pull my books onto the desk. Placing my bare elbows on the smooth frozen surface, I open a book and attempt to study. The silence is heavy now that I’ve settled. The other students around me don’t seem to notice. They gaze solemnly into their books as if they are staring forlornly at their reflections. I turn back to my own, the words looking like a foreign language of absurd symbols and spaces. I suddenly see the half-blood’s smile...the forbidden connection he dared to share with me. It remains so solid in my mind. The way his eyes showed the smile with an unspoken depth that I had never seen before. I try to describe it to myself but fall flat. There was life there that went beyond movement. I try to control myself, narrowing my eyes to focus them on the page. I steal a moment to glance at the Eye. I see my own haunting twin, reflecting back a side of me I thought I left behind. I stifle a shiver. “Odon is everything. Life is lived for the sole purpose of pleasing him.” I finally manage to begin reading a paragraph. “Was it not his hand that placed life on this earth? Was it not his hand that gave the people such a privilege?” Then why does my mind formulate these thoughts against him? I shut the book in frustration. A few students look up from reading, their eyes in a glazed shock.

Assignment #1: “A fish and a bird may indeed fall in love, but where shall they live?” A girl and a boy from different classes must escape an oppressive society that aims to control and torment them so they can finally be truly themselves. Assignment #2: Oriana must face a few antagonists and one main force. The first antagonist is Odon, a half-blood tyrant who threatens her life and the lives of those she cares about. He at first appears as a God-like force to Oriana, until she learns of his true nature as an actual person. She constantly questions if he can read her thoughts and is watching over her. He becomes her own conscience. Then she faces individual antagonists throughout her journey who force her to reflect on her “goodness.” Azura causes her to question herself as the protagonist of her own story because to the rebels she is an enemy. Her sister Lenora is an antagonist who gives her up to the authorities at the University. We see through her eyes how each individual in a corrupt society can become an antagonist through their limited perspective and depending on the agenda of those in power. Assignment #3: Oriana’s Eyes: Book One of the Great Oak Trilogy Oriana’s Rebirth The Half-Blood’s Destiny Assignment #4: 1984 by George Orwell but make it a YA fantasy novel. This story is The Giver meets The Hunger Games, meets Romeo and Juliet. Perfect for readers who loved Delirium, Divergent, The Cure and The Selection. Assignment #5: A girl questions the inescapable oppressive University and is drawn to the secrets that a forbidden young man can offer her about the outside world. As their Rebirth draws nearer a secret transformation could be their one opportunity to overthrow Odon and free her people from his tyrant grasp. Assignment #6 Oriana is a pureblood Winglet who has grown up under Odon’s rule. Her existence was confined to the University where purity and obedience are commended. Her conflict begins when she meets Dorian, a forbidden half-blood boy who shows her a world outside the University’s walls. She struggles with her awakening love and the reality and truth of the world she lives in. The more she learns about the world beyond the University, the more she realizes that escaping is only a small piece of the puzzle. When Oriana finally escapes and goes from being the highest revered race to the enemy, she must face the truth about her people and how they have been treating those “beneath” them. She also must face that everything she grew up learning was a lie and propaganda. Assignment #6 Part 2: The secondary conflict that Oriana faces is that although she has escaped there are others still trapped inside the University and under Odon’s control. She must now join in the fight to overthrow Odon and free her friends. This is at great risk to her own life and freedom. Similar to Plato’s cave scenario, Oriana escapes and becomes enlightened. She then must return to the cave to try and save the others. Assignment #7: Oriana’s Eyes takes place on an imaginary planet that is being controlled by half-blood tyrants. Oriana's world is much smaller, she has no idea what the outside world is facing. Her perspective is limited to the inside of the University, ruled by Odon. A University is usually known to be a place of education, instead Odon's University is a place of mind control and oppression with the illusion that it is teaching valuable lessons. The University is stark white and futuristic in its cold, minimalistic design. The physical coldness of the stone and metal keeps its students on edge and uncomfortable. They are forced to be on high alert constantly to maintain obedience. Everything in the University reminds students of the importance of purity. They are divided by their race to maintain this purity. The modern design also defies the chaotic randomness of nature. It shows the need for control and order that Odon is trying to force on his subjects. The University represents the desire for perceived perfection through sameness, repetition, and order. Rather than uniqueness and diversity. The University has one place of escape, a garden, walled in by protective hedges. This is a stark contrast to the University and the natural world, which Oriana desperately yearns for. She fears making a mistake and stepping out of line, which is wearing her down. When Oriana is captured and brought into the caves beneath the University, she is trapped in darkness physically, but ironically she wakes up to the illusion that the University provided. Whereas the brightness of the University should coincide with clarity, it was blinding. The caves represent a modality to enlightenment. She finds herself in the underbelly of the true darkness that Odon was trying to hide. Rather than being oppressed though, Oriana is reborn. When she escapes the caves it’s like she is awakening to the truth and seeing the light for the first time. She finds herself in the wilds of nature, which includes variation, disorder, and death. Undesirables are no longer hidden away. Life becomes raw, honest, and real. Lastly, Oriana is introduced to the Great Oak. This is the location of the rebels' hideout. The Great Oak is a massive tree with an extensive network of platforms and homes set among its branches. The Great Oak represents both a family tree and the tree of life. Oriana finds a new life and is awakened to the deep knowledge of her ancestors at the Great Oak. It holds the connection between the people and their planet as well as the perfect place to remain hidden. In some ways, the Great Oak is both a setting and main character in the book. She is the embodiment of Mother Nature and is personified through the love of her people.