Order

Chapter 1

Ren Young

I started my morning with a groan. What time was it? How long had I slept? Did it matter today? I don't think I had any critical plans. I rolled over and covered myself with my thin, worn blanket. Then I tossed the other way and forced myself to sit up. The light that was beginning to peer through my cheap curtains was starting to darken. I closed my eyes and fell back into the bed. I would get up as soon as the shadow passed over our zone.

A knock at the door interrupted my plans of going back to sleep. The knock was light; I could be sure my father hadn't come to wake me up today. He tended to bang on the door even when he tried to knock softly.

"Ren, dear, are you awake?"

"Yes, Mom, I just woke up."

"Oh good, Andrew was looking for you. If you have time, you should see him today." I sighed and climbed out of bed. It would've been a sorry sight for anyone watching to see me drag my feet as I approached the door. I opened it to greet my mother in the hallway. Like always, she wore a smile. Her hair was tucked back into a bun, and she had already dressed for the day in a loose t-shirt and pants. She was shorter than me, she had been for years, with a thin figure and grey hair. My father always talks about how pretty she is, but I had only known her with the appearance that many years of living had weighed on her.

"Andrew said you should wait for him at his place."

"Okay, Mom." I walked past her through the hall and down the stairs. Our house was small, so it would only take a minute to be on my way.

"Oh Ren," my mother yelled to me from upstairs, "would you be able to pick up some soap on the way home; I helped the McCarren's make some yesterday, but I couldn't carry it all home."

"No problem," I yelled back while walking into the kitchen. I grabbed a bruised apple and took a bite. "I'm heading out now."

"Okay, be careful." My mother's voice had grown fainter. She had probably walked down the hall to wake my father. I quickly scoffed down the apple and went out the door. Before leaving, I looked down. I had fallen asleep in my jeans last night, no need to bother changing before leaving.

The streets were empty at this time of day, and only a few early morning workers shuffled along. Today was no different from any other day. The roads were the same, the workers the same, the mountain in the center of the town with the glowing city on top was the same, just another day in Autarkeia. Though I always wondered how the freaks on the mountain kept the city so white and clean all the time. The shadow cast from the mountain had just about passed over our home. I could see it slowly creeping away.

I sighed and continued to walk. I was starting to wake up and realized I wasn't paying attention when my mother told me where Andrew was waiting. At this point, I couldn't go back and ask her. She wouldn't get upset, but I knew between my father and her, I wouldn't hear the end of it for a while. If I wandered long enough, I would find him. He always seemed to show up, even when I didn't want him to. However, I had no idea what he wanted today. I may have skipped out on him a couple of times when he would give me a lesson, but that was par for the course now. We both expected me to do it, so he wouldn't be looking for me for skipping out on him the other day. I guess I would just find out once he found me.

I stopped and stared at the glowing, white city. It seemed like a nice place to live, as opposed to our cobblestone streets and grey buildings with occasional splashes of color. At the very least, it was nice to look at as it stood high on the smooth mountain in the middle of town. Of course, I knew better than to want to live there. From a young age, our parents would tell us 'the monsters in the city would eat us if we ever tried to enter.' Naturally, it was a lie to keep kids from becoming too adventurous. They would probably only get a beating, at worst, if they even found a way into the city. Some adults were, seemingly, never told and continued to think that way well after their childhood ended.