The Exemption Trials (The Dinas Chronicles Book 1)

Prologue

    The boy darted down the overcrowded street, his bright red hair standing out like a single candle burning in the corner of an otherwise pitch black room. His shining blue gaze swept left and right as he searched the crowd, looking for any overly curious figures lurking nearby. When he was nearly certain that no one was watching, he pulled the hood of his black hoodie up over his head, effectively covering the flaming mess that he called hair.

     After one last look around at the crowd, he slowly approached the nearby food carts, letting his eyes roam over the succulent fruits and vegetables that sat stacked in crates, the juicy meats that hung from hooks above the carts, the scrumptious breads and pastries that were left out to cool. His stomach rumbled loudly with hunger and his tongue came out to swipe across his cracked lips as he surveyed all the delicacies, his mouth watering at the thought of sinking his teeth into some real food for once.

    If only he didn't have to steal that food.

    He shook away the thought, scolding himself for thinking for even a second that he could obtain the food in any other way then stealing it. It wasn't like the vendors that stood behind the food carts would take any pity on him just because he hadn't had a decent meal in almost three days. No, they'd most likely turn a blind eye to the half-starved twelve year old boy with a black hoodie on, pretending they didn't notice him. They'd pretend because if they didn't they ran the risk of being seen with him hanging around their cart, and that would be bad for business. In fact, if any one of the hundreds of people milling about around him were to realize who - what  -  he really was, they'd all run the other direction, scared they'd contract some type of lethal virus from just being on the same street as him - as if being poor were somehow contagious.

    The worst part about it, however, was that these people weren't even that rich. They lived on the brink of Dimora - the part of the city where all the rich people, or Affluents, lived. The only reason they didn't live in Profugo with all the Destitutes, or poor people, was because they had decent jobs where they got paid a regular amount of money, making it easy for them to afford to buy enough food to properly sustain themselves and their families. People in Profugo, however, couldn't even have jobs. They had to scavenge through the trash from Dimora, hoping to find something edible, steal food from someone else in Profugo, or go hungry. Or, of course, they could always try their luck at stealing like he was.

    The city - Dinas - only gave Affluents one chance to get a job when they turned sixteen. If they couldn't get a job, then they were sent to Profugo and had to fend for themselves. If a child's parents were Profugo, then the child stayed in Profugo and never had a shot at getting a job. If a child's parents were Dimora, but they died before the child reached the age of sixteen, then the child was sent to Profugo to live as a homeless orphan. Most Affluents didn't die until they reached at least seventy, though, so no one really knew what Colonel Niall Darabi did with the children of those who died that were under sixteen.

     He did know, though, because he was one of those children.

     Three years ago, his parents had fallen severely ill from a mystery virus that had no known cure. First it had just been his mother, but after two short weeks his father had gotten sick as well. After his father got sick, the marshals put him in a solitary quarantine room, fearing he had contracted the virus along with his parents. He wasn't permitted to leave the quarantine for any reason, including to see his parents. They kept him in there for three agonizingly long weeks until coming to the conclusion that he didn't have the virus after all. By that time, however, his parents had already died and he was immediately sent off to Profugo, given no more than a couple of seconds to grieve. He'd met another orphan boy not long after arriving and had lived with them ever since.