Terralux

Prologue

Run, run, run.

The screams bounced from wall to wall of the large palace, quietly clear in the distance. Even at my young age, I had come to the conclusion that the privilege of calling it "my" or "our" palace was no longer at my disposal. Another dead? The thought no longer shocked me.

Run, run, run.

That's what Matilda had told me to do, and I always listened to Matilda. In fact, I loved her more than I did my own mother. Mother was never around. If asked to pick her out of a group of women, the only things that would help me make the right choice are the many paintings rendered of her that hang along the winding palace corridors, and the rare occasions in which I am summoned into the Throne Room to see her.

One, two, three.

Three angry voices raged from the direction of the stairwells that I had long ago left behind. Where is Matilda? She told me that she would be coming, but to go on without her. When I protested, that's when she had yelled at me to run.  

I could hear the heavy, unfamiliar footsteps charging up the stairs. Did these belong to the three angry voices? If so, they had brought friends. 

Swimming in my thoughts took my mind off of the growing strain in my small, seven-year-old legs as I dashed through the halls, trying to recall the order in which I was told to take them if the palace was ever invaded.

"Split up! Left, right! Find the girl!" A new, equally hostile voice rang in the distance, muffled by the many passages between it and myself. I knew that they were talking about me. But I had to keep running, and never stop until I reached the Link.  

The Link was the tallest tower of the palace. It was on the far right side, and it was the highest point in all of Terralux. It seemed to never really end, although when you've looked as far up as the eye can see, the tower fades behind a large cloud that's always there. No one really questions it. 

I've never been up there. The only people that have the ability to do so are in the royal family (like I am) or top advisors. Of course, it has always been an option for an emergency escape, but had never been used for that purpose until now. 

I was glad to have gotten such a head start. If I hadn't, I would undoubtedly be dead by now. I whispered thanks to Matilda in between the heavy gasps of air that I took from running so fast. 

I remembered that I had to take the first door from the seventh portrait of Father, leading to the long, cobblestone passage between the main structure and the Link. How many portraits of Father had there been? It felt like six, but I knew that it was seven since the seventh one came right after the picture I had drawn of Matilda a few months ago. She helped me pick the perfect spot, and I hung the paper there with care. 

So with my eyes strained, the pictures passing in a blur, I waited to approach the next door I saw. Almost the same color as the wall, I almost ran past it. But with my head barely passing the doorknob, I summoned all my strength to open it. 

I willed it not to give off a loud creak, which thankfully it did not. Stepping through it, the biting, cold wind of the night seeped into almost every nerve in my body. Shivering already, my floor-length dress was not enough to keep me warm, so I quietly shut the door and looked to my right, knowing that I was up very high. Directly over the wall, that I was thankfully too small to be seen over, many invaders probably stood guard, watching and waiting to kill anyone who managed to make it outside alive. 

Just to be safe, I bent down a bit as I continued my dash, with the cobblestone bricks shielding me. Going against the hard winds made my eyes tear, blurring my vision, but I kept going. It was life or death now. Trembling, by the time I reached the other side of the passage, it felt like I had just run the whole length of the Great Wall of China.