SOME FOUR YEARS AGO, a fourteen-year-old girl stands in an alleyway, above the still-sizzling body of a man who just couldn’t hold his lightning. There is a low hum in the air; a storm, much like the one rising inside her, is waiting to be unleashed.
The cold breeze that is a staple of the city sears into the back of her neck, but it also carries away the stench of burning flesh. The man’s eyes, lifelessly staring up to meet hers, are a milky white. It is a colour that frequents the dead.
The girl frowns. The man had come from nowhere (in actuality, he had crawled out of a dumpster) and without warning, had lunged at her with a shard of glass. It was quite a negative first impression for the city of Eden, but something told the girl there wasn’t much to expect. Perhaps it was the severe lack of colour that the city had been painted in - or maybe it was the dead body of a would-be pervert beneath her.
What was disappointing was that she hadn’t even had a chance to defend herself with any of the weapons she had brought. She had still managed to fight him off, clearly, but she had to rely on her abilities again; something her mentor had warned her strongly against.
“Be careful,” she had said. “Do not rely on the sky. You can change it, but you can never control it. Rely on your skills, instead. They will never fail you.”
The girl looks down once more, wrinkling her nose. The body has settled, and finally ceases in its twitching.
Then, without so much as a glance at her kill, she turns around, exits the alleyway and steps out onto the street. She is needed elsewhere.
To a spectator, this act of outright murder would have been spine-chilling. However, it was not yet time for one to call the police, for the storm was still to break.
It was an almost picturesque day before Sierra Amer (at least, the girl who would be known as Sierra Amer) arrived in the ulcer that was Eden City. As she walked through the streets, however, it began to shift to a dark, somber caricature of normalcy. If only it knew what was about to happen.
The girl, having already claimed a life before lunch, bought herself a popsicle across the street from the building. She watches technicolor people swarm in and out of the glass monster, her thoughts more consumed by the cherry ice than the task that lies before her.
It is twelve o’clock when Sierra Amer finishes her popsicle, and with the toiling of the midday bell, a storm strikes Eden. It could have swallowed the city whole, but the electricity in the air seems not to belong to the crowds, but to the girl who crosses the street.
* context : this is the prologue of long live; it details the first of two lives that sierra takes before meeting luke bishop. i promise she’s not a murdering psycho, ok - at least , not anymore :o
STATUS ― writing draft one for camp nano, just finished act one
TRIGGER WARNINGS ― dark humor and themes, fight scenes, mentions of abuse and trauma, blood, gore, death, sex(?), lgbtq+ themes, and profanity.
SYNOPSIS ― Lukas Tkachov was promiseda kingdom that will never be his. Now, with the throne just out of reach and his father dead, he must use everything he has to win back the crown. Esrin Tilkar is caught in a spider’s web. Now, torn between old alliances and new, she must decide what parts of her past are truly worth fighting for and what she must leave behind.
Elijas Kavaliauskas
is fighting for a lost cause. Now, with the rebellion in Vrana near crushed and put in a position of powerlessness, they must find a way to thrive in darkness. Illiya Zajik has mastered a dark art. Now, she runs, carrying with her information that could crumble kingdoms, while herself avoiding a fate worse than death. The gods are growing restless. Now, with every moment a moment closer to their ascent on this world, the chances of their defeat slims. New alliances must be formed, betrayals made, and sides chosen.
