Prologue

"Run…. run…. Aavya.

The blind spot is vanishing", Eric barked at the young girl as they walked down the hill, barefooted in their worn-out clothes. Fear, anticipation, and terror could not overshadow the shine of the tired and sunken, teary golden-amber eyes and the small smile of the young weak girl, Aavya.

Though Aavya was trembling with fear and nervousness she kept on running down the hill. With every passing second, she felt her pace was getting out of control. It was only a matter of time before she would lose control and tumble. Falling down a hill is no joke. But whom to blame? Was it her fault that she had never learnt to run on a hill track? Or was it her fault to flee from being abducted and enslaved into a living hell anymore? But she wore a small smile leaving all thoughts aside on her bruised dirty pale face and reluctantly let her own control flow down. That portrays delight, a real one. Just at that instant, a siren rang out of nowhere.

Oogah....oogah.... oogah...

Along with the sound, a chill ran down Aavya's spine and triggered Goosebumps. After a second of bewilderment, she immediately battled the natural tendency to lean backwards going downhill on her as she tried to get control over her pace. Her face sank into the dark with panic destroying the contentment held a while ago. She recalled Eric's advice 'Short stride, quick cadence'.

For some reason, Eric was behind her. Eric was a man with long legs and a more trained and tanned muscular gym body. It was easy for a physically capable man like him to lead. But the harsh reality was otherwise. Aavya hesitated but still couldn't afford to slow down to catch Eric. She knows her weak body could never manage in time if she lags anyhow. Wasn't it clear if they were caught all efforts would be in vain?

Though Aavya did not know the whereabouts of the siren, it was not hard to guess. Something crossed her mind. Did it alarm the hell guards? Oh yes, the hell guards! Fear overclouded her. All she could think was to run with all she had, for all she wanted, for all she dreamt of being alive.

It was nearly dawn. The uprising victory of light over darkness was about to spread across the endless sky. But that's not all. This dawn particularly holds special importance to Aavya. Her dreams of getting back to her old life surrounded by her familiar world and her kind, to be free from any fear were about to happen. So, this dawn is supposed to mark the end of her old one. There were still a few stars shining in the sky. They were quite fading diamonds embroidered aimlessly on bluish-grey satin. But something was more intriguing than the stars in the sky. The two full moons face each other. One was big dazzling purple and the other was a bit small but equally glowing faint yellow. They were in opposite directions and though they were vanishing with the fading night sky they held their unique charms. It seemed as if the sky was divided between them.

Stars were visible in a thick row between the two full moons as if a river of gems. The stunning sight of the purple moon caught Aavya. She was in control of her pace now. So, she slowed down and looked up with wide eyes. For a moment she halted and kept staring in disbelief. The sharp contrasting dark black rings beneath her eyes on her pale skin could not take away the brimming sorrow and curious look on the two golden eyes. "Can't all these be lies? At least for once" she helplessly murmured herself. Subconsciously a tear down her cheek broke through her emotional glittering eyes just before her stomach growled for the third time since they left. She clenched her fists, closed her eyes, and took a long deep breath of fresh air. She could feel her heart beating faster despite the loud noise outside and the muscles of her ribbon-thin limbs clenched. Only a few seconds but for Aavya it felt like an eternity. Slowly she opened her eyes containing mixed emotions. Those golden eyes glittered with water and contained dark bags below them, yet shining with a bit of will.

Aavya and Eric were running away from the so-called dark abyssal guarded by huge walls on the barren hilltop. There was no forest or any big rock to hide on the hill. It was dry, rough, barbarian and lacked vegetation. Certainly, it was meant to give additional safety to the hell it surrounds. As it was very easy to get spotted in an open area from the walls. One would feel insecure about running even after passing the walls. Along with all this, the dried shrubs, mostly eight feet tall here and there, looked like pitch-black skeleton's spines now, adding an extra eerie effect to the tense atmosphere. Any person after having a mental breakdown while staying here for days and months would not be able to stabilize their willpower or think rationally to run further in this kind of situation and surroundings.

The foot of the mountain was surrounded by a dead and dry forest like a belt followed by a dense green forest that looked more like a haunted area from the hill having dark color under the night sky. Eric once said that the forest has different kinds of beasts residing in it. Yes, beasts are real here and they are untamed and brutal. Some even call them monsters. They can just kill a few humans in an instant. The long spooky shadows of the dry branches of forests were enough to warn them of dangers ahead. Strangely, according to Eric, reaching the forest full of those untamed monsters was only their chance of escape. Most importantly, if they could! The danger was everywhere now as if they were the core surrounded by life-threatening threats. But despite all of these it was clear that Aavya and Eric had no will to stop.

