Astrea's Tears - Dawn of Glory

Blink

I awoke to faint streams of sunlight kissing my cheeks as they broke through the gaps in the sparkling curtains, scattering rainbows throughout the room. Upon opening my eyes, I expected to be back in the orphanage, but last night was not a dream. The hotel room was just as gorgeous in the day as it was at night. The excess of golden furnishings, marble floors, as well as the fur rugs were even more lavish in the light of the breaking dawn.

I stretched myself out on the sofa as far as I could while taking in a deep but gentle breath to avoid the pain from my ribs. I relaxed my body while slowly exhaling then continued to lift myself out of the cloud-like pillows and walked into the bathroom. I didn't notice last night but the wall behind the golden tub was actually a one-way mirror that you could see the whole city from.

The city was a collaboration of modern steel and glass skyscrapers, ancient antique buildings and fortresses, and canals running throughout the whole landscape. Near the middle of the city there was a tall steel tetrahedral tower with an observation deck and a communication relay at the very top and next to it was a large Ferris wheel that was half above and half below the water with glass orb carriages dipping into the water. In the very center of the city was a large circular body of water where the canals connected and an island mass in the middle; on that island was a column completely covered in solar panels that rose straight up into the sky and the top could not be seen: the space elevator.

I knew where I was, the nation of Abeona. The nation is widely known to be the world's foremost lead in both medical and astronautical sciences. It is also a neutral nation that was one of the few untouched by the great war, leaving it one of the wealthiest on the planet.

Turning from the window I retrieved one of the toiletry sets from the island table next to the tub. It was a small elongated plastic bag with a zipper to open it. Inside was a clean toothbrush, toothpaste, a facial towel, and a hairbrush. I brushed my teeth and rinsed, then brushed my hair. My hair was much more tame after the bath and began to shine and flow like golden silk again, or rather as close as I could get it to. I put away the toiletries and zipped the bag closed, deciding to keep it.

I can't stay in this room forever. Someone will either come back or come by to clean it. I looked at my clothes on the floor and winced at the thought of wearing those filthy rags again after having cleaned myself. I went back to the bedroom and opened the tall gold painted dresser up against the wall near the bed and next to the window. The upper half of the dresser had hanger rails while the lower half had two drawers. On the rails were sets of adult men's clothing on clothes hangers. Inside the top drawer were men's underwear and socks, but in the bottom drawer I found a full set of a young girl's clothing, with fur lined black weather boots, and a small chocolate brown leather backpack. The person leasing this room must have a daughter with him. I picked up the set of clothing and carefully inhaled the scent of the clothes, they smelled freshly washed. The pants were soft denim jeans, the undergarments were all made of white lawn cotton, there was a red and black flannel button up shirt, and there was a hooded jacket with a tan suede leather outer shell and a fleece inner lining. After putting on all the clothing I felt several times warmer and ready for the cold outside.