Cocoon (The Burning Butterfly Saga, Book 1)

The long forgotten ceremony

When they reached the wall to the inner city, the second moon was beginning to set. The sky had gone from a rich dark blue to a soft glow of yellow, green and orange.

The Helex terminal was completely empty. Not a soul in sight.

The evening had come to an end and Azalea wanted nothing more than to stretch her weary bones.

She had walked miles with bloody wrists, blistered ankles and bruises from the earlier incident.

They had mostly walked in silence since then; S and H occasionally sparing a word here and there.

Their footsteps echoed through the long underground terminal. Azalea made note of the strange architecture the inner city possessed. The walls were a light gray with specks of gold and silver throughout, they shined like fluorescent lights casting a glow upon the pristine floors. They were like mirrors, and the roof was glass, which allowed the fiery morning gleam to glisten down upon them.

It was all together beautiful and crazy. It could easily drive a person insane. The only thing breaking up the shine of this underground prison was the ceiling length pillars scattered across the never ending space.

They were simple statues of white amongst this chaos of brilliance.

The deeper they went the more Azalea wondered if the Helex was even down here. They had traveled down a wide set of stairs, into the unknown and yet no express in sight.

They finally stopped and Azalea couldn't help the groin that escaped her lips.

Strangely H understood her pain.

"We're almost there." He muttered over his shoulder.

Azalea watched as S traced his fingers rhythmically across the starlit wall. He painted an invisible mural and then slowly the wall faded away and revealed the hidden Helex beyond. The entire expanse of wall continued to fade all the way down the terminal.

"Why was it hidden to us?" She asked.

Having never been to the inner city, Azalea didn't have much knowledge to go off of but she was always under the impression that the terminal was made up of multiple entrance ports constantly coming and going. Not a hidden transport.

"This is the prison transport; all new Slare's are brought through on this train to prevent the disturbance of inner city residents." H responded.

"Let's go." S said.

He nudged his shoulder and Azalea followed suit.

As they boarded the sleek transport she thought of the Hellfire's words.

But why go through the trouble of making a spectacle of new criminals but put them on their own private express. The inner city residents lived for our humiliation. The Devil had a funny way of doing things. She thought to herself.

"Uhm... Where are the other slare's? I can't be the only one?" She pondered

S turned around to face her; he eyed her up and down once, and then turned back around.

"Looks like you are." He responded back in a deep hiss. A smirk danced upon his features.

"Sit down, we'll be leaving shortly." He said.

Azalea glanced back to the cushioned bench behind her then slowly lowered herself into the seat.

The moment she sat down, her bindings were released and a clear holographic belt latched into place over her waist.