Keeping the risks in mind, they worked together and came up with this particular plan, now they were executing. Eric was a high-spirited man. Once Aavya had heard the hell guards discussing that he killed six of them on the way, all by himself where one guard was enough to brutally kill a bunch of lads like her. Eric was kept in a different isolated cellar in the corner of the floor, alone, which had a transparent thin curtain, or that is what it seemed to her. Aavya had no idea for how long she was trapped there since she lost the sense of time. Day and nights were the same there; no one could even understand when the next day started. When Aavya was brought here, she saw how everyone stayed far from Eric's cellar. The route of his cellar had the highest number of guards. Even when other cellar companions of Aavya had their work shift, they just somehow threw his meal, once in two days, without going inside. For Aavya everything over there was fearsome. She had never been to this kind of place. She kept on counseling her weird thoughts of dying there. It was some kind of battle inside her mind that gave her a headache and made her sick all the time. But who cares about your feelings? This is the real world, not a fairy tale. Aavya had seen some of her companions shouting at the wall losing their mental consciousness. Aavya had a hard time presenting herself calmly and soundly to others. It was during one of Aavya's shifts, she was too occupied and disturbed with her thoughts that she went inside Eric's cellar, by mistake. Yes, by mistake. The temperature there was lower than in the other cell, similar to the difference between a winter night and a winter day. The freezing temperature immediately made her realize her mistake, and she hurried back, keeping the dried hard bread there. Before she left the cellar something made her stop. Maybe she was curious and looked back once again. That was the first time she barely saw a figure in the dark. The figure was not visible so Aavya took a few steps back into the cell to have a better look. There was a caramel color coat tattered with dust lying on the floor. Just beside that, a man who may be in his forties was lying by his side on the cold floor with ragged and torn clothes. His chest was covered with tattoos that peeked through the torn clothes. His shoulder-length red hair was messy, his beard unshaven and his hands were chained with handcuffs but not hooked. Red-purple bruises and cuts were all over his body and face. Clotting had stopped blood flowing from the cuts. Most surprisingly many parts of his skin were badly burnt. 'Is it normal to burn the skin of prisoners?' Aavya thought. Anybody could say he was badly injured and was close to death. Aavya was startled by what she saw. Looking closely, he learned some kind of glowing fumes near that man. Inspecting its flowing direction, he discovered a small multi-colored shiny glass ball was up in the air in the middle of the cellar. Those glowing fumes were moving from Eric towards the glass ball and it was glowing faintly. Never in her life, had Aavya seen something like that. After that day Aavya used to go inside Eric's cell during her shift. Aavya still has no idea why Eric was tormented in that inhumane way or what were those things back there. But it was quite challenging for Aavya to forget her helplessness toward Eric. She felt sympathetic for Eric. Isn't he a human? Not only Eric but also Aavya had endured a lot of suffering. Maybe her condition was much better compared to Eric but she was no Eric who could survive after such treatment with no hint of mental breakdown. She had seen his companions turn mad staying there for a long time only to know that was their primary objective. All of them were kept there to have a complete mental breakdown before taking them away for further purposes. Staying there Aavya had long forgotten the term freedom. Also at this present moment, she realized that for them stopping is nothing more than suicide. The only thing that she could do now is to follow Eric's advice.

Suddenly red lights started to rise from the walls to the sky and burst loudly as crackers. It seemed like hundreds of red comets moving in opposite ways. Though those could not subdue the sound of the piercing alarm. But they were bright enough to give a reddish hue. The whole place got lit up with bright red. Slowly, the red glow faded in the sky and the hill started to get covered with dark black mist. Sparse black clouds encapsulate them. Soon after, they felt the rough dry hill start to melt. Its hard rocky terrain was turning into semi-liquid black swamps on the hilltop and gradually moved downwards. The land beneath their feet rolled with small waves but solid. The land was like a sea with small tides restraining their speed. Their scope was also getting limited. Instead of red, Prussian blue-violet light started to rise from the walls into the sky. It was quite unnoticeable in the night sky. The environment got tense. The surroundings were too noisy. A dome made of violet light started covering the hill from the top like an inverted hazy violet glass bowl. It was engraved with strange spiral-dotted patches of white and grey glow which seemed to be rotating. It was similar to a barrier between them and the outside world. The surrounding vision was long gone as if something wiped away their color. Suffocating darkness wrapped them. As the dome expanded it took away the leftover light from that particular place, allowing one only to see the purple dome and nothing else as if there is nothing between the glass dome and their eye but black. The foot of the hill had some vision since the dome was yet to touch the ground at the foothill.

