Viewing Thread:
"please read. if u can manage it!"

this is a story i have started writing.
please take the time to read it all.
then give your opinion.





She stepped out from Megondoth’s main building into the cold, depressing city and looked around anxiously. There was, luckily, no-one around, she hated people other than herself and felt she was the only one in the whole city that was doing anything useful with her life.
Her work was very important to her, it was very important for everyone else too but they had no idea what was going on, and that was the best way to keep it. Having no friends, and very little family she ever spoke to, was a bonus in her line of work, which was top-secret. If she ever told anyone about it she would have to be killed, she had her master’s word on that, and he always kept his word.
The heartless, chilling wind bit the back of her neck and stabbed at her bare legs as she walked across the concrete yard from the back of the building. Her ridiculously expensive and predictably uncomfortable shoes rubbed the back of her ankles and clattered with every step. She pulled her over-coat collar up around her neck and stuck her hands deep into the pockets where some loose change jangled noisily among some other bits and pieces.
She passed a beggar on the next street, if there was one thing worse than normal people it was beggars. They just sat on the filthy streets and expected decent, hardworking people like herself to give them money, and that was one thing she would definitely never do. This beggar was a potent old man with a wine bottle in one hand, he looked up eagerly as she walked past and he heard the money in her pocket but she shot him down with a cold, hard stare and hurried off around the corner.
It was much the same story on the next few streets, where grubby and beaten women showed off their unwanted, screaming children and men sat with their starving dogs, whistled quietly to themselves, and held out wet bits of cardboard with useless information about how badly off they are written on it. Every beggar like scavenging vultures homing in on the sound of money and staring jealously at her obvious wealth.
She was now coming to the outskirts of the slums that lay at the heart of the city and was almost into the posh, up-market area in the north, where people slept safely in their beds and guards stopped any suspicious people entering the area. She, of course, lived in these parts and owned one of the larger houses in a quiet neighbourhood where everyone kept themselves to themselves, that was exactly how she liked it.

Over the tall buildings, to the east of the city, lay the Ruins. The great piles of rubble and twisted metal girders were a reminder of how it used to be, in the age of war against their neighbouring city. Carintona was situated beyond the Tyrand Mountains to the far east.
The war had begun after Lomen Matzgeri was chosen by the former ruler to take over the running of the city, each ruler was picked by their predecessor and stayed in power until they stood down, choosing their successor, usually their second in command. Lomen was a hard working and faithful friend towards his master, and it was obvious he would be chosen to be the next ruler. The current ruler died early in his reign so Lomen became the youngest ruler of the city. His reign was a long-lived and profitable one for the city, which had almost doubled in size since his take over, everyone in it had a good job, house and income, life in the city was magnificent. But, unnoticed by anyone, he was slowly going mad.
When he was a child he had been in friendly yet competitive rivalry with Krikna Nieopol, who had moved away to Carintona and now, by some strange twist of fate was the president of the other city.
When Lomen heard this, the rivalry was rekindled inside him fuelled by madness, he now hated Krikna and was determined to build Megondoth into the most powerful city, but Krikna was also on the brink of insanity. The war began, weaponless at first. Both leaders sent out spies into their opposing cities to report back anything that their’s lacked, and gradually they both grew wider and taller, filled with giant factories and power stations that pumped out lethal gasses into the surrounding atmosphere –– these still hung, impenetrable above the cities, for a hundred years.
Then came the weapons. Great, long-range, energy draining, intimidating super-guns that fired almost vertically into the air, shaking the ground with every shot and recoiling so a solid wave of sound spread out through the city. Their ammunition smashed down onto the opposing city, crushing and burning. Both Megondoth and Carintona were heavily damaged with only a few shots from the awesome guns, but neither leader knew how much damage their hatred had done to the planet.
Slowly drained of all power supplies that lay beneath its surface, used by the countless factories and power stations, there was little energy left. The guns took this. And finally, after almost ten years of unarmed and two of armed combat everything stopped working. The two cities fell into disaster and both leaders took their own lives It had taken over a hundred years for the cities to recover, with only just enough power to illuminate the streets and buildings.

The Tyrand Mountains rose up uncompromisingly in between the two great cities and stretched to the North and South for almost the length of the great continent, the only land-mass on the planet. Since the war many trade groups had been sent out towards Carintona, trying to salvage some relations between the cities, but most of these never got there
At the very north of the Mountains there was said to be a towering city carved into the final mountain in the range, that stood apart from the rest, solitary and all-powerful. The top of the mountain had been some how taken off. Then the city was carved down into the mountain, the strongest fortress ever made.. It was carved from the living stone by strong, ancient hands and supposedly without a single joint. They called it Kindrenn––the city of war. It was, for some reason, bound with a mysterious black-curse so that anyone that set foot there would turn to evil and darkness, be possessed by hatred and black desires and scheme fraudulently against anyone to get their putrid ideas realised, even the purest of souls would be turned to wickedness.

The next street divided the lower and middle-classes as the tall flats gave way to small, terraced houses with plantless gardens and neat house numbers painted on the doors. The whole street was deserted and silent except for a teenage boy, about sixteen she guessed, who sat with his legs crossed and flicked bits of grit into the drain that lay in front of him. He didn’t look towards her like most beggars did, even though the sound of her money was echoing all around. It was not until she was about five feet away from him, that he suddenly looked up at her. She looked back cautiously into his deep, brown eyes and found she couldn’t look away. For some reason he made her feel very nervous, she found herself reaching into her pocket and dropping her money into his lap. Realising what she had just done, she scurried away towards her home, shaking her head. What had she being thinking?
At least no-one saw her do it.

