Prologue
Translated from Akian
The world was beautified with every blow of air and the winds that carried the sand had to be the most glorious winds to live. The heavens above shifted and moved with a sort of eloquence and splendid reprieve from the harsh grounds below that burned the soles of the people in Ankaina.
In Ankaina, everything knew its place. The merciless sun bared down its heat with burning rays and every patch of grass grew in random corners of the nation making sure not to trespass towards the Inner City.
The birds flew slowly in the air like leaves in the wind, cautious of its surroundings. They flew just out of reach of the children that liked to catch them with stones and right under the clouds that liked to shade them from the fiery sun.
On the outskirts of Ankaina lived a little girl who was having the worst day of her life.
Pulled from her sleep, she had been dragged away from her home. Covered in a small blanket, she clung to the neck of her mother and cried silently. There wasn’t much the little girl could do but weep.
“Babe, please don’t cry.” Her mother spoke softly to her. Her native tongue falling from her mouth far too easily. The tone soothed the little girl, but being raised by her father she hadn’t understood.
“We left Ismi.” The words had brought tears to her mother. Truthfully, she hadn’t meant to leave the boy but their situation had left her in dire straits. She had been given the choice no parent wanted. To choose. “We left Ismi.”
“Baby, Ismi’s gone.” Renewed in grief for her brother, the girl bit into her thumb and buried her head in her mother’s shoulder.
Sweeping past the sand dunes and the huts made from the earth below, the little girl was taken far from Ankaina. Away from the Sutina who ruled ruthlessly over the people and away from the darkening sky that threatened war with him. Away from the only home she had ever known.
And just as they crossed over the border, a little boy woke from his slumber with a nightmare. Shaken, he looked over to his right to see the patch of a space his sister would sleep in, only to find her missing.
