Hundreds of years ago, Earth fell apart, leaving only the utmost privileged to start anew on the already-inhabited planet Selino. But internal conflict may drive this second world to crumble as well... unless eight teenagers can find the magical, my...
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The ocean was an everlasting grenade of blue beneath the amber sun. Relaxed waves rose and fell as glimpses of the depths below tore against the edges of the boat, seafoam bubbling upon the surface. Cynth barely registered where she was because, for a brief heartbeat of a moment, it was like she was on an island that had just formed itself amid choppy waves, watching the world explode around her. The rubble collapsed by her sides, but there was always a constant, and that constant was her.
A constant that refused to fail, refused to give in.
Cynth rubbed her eyes, but with wary caution, only swiping her fingers below the eyelids, out of fear that her false lashes would tumble out of place. Tides rocked the boat as it neared their location, and in turn, swung the suspended hammock that Cynth was curled up on back and forth. A yawn overcame her, along with something else, an occurrence that had yet to strike.
It was her first full, uninterrupted night of sleep since the day she left the Leeyung estate. Not once had she stayed up to keep watch, peered down from beneath a shrub or from a tree, precariously listened for the thundering footsteps of patrias. Cynth was reinvigorated, a sensation she hadn't had in so, so long. Her walls were fortified, and overall, she was strengthened.
A strong Leeyung was the best Leeyung.
The glass of the main lower deck was muddled by stray, flyaway droplets of water that captured the murky hue, blossoming across it as though they were petals. The droplets grew like a branch, waiting to dry against the reflective panel in front of her. Cynth reached out her hand, dragging it across the bleak surface. It smudged.
Cynth reached for the white blanket she had been provided, swiped it over the mark, and pressed it back against her chest. For a few beats, she would enjoy the almost all-consuming silence. Almost, because footfalls still rumbled overhead and below, the ocean still struck against the metal sidings of the cargo ship, and engines still whirred. Cynth released a slow, unsteady breath, inhaling the bliss that would be so temporary.
Before she knew it, she was fishing for her eyebrow pencil out of the dirt-caked pocket in her silver attire. Her clothes were heavier than they had been when she first left the Leeyung estate, and if she didn't need a change of clothes because she was, presumably, a wanted criminal, she certainly needed one because of the tarnished state it was in.
Cynth bit down on her lip and examined herself in the glass. She could see herself, just barely, outlined within the window.
Cynth Leeyung, was, not for the first time in her life, a fucking wreck.
Her wig was askew, fake strands tumbling over her shoulders, wiry her front and back. Grime clung to her clothes, which, once, had shone with the power of a thousand swords, all lined up and directed at hundreds of hibri. Now, it was fraying at the edges, just like her, just like everything around her. Her eyeshadow was smeared across her temple, down the arch of her cheekbone, and her lips were chapped beyond recognition.
