HEL(P)lace #JustWriteIt #EarthLove

Welcome to Sandcity

          Putting on my hoodie, I make sure it looks decent enough to be worn outside, not like anyone would care. Our planet doesn't produce these materials, we find them in our exhibitions. These exhibitions are strange treasures that have miraculously landed on our planet and inside, there are various things. One such as clothing. Since we only have a limited amount of material, we take the clothing of the dead and reuse them for others to wear. Many become scrapped and have to be sewn back together. Although, it was much better than having your genitals hanging around everywhere. People see it as a way to prevent harm to our private spots and a source which gives us warmth. 

          No one yet knows where they come from for sure. Some speculate that it was the stars sending us gifts and others believe it came from another planet. Usually, when involved with the second theory, the name 'Earth' would pop up once or twice. Earth... It was a weird word to say as I wasn't used to it and the name 'Yuin' seems a bit catchier, don't you think?

          Stepping out of my house seemed a bit impossible for me to do as I rarely ever leave the house. Being a minor, my duty was to stay home and take care of my mother and father (if I have one), learning to be a good kid and avoid doing anything that could endanger your life. When reaching the age of maturity (eighteen), you were then sent out to the outside world where you devote five years of work at the castle. 

          As a result from this, I don't know anyone that is of my age. I've caught glimpses of faces through the windows, but I was never sure if they were as old as they looked or not. As the famous saying from King Jekk the First goes, "Nothing is as it seems." This also meant that my two older brothers, Tenion and Ujol aren't allowed to come home at all for the next... what? Four years now? Funny, since it feels so much longer than that. 

          Opening the door, I squint at the sudden change of light. "Oh, bloody hell... so bright." Our house was pretty dim and I know from looking out my window sometimes, that it was normal for the outside to be that bright. Of course, light at home was only specially reserved for the rich: they make the glass to somehow capture the light of the major stars and projects them into the large shelter.

          Letting my eyes slowly adjust, I felt a familiar warm sensation under my feet. Wiggling my toes, the sand feels rather comfortable in contact. Considering my few limited options, there is only one destination I had in mind: the Sandcity. Sandcity's the largest and closest place in this region and it's most likely where my mother works. 

          There is a Neb stop near where we live but it is only available to people who have the white card, which I plainly don't have for they're only allowed for adults. "Bah... What now?" It's quite a rhetorical question, but I really didn't want to walk the whole entire way. Noticing that I'm wasting precious time with this, I push away my whiny thoughts and begin to trench through the sand. 

          .          .          .

          Sand is weird. Despite it being soft and warm in this temperature, it was pretty hard to walk through. Reaching the city border, it's been probably about an hour or so now. Our major star; Hillon, begins to dip down on the horizon. A swirl of purple, orange, and yellow creating a beautiful marble painting  in the sky. 

          Just plainly walking into the city is easier said than done since there only seems to be one gateway in, and there's also guards there, seemingly checking everyone's white card. Groaning out in annoyance, I immediately look for another way in. A huge wall basically borders around Sandcity and it's probably the only other way for me to get in. 

          Rubbing my hands together, I place a hand on the many crooks and crannies of the wall and begin to climb it. Reaching the top isn't as hard as I think it would be, and there isn't anyone shouting out complaints about a young boy climbing the city wall. Resting a bit when I got to the peak, I look down and spot that the ground isn't sand. Instead, it's covered with a hard mixture of glass and sand.  I wonder if I could jump from this height without spraining anything. 

          Taking my chances, I take a deep breath and jump off the wall, gravity doing its job and taking me over. The fall isn't as terrible as it could have been, considering I only scrape the palm of my hand a bit to try to cushion myself as I tumble into safety. 

          Brushing the dirt off of me, I try to fix up my clothing and started walking down the streets, acting like a normal citizen as best as I could. Sandcity was huge with the obvious focus being the castle that's perched on top of the great hill of Bumn. People roam the streets, buildings of all sizes are everywhere, but there's something off about this place. Just... something about it threw me off. Somehow, it gives me the feeling that my mother gives to me. I eventually stop walking and finally notice what was wrong.

          It's eerily quiet. 

          Feeling anxiety slowly taking over me the longer I close my eyes and stand still, I snap them wide open. "Mother... Do you know why this place is so..." Not finding a word to best match what I was trying to say, I continue my way down the streets when I hear a guttural scream.  

          My fight or flee response trigger and I start to run away but come to an immediate halt. "No, I can't just leave this be ignored." Running back to the opposite direction from where I was going, I try to echo that scream in my head, mapping out where it could have been. It wasn't hard as I kept on hearing small cries of pain and turn into an alleyway, where there lay a young lady and an old lady kneeling beside her, fiddling with something. 

          Moving a bit closer, I see that the young lady has a tube inside one of the various wounds she have, connecting into a... glass jar? The substance flowing through the tube into the jar's a dark shade of red; blood. Why is she doing that to an innocent young lady? She has no right to do that. It's illegal.

          "HEY!!!" I say loudly, enough to make the old lady jump up. "What are you doing?!?!"

          Quickly approaching her with blazing icy blue eyes, the old lady jumps up from where she is and starts to stammer something out. Noticing that I didn't seem to stop walking, she then tugs the tubes out and runs away. Jar, tubes and all. For an old lady, she can run pretty damn fast. 

          Not bothering to chase after her, I go down to the ground and look at the lady's wounds, and cringe slightly. There is probably more than twelve wounds made, the weapon's probably a dagger. Looking up to her face, I meet her eye to eye and sympathy begins to fill me. 

          "C'mon," I start to say and shift my weight to begin to help her get up. "You can stand up, right? Where's the nearest health care shelter?" 

          All I get back is a furious shake of the head from her. 

          "No? But--" I get cut off by her shoving something into my hand. I only catch a glimpse of it but refuses to accept it. "I can't take this. It's yours! If I take this, how will you be able to get access to go around the city???"

          Her weight suddenly seems a bit heavier. "M-Miss?" Having her head dip down, I place my index finger near her neck to feel her pulse. None. 

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Chap. 2 Word Count: 1354

Btw, guys, I'm not counting the author's notes in the word count if it's not obvious xD I wonder if I can make it in time in all honesty... Oh, and when Ioni says "Bloody hell..." it doesn't mean he's British. I'm not even British myself. It's just a close saying to what we have that can be in context with his world. 

Hillon: What we may call "the sun"

Tenion and Ujol: Ioni's older brothers

Neb: A bus stop essentially. 

~ IxC