"Don't look up. Keep your eyes fixed on the ground."- Eric commanded in a Sharp tone. His voice frightened Aavya. She was already struggling to believe everything. Aavya could not think of anything but to do what Eric asked. She was running at her best. Indeed, she realized that nothing was favoring their plan.

"Don't slow down if the swamps reach us, we can't run"

"Skid if possible."

"Turn left. The slope is too much on the right"

"Stay away from Shadows"

Eric kept on supervising Aavya as if a leader. They did not stop at any cost. They knew how much importance every single second holds.

"Ouch!" Aavya gasped. A sharp pain in Aavya's right foot initiates numbness when she skips over some piercing rocks. She barely managed not to fall. Her breaths were turning heavy. She sensed some warm liquid under her chilled stiff cold right feet. But Aavya was not mentally stable to think. She kept moving though her pain was worsening. The only good thing among all these odds was that their clothes were dirty and worn out, camouflaged with the surroundings. This was the first time Aavya felt lucky to have dirty ragged clothes after so long. It was a black skirt above her knees with a celadon-colored full-sleeve shirt, her school uniform that has turned into nothing more than dirty ragged clothes. She no longer had a tie or a belt with it. Previously Eric warned her of the danger but she never imagined the situation could be this worse. Suddenly she remembered when Eric said 'Though I had a backup plan, it comes with a price. For your good, hope you never get to know.'

Aavya felt their countdown had started. Never in his dream did he think of running for the sake of being alive, needless to mention on a different planet. But not only a different planet even out of the Milky Way galaxy. He does not even know in which galaxy he is at present. Seriously! He should have read more books and listened to the teacher in class instead of sleeping on the last bench. At least he would know where he is going to die in the universe. But what difference would that have made? Could that have saved him from the inhumane torture and enslavement life that he had gone through? No. Regardless of the place, he is still humane with feelings. Only that no one cares. He was nothing more than a hopeless, bullied, miserable guy. Somehow, he began to believe he would die here. But sometimes all we need is just hope. His encounter with Eric was like a glimpse of hope for returning to his normal life. Even though that meant he was going to be punished by his guardian for his disappearance. But for Aavya that is not abnormal like these. With his whole heart, he solely wants to be out of this reality of his life. That's the only reason he followed Eric's plan without any further thought and didn't hesitate to obey his command. Ignoring the fact that he didn't know this man who was in his late forties or his early fifties, with a tall and muscular figure with tattoos all over his torso.

Surprisingly, the nearby temperature started to rise. Though Aavya and Eric were in torn ragged clothes they were sweating. Their clothes were drenched in sweat. They started to feel uneasy running in such a hot climate. Aavya had never been to a hot climate before. He surely was affected by this but still, he did not stop. The fire commenced falling from the sky as if the rain of meteoroids. That gave a spectacular view. If they were not in the urge to escape, Aavya would have memorized this sight. Some guards started to rise from the dense black swamps. They were looking ferocious with bright red eyes, long black hooded clothes, and different kinds of tattoos over their elbows, and sharp weapons, like ghosts. Their faces were dark, unimaginable. They began to flow towards Aavya and Eric like black gas. The guards were behind them since swamps, domes were not yet formed near the foothill. Aavya was astonished by everything that was happening. He would never believe it if somebody had told him these things unless he is the witness. He quickly removed and put the coat Eric gave him a week ago over his head to shield himself from the fire. Though he knew that was quite useless.

