Rise

4

*Elora's POV*

Well, life was fun while it lasted, I thought to myself. I never thought I would be the one to be picked for The Winnowing. But here I was! Chained up to a wall to make sure I couldn't wander far. Here I am, awaiting my sacrifice to the 'gods'. Some gods they are, needing sacrifice from us. Rude.

People would tell you it was an honor to be picked as the sacrifice. To those people, I would say "Are you crazy?"

Why would someone want to die for the gods? Last time I checked, they aren't here and couldn't help up. Like people who pray to their ancestors, what help are they? They're dead.

I was sitting on the floor with my legs pulled to my chest, my arms wrapped around them. The gate to the cell swung open and the guard pushed in a boy, probably about my age. They chained up to the shackles next to me. I took a look at him while they chained him. He had short brown, slightly wavy hair and brown eyes.

"That hurts." He said nonchalantly to the guards. They didn't say anything back.

"I'm speaking to you! That. Hurts." I rolled my eyes at him and looked forward, at a blank wall. The guards walked out the door and locked it. The boy leaned over to see where the guards were. Once they were out of sight he stood up and groaned.

"Finally," he said, and his shackles were off. I looked at him with a confusing face.

He saw my stare, "What, never seen magic before," he looked me up and down, "Elf."

I held out my hand and made a little snow flurry in them, "Half-Elf."

"What are you then?" He asked when we walked over to block my view of the very intriguing blank wall.

"Mage," I answered and stood up, walking away a bit from him. He was taller than me and more menacing. Too scary for me.

"What's your name?" He asked me.

"Why does it matter when we're going to die in a bit?"

"Can't I know the name of the luckiest person in the world?"

"Ah yes because dying makes me lucky," I turned and walked toward him.

"I'm Caden."

"Elora. Elora Moore."

Something inside him sparked when I told him my name. He just walked over to the window where I was just standing and started to mess with it.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Escaping, what else would I be doing? Cleaning the rusted bars?" He sassed. I already hate this guy.

He managed to break the rusted bars, "They should probably keep their cells nice if they don't want prisoners to escape." He looked over at me, "Can you give me a leg up?"

I walked over to him and cupped my feet so he could get up through the window. He turned around and put his hand down the grab me.

"I can't go."

"Why not?" He questioned.

"I'm still chained."

"Use your magic to get it open!"

"I can't!"

"How?! You're an Mage!"

"My powers haven't come in, and at this rate, they probably will only stay at what they are. Plus I can't do good magic since this place in sealed to keep it out. I can only do cute little things."

"Well, then I'm leaving." He said and went to leave.

"Wait! Can you undo them for me?"

"Are you ready prisoners?" A guard yelled from down the hall.

"We don't have enough time!" He whispered.

"Please, I beg of you. I'll do anything."

He thought about it for a moment, "You have to come work for me."

"Done." I didn't have a job, and I wanted to get out of here.

"Get ready prison- hey! What are you doing? How are you using magic!" The guard exclaimed and he tried to unlock the cell to get to us.

Caden pushed his hand toward the door to keep it from being opened as his other hand went down toward my feet to get the chains off.

"Hurry!" He ushered while he grabbed my hand and pulled me up the wall and out the window. The cell door opened fast and the guard grabbed my foot.

"Oh no you don't," Caden said and used his now free hand to push him away. Caden fell backward which pulled me up through the window. I landed on top of him and he used his magic to put the bars back into the window. He held tight to me and we flew quickly into the air.

We arrived at a huge palace.

"I'm assuming this is where you live?" I asked him.

"Yeah. My adopted mom and sister and I all live here."

"You have this whole place to just you three?"

"Well, when you're like us, you need lots of room."

"For what?"

"Your army," he answered.

He opened the big black doors to the front entrance and inside lined against the walls were members of their army, ready to attack. They all turned their heads to us. A few of them followed me while I walked behind Caden and into the main intersection of the palace.

"This place is so dark. Why?"

"Because of who we are."

"Can you stop being riddle-y and just tell me?"

He quickly turned around and towered over me, "I guess I should let you know what you signed up for."

"Um...yes please?" I said as a question. Not knowing if I wanted to find out or not.

"Do you want to know why I was able to use magic in the cell?"

I went back to my memories to remember what the guard had said. He was surprised Caden was able to use magic, "Now that you say that, yes I would like to know." I crossed my arms.

"It only blocks light magic, not dark magic." He smirked.

"Okay..."

"I use dark magic." He was full on smiling now, "They wouldn't expect a person with dark magic to be picked since they technically aren't supposed to live in the city."

I looked confused, trying to put all the pieces together. My mind instantly went back to what I learned in school as a kid. A legendary demon queen named Amara took two orphaned kids and raised them as her own. Vivian and -

"Caden." We said at the same time since I was talking out loud.

"Welcome to Hell sweetheart."

**A/N So there you have it guys. Nice cliffhanger for ya. Hope you enjoyed! Do the usual if you haven't already. IE: Like, Follow, Comment etc etc. ~Merritt**

** Also here is Caden's character banner! I hope you like it! XOXO Nik**