Trial 017 - 2019 Wattys Sci-Fi Winner

Prologue

This is a prologue only, not Chapter 1, which follows immediately after. It is not required to understand the rest of the book. This prologue only sets the stage by showing the reader a scene near the end of the story, with the main story itself showing what has led up to this moment.  

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exact date unknown

This close to the heart of the Netherworld, nothing was visible. The ever-raging dust storms grew more powerful the deeper you went, and the roaming predators only got larger and larger. If your eyes could somehow pierce the heavy dust clouds and look up to the sky above, all you would see was pitch-black darkness. No sun, no moon, no stars.

For Scott, however, the lack of light wasn't the problem-it was the dust. He wore custom goggles and a protective mask that helped shield his face from the storm, but even they didn't allow him to see much further than a few feet at a time. The wind threw itself against him, whipping his clothes as if trying to push him away, and the dust that came with it was getting into his clothes and shoes. A rope, wrapped around his waist, connected him to his fellow team members and an artificial dragon, trailing behind him in single file. In the distance, a massive shadow seemed to shift through the dust, shaking the ground with rumbling steps, but it turned around at the last second, discouraged by Scott's Fragment.

"We're close."

Scott looked up, focusing his goggles.

"I can't see anything," he said, his voice muffled by his mask. "How can you be sure?"

Nyra didn't answer him, but the Fragment began to glow brighter in Scott's hand. Halting in his tracks, he held up one arm to shield himself against the winds and held up the device in his other hand. Waving the Fragment back and forth, he noted the pulses in its light.

"Nyra is right," he called. "The power core says we're almost there. Everyone gather around. I'm going to cut us a path straight through."

His group gathered around him slowly, stumbling and feeling their way blindly toward him until they had their hands on his shoulders. When he was sure everyone was close, he raised the Fragment and concentrated on the power inside, focusing all his efforts into bending the device to his will.

Around his team, the dust storm suddenly receded, drawing back bit by bit as the Fragment forced the powerful winds around them in a wedge. As the winds parted, Scott thought he could see something just beyond the dust, a strange city of sorts. The darkness retreated with the dust, glimmers of dim light creeping through for the first time in hours. Hours? Or had it been days? He couldn't tell; time passed differently in the Netherworld.

His group staggered forward, guided by the Fragment as they stumbled out of the storms and into a clear and quiet night. Behind them was a wall of dust, thick and constantly moving, but contained as if something was holding the storm away from this place. The constant roaring of the dust storm had vanished as soon as they'd left it, leaving them standing in eerie silence.

"Woah," Tyrus gasped, lifting his visor. "What the hell is that?"

Scott dropped the power core back onto his belt and raised his head wearily, following Tyrus's gaze.

The city he thought he'd seen back in the dust storm was now standing before him, fully visible in the dim night light. Strange glowing multicolored stones were everywhere, making up the sidewalks and the roads. Their combined light shrouded the city in an aurora of colors, shimmering and dancing softly. Scott glanced around, eyeing the parts of the city closest to him.