The boy kept his gaze fixed on the woman until she rounded the corner then picked himself up, swept a spike of dark hair off his forehead, and walked slowly down an alleyway. he stopped about halfway down and knocked rhythmically on a door. After a while it was unlocked and a bolt slid back, a stout man opened it.
“Ah, Reyen, come in,” he said in a warm voice and gently led the boy inside, then looked up and down the alley before pulling the door to and locking it again.
“Hi, Dad,” he said, happy to see his father, he dropped a handful of notes and coins onto the small table beside a worn armchair.
Their flat was small and decaying, it was open-plan with living room, dining room kitchen and Reyen bedroom (the couch) in a tiny space. The only separate room was his dad’s. He used to go in there all the time when he was little, to be told stories when he couldn’t sleep or for a hug when he was upset, but one time, after his dad had started doing ‘business’ he went in there alone. He found, hidden away, some letters from his mother. One read, in scruffy writing:

I’m sorry Daniel, whatever happened to Reyen was too weird. I’ve tried, I really have but no-one knows anything. There is no way to cure him here. I’m going to Carintona with the next trade group, maybe it’s happened there too. If I find anything, I’ll come back, I promise. I love you Daniel, and Reyen too. Look after him, I hope I’ll see you again someday.
Goodbye Daniel.

Attached to the paper was a small photo of a woman cradling two small babies in her arms, which one was him or if the other was boy or girl was impossible to tell.
Neatly printed along the bottom of the picture was Maria Phillipson, she was his mother.
He had sat on his dad’s bed reading it over and over, trying to work out what had happened to himself. Whatever it was, it had–– no –– he had made his mother leave, and she hadn’t come back.
He had never spoken to father about this, or asked him what had happened or who the other baby was, he knew that it would just make him mad, so it was his and his dad’s secret, the same solitary secret for both, but for each it meant different thing.


“There’s some dinner on the table, go and eat it, I’ve already had mine.” His Dad,
said and pointed across the small, open room to a laid table where a bowl of cheap but nutritious grey slop lay along with some burnt toast.
He picked up all of Reyen’s money and started to count it, a smile crossed his face as he did, he was proud of his son.
Reyen sat eating his dinner, his Dad was hurrying around their ground-floor flat searching through the many piles of papers that lay on tables or on the floor until he glanced at his watch, then he started to panic. He started frantically searching for something until he gave up and, wiping the sweat from his forehead sat down in his armchair. Something crumpled underneath him and he jumped up and let out a sigh of relief, he held up a few sheets of paper, ran over to the couch, shoved them into a briefcase and slammed the lid.
“Sorry Reyen, I have some business to do, don’t wait up, I’ll be back in the morning.” He said, breathlessly, and ran out the door.
Bewildered, Reyen stared at the door that his father had just raced out of, he was usually so calm, never got frustrated, whatever was going on must be very important to him. His dad was always going out all night with that same briefcase stuffed with printed documents, but never got so worked up about it. For some reason this really bothered Reyen and he felt it could be very dangerous for him and his dad, if he didn’t show up at the meeting place in time.
Eventually he managed to pull his stare away from the door and walked over to the kitchen sink. He washed his plate up, then his dad’s, and went and sat down on their crusty couch. Picking up the newspaper lying beside him, the front page had the headline ‘Missing Persons Baffle Authorities’, he read:

Lately, there has been a steady stream of reports coming in about lower-class citizens suddenly disappearing over night. It seems someone goes missing every one or two weeks after leaving their houses for unknown reasons, most people have said they had to ‘go and do some business’ and have never returned.
The authorities are completely baffled and the city’s ruler, Samuel Koto, issued a statement saying-
“ Naturally I am very worried about anyone disappearing in the city and have made it my personal responsibility to find out what is going on. I have the city’s best detectives on the case, they are following up every report but have not found any substantial evidence of what is going on and where these people are going.
My very dear friend, and second in command, Julious Ambrose, is helping me to keep Megondoth’s people in order and prevent panic. I would like to ask everyone in the city to trust him as much as I do, he is a very good person and should be praised for all he is doing and value his help during this worrying time.”
A special help-line has been set up if anyone has any worries about this mystery, has any information about it or has a report on a missing person. Any information would be very helpful, no matter how insignificant it may seem, it is better to tell someone about it.

Reyen dropped the paper and closed his eyes and tried to convince himself that his dad’s ‘business’ wouldn’t get him abducted by these strange people thrown into a cell, never to see each other again. But then again, his dad was always going out on these trips, and he always came home again. Reyen felt relaxed thinking about how when his dad came home and finding him asleep on the couch, would cover him over with a blanket, then woke him gently in the morning with a smile.
He rested his head on the arm of the chair and stretched his legs along it, then slowly drifted off into that strange place between being asleep and being awake, thinking of his dad.
That night he had his usual dream, but it seemed more vivid than usual in this strange, drowsy state, all his thoughts came to life inside his head and he felt exited but strangely relaxed. He dreamt about the great explorers of the world, who had travelled to the corners of the earth and made great discoveries, lost civilisations and new countries to the east. He wanted to be a explorer like the ones he had read about in all the newspapers and travel to the far west, from where no explorer had ever come back alive. No maps had ever been made, he would be the one to go there and come back alive, with amazing tales of phenomenal places, new species of animal and plants, and even new types of people.
But he knew, deep down, that he never would. He knew that he would probably never even get out of the city in his lifetime, and be forced to work repetitive tasks, like everyone that ever had a dream, just out of reach.
Yet he still felt, even deeper down, that he would, some day get out of this city and roam the world with some new found friends. It was like he already knew how his life would turn out, a very strange feeling enveloped his body every time he thought about it and sent shivers down his spine.

In semi-consciousness he realised how tired he actually was and some how managed to clear these thoughts away and fall into a deep sleep, unaware of anything around him.


Reyen was shaken forcefully until he open his eyes. His dad was standing over him with a deep frown on his face and beads of sweat clustered on his forehead. He was breathing deeply and quickly, obviously tying to calm down, but it was not so obvious what he was trying to calm down about.
He pulled Reyen up to a sitting position and looked desperately into his eyes, seeking some kind of reassurance, but getting nothing back except a mutual feeling of anxiety he wiped his brow and sighed deeply.
Then, back in motion, he ran into the bedroom and reappeared with a brown, leather suitcase.
“Come on Reyen, wake up, we got to leave in ten minutes.” He spoke with a urgent tone in his voice that quivered uncontrollably with nerves.
He frantically dashed around their flat, shoving anything he could in the suitcase while Reyen sat there open-mouthed, trying to figure out what was going on, until told sternly to get up and help.
Through the window shone the hazy light of one of Megondoth’s street lamps. As the sun couldn’t penetrate the vast layer of the dirty-white smoke that hung menacingly over the city, these lamps were the only light anyone had known that was born there. Their colour varied from pale yellow to a dim blue over the length and breadth of the city and some flickered annoyingly between the two. They did, apparently, give off all the natural goodness of the sun but now no-one knew what that felt like, so they were just accepted into their lives and never worried about it.
It was, in fact, almost half-an-hour before they had packed everything they could into the brown suitcase, two rucksacks and about five plastic bags, and were ready to go. A rather large and stupidly overlooked problem now made itself obvious: how to get out of the city.

