A New Era

Prologue

"Find her, she couldn't have gotten far!" A guard shouted, his voice booming through the city streets. The streets were nearly vacant at this time of night, most of the citizens being asleep or tucked into their homes. The sound of loud foot steps stomped against the cobblestone roads. The noise of their commotion decreasing as distance increased between the batallion and the hiding fugitive.

Amara peeked from behind a stack of barrels which filled the still air with the scent of spiced salted meats. Once she was certain that the batallion was far enough from her location, she stood up and made a dash for the outerwalls, making sure to stick to the darker alley ways and areas that typically didn't hold much light. The normally dead and silent streets were becoming filled with chaotic life; carriages patrolling the streets and soldiers waking the folk from their sleep in order to search their homes and question them.

The white haired chick cut through the darkest alley ways she could find, carefully avoiding knocking over any obstacles on her path. Wearing the slightly torn white clothing and wrapped in a dirty brown cloak wasn't at her advantage if she was to be spotted by innocent eyes. There was no guarantee that if a random citizen caught on to her presence, she wouldn't immediately be turned in. Stepping quietly, her hand gliding along the rigid and slightly damp walls of a building, she was halted by the sounds of two men arriving at the end of the alley, sword in one hand and a torch in the other. Amara lightly gasped. A visible mist of breath escaped her lips into the cold, late fall air.

"Lets go through here. If she's smart, she most likely stuck to the darker areas. Keep your guard up, she's dangerous."

"Yeah yeah, I know. The little brat really had it coming to her."

"You can say that again, she knew the rules, she should be punished like everyone else."

Her eyes widened as she quickly ducked against the wall, holding the cloak up against her body like a blanket. With the quick glow of her light azul eyes, the cloak seemed to blend in to its surroundings. Her side becoming translucent so that she could see the approaching guards from her side.

The two walked down the alley, the light of their torches growing brighter as they aporached.

"Nothing yet, she could be anywhere..."

"How far could she have gotten? We nearly checked every corner."

"Tck, apparently not since she's still missing."

They passed her by rather causally, not even seeing the treacherous cloak and moving forward. The torch's light, which lit up the tight spaces, slowly faded into darkness along with ther foot steps.

It didn't take long for Amara to press forward, eventually making her way to the main gate. Freedom was within her reach before being mercilessly ripped from her grasp. The gate was heavily guarded with armed soldiers, awaiting for her arrival, assuming that she made it that far in the first place.

"Fuck! I'm trapped in here." She growled with frustration, looking at the sight from behind a building side.
Security was on high alert. Chaos in the streets was beggining to be unbearable as every rushing sool hoped to seize and bring her to justice. 

Amara just missed her only window to escape the kingdom... Or so she thought.

From a look of frustration, her hands running through her hair frantically, her eyes lit up with an idea.

"The river...That's my only chance! Though it's cold...if I'm not out fast enough...It's the only way... No way I'm getting out of here otherwise."

The river which provided Era with its fresh water and  abundant fishes ran through several lands of the Kingdom. It made it's way from the inner walls of the city all the way down to the outer walls which were cleared of any trees for training and military drills, finally flowing freely into the  surronding forest.