project.utopia

Chapter 1 - The Gardens

Alani stepped away from Nera and walked to the other side of the kitchen. Alani and Jaddua eyed each other cautiously, their eyes having conversations unknown to Nera. Finally, Jaddua spoke up and threw out her concerns to Nera.

"I highly doubt this dream of yours is true, Nera. But, I advise you to lay low for the next few days, when it comes to...You know what," Jaddua advised, cautiously as Alani nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean by "lay low" and , "you know what," Nera questioned her aunts, using air quotes as she spoke.

"You know what I'm talking about, Nera."

"I don't think I do... Jaddua," Nera retorted, using only her aunt's first name.

Jaddua glared daggers at Nera and finally responded bitterly to her, "Don't ever call me or talk to me like that again. And by, "you know what", I mean your usual thievery, Nera."

Nera rolled her golden eyes obnoxiously and retorted the following words back to her aunts; "I do all that stuff for the girls and you, and you know that full well, so don't act like that, alright?"

Jaddua, ready to yell at Nera, moved forward towards her, ready to attack, when Alani pulled her back and spoke to Nera instead, in her usual patient, kind voice.

"Honey, we understand and appreciate everything you've done for us and the girls, but these are dangerous times. You aren't entirely safe and we certainly don't want you to get arrested by the Malotas army or, even worse, get hurt because of them. That's why we're taking this precaution. You understand, right, sweetie?"

Nera nodded without saying anything, until, finally, she said,"I understand completely. But, what I think the two of you don't understand is that without me, this place, our home would not survive. We have no steady source of income, meaning we have almost no money to buy anything including food. How are we going to survive with no food?"

"We'll handle it just fine, Nera," Jaddua responded.

"No we won't! You know, we won't! Then, why the hell are you acting like this?? Why?!"

"We are not dealing with this kind of attitude from you, again, do you understand young lady?" Jaddua sternly said to Nera.

The fourteen year old girl glared at her two aunts and finally, turned around and stormed off as she yelled, "I DON'T CARE!" She stomped up the staircase, making sure to be as loud as possible and slammed the door behind her.

SLAM!

SLAM!

The door slammed shut and the sound echoed through the empty halls of the Malotas family's mansion.

Aditya Malotas was still in bed and was reading a book as per his usual routine on weekends. He was a young, fourteen year old boy with caramel brown eyes and curly, rambunctiously long, brown hair. Aditya was a rather nice, but lonely kid. He rarely ever went out with his friends. As a matter of fact, Aditya didn't even remember having any friends or really getting to meet any kids his age. He didn't even go to school and instead, had a teacher who taught him everything. Everything his teacher believed was important for a fourteen year old boy to learn. But this "everything" wasn't enough for Aditya. It had never been enough. But, it was all Aditya had gotten. He never had any other choice, after all.

"What was that?" Aditya asked himself out loud, when the door had slammed, as he bookmarked his page in the book, "The Myths and Legends of the Arosten Gardens," and got out of bed. He got up and began to walk towards the door, when he heard his father, Viraj Malotas, yelling at someone or something perhaps.

"What the hell? Seriously? After all I've done for him, this is how he repays me? THIS IS HOW HE REPAYS ME?"

BANG!

Aditya winced at the sound of his father hitting something with his hand.

"Who could have possibly made dad that angry?" He thought to himself, worried for his father's sake. "It wasn't me, right? Right?"

Then, all of a sudden, Aditya's doorknob twisted and in came, his father, Viraj Malotas. Viraj was a tall, slightly scary looking man. He was good looking, but still scary. He had the same, caramel-brown eyes as his son, but his hair was smooth and always slicked back, unlike Aditya's who's hair was curly and all over the place. The moment his father walked into his room, Aditya backed away from the door and tried to calm his hair down. This, of course, didn't work and it stuck out more than usual.

"I need to speak with you, boy," Viraj said icily as he watched his son carefully.

Aditya's heart began to thump rapidly in his chest and it was becoming harder and harder for him to breathe. You see, Aditya wasn't used to speaking to his father like this. As a matter of fact, he wasn't used to his father even looking at him, so this was completely new and abundantly terrifying.

Viraj sat himself on Aditya's bed and grabbed the book he was reading.

"The Myth and Legends of Arosten Gardens. Hmm-That's an interesting book. Are you enjoying it?" Viraj asked as he continued to stare at the beautiful cover of the book.

"Ye-Yes. It's a marvellous book," Aditya stammered, nervously.

Viraj nodded and placed it back onto his bed. Finally, he turned to his son and whispered, "I need you to do something for me." Aditya inhaled, sharply.

"There are some very important and private things which I need to buy, but I don't have the time to do it. That's why I need you to go and buy them," Viraj said to his son, seriously.

"I don't want to be rude, father, but why not just send one of the maids or cooks or the soldiers?" Aditya asked, nervously.

"The things I am asking you to buy are extremely private and important, that's why I need to send you," Viraj whispered, speaking in a kind tone, something he usually didn't do with his son.

"I understand, father. I'll go get whatever you need. Will I be buying everything in the city?" Aditya said, calmly, even though his mind was racing with thoughts and excitement.

"Yes, most of the things will be in Karvatan, the shopping district. I need to leave right now, so I'm just going to leave the list of all the things I need on your desk. Try to buy all the things by the end of today." Viraj got up and walked to Aditya's desk. He placed a slip of paper onto Aditya's desk and departed out of his son's room. But, before he slammed the door behind himself, Viraj said to his son, "Oh, and beware of the Golden-Eyed Devil, Aditya."