The Conviction

Chapter 1 - Timed Run

The festivities were filled with laughter, smiles, and young children running through the streets as they too, spread the joy. It was July 14th, 2013, and the citizens of France were celebrating their independence with some of the most elaborate and fantastic festivities ever seen in Paris. Though, she had seen better elsewhere, a girl thought slyly, remembering some of the absolutely insane parties she had gone to before accepting her true destiny, and becoming what Fate had made her to be.

However, this particular girl was not in the square, celebrating with her people as she had for years before. To be brutally honest, she was running for her life, jumping from rooftop to rooftop as several soldiers shot at her. She just needed to make it to the alley off of Oceanus Avenue, two blocks away. If she made it there, she would lose them in hedge maze that never stayed the same.

Only someone who had grown up around the maze, and constantly traveled through it would be able to navigate it with the skills she had. It was the fifty-fourth day of the cycle, and she knew that there was an opening in the avenue that would close up in seven minutes and sixteen seconds. She had run the distance she needed to travel in less time, but she would need every precious second with these special ops forces on her ass. Honestly, she thought that Le Président de la République française wasn't coming until late that night, so unless she was wrong, and she never was, they were sending soldiers out for no good reason, other than to make them sweaty and waste perfectly good ammunition shooting at her!

But with her being all too aware of the danger these men posed to her well-being, and the protection of the Order, she was forced to keep her mouth shut, stop whining, and run, losing them in the maze. As long as she didn't get shot, she'd be okay.

Six minutes.

Swearing, the girl ducked behind a chimney, sticking her head out to peer around the edge just ever so carefully. Bullets struck the bricks right by her head, chipping the roasted clay blocks, and letting the pieces fall to the ground. Deciding to escape with clever behavior rather than let her ego get the better of her, she looked behind her shoulder at the clothesline. She took her chances, sprinting for the thin rope and cutting it, her heart beating rapidly as she swung across the filthy river, letting go of the twine without hesitation, not worried about how dirty she would get. She had been soaked in the blood of several people, her white robes dyed entirely dark red one time.

The water was still, and the soldiers ran across the bridge, thinking that she had gone all the way across. After all, no one in their right mind would jump in the river. Then again, she was considered to be crazy by her comrades, and they all jumped in rivers just as filthy as this, so this wasn't exactly abnormal behavior for her. Scotty had input his unwelcome two cents. "You're a talent, girl. How did you learn to piss people off like that?" He had asked sarcastically, and all his friends had laughed at he only girl in their group of friends.

She had snorted, and waved his comment off, knowing it wasn't exactly a secret that she didn't really give two shits about the consequences, and just spoke her mind, which usually got her in trouble. When she was sure the guards were far enough away, a white hood slowly began coming out of the water as she walked toward the bank by the sewer entrance.

Five minutes.

As soon as she had rung out her hair of the water, and clamped it into a messy bun, the young girl ducked her head a split second before a bullet grazed the side of her face, painfully tearing the skin on her face open before it embedded itself in the wall behind her. That had hurt more than she would care to admit, and the burning streak of pain across her face was already beginning to bleed.

Jumping up, she barely managed to grab the edge of the ground above, hoisting herself up with no effort and jumping on the fence that prevented innocent civilians from accidentally falling into the filthy water below. Crouching, she moved quickly along the beam without faltering once as she retained her balance. They wouldn't dare shoot once she got into the crowd of civilians she would disappear in.