Chapter 1: Melodia Harwood
Let me be clear: the sword in my ribcage is part of my plan.
He stands in front of me, his figure and the blade perfectly puncturing me, illuminated green by a meteor streaking across the sky. The bright-green flames pillar off of it, blotting out the starry backdrop of the crumbling world around us.
“It’s over, Melody,” he says. “Your days of tormenting this world are finished.”
The green glow of the meteor transitions to red, then white, as a heatwave smashes into the two of us.
And then it’s all gone.
“Yeah, that looks pretty rough.”
“Something you can handle, you think?”
“Almost certainly. This poor child has seen a lot, but a wound like this is within my capabilities.”
“Good stuff, Oriana. Let’s make it fast, before... well...”
“Quiet, you two. She’s waking up.”
I hear the voices before I see the owners, and my eyes steadily blink awake. Three faces look down at me, all with some stage of concern on their face. A broken roof is above them, a large hole exactly over where I’m apparently laying.
And then I remember the sword in my chest, and look down. Panic swells in me as I find it still there, blood pooling around it. I try to hurry to my feet, but two of the three hold me down.
“Be still, young one,” the one not holding me says, a green-haired woman with a disarming smile. “I will help you.”
“Make it fast, Oriana,” one of the other two says. She’s the only white person in the room, and has a trimmed black hairstyle.
I scream in pain as she pulls the sword from my chest, and blood oozes out rapidly. Oriana throws it to the side of the third woman and presses her hand to my chest, repeating something foreign over and over. The pain is unbearable. My hands lash out, trying to scrape at my captors, and something metallic bubbles in the back of my throat.
More blood. I line up a shot, and spit at the third woman, spattering her face with blood. She recoils in fear and disgust, crying out. The confusion frees my hand to grab the sword, but she stomps on my hand as I grab it, crunching bones against the concrete floor.
“Fuck!” I scream out, trying to throw Oriana off of me. “What the fuck is going on?!”
“Calm down!” The second woman yells. “Everyone! My name is Purity. This is Oriana, and you spat on Luna. We are the leaders here, and we’re trying to save your life!”
A strange feeling fills my chest. I look to see my wound fully healed, no longer pumping blood. A nasty scar is all that remains.
Oriana gets off of me, and Purity lets go. With some hesitation, Luna removes her boot from my hand, which I cradle for a moment before standing. I then roll to retrieve the sword, pointing it at the three of them.
“How do I get out of here?”
Purity steps forward. “There’s a door behind you. But you won’t be able to go back to where you came from.”
“Like hell I won’t. You can’t stop me.”
“And we won’t try. But you’re not where you came from anymore.”
“I say let her find out by herself,” Luna says, trying to wipe off my blood from her face. “Easily the most violent new addition.”
Purity crosses her arms. “Let’s not pretend your past is perfect either, Luna.”
I back my way toward the door, never leaving focus on them, until my hand is on the knob. Then, I turn it and bound through the door, where I am met with a dark night sky in a weird rural-urban area with skyscrapers, a subway station, rows of crops, and a cul-de-sac of houses. The moon above me is fragmented, with a strange circular structure surrounding it.
Nowhere I recognize. And the moon definitely wasn’t like that. The meteor must have hit it, too.
I run in a random direction for what feels like a mile, until I reach the end of...
What the fuck.
The ground ends abruptly, the same starless night just past a fence bordering the edge of the world. A wispy blue glow emanates from the border.
Footsteps sound off behind me. Purity approaches me, hands raised, as I whip around with the sword drawn.
“This is usually the first thing people do when they get here. After all, try explaining the literal edge of existence to someone. Do you mind if I ask your name?”
“I do,” I say, lowering my sword. “Don’t you know it? What’s going on here? Where am I?”
“Well, for better or worse, you’ve been brought to the End Lands. As for the why or the how... well...”
“Nobody’s really sure,” Luna says, following behind Purity. “But you’re here, and now that you are, you’re stuck with us. And we’re here to help.”
I slowly sheathe the sword in my belt loop. “I don’t understand. Don’t you know who I am?”
“Should we?” Purity smiles. “What, are you a big-shot where you’re from?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, I’m sure the others will look forward to hearing about your adventures, then. But for now, let’s get you somewhere to rest. That sword wound won’t heal right away.”
Purity motions for me to follow. I cautiously trail behind the two of them as we make our way back to their neighborhood.
They don’t know who I am.
Nobody knows who I am.
Melodia Harwood is unknown here. I’ve escaped my justice.
