Canvas Of The Abandoned

They told the world we were dead.

~~~

Arya

My life is torn apart when armed strangers force their way into my home and demand the impossible.
Blindfolded and taken somewhere I don't recognise, I wake up in a place where survival is earned, trust is dangerous, and every choice comes with a price.

I'm surrounded by people the world already knows-a princess, a champion boxer, a world-renowned scientist, celebrities, billionaires and prodigies.
And then there's me. Nobody knows my name.

There's Elias.
Brilliant. Arrogant. Impossible to read.
I don't trust him. I don't even like him most of the time. But in a place built on lies, the person I want furthest away from me might be the only person capable of keeping me alive.

~~~

Elias

I know how systems work. I know how to find weaknesses, uncover secrets and predict people's next moves.

But I can't figure out Arya. She's the only person here whose past doesn't explain why she was chosen. While everyone else has a name, a reputation, something worth taking, Arya has nothing the world would recognise.
And that makes her the most suspicious person in the room.
The more I watch her, the more questions I have.

Why her?
Why us?
And who decided we were worth disappearing?

As alliances fracture, betrayals cut deeper, and every challenge demands another piece of our humanity, Arya and I are forced to confront the truth neither of us wants to believe.
We weren't brought here by accident.
And the reason she was chosen may be the secret that gets us all killed.

~~~

Some canvases tell stories.
Others hide them.
And some are never meant to be found.