1. To Save a Bleeding Heart

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FORSAKEN TOWER - Chapter 1: To Save a Bleeding Heart

Silvyr

I ran a hand anxiously through my blue-green wavy hair as I stared at the computer screen my best friend Sabre Sealantern was scrolling through. My heart leapt into my chest and pounded so hard that I swear it was going to jump out. It's been a hundred years but I never lost hope. "Well?" I asked Sabre impatiently.

Sabre twirled a royal blue curl of hair in her hands. "Geez, no need to rush me, it's here," she said as she pulled up a report of a death in the Forsaken Tower, which was the immortal equivalent of high school for the unwanted and unruly teenagers who kept doing stupid things and society didn't know what to do with them so they stuck them all in a crappy high school on Fire Faery's territory, only there weren't any classes and the only facilitators kept order from the outside, without ever setting foot in the Tower itself..

I took a look at the crime scene photos, the victim was a Woodland Druid, his green blood splattered all over the walls as his eyes reflected fear. Upon closer inspection, I saw that there was a rune of anger carved into the eyes of poor things. "It's him," I whispered excitedly as my heartbeat sped up even more. That rune, that style of using runes, it had to be him. I had finally found him.

"Wait, you're not seriously considering going in there?" Sabre raised an eyebrow to question my sanity. "The Forsaken Tower is hard to get in and even harder to leave."

"Of course I am," I told her, "without him, I'll never feel whole again."

- oOo -

One week later, I walked into the massive ground floor foyer of the Forsaken Tower wearing a bight vermillion-red prisoner's jumpsuit that was provided by the Fire Faery Tribe along with about forty others like me. Boys and girls, escorted by two muscly Fire Faeries who stopped just outside the five-meter-high grand double doors into the tower. My wrists were in shackles that had runes inscribed to prevent me from using magic. As soon as I was inside, the shackles disappeared and I flexed my stiff wrists as I looked around.

The tower spiralled upwards in what looked like never-ending levels with doors on the outer side of the gallery. Peaking over the railings were teenage immortals, all wearing clothing unique to their culture and tribes, wondering who the newcomers were. They chatted amongst themselves and eyed us like we were items on the shelf, available for purchase.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Sabre's voice cut through my mind via the elven communications ring she had given me to wear. I hung it from my neck alongside a blue crystal-like pendant that was gifted to me by the love of my life. That was the only thing he had left me. I had placed a complex masking spell to hide its usage from prying eyes.

"I'm sure," I pushed the thought to her in a reassuring way, but inside, I was freaking out. In my hands was a piece of paper that told me where my room was, on the 10th floor, number 1015. I gulped as I made my way up the spiral staircase that ran up the centre of the tower, feeling severely uncomfortable under the gaze of every other immortal there. The tower was deadly silent as they judged me by my looks, wondering which room I would end up in.

"You'll be in a dorm of four," Sabre told me, "unfortunately I can't find out who they stuck you with because the rooms kept changing when people's ranking shifted."

"Thanks anyway," I thought to her. She was my sidekick, literally. She always had my back, for the thousands of nonsensical pranks I pulled on Alec, back before we started dating, back when we hated each other. Alec, that was who I was looking for, Alec Seawynd, except he wasn't really Alec, I never found out what his name was. I only knew he was a Shadow Paladin, a sworn enemy of the Sea Gods Tribe, my tribe. 

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