Contests

Contest #2 - 2nd Place: @Winteringpages-

Congratulations, winteringpages-! You made 2nd place in Contest #2!

Here's the story!

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What was one to do when they had all the time in the world? Simply lay in the burning sand as the mind drifts to where ever it desired? Stand in the crowd as cobra snakes dance to the music of an enchanting flute? Or perhaps find the easiest job there was to make a days living.

All the possible choices she could've made. Yet, she didn't.

She had spirit, a bright flame burning inside her, a mischievous glint in her dark brown eyes. With a fire spirit made for adventure, she would never allow herself to become a slave to a greedy man or a spoilt woman. She wanted freedom. She had everything she could ever want. Why? Because she always got what she wanted, she just had to take things into her own hands. One way or another.

"Thief!" yelled a palace guard.

Running along the streets of the burning sand, Sun chuckled amusedly. She loved the thrill of being chased, the thrill of adventure, even the thrill of being caught. Sun loved to be caught at some points when she was bored. It added to her excitement to escape and to see the furious faces of the guards. She would tease them how they were so close to grabbing her, but just like that, she'd slip out of their grasp effortlessly.

But what she loved most was the hot wind rushing past her, stroking her bouncing hair and through her baggy clothes. She loved the excitement she added to the boring city she lived in. When her father past, she decided to take matters into her own hands and spice up her life: if she had to become an outlaw to get past the death of her father, so be it.

Each day for months she would sit on a ledge, watching as the city held festivals that bored her, markets that yawned her to sleep, announcements from the palace that simply had her groaning in irritation.

What was she supposed to do when each day was the same? Join in? She would never. She didn't have time to dance to music and cheer whenever someone did a backflip.

"Raja!" she called.

She heard a roar in the distance, faint, but powerful. She allowed a smirk to curl her lips up. As Sun ran through the city streets, throwing at the palace guards whatever she could, she rounded a corner into an alleyway.

The guards were hot in pursuit with her as Sun heard one snicker. "We've got her now,"

Of course, they would think Sun was trapped because she was a female and that there was a fence blocking her path, but she wouldn't let a shabby piece of wood stop her fun yet. She sped up, pushing her burning legs faster with each step and jumped up on the ledge of a building beside her. She used her momentum to push off and latched her fingers onto the wood. She grunted at the scraping of her skin on the splintered wood and hauled herself over. Her thin stomach clenched angrily at the sudden pressure of all her weight on the wood and Sun gasped.

"Not so fast, thief,"

Sun didn't have time to react when a hand grabbed her ankle. She cursed under her breath, thrashing against the hand as two more hands pulled her down and threw her back. Sun landed with a painful thud and grunted at the hard impact on the ground. She quickly snapped out of her dazzled state and jumped to her feet.

No sooner than she did a guard standing behind shoved Sun forward, harshly pulling back her hair. With her neck well exposed, Sun glared at the leader of the group. He wore an evil glint in his dark brown eyes and a crooked smile. Sun thrashed — testing the strength of the guard holding her back, then went still.