Megondoth had a massive evil forest surrounding it, filled with wild, dangerous creatures and deadly poisonous plants, things no-one wanted inside the city. So a giant fence was built on the outskirts, fifty feet high, electrified and secure, nothing could come from the outside in, or indeed, from the inside out.
There was only one way out of Megondoth, a narrow road, unfenced and unprotected that ran westward into the unexplored lands - the Road of Doom most called it except the exploration teams that paid an extortionate amount of money to open the solid gate at the start to the road, they called it the Road of Hope, but they had no hope in the western lands.

There was a loud, solemn knock at the door as they both stood motionless in the flat, puzzling over the unforeseen problem.
“Daniel, we know you’re in there,” came the mocking voice, instantly Reyen knew it was someone he didn’t want to meet, “We just want to talk.” It was an unconvincing lie, and all three of them knew it.
Daniel took one long, brave stride toward the door and gripped the handle, his knuckles went white. He opened the door, almost against his will and screened whoever stood their from his son’s view.
“Be back in a minute,” he said with a meek voice and gently closed the door behind him, stepped outside.
There was loud talking from outside and the cruel laughter of several people, Reyen rushed to the door realising he might have just seen his Dad, the only good thing in his life, disappear without a fight. He pulled with all his strength on the handle, but someone had blocked the door from the outside. A scream rose up from the alley and a woman’s voice came clearly through the solid door,
“There’s no use arguing, Daniel, you no longer exist. Take him away.” She laughed uncontrollably and footsteps disappeared into the street. But there were still voices outside, Reyen pulled harder on the door and it finally gave, he stumbled out into the alley and looked towards the main street.
There were three men in front of him that started advancing as soon as he came out the flat. They looked like the the bouncers that stood, cross armed outside the uptown nightclubs, but even more threatening. They all wore expensive suits that were done up so tight around the collars their shaven heads popped out the top like over-inflated balloons.
He lay there, helpless, what were these men going to do, kill him? Or take him to where his Dad was, which, he guessed that probably ended in death too. Whatever it was he wasn’t going without a fight.

Suddenly his eyes started to water, not from the shock of what just happened to the only family he had left, but from a deep, all consuming hatred for these people that had taken away his Dad.
He let out a cry as a massive pain shot through his body in a wave that shook his limbs as it passed, only to be followed by an even stronger pain that ripped through him in rhythmic pulses. He fell to his knees and clenched his teeth as the pain grew stronger, wave after wave, then it faded out. His breathing was flat and heavy and his whole body ached, he was so weak, but the men kept coming.
He tried to stand and as he did another wave moved slowly through him, it wasn’t painful but throbbed deeply inside him, moving toward the surface but then erupted into pure, white-hot agony. He fell to his knees and blood poured from his nose and onto the cold, hard floor.
Smaller relaxing pulses followed making his body tingle all over and his skin was being stretched away from the bones. What was happening to him?
His question was half-answered as his skin pulled unnaturally away from him, suddenly a brilliant white light exploded from the depths of his being. Reyen was lifted up slowly by this light and floated above the ground, eyes wide, senses alert.
The three men turned and fell over each other, trying to escape, this was too weird for them, but the light reached out to them. Instantly paralysed they too floated up, motionless until they were about twenty feet from the ground. As suddenly as it began the light went out and all four bodies fell, Reyen slumped gently onto the pavement, but the men plummeted until their large bodies hit the floor with deafening thuds, Three pools of blood formed around them, bones stuck out at awkward angles, they were definitely dead.
Reyen just managed to open his eyes and look around, the alley was silent. He realised how weak he was and passed out.
A tall, thin woman emerged, calmly from the shadows and looked over Reyen, studying his face carefully. Then, looking around cautiously she lifted him onto her shoulders and walked away, unconcerned about the dead bodies, laying gruesomely in the gloomy blue beam of a street lamp

She trotted lightly through the back passageways, so as to attract as little attention as possible. Seemingly unhindered by her load, she never stopped to rest until reaching the out-skirts of the ruins, she took a deep breath and crossed the line into the old city. The way was well-known to her and she soon came to a low, roofless building with the front wall completely demolished. She picked her way through the rubble inside the building and walked over to the far corner. There was a hidden trap-door in the floor, it’s outline, hinges and handle invisible unless you knew what to look for. Under it were some roughly-cut stone steps that led down to a dimly lit, but strangely comforting chamber.
A street lamp had been ripped down outside and was pulled through a drafty hole in a high corner. There were three miss-matched beds raised against one wall and several tables and chairs were spread around, a long, tall cabinet covered the whole wall opposite the steps crammed with everything that would fit in an ordinary house as well as secret-looking drawers and compartments. In an alcove near to the beds a small heater hummed quietly to itself and the light flickered on and off. The woman lay Reyen on one of the beds and smiled, as a mother does to her child.

A muscular looking man appeared from beside the steps with a puzzled look on his face “Who’s the kid?” he asked.
“A boy,” replied the woman calmly “He’s one of us, Baek, he killed three of The Unknown, they took his father...” She trailed off, “Will you teach him? He’ll want to learn.”
“Of course, he’ll need to know, and quickly. What’s his power?”
“White light, it paralyses and controls. He’s very powerful –– but needs to rest. He’ll be like this for a while, I think.” She stopped and looked around, “Where’s Aekii?”
He also looked around blankly then shrugged, “Must've gone out somewhere, she can look after herself,” He was shot a dirty look, “C’mon Aarin, lighten up, you’ve got to give her some freedom, she’s old enough to look after herself.” He sighed and shook his head.


