17-year-old Avera Ibori is a girl who has always longed for a life of adventure, but when her father mysteriously vanishes, she gets more of it than she can stand. Thrown into a hidden world of magic, intrigue, corruption, and kings, Avera must choo...
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Avera peddled hard, propelling her bicycle up the grassy hill until she at last broke free of the dense forest of trees on the loosely established path which she rode.
"Finally!" she sighed with great relief at the sight of the dark city walls which loomed ominous and threatening, their powerful appearance stretching far above her.
She rallied herself, worn from the journey, and she began to peddle harder. She rode speedily alongside the southern wall of the capital, becoming only mildly aware of the change in atmosphere as she went.
There was a dark haze which seeped up from the ground, lessening visibility and sunlight. It rose higher the nearer she came to the city and its gates, becoming darker and more prominent until it engulfed everything in sight with its grey spectral hue. The change had been so gradual that she had hardly noticed it until she had nearly reached the western gate and there was darkness all around her.
She looked up at the sky to see how the day was passing, expecting the sun to have been heavy with the burden of night but only to find it still filled with the vigor of the afternoon.
She hopped off the bicycle, dismounting to enter the gates in compliance with the city ordinance. She walked then through the main gates and the guards, surrounded by the multitudes who would enter there, Pyre and its citizens, merchants, peddlers, and travelers alike, all attending to their business and their lives as it pertained to the land and its capital.
She made her way gradually down the city streets towards home, to the house of her neighbor, Annetta Klauthbrid.
It was mid-afternoon when Avera found the little house on Mayverch Street. Taking a deep breath, she walked up the three steps to the door and knocked. The door opened, and she was quickly met with the enthusiastic and tearful embrace of Miss Klauthbrid.
As long as Avera could remember, Annetta had been a close friend of her family, and when Avera had moved with her father to Pyre, Annetta was there to help them become acquainted with the culture and customs of city living. Her kindness and loving concern was always something which Avera had come to rely on, now more than ever she had. Annetta had been appointed with Avera's consent at the request of her father as guardian during his wartime absence. Now, with her father missing and presumed dead, there were some questions of what would be done with Avera under her new status as a ward of the state.
"Avera! Oh, you're back, child! Where have you been?" said the kind faced lady, sobbing as she squeezed her.
"It's alright, Annetta. I'm alright," she said, and her face fell against the woman's shoulder. "It's okay. I'm back now," she reiterated, perhaps assuring herself more than her caretaker. "I'm sorry. I just... needed some space."
She was relieved to feel the gentle embrace of a familiar friend, and her face relaxed into a smile as she collapsed in the lady's plump arms, the tears flowing freely from their eyes.
