The Afflicted

Chapter one

For years people had told Aurora that she wasn't good enough. For thirteen years she lived with her abusive mother and deadbeat father.

Then on the day she turned fourteen she ran away. It wasn't long before she was captured by the ruthless huntsmen. They had killed her friend, whom had run away with her, and took Aurora.

They had locked her up in a iron cage and shipped her to the land of the afflicted. From that day on she attended the only school there, Shadow Creek School for the afflicted, where, once more, she was abused.

Until one day when she killed the woman who had been torturing her for the last three years.

She snapped the woman's neck without moving a muscle.

And then she ran.

The guards spent the next month looking for her. Luckily for Aurora though, her newfound talent kept her safe.

At least, as safe as you can be in the land of the afflicted.

But living there took its toll.

Aurora lost her mind. Very slowly and quietly, one mind lost in a sea of thousands of others. She was alone and filled with guilt and sadness.

She came closer to death than any other living being had ever come.

Until one day when she stumbled across the border between the two worlds.

And she didn't hesitate crossing it.

Zeke lived a rather charmed life. She was the most popular girl in school, and had tons of friends. Zeke was also an extremely beautiful young girl. She had elfish features, dark skin, and hair that faded from  black to blue to purple. She had almost everything anyone could ask for.

But the one thing she didn't have was magic.

And although she would never admit it, it drove her crazy.

However, aside from that there were no problems in her life.  lived in a beautiful home in a hollowed out tree. Her house was huge, as she had four brothers, all younger, and both of her grandparents lived with her. Her room was in the tree roots. Purple, blue, and pink crystals grew out of the was and made up parts of the ground. It was chilly down there, but  enjoyed the feeling.

For many years she had the bottom floor to herself.

At least until the strange girl had shown up.

Aurora, her name was.

Then everything changed for Zeke.

Athena and Reyna lived in the streets of the biggest city in the land. There, they picked the pockets of those who had enough to spare but were too greedy to give. They would spend hours wandering through the crowds, reaching out in every direction with grasping hands.

A silver coin.

A gold bracelet.

A diamond necklace.

Then, when the light was fading from the sky and the shadows looked as though they were swallowing up the world, they would climb the nearest building and jump from rooftop to rooftop until they reached the only place they could call home. A large brick building, on the outskirts of town. The roof was flat, so that's where they had set up all of their belongings.

There, they would watch the sunset over the mountains on the horizon. The red melting into orange, and then into yellow.

And when the sun disappeared and the moon and the stars were the only light you could see, they would look to the night sky and point out the different constellations. They would lay under the few blankets they could afford and on top of a thin, ripped mattress that they had stolen from a shop on the corner of Main Street.

Eventually sleep would wash over them like a wave on the beach, and they would dream of what life could have been, if their parents hadn't been killed in the war.

But to them those were just dreams, and nothing could ever change. They were, after all, just two children.

Right?