There was a creak as the trapdoor opened and a girl, the same age as Reyen, ran down the stairs, humming happily. She came to a halt when she saw Reyen, laid motionless on Aarin’s bed and stared, wide-eyed in disbelief.
“Oh, who’s this Aarin? Where’s he from? Why’s he here? What’s he like? Is he nice? Does he like you? Does he...”
“Aekii, calm down,” said Baek sternly, “Aarin found him in the city, we don’t know anything about him, except he has no family anymore. He has just discovered his power and it refined at the same time, he’s unconscious.”
“Mine should refine soon, I think I’m ready,” exclaimed Aekii.
“You’re power will only expand when your soul decides you are ready, it could be soon, it could be in a few years, no-one knows, you’ll have to be patient,” said Baek, wisely. “Will you help heal the boy?”
A grin spread over her face and she walked towards Reyen. She lifted her hand then lowered her second and third fingers so her first and fourth pointed towards the still body. A green spark issued from each finger and jumped to the opposite one, then a wave of pale green light shimmered between them. The light became gradually darker and spread out towards Reyen, it lit his whole body with a strange glow and all his tensed muscles slowly relaxed.

For the first time in his life Reyen was completely relaxed, he has been in a strange state where all his senses were alive and active but he couldn't seem to wake up, no matter how hard he tried. The girl had been healing him for what seemed a period of about two weeks, she came every morning and stood over him, somehow making his body feel light and calm.
Although he had nothing else to do except listen to everything going on around him he felt strangely embarrassed when he couldn't help overhearing private conversations.
These usually involved the city’s ruler, Samuel Koto, and it seemed that he was planning something against Carintona. Something like the Great War.
Every time Reyen tried to think back to what he had read about Samuel a small wave of pain shot through his body and instead he began to think about when his father had been taken away, then what happened afterwards. Then he tried to focus on what was being said around him and although it was hard to concentrate he gradually realised these three strange people wanted to oppose their ruler, and take him with them.
Usually when he woke up his eyelids stayed firmly shut and he was left in a world of darkness, but after waking suddenly from a distressing nightmare he found himself blinking in the lamp-light and looking around the hide-away with wide eyes. He groaned, for his head was pounding and his whole body ached relentlessly, three strange faces turned towards him from around a table, he put names to faces immediately.
Baek was tall and strong, he had a stern face and closely shaved dark hair. He wore a small gold earing in his right ear with a little red and yellow feather dangling from it. Aarin had long silvery hair that shimmered in the dim light, her face was thin but knowledgeable and something hung from her neck on a silver chain, hidden under her clothes. Aekii was younger than the others, her hair was streaked brown and blonde and curved around her jaw, her face seemed nervous and confused but her blue eyes showed something deeper. She had a silver ring on her little finger that was engraved around the edge, strangely familiar somehow he thought.
All three of them wore plain city clothes: Baek and Aarin in trousers and casual shirts, Aekii in a vest-top and jeans. Reyen was still in his jeans with a long-sleeved T-shirt, he felt for the plain gold bracelet on his wrist checking for the pattern inside. He’d always worn it, but didn’t know where it came from–– maybe his mother gave it to him, he thought.

Aarin was the first to speak in the deathly silence that filled the room, she was calm as always. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore,” replied Reyen, too nervous to ask what the hell he was doing there.
Baek stepped forward to introduce everyone, but was cut off. “I know who you all are, it’s just getting used to your faces, that’s all. I’m Reyen,” he broke off and an unwanted tear came into his eye. “I have no family. Or friends. Or relatives,” he paused, “But why am I here?”
This question had come to him several times already, but only now, when he knew they meant no harm could he ask it. Maybe they saw what happened to him when his father was taken. Did that really happen? If it did, and they saw, then they might have seen it before and know what had happened to him. They didn’t look scared of him. It was worth knowing what they wanted.
Aekii, seeing how distressed he was, moved towards him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“It’s okay, we don’t want anything from you. It’s just....I mean....well, you belong here, with us. We’re all alike, and should be together.” She ended with an unequivocal nod and reassuring smile.
Reyen still looked puzzled, he didn’t know what she meant, the whole situation needed explaining and, realising this, Aarin spoke up.
“I think we better start from the beginning. If you get confused, just wait and it’ll all get explained in the end, okay?” He smiled but wondered if he really wanted to hear what she had to say.
“Well, I’m sure you remember what happened to you two weeks ago and I would like to say that we–– all of us–– can do the same.” Reyen relaxed, he could now know what actually happened to him. “Now, when I say the same I mean the same kind of thing but still different, if you know what I mean. I have blue telepathic powers, Baek has solid red light and Aekii is a healer was her green light. Aekii’s power has not yet refined, this is when your soul thinks you are ready to fight or help people with it and you are old enough to use it properly, then it becomes a lot more powerful and harder to control. So when her power refines she’ll be able to heal a lot quicker and with more serious wounds, you see?
“Yeah, but what happened to me doesn't happen to you every time, does it?” He said, wanting to know more.
“No, it affected you so much because your power refined and was discovered at the same time, the two combined must have made an awesome force. We all discovered our powers quite young and have had lots of time to practice and control them, we can use them easily now. But I don’t see how you can’t have shown some kind of sign towards you having a power, maybe you were just living in a different situation than the rest of us.” Reyen gasped and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, it was the letter his mother had wrote all those years ago. He had snuck it out of his dad’s bedroom as they were packing up everything, he had the picture as well but it meant too much to him to share it with everyone.
“How ‘bout this?” he asked and passed the letter to Baek who read it showed it to Aarin
“Yes,” said Baek, “You probably showed some sign of your power when you were sleeping. Your parents must have seen you and got scared, then, after convincing themselves you were just terribly ill, they tried to find a cure. Your mother loved you so much she even went to another city to try and find something to make you better.” He paused, then frowned apprehensively. “But this completely ruins our theory, we have always thought that having powers was genetically inherited, and seeing as neither of your parents knew what happened to you we must be wrong.”
“Why do you need a theory anyway? Surely you saw your parents using their powers, so then it must be genetic.” said Reyen.
“No no,” continued Baek, “none of us have ever known our real parents, our lives have come together by coincidence. I grew up in the central slums with who I thought were my real mother and father, we all loved each other and everyone liked us. My dad was the best junk-mechanic in the whole area, he brought home the most amazing finds from the tips, then fixed them up and sold them on to the needy for whatever they could afford.

hehe

your people had funny names and stuff.

