Chapter One - The Beginning

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A woman named Gratuiti was running with her baby in her arms. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to escape the Tenebris soldiers. She wanted her beautiful baby to be safe from their grasp.

She sprinted past a pack of marching soldiers, and hid behind an alley corner, standing stiff as a board, as more soldiers came closer. Her heart was beating like a drum, as she waited in suspense for the soldiers to come back. They passed by unsuspectingly.

She then dashed down the alley and jumped the fence blocking her freedom. She stopped at her now falling apart home, where she knew her husband lay dead. He was brutally killed several hours before, by a ruthless general named Odium.

She stood in front of the lawn recalling all of the happy memories she made at the house. She silently told her husband goodbye as she stared at the place she once called home. A tear ran down her cheek, and it fell onto her blood-spotted, floral-patterned beige shirt. She picked a white carnation from her now trampled garden, and placed it in her coat pocket. She heard gunshots, distant, but warning.

She then snapped back to reality, and started again. She ran through a large meadow and up a hill, away from the soldiers. Standing there was an old, abandoned clock tower.

Gratuiti climbed the long, winding stairs to the dusty attic at the top of the tower, where she could see over the town from a large window. She placed her child down on a dusty workshop table, who joyfully dangled their feet.

I will do anything to save my baby, Gratuiti thought. They don't deserve to die. Gratuiti really would do anything for the child. She felt so relieved to have escaped the War zone. She was safe now, but she must stay vigilant. She sat down on a bench near the window. It was very silent in the clock tower. Almost too silent.

Suddenly, she saw a pack of soldiers marching towards the tower. Her eyes darted around the room frantically. Basket! She picked up the toddler and placed them in the basket.

Gratuiti kissed the toddler, and kneeled in front of them. She pressed her forehead to the child's and crooned, "It will be okay. Mommy will always be here, no matter what happens. You are my little Lux. I will be right here." She poked the baby's heart and smiled. She loved her baby more than anything.

The baby grinned back and giggled. Gratuiti took the carnation that had been in her pocket, and put it on the toddler's chest near its innocent, beating heart. Gratuiti heard the footsteps now. It was time to go.

She hid the basket under the workshop table and started down the steps. She saw the gun of a soldier rising up, and she tried to escape her horrible fate. She dashed through the door, but the soldier grabbed her. He held her still, while she kicked. Another soldier raised his gun up to her heart, and she screamed.

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