Sky Forever

Chapter 1: Guardian Angel

It had been three days since I'd had anything to eat. I thought they were starving me, getting me ready for the "Big Day". By "Big Day", I mean my death.

I was hanging limply from chains in a cold, grey cell underneath The Beehive, a giant tower shadowing the City of Ashes and Gold. I was in nothing but a pair of tattered trousers. My arms felt like they were being pulled out of their sockets and that I would crash to the floor any minute. I could only hope.

Jasper Homunculus was the man who put me here. He was the emperor of the City of Ashes and Gold, although more people saw him as a dictator. He was hated across the land.

Why was he hated? Well, he essentially turned the whole city into slums and everyone into slaves. Before he took over the throne from his late brother, Neo, the city was a wonderful haven. Many believe that Jasper killed his own brother out of vengeance, since the next in line to the throne was Jasper himself. This is a theory I just happen to believe.

I wasn't quite sure at this point what Homunculus had against me but he had given me a death sentence nonetheless.

I was never actually a citizen of this city, but rather a traveller. All my life, I've journeyed across the land of Azterak, one of the main continents on this planet we call Lunaros. I've never been tied down anywhere. Not since my mother died giving birth to me. After that it was just me and my father, who then left for an unknown reason when I was 7 years old. I never saw him again. And so, I've just been staying in various cities for the past 10 years, either being taken in by families or just sleeping on the streets and being forced to steal food.

Anyway, I'll get back to the story.

So, I was beginning to feel like I was being starved by Homunculus as I hung from the wall of the cell from a pair of rusty chains attached to my arms.

And then, the door opened. I realised I had my eyes closed so I opened them and looked across. Was it food?

I watched as a girl strolled through the door.

"Jared Cast?" She said.

"Um...yeah" I croaked. I hadn't spoken properly in days.

"I'm Amber Thorn." She told me, "I'm your guardian angel."

"Well, it's about time." I said.

"It took a while to find you!" She replied.

I should probably clarify that, at this point, I had never seen this girl before in my life.

She grabbed a rotting wooden box from the corner of the room, dragged it over to me and climbed onto it. From there, she reached up with a knife she had taken out of her pocket and cut swiftly through one of my chains.

Suddenly, my arm was released and I swung down onto the other one. I cried out in agony as all my weight was transferred onto that arm.

"Oh sorry, didn't think about that!" Amber said, as she reached to cut the other chain.

She did so and I crumpled to the stone-cold floor.

"Crap..." She cursed, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good" I groaned, trying to lift myself up.

She grasped my hand and hauled me onto my feet.

"That's a pretty strong knife" I said.

"It's solid diamond." She explained.

It was completely white and sparkled, even in the low light of the cell.

"Right, let's go" She said.

"Wait...how did you get in?"  I asked her.

"I have my ways" She replied.

And with that, she grabbed my arm and dragged me out through the door.