O no thnx

too many words cant read brain gonna explode arrrggggghhhhh

Theres a story forum dont ya know

And you had a go at ME for writing too much!! Deary me...some people.

c'mon y'all.

READ IT

*can't manage it*

this is a story i have started writing.
please take the time to read it all.
then give your opinion.





She stepped out from Megondoth’s main building into the cold, depressing city and looked around anxiously. There was, luckily, no-one around, she hated people other than herself and felt she was the only one in the whole city that was doing anything useful with her life.
Her work was very important to her, it was very important for everyone else too but they had no idea what was going on, and that was the best way to keep it. Having no friends, and very little family she ever spoke to, was a bonus in her line of work, which was top-secret. If she ever told anyone about it she would have to be killed, she had her master’s word on that, and he always kept his word.
The heartless, chilling wind bit the back of her neck and stabbed at her bare legs as she walked across the concrete yard from the back of the building. Her ridiculously expensive and predictably uncomfortable shoes rubbed the back of her ankles and clattered with every step. She pulled her over-coat collar up around her neck and stuck her hands deep into the pockets where some loose change jangled noisily among some other bits and pieces.
She passed a beggar on the next street, if there was one thing worse than normal people it was beggars. They just sat on the filthy streets and expected decent, hardworking people like herself to give them money, and that was one thing she would definitely never do. This beggar was a potent old man with a wine bottle in one hand, he looked up eagerly as she walked past and he heard the money in her pocket but she shot him down with a cold, hard stare and hurried off around the corner.
It was much the same story on the next few streets, where grubby and beaten women showed off their unwanted, screaming children and men sat with their starving dogs, whistled quietly to themselves, and held out wet bits of cardboard with useless information about how badly off they are written on it. Every beggar like scavenging vultures homing in on the sound of money and staring jealously at her obvious wealth.
She was now coming to the outskirts of the slums that lay at the heart of the city and was almost into the posh, up-market area in the north, where people slept safely in their beds and guards stopped any suspicious people entering the area. She, of course, lived in these parts and owned one of the larger houses in a quiet neighbourhood where everyone kept themselves to themselves, that was exactly how she liked it.

Over the tall buildings, to the east of the city, lay the Ruins. The great piles of rubble and twisted metal girders were a reminder of how it used to be, in the age of war against their neighbouring city. Carintona was situated beyond the Tyrand Mountains to the far east.
The war had begun after Lomen Matzgeri was chosen by the former ruler to take over the running of the city, each ruler was picked by their predecessor and stayed in power until they stood down, choosing their successor, usually their second in command. Lomen was a hard working and faithful friend towards his master, and it was obvious he would be chosen to be the next ruler. The current ruler died early in his reign so Lomen became the youngest ruler of the city. His reign was a long-lived and profitable one for the city, which had almost doubled in size since his take over, everyone in it had a good job, house and income, life in the city was magnificent. But, unnoticed by anyone, he was slowly going mad.
When he was a child he had been in friendly yet competitive rivalry with Krikna Nieopol, who had moved away to Carintona and now, by some strange twist of fate was the president of the other city.
When Lomen heard this, the rivalry was rekindled inside him fuelled by madness, he now hated Krikna and was determined to build Megondoth into the most powerful city, but Krikna was also on the brink of insanity. The war began, weaponless at first. Both leaders sent out spies into their opposing cities to report back anything that their’s lacked, and gradually they both grew wider and taller, filled with giant factories and power stations that pumped out lethal gasses into the surrounding atmosphere –– these still hung, impenetrable above the cities, for a hundred years.
Then came the weapons. Great, long-range, energy draining, intimidating super-guns that fired almost vertically into the air, shaking the ground with every shot and recoiling so a solid wave of sound spread out through the city. Their ammunition smashed down onto the opposing city, crushing and burning. Both Megondoth and Carintona were heavily damaged with only a few shots from the awesome guns, but neither leader knew how much damage their hatred had done to the planet.
Slowly drained of all power supplies that lay beneath its surface, used by the countless factories and power stations, there was little energy left. The guns took this. And finally, after almost ten years of unarmed and two of armed combat everything stopped working. The two cities fell into disaster and both leaders took their own lives It had taken over a hundred years for the cities to recover, with only just enough power to illuminate the streets and buildings.

The Tyrand Mountains rose up uncompromisingly in between the two great cities and stretched to the North and South for almost the length of the great continent, the only land-mass on the planet. Since the war many trade groups had been sent out towards Carintona, trying to salvage some relations between the cities, but most of these never got there
At the very north of the Mountains there was said to be a towering city carved into the final mountain in the range, that stood apart from the rest, solitary and all-powerful. The top of the mountain had been some how taken off. Then the city was carved down into the mountain, the strongest fortress ever made.. It was carved from the living stone by strong, ancient hands and supposedly without a single joint. They called it Kindrenn––the city of war. It was, for some reason, bound with a mysterious black-curse so that anyone that set foot there would turn to evil and darkness, be possessed by hatred and black desires and scheme fraudulently against anyone to get their putrid ideas realised, even the purest of souls would be turned to wickedness.

The next street divided the lower and middle-classes as the tall flats gave way to small, terraced houses with plantless gardens and neat house numbers painted on the doors. The whole street was deserted and silent except for a teenage boy, about sixteen she guessed, who sat with his legs crossed and flicked bits of grit into the drain that lay in front of him. He didn’t look towards her like most beggars did, even though the sound of her money was echoing all around. It was not until she was about five feet away from him, that he suddenly looked up at her. She looked back cautiously into his deep, brown eyes and found she couldn’t look away. For some reason he made her feel very nervous, she found herself reaching into her pocket and dropping her money into his lap. Realising what she had just done, she scurried away towards her home, shaking her head. What had she being thinking?
At least no-one saw her do it.

