Chapter 1 – The beginning
Alaya Mariah made her way down a long hall, her family walking beside her, two guards walking behind her. All of her family were reaching out and holding her hands in turn. It was a sign of farewell, and good luck. It was her fifth birthday, the day that everyone she knew, dreaded. She knew that if she was meant to be a Lightkeeper she would be with her family, all of her family starting generations back were Lightkeepers. If she was sorted to be a Lightprotector then she would be taken away from her family and never see them again.
The next relative in line was her father; she stretched out her hands and gripped his tightly, he returned the gesture. Her father detached Alaya from his arm, bent down, kissed Alaya on the forehead, and said to her, “Be strong, do not worry, all of the Mariah family is sorted and made into a Lightkeeper. We will see each other soon, I promise.” Alaya nodded and fought back the urge to cry, she was supposed to be strong, she was suppose to pretend that the thought of never seeing her family again did not kill her inside. Even when her little sister grabbed her hand she stayed neutral. She shook the four year old away. “I will see you later, Victoria. I promise,” Alaya whispered in her sister’s ear, and smiled. Next was her mother. Her mother bent down and hugged Alaya until they both couldn’t breathe. She looked into her mother’s eyes and down to the golden locket that hung around her neck. It was white gold with a red ruby in the middle of it. Inside she knew that it contained a photograph of her mother and father together. “My little warrior…whatever happens, keep fighting.” Her mother said, as tears clouded her eyes. Alaya took a deep breath and kept walking, leaving her family behind.
She kept walking down the long corridor until she saw two big wooden doors. The two Lightkeepers following her opened the doors and shoved the five year old into a huge circular room. Alaya stumbled and fell to the floor. She lifted her head to see where she was; the room itself was enclosed, other than the two doors she just entered and another set of doors on the other side of the room, the walls led up into a huge dome, the walls were painted white, the floors were covered in white tiles, the room also had a large bench that encircled half of the room, she knew where she was; she was at the heart of the establishment. But the one thing in the room that caught her eye was sitting at the table. Assembled at the bench were the profits eyeing Alaya vigilantly with their completely black eyes. Anna could feel their gaze, heavy on her shoulders, piercing her like a thousand frozen knives. She could feel it in her bones, no, deeper than that, she could feel it in her soul. She stood up and brushed herself off. The leader profit, Alaya guessed, was the one in the middle, with the grandest coat on, holding a folder with her name on it. “Come here child!” The Leader barked coarsely. Alaya looked up at the men dressed in black, picked herself up off of the floor and started walking towards the middle of the room, with one last pleading look towards her mother and father.
Alaya noticed that there were Lightkeepers placed all around the border of the room like guards in a palace. One Lightkeeper stood in front of the door she’d entered, shielding her off from her family.
She looked at the Profits and their dark eyes, and Alaya wondered about the saying ‘the eyes are the windows to a person’s soul’ if that saying was true – which it probably was, considering her mother told it to her – then that meant that these people had very, very dark souls, or worse, none at all. Then the profits eyes closed and she was grateful she didn’t have to look at them. That moment was shortly lived when just at that moment she could feel them in her mind rummaging through her memories, thoughts, feelings, and skills. Her brain felt expanded, like it was going to explode at any second. The pain was so agonising that she had no idea how loud she was screaming or for how long. She screamed until she had no breath inside of her, then she sighed as they left her head. Alaya opened her eyes, and found herself on the floor, she looked down at her hands; they wore blood from where her nails had dug into her palms. She breathed in, and swallowed the saliva that had built up in her mouth. She breathed out, she thought of a happy place as the profits decided what she was going to become. She breathed in, and just as she was about to breathe out she heard: “Alaya Mariah, you will be made…” and decided to hold her breath. “A Lightprotector,” the leader of the profits said in a loud voice that echoed through the silently scary room and out into the hallway that held the three people that were her family. A long moment passed, before some of the lightkeepers from the side of the room came forth and started to usher Alaya towards the hallway on the other side of the room, though a Lightkeeper still stood in front of the doors that held her entire family.