BANG

There was a loud sound and red color hue behind Aavya. Aavya immediately looked back but was struggling to keep her eyes open. It was too bright. Winking a few times, gradually she opened her eyes to realize someone inside the blazing light. Once again darkness consumed them. There was Eric knelt in that fading red light. It was pretty impossible to see exactly what happened since it was again too dark and the only light was from the small fire nearby. Aavya climbed back to him as she was utterly confused. She was struggling to move uphill with pain in her right foot. They were moving along the path on the sides of the hill. She was even out of energy. Her thin and weak muscles were aching with pain and were trying to adapt to the hot climate. Eric did not move a bit. He remained there frozen. Obtaining no response Aavya hesitantly touched Eric's shoulder and shook him but there was no response from Eric. So, Aavya repeated her action. After a few times of shaking Eric suddenly stood up and looked steadily at Aavya. Eric was a six feet tall man while Aavya was just a young girl who was not even five feet. So obviously she looked short to Eric. Aavya did not notice that Eric's brown eyes were filled with pain and horror like her but there was something else also. His face started to become pale. Aavya had his eyes fixed on the ghost guards. She lacks knowledge of everything that is happening so she cannot figure out what suddenly happened to Eric, who was too bold to fight in any circumstance.

"Let's run. They will catch us", Aavya reminded Eric when she got a glimpse of the large guards surrounding them. The guards were quite near them.

Eric shook his head, and there was a smile on his face which was mixed with sadness and determination. Aavya could not notice anything as her eyes were still fixed on the guards. Both of them were breathing heavily after a long run. At that instant, the guards were hardly ten feet away from them. They made it through three-fourths of the hill. Aavya turned and saw the foothill once. She may survive if she just runs away leaving behind Eric and everything. Then she could quickly go back to her world and get back to her old life but she instead came back to Eric and also waited for his response patiently, even in a situation like this. She could not betray someone who helped her to dream again. But also, she could not turn down her feelings. She was unable to remove her eyes from those guards and their weapons surrounding them from the backside. When tears rolled down her eyes subconsciously, she felt something in his head. Realizing it was Eric's hand Aavya tried to look up at Eric after a long time but Eric pressed his head and didn't allow her to look up. Instead, he knelt in front of Aavya.

"My fate may be cruel but it's not omnipotent. I will die today, its fine but you will be a living dead," Eric said calmly.

He was trying to compose himself while patting Aavya's head. His voice was turning raspy and faint. For a moment, Aavya felt she saw a glint of hopelessness in his eyes.

Aavya could not make out what Eric was saying in that situation. Everything was messed up and all she could do was waiting for their death. Ouch! Something touched her right foot. She looked down to see Eric was holding her right foot which was stained with blood now. She knew her right foot was bleeding but she did not expect it to be stained with so much blood. Aavya was baffled. She looked back at Eric. Eric smirked looking at her but his eyes were saying something else.

"If there is no crown there is no coronation. A crownless ruler on throne. A puppet nothing more." Eric stopped for a brief second. He was panting but there was coldness in his eyes.

Aavya felt Eric was looking different maybe a bit scary. Truth to be told she never knew Eric in the first place. Then why did she follow him or trusted his words? Again, why would an eleven-year-old kid doubt someone of her father's age who wants to help?

"Though it's wrong but you being a pawn of sacrifice was my only backup", Eric was still calm and his expression was undefined. A chill went down Aavya's spine. She was surely puzzled but she could not understand Eric's words. An unknown fear engulfed her. Is this the end of everything? Is she going to die here? Was she that easy to manipulate? How can her sacrifice be a backup?

Didn't she do everything only to stay alive?

Before Aavya could say anything, she noticed a half-golden yellow and half-purple rim in Eric's eyeballs. If she was not looking at Eric she would have missed. The rim was bright, unusual. Is he the Eric she knew? Some kind of invisible force wrapped Aavya exerting a lot of pressure. Aavya felt his bones being crushed by the force. She looked at her body to find what it was. It was too painful, unbearable. Tears continuously poured down her eyes. She was even unable to breathe. She was about to kneel in pain but was pushed or thrown like a punching bag by Eric with his strong blow. Aavya lost balance; her feet left the ground. Aavya felt light as if a feather. But the invisible pressure was killing her inside. She saw Eric standing and staring at her. But something dark was accumulating behind him who was coming more and more from the hilltop. Her vision was getting blurry and she could barely hold her consciousness. But her sight has changed. Everything surrounding her was golden white followed by red-purple lights. The lights were moving in a huge spiral. Nothing else was in view except for those dazzling lights dancing in the air. She thought maybe she was seeing her last dream but it was unexpectedly beautiful. 'If only she could live a bit more to see it again', she hoped. But her time was up and it was way too bright to keep her eyes open. Aavya of course had no will to hold back anymore, so she slowly closed her eyes for the last time to hug the long-awaited death peacefully without regrets.

She doesn't have a choice. Does she?

Life is cruel. Isn't it?