The boy kept his gaze fixed on the woman until she rounded the corner then picked himself up, swept a spike of dark hair off his forehead, and walked slowly down an alleyway. he stopped about halfway down and knocked rhythmically on a door. After a while it was unlocked and a bolt slid back, a stout man opened it.
“Ah, Reyen, come in,” he said in a warm voice and gently led the boy inside, then looked up and down the alley before pulling the door to and locking it again.
“Hi, Dad,” he said, happy to see his father, he dropped a handful of notes and coins onto the small table beside a worn armchair.
Their flat was small and decaying, it was open-plan with living room, dining room kitchen and Reyen bedroom (the couch) in a tiny space. The only separate room was his dad’s. He used to go in there all the time when he was little, to be told stories when he couldn’t sleep or for a hug when he was upset, but one time, after his dad had started doing ‘business’ he went in there alone. He found, hidden away, some letters from his mother. One read, in scruffy writing:

I’m sorry Daniel, whatever happened to Reyen was too weird. I’ve tried, I really have but no-one knows anything. There is no way to cure him here. I’m going to Carintona with the next trade group, maybe it’s happened there too. If I find anything, I’ll come back, I promise. I love you Daniel, and Reyen too. Look after him, I hope I’ll see you again someday.
Goodbye Daniel.

Attached to the paper was a small photo of a woman cradling two small babies in her arms, which one was him or if the other was boy or girl was impossible to tell.
Neatly printed along the bottom of the picture was Maria Phillipson, she was his mother.
He had sat on his dad’s bed reading it over and over, trying to work out what had happened to himself. Whatever it was, it had–– no –– he had made his mother leave, and she hadn’t come back.
He had never spoken to father about this, or asked him what had happened or who the other baby was, he knew that it would just make him mad, so it was his and his dad’s secret, the same solitary secret for both, but for each it meant different thing.


“There’s some dinner on the table, go and eat it, I’ve already had mine.” His Dad,
said and pointed across the small, open room to a laid table where a bowl of cheap but nutritious grey slop lay along with some burnt toast.
He picked up all of Reyen’s money and started to count it, a smile crossed his face as he did, he was proud of his son.
Reyen sat eating his dinner, his Dad was hurrying around their ground-floor flat searching through the many piles of papers that lay on tables or on the floor until he glanced at his watch, then he started to panic. He started frantically searching for something until he gave up and, wiping the sweat from his forehead sat down in his armchair. Something crumpled underneath him and he jumped up and let out a sigh of relief, he held up a few sheets of paper, ran over to the couch, shoved them into a briefcase and slammed the lid.
“Sorry Reyen, I have some business to do, don’t wait up, I’ll be back in the morning.” He said, breathlessly, and ran out the door.
Bewildered, Reyen stared at the door that his father had just raced out of, he was usually so calm, never got frustrated, whatever was going on must be very important to him. His dad was always going out all night with that same briefcase stuffed with printed documents, but never got so worked up about it. For some reason this really bothered Reyen and he felt it could be very dangerous for him and his dad, if he didn’t show up at the meeting place in time.
Eventually he managed to pull his stare away from the door and walked over to the kitchen sink. He washed his plate up, then his dad’s, and went and sat down on their crusty couch. Picking up the newspaper lying beside him, the front page had the headline ‘Missing Persons Baffle Authorities’, he read:

Lately, there has been a steady stream of reports coming in about lower-class citizens suddenly disappearing over night. It seems someone goes missing every one or two weeks after leaving their houses for unknown reasons, most people have said they had to ‘go and do some business’ and have never returned.
The authorities are completely baffled and the city’s ruler, Samuel Koto, issued a statement saying-
“ Naturally I am very worried about anyone disappearing in the city and have made it my personal responsibility to find out what is going on. I have the city’s best detectives on the case, they are following up every report but have not found any substantial evidence of what is going on and where these people are going.
My very dear friend, and second in command, Julious Ambrose, is helping me to keep Megondoth’s people in order and prevent panic. I would like to ask everyone in the city to trust him as much as I do, he is a very good person and should be praised for all he is doing and value his help during this worrying time.”
A special help-line has been set up if anyone has any worries about this mystery, has any information about it or has a report on a missing person. Any information would be very helpful, no matter how insignificant it may seem, it is better to tell someone about it.

Reyen dropped the paper and closed his eyes and tried to convince himself that his dad’s ‘business’ wouldn’t get him abducted by these strange people thrown into a cell, never to see each other again. But then again, his dad was always going out on these trips, and he always came home again. Reyen felt relaxed thinking about how when his dad came home and finding him asleep on the couch, would cover him over with a blanket, then woke him gently in the morning with a smile.
He rested his head on the arm of the chair and stretched his legs along it, then slowly drifted off into that strange place between being asleep and being awake, thinking of his dad.
That night he had his usual dream, but it seemed more vivid than usual in this strange, drowsy state, all his thoughts came to life inside his head and he felt exited but strangely relaxed. He dreamt about the great explorers of the world, who had travelled to the corners of the earth and made great discoveries, lost civilisations and new countries to the east. He wanted to be a explorer like the ones he had read about in all the newspapers and travel to the far west, from where no explorer had ever come back alive. No maps had ever been made, he would be the one to go there and come back alive, with amazing tales of phenomenal places, new species of animal and plants, and even new types of people.
But he knew, deep down, that he never would. He knew that he would probably never even get out of the city in his lifetime, and be forced to work repetitive tasks, like everyone that ever had a dream, just out of reach.
Yet he still felt, even deeper down, that he would, some day get out of this city and roam the world with some new found friends. It was like he already knew how his life would turn out, a very strange feeling enveloped his body every time he thought about it and sent shivers down his spine.

In semi-consciousness he realised how tired he actually was and some how managed to clear these thoughts away and fall into a deep sleep, unaware of anything around him.


Reyen was shaken forcefully until he open his eyes. His dad was standing over him with a deep frown on his face and beads of sweat clustered on his forehead. He was breathing deeply and quickly, obviously tying to calm down, but it was not so obvious what he was trying to calm down about.
He pulled Reyen up to a sitting position and looked desperately into his eyes, seeking some kind of reassurance, but getting nothing back except a mutual feeling of anxiety he wiped his brow and sighed deeply.
Then, back in motion, he ran into the bedroom and reappeared with a brown, leather suitcase.
“Come on Reyen, wake up, we got to leave in ten minutes.” He spoke with a urgent tone in his voice that quivered uncontrollably with nerves.
He frantically dashed around their flat, shoving anything he could in the suitcase while Reyen sat there open-mouthed, trying to figure out what was going on, until told sternly to get up and help.
Through the window shone the hazy light of one of Megondoth’s street lamps. As the sun couldn’t penetrate the vast layer of the dirty-white smoke that hung menacingly over the city, these lamps were the only light anyone had known that was born there. Their colour varied from pale yellow to a dim blue over the length and breadth of the city and some flickered annoyingly between the two. They did, apparently, give off all the natural goodness of the sun but now no-one knew what that felt like, so they were just accepted into their lives and never worried about it.
It was, in fact, almost half-an-hour before they had packed everything they could into the brown suitcase, two rucksacks and about five plastic bags, and were ready to go. A rather large and stupidly overlooked problem now made itself obvious: how to get out of the city.

