Inside a glass pyramid lies an evil man named Sir Eden 💠
On a plane far far up in the sky is his worst enemy.
Every year they recruit an army to battle each other in the world's largest virtual reality tournament 🌐
Whoever wins earns freedom.
Ren...
The woman ran into the jungle. The moon lighted a path for her naked feet, but she kept her eyes forward to the end of the maze. Her black hair flew in the wind like the vines hanging from the trees, threatening to strangle her and to keep her in the shadows. But she kept flying. Sprinting over twisted roots, she didn't dare stop to breathe, to sweep the hair stuck to her lips and cheeks, or to see if the bundle in her arms was still alive.
The baby had cried when the woman first wrapped it in charcoal-coloured silk. She fed it milk laced with two large doses of Benadryl, a medicine to treat its allergies as well as to lull it into a coma. She bounded it tight—around the feet, the stomach, the hands, the mouth—and the crying stopped.
She enveloped the baby into the folds of her cloak and bolted out of the window of the glass pyramid and into the night.
Peals of high-pitched bells started ringing. She knew she only had a few minutes left before he found her. Before he found it.
She kept running. Her panting breath echoed across the trees; her heart drummed like a final countdown. When the woman finally emerged from the trees, she began to think of all the ways she could kill the baby.
She was standing atop a waterfall, and she could see the ocean stretch out before her. But it would take hours to untangle herself through the jungle and to reach the shore. And if she did reach the water, what then? He had purposefully placed his empire atop an island, surrounded by miles of water, trapped.
The woman wished she had asked one of the Mothers for advice on how they killed their Rejected babies. But death was still death, no matter how gently it is executed.
The bells stopped ringing. She took a step closer to the ledge.
The silence either meant that he had found her and sent his men to ambush her or that he was waiting for her to return because he didn't believe she had the tenacity to harm their baby.
She reached the edge of the cliff and held out the bundle in her arms.
"You should never have been born!" She cried out. Her fingers twitched. Her heart fell. Her toes edged closer to the end.
"Tila! Stop!"
Startled, the woman lurched forward. She clasped the baby to her chest and nearly took a step into thin air before a steady hand pulled her into his arms.
"The next time you run away," the man said into her hair, "take me with you."
Stabbing his toe and kicking his stomach, Tila ran back to the cliff and hovered by the edge. "Come any closer, and I will drop the baby."
"No! Please!" He lifted both arms in the air—a surrender. "I'm alone."
She hardened her eyes and surveyed him. The moon beamed down on Syd like a spotlight. Golden stars lined the curve of his shoulders, showing the burden he carried as Captain of the Bots. With only his uniform, a dark midnight blue shade, Syd could blend with the darkness. And so could his men.
"Lies," she whimpered. "You betrayed me." She took a step backwards. "You fed me dreams—dreams of happiness and freedom. You offered me a world up in the clouds then you blew them all away when you pledged loyalty to him. To my tormentor."
"I had to," he pleaded. "I couldn't risk him doubting me, Tila. But look," he pointed to the stars, "I finally finished it. The Savior." He took a step. "We could escape Elyon together and rescue others. We could create our own utopia up in the heavens." He reached an arm towards her. "Come with me."
"It's too late," she cried out.
"We have to go now!"
The moonlight waned and flashed on Tila like a spotlight. She froze and looked up at the pyramid's peak, where the moon balanced on top like a beacon on a lighthouse. It was too late.
Bots trickled out from the jungle like an army of ants and stood behind their Captain.
Syd grabbed for the baby. She turned around and ran. The moonlight followed her to the edge of the cliff.
"Mother," a voice boomed from the darkness. "Hand over my child."
"Your child?" She screamed at the pyramid. "Or your monster?"
The voice didn't falter when it continued, "Captain, arrest her and return the baby."
She met his eyes and knew. He was still a coward.
Syd raised a hand in salute to the moon and slowly walked towards the Mother.
"I'll get you out," he mouthed, his hands shaking, his eyes dull.
Tila took the opportunity to look at her baby.
Peeling back the silk, she placed a hand over its cheek and kissed its forehead then the top of its dark-haired head. Underneath the moonlight, the baby didn't stir, its eyes closed peacefully and its lips in a small smile. It was beautiful. So beautiful.
She'll show him that she was stronger than he thought. She would no longer be his whore, and she would never let him touch a finger on her child.
She looked up. Syd was a few feet away, his face a ghastly white in the spotlight.
It was too late.
She took a step back, clutching her baby, and plunged down the waterfall. The moon followed their plummet, casting a glow around them as if they were a comet, a blazing light from heaven crashing onto earth, until they fell into the ocean; and the moon could no longer find them.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
