BURN

Prologue 1: Sugar Rush

I run through the market district with one thought on my mind: chocolate. It's been pretty rare since the Schnees found dust in the area- so every day, I take my allowance and run down these dark streets filled with small stores hoping that maybe today will be the day I find some.

As I run, I bump into someone running in the opposite direction and we both fall to the ground. The boy I ran into is about my age and has messy black hair with green tips.

"Are you okay?" I ask while still recovering a little from the hit.

He doesn't say anything as he gets up and starts to run past me while grabbing my arm in the process. As I am pulled to my feet, I see two soldiers running toward us yelling at us to stop.

The boy who grabbed me doesn't listen- deciding instead to lead me down a back alley knocking over a stack of boxes as we pass. We go down the alley until we reach a chain link fence with a hole in it just big enough for us to fit through. He forces me through, making me fall down the slight slope on the other side.

He passes through and helps me up before running off toward one of the residential districts near the slums. Deciding that he's already dragged me this far, I might as well follow him to the end of this little journey; so I choose to run after him. After I follow him for a bit he disappears into one of the slums and slams the door behind him.

"Hey, you can't just drag me through all of that then disappear!" I yell, pounding on the door.

"Go away. I only dragged you along because those soldiers would've assumed that you and I know each other. Now go home!" the boy dispels from the other side.

"Open the door!" I command punching it as hard as I can, gritting my teeth at the pain of my fist hitting wood. I remove my hand from the door and I see that I've left a considerable mark on it. When he doesn't respond again I hit the door once more, this time going all the way through. "I said open up, the Atlesian military may be after me I deserve to know why."

"Fine, just get in here," he yields, opening the door and letting me in. He leads me over to a lone couch in the front room of his home and pulls out his scroll. "Those soldiers are after me because I hacked the CCT and listened in on a conversation that they didn't want to be heard." He says pulling up an audio clip.

"You hacked the CCT!?" I question shocked, widening my eyes at this strange boy.

"Yeah... their security isn't too good." The hacker says looking rather proud of himself.

"So, what was the conversation?" I ask. Those soldiers weren't after us for no reason and now I need to know why.

"Well, I could play the audio for you, but how do I know that I can trust you?" He sets the scroll aside.

"Because if I wanted, I could've gotten those soldiers immediately after you refused to let me in." I say.

"Eh, guess that's fair. I'm Neon by the way, what's your name?" Neon asks extending his hand in friendship.

"Beryl- and a handshake? Really?" I ask smiling at him and raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, a deal among thieves can't be official without a handshake." He says returning my smile.

"And what precisely have we stolen?" I ask.

"Well, there's this." He pulls a candy bar out of his pocket and hands it to me.

"Do I want to know how you got this?" I question eyeing the candy suspiciously.

"Do you care, partner?" he retorts, catching me by surprise.

"Partner?" I move my eyes to the smiling boy in front of me.

"Yeah, I'll show you what I've got my hands on if you agree to be my new partner. Deal?" he asks bringing his extended hand back to my attention.

"Deal." I say, taking his hand and ripping the chocolate bar open with my teeth.