Megondoth had a massive evil forest surrounding it, filled with wild, dangerous creatures and deadly poisonous plants, things no-one wanted inside the city. So a giant fence was built on the outskirts, fifty feet high, electrified and secure, nothing could come from the outside in, or indeed, from the inside out.
There was only one way out of Megondoth, a narrow road, unfenced and unprotected that ran westward into the unexplored lands - the Road of Doom most called it except the exploration teams that paid an extortionate amount of money to open the solid gate at the start to the road, they called it the Road of Hope, but they had no hope in the western lands.

There was a loud, solemn knock at the door as they both stood motionless in the flat, puzzling over the unforeseen problem.
“Daniel, we know you’re in there,” came the mocking voice, instantly Reyen knew it was someone he didn’t want to meet, “We just want to talk.” It was an unconvincing lie, and all three of them knew it.
Daniel took one long, brave stride toward the door and gripped the handle, his knuckles went white. He opened the door, almost against his will and screened whoever stood their from his son’s view.
“Be back in a minute,” he said with a meek voice and gently closed the door behind him, stepped outside.
There was loud talking from outside and the cruel laughter of several people, Reyen rushed to the door realising he might have just seen his Dad, the only good thing in his life, disappear without a fight. He pulled with all his strength on the handle, but someone had blocked the door from the outside. A scream rose up from the alley and a woman’s voice came clearly through the solid door,
“There’s no use arguing, Daniel, you no longer exist. Take him away.” She laughed uncontrollably and footsteps disappeared into the street. But there were still voices outside, Reyen pulled harder on the door and it finally gave, he stumbled out into the alley and looked towards the main street.
There were three men in front of him that started advancing as soon as he came out the flat. They looked like the the bouncers that stood, cross armed outside the uptown nightclubs, but even more threatening. They all wore expensive suits that were done up so tight around the collars their shaven heads popped out the top like over-inflated balloons.
He lay there, helpless, what were these men going to do, kill him? Or take him to where his Dad was, which, he guessed that probably ended in death too. Whatever it was he wasn’t going without a fight.

Suddenly his eyes started to water, not from the shock of what just happened to the only family he had left, but from a deep, all consuming hatred for these people that had taken away his Dad.
He let out a cry as a massive pain shot through his body in a wave that shook his limbs as it passed, only to be followed by an even stronger pain that ripped through him in rhythmic pulses. He fell to his knees and clenched his teeth as the pain grew stronger, wave after wave, then it faded out. His breathing was flat and heavy and his whole body ached, he was so weak, but the men kept coming.
He tried to stand and as he did another wave moved slowly through him, it wasn’t painful but throbbed deeply inside him, moving toward the surface but then erupted into pure, white-hot agony. He fell to his knees and blood poured from his nose and onto the cold, hard floor.
Smaller relaxing pulses followed making his body tingle all over and his skin was being stretched away from the bones. What was happening to him?
His question was half-answered as his skin pulled unnaturally away from him, suddenly a brilliant white light exploded from the depths of his being. Reyen was lifted up slowly by this light and floated above the ground, eyes wide, senses alert.
The three men turned and fell over each other, trying to escape, this was too weird for them, but the light reached out to them. Instantly paralysed they too floated up, motionless until they were about twenty feet from the ground. As suddenly as it began the light went out and all four bodies fell, Reyen slumped gently onto the pavement, but the men plummeted until their large bodies hit the floor with deafening thuds, Three pools of blood formed around them, bones stuck out at awkward angles, they were definitely dead.
Reyen just managed to open his eyes and look around, the alley was silent. He realised how weak he was and passed out.
A tall, thin woman emerged, calmly from the shadows and looked over Reyen, studying his face carefully. Then, looking around cautiously she lifted him onto her shoulders and walked away, unconcerned about the dead bodies, laying gruesomely in the gloomy blue beam of a street lamp

She trotted lightly through the back passageways, so as to attract as little attention as possible. Seemingly unhindered by her load, she never stopped to rest until reaching the out-skirts of the ruins, she took a deep breath and crossed the line into the old city. The way was well-known to her and she soon came to a low, roofless building with the front wall completely demolished. She picked her way through the rubble inside the building and walked over to the far corner. There was a hidden trap-door in the floor, it’s outline, hinges and handle invisible unless you knew what to look for. Under it were some roughly-cut stone steps that led down to a dimly lit, but strangely comforting chamber.
A street lamp had been ripped down outside and was pulled through a drafty hole in a high corner. There were three miss-matched beds raised against one wall and several tables and chairs were spread around, a long, tall cabinet covered the whole wall opposite the steps crammed with everything that would fit in an ordinary house as well as secret-looking drawers and compartments. In an alcove near to the beds a small heater hummed quietly to itself and the light flickered on and off. The woman lay Reyen on one of the beds and smiled, as a mother does to her child.

A muscular looking man appeared from beside the steps with a puzzled look on his face “Who’s the kid?” he asked.
“A boy,” replied the woman calmly “He’s one of us, Baek, he killed three of The Unknown, they took his father...” She trailed off, “Will you teach him? He’ll want to learn.”
“Of course, he’ll need to know, and quickly. What’s his power?”
“White light, it paralyses and controls. He’s very powerful –– but needs to rest. He’ll be like this for a while, I think.” She stopped and looked around, “Where’s Aekii?”
He also looked around blankly then shrugged, “Must've gone out somewhere, she can look after herself,” He was shot a dirty look, “C’mon Aarin, lighten up, you’ve got to give her some freedom, she’s old enough to look after herself.” He sighed and shook his head.


