Jheevral (A Fantasy Adventure)

TWO

At the end of the work day, Annalise went sprinting home. She had to keep up with her regular posting schedule, and her adoring fans. 

Annalise went under the internet name Krista Lzand Pearls. She was a social media up-and-coming, with a total follower count of about 260,000. Not a bad number by any standard, but not enough to leave Uriah.

City laws have kept the citizens of Uriah under lock and key for years, with only 1 option for leaving the city. 

GET FAMOUS!!!

The official document states that if a citizen wishes to leave Uriah, they must be one of these special people. Farmers, The One Percent, and Celebrities. Most people who leave the city as class Farmer never get back into the city, so that wasn't a good option. Anyone who was somehow part of The One Percent never had anything held against them, as they would just pay their way out of any sort of legal binding. The most attainable, and the least risk option, was to become a celebrity. By definition, a celebrity is a person with a follower total of 1 million or more. Getting to 1 million followers was a headache enough, but imagine if every single person in your city was also trying to get over 1 million followers. 

The competitive spirit of Uriah and its citizens is what kept the city alive. Without a bustling economy like Jheevral, and when even the police are corrupt, it's no wonder that everyone wants to leave and...

GET FAMOUS!!!

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Annalise was one of these people, desperate for any chance to escape a city locked up tighter than the Bastille. She had already found her niche, posting mainly skits and P.O.V's about superheroes and the mafia. She was getting good traction, gaining about a thousand followers every couple of days. That wasn't enough for her. She needed to leave the city fast, and get those followers even faster.

The outfits that she wore for her videos varied, but the most common was a pink halter top, white gym shorts, and teal-trimmed white trainers for a character named Aliza. The storyline was getting really deep, and the only thing that Annalise wanted more than to leave the city was to finish the story.

Her roommate, Tris, occasionally helps in the videos. Their character was usually Gabi, but they've also started to play as Deirdre. 

"Tris! Where's my curling iron?!?!" 

"How would I know? I don't have any hair to curl!"

"The wigs, Tris. I'm asking about the one for the wigs...", sighed Annalise.

"Oh yeah! LMAO it's right here.", laughed Tris. "It's on the bathroom counter, my side!"

From the time she got home to the time she was supposed to post, Annalise and Tris had about thirty minutes to setup, film, edit, and post a video with a strong story and lots of plot points.

"Ann, close the curtain, would you? You know that too much light is going to ruin the video!" Tris shouted.

"Tris, my guy, my homegirl, my yeehaw or hell nah. The yelling. Needs. To stop."

"Was I really? Oops."

"It's not a big deal. I just have a massive headache and no ibuprofen."

"Well, maybe you should take a posting hiatus? Just take a couple of days to get your mind back on track?", Tris suggested.

Taking a little break in your posting schedule wasn't unheard of. Celebrities did it whenever they wanted to, and no one ever bats an eye. But Annalise didn't have the time for that. She needed to leave the city as soon as possible, if not sooner. 

"Are you seriously suggesting that as an option? Do I look like I have millions of followers?"

"Now who's raising their voice? At least I'm always loud.", Tris countered.

"Now's not really the time for that, Tris. Now, what part of the story were we at?"

"Right, well, Aliza had just gotten kidnapped by the Japanese mafia, and she doesn't want to cause a scene. Her dad, in Jheevral, wants to get her back, but money is getting tight".

The story was beginning to finally take shape, and Annalise had just gotten the option of a playlist for all of her skits, so that her followers can watch all of the videos in one sitting. While the videos didn't make much sense on their own, they all ran together smoothly when watched in succession. Ever since adding all of the videos onto a playlist, her follower count had been going up significantly. It was starting to look like she could finally make it to Jheevral. But not all that glitters is gold, and white marble can only hide so much. 

Jheevral had a dark side. And his name is Heath Vyridian, the wealthiest man in the city.