The Rise of Matriak

Chapter 1

Knees shaking she rose from her chair and ascended the steps. One, two, three, she counted as she climbed. Forty seven, forty eight, forty nine. When did this staircase get so long? When she reached one hundred she peeked back at the crowd and clamored on to the stage. The figures were faceless, all turned her way, taking her in. She wondered, how did they see without their eyes? She stepped into the light. The contrast between the dark auditorium and the brightness of the stage temporarily blinded her and she squinted as she tried to make out the details of the people below. Heart pounding and chest throbbing, she turned to face the mayor.

Mayor Amery looked at her with a smile that was almost unnaturally big. Were her teeth... sharper than normal? Her eyes were wide and filled with a kind of crazed judgment reserved only for those who embodied the worst of their little society. The butterflies in Ariadne's stomach transformed into full sized birds, battling for space and a way out. She thought she was going to puke.

"For you Ariadne Auclair" the mayor's voice boomed and echoed through the auditorium. She paused and tense anticipation filled the air. Ariadne held her breath waiting for the mayor to continue, but the silence went on so long the room started to spin. As she decided to gulp in a breath of air, the mayor let out "the honored life of a milker awaits you," and her gulp of air turned into a gasp.

Ariadne's world shifted. Tears filled her eyes. She wanted to fling herself off the stage. Or better yet, to disappear from the world completely. A milker? How could she have been assigned milker? The job was normally assigned to men. She was expecting to be a doctor, a lawyer, a scientist, hell even a retail manager would have been better. But a life sequestered away as breeding stock? She'd never see her friends or family again.

The mayor's smile grew, the corners of her cracked lips lifting so high they were almost even with her black pitless eyes. Something in Ariadne recoiled as she took her in. "Turn to face the town dear" Mayor Amery said coldly, her voice raspy. There was no apathy in her tone, no emotion.

Ariadne turned as the crowd started to chant "MILKER, MILKER, MILKER."

She felt the walls of the room creeping in around her, pressing into her sides, pushing her head lower, her knees higher. She couldn't take it. The pressure was too much. The shame was all encompassing, engulfing her like a sweltering blanket on a hot day.

All of a sudden she was watching from the crowd. Laughing and leering with the others as if the person standing on stage wasn't her, as if it was someone else entirely, a stranger. She laughed at the girl on the stage. How pathetic she thought!

Then she was back in her body, her knees wobbling, her palms sweating. As Ariadne looked out at the crowd her vision blurred. Dark spots crept in, covering the faceless figures. The air left her lungs and she fell back as unconsciousness swept over her.