There was a creak as the trapdoor opened and a girl, the same age as Reyen, ran down the stairs, humming happily. She came to a halt when she saw Reyen, laid motionless on Aarin’s bed and stared, wide-eyed in disbelief.
“Oh, who’s this Aarin? Where’s he from? Why’s he here? What’s he like? Is he nice? Does he like you? Does he...”
“Aekii, calm down,” said Baek sternly, “Aarin found him in the city, we don’t know anything about him, except he has no family anymore. He has just discovered his power and it refined at the same time, he’s unconscious.”
“Mine should refine soon, I think I’m ready,” exclaimed Aekii.
“You’re power will only expand when your soul decides you are ready, it could be soon, it could be in a few years, no-one knows, you’ll have to be patient,” said Baek, wisely. “Will you help heal the boy?”
A grin spread over her face and she walked towards Reyen. She lifted her hand then lowered her second and third fingers so her first and fourth pointed towards the still body. A green spark issued from each finger and jumped to the opposite one, then a wave of pale green light shimmered between them. The light became gradually darker and spread out towards Reyen, it lit his whole body with a strange glow and all his tensed muscles slowly relaxed.

For the first time in his life Reyen was completely relaxed, he has been in a strange state where all his senses were alive and active but he couldn't seem to wake up, no matter how hard he tried. The girl had been healing him for what seemed a period of about two weeks, she came every morning and stood over him, somehow making his body feel light and calm.
Although he had nothing else to do except listen to everything going on around him he felt strangely embarrassed when he couldn't help overhearing private conversations.
These usually involved the city’s ruler, Samuel Koto, and it seemed that he was planning something against Carintona. Something like the Great War.
Every time Reyen tried to think back to what he had read about Samuel a small wave of pain shot through his body and instead he began to think about when his father had been taken away, then what happened afterwards. Then he tried to focus on what was being said around him and although it was hard to concentrate he gradually realised these three strange people wanted to oppose their ruler, and take him with them.
Usually when he woke up his eyelids stayed firmly shut and he was left in a world of darkness, but after waking suddenly from a distressing nightmare he found himself blinking in the lamp-light and looking around the hide-away with wide eyes. He groaned, for his head was pounding and his whole body ached relentlessly, three strange faces turned towards him from around a table, he put names to faces immediately.
Baek was tall and strong, he had a stern face and closely shaved dark hair. He wore a small gold earing in his right ear with a little red and yellow feather dangling from it. Aarin had long silvery hair that shimmered in the dim light, her face was thin but knowledgeable and something hung from her neck on a silver chain, hidden under her clothes. Aekii was younger than the others, her hair was streaked brown and blonde and curved around her jaw, her face seemed nervous and confused but her blue eyes showed something deeper. She had a silver ring on her little finger that was engraved around the edge, strangely familiar somehow he thought.
All three of them wore plain city clothes: Baek and Aarin in trousers and casual shirts, Aekii in a vest-top and jeans. Reyen was still in his jeans with a long-sleeved T-shirt, he felt for the plain gold bracelet on his wrist checking for the pattern inside. He’d always worn it, but didn’t know where it came from–– maybe his mother gave it to him, he thought.

Aarin was the first to speak in the deathly silence that filled the room, she was calm as always. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore,” replied Reyen, too nervous to ask what the hell he was doing there.
Baek stepped forward to introduce everyone, but was cut off. “I know who you all are, it’s just getting used to your faces, that’s all. I’m Reyen,” he broke off and an unwanted tear came into his eye. “I have no family. Or friends. Or relatives,” he paused, “But why am I here?”
This question had come to him several times already, but only now, when he knew they meant no harm could he ask it. Maybe they saw what happened to him when his father was taken. Did that really happen? If it did, and they saw, then they might have seen it before and know what had happened to him. They didn’t look scared of him. It was worth knowing what they wanted.
Aekii, seeing how distressed he was, moved towards him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“It’s okay, we don’t want anything from you. It’s just....I mean....well, you belong here, with us. We’re all alike, and should be together.” She ended with an unequivocal nod and reassuring smile.
Reyen still looked puzzled, he didn’t know what she meant, the whole situation needed explaining and, realising this, Aarin spoke up.
“I think we better start from the beginning. If you get confused, just wait and it’ll all get explained in the end, okay?” He smiled but wondered if he really wanted to hear what she had to say.
“Well, I’m sure you remember what happened to you two weeks ago and I would like to say that we–– all of us–– can do the same.” Reyen relaxed, he could now know what actually happened to him. “Now, when I say the same I mean the same kind of thing but still different, if you know what I mean. I have blue telepathic powers, Baek has solid red light and Aekii is a healer was her green light. Aekii’s power has not yet refined, this is when your soul thinks you are ready to fight or help people with it and you are old enough to use it properly, then it becomes a lot more powerful and harder to control. So when her power refines she’ll be able to heal a lot quicker and with more serious wounds, you see?
“Yeah, but what happened to me doesn't happen to you every time, does it?” He said, wanting to know more.
“No, it affected you so much because your power refined and was discovered at the same time, the two combined must have made an awesome force. We all discovered our powers quite young and have had lots of time to practice and control them, we can use them easily now. But I don’t see how you can’t have shown some kind of sign towards you having a power, maybe you were just living in a different situation than the rest of us.” Reyen gasped and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, it was the letter his mother had wrote all those years ago. He had snuck it out of his dad’s bedroom as they were packing up everything, he had the picture as well but it meant too much to him to share it with everyone.
“How ‘bout this?” he asked and passed the letter to Baek who read it showed it to Aarin
“Yes,” said Baek, “You probably showed some sign of your power when you were sleeping. Your parents must have seen you and got scared, then, after convincing themselves you were just terribly ill, they tried to find a cure. Your mother loved you so much she even went to another city to try and find something to make you better.” He paused, then frowned apprehensively. “But this completely ruins our theory, we have always thought that having powers was genetically inherited, and seeing as neither of your parents knew what happened to you we must be wrong.”
“Why do you need a theory anyway? Surely you saw your parents using their powers, so then it must be genetic.” said Reyen.
“No no,” continued Baek, “none of us have ever known our real parents, our lives have come together by coincidence. I grew up in the central slums with who I thought were my real mother and father, we all loved each other and everyone liked us. My dad was the best junk-mechanic in the whole area, he brought home the most amazing finds from the tips, then fixed them up and sold them on to the needy for whatever they could afford.