RED HORIZON (Heliocite Saga #1)

𝕆ℕ𝔼

Solari Year 1576

Elijah tugged on his greying beard in frustration as he paced the small, run down hostel room. He never felt settled in the miner Colonies. This one in particular. The moment he had come within its bounds he swore he could feel a film of soot and grime clinging his skin. As if the sins of the city were reaching out with inky black fingers, ripping at his clothing and threatening to drag him down to their dark depths.

The Colony had settled inside the gaping mouth of a cavern, building along the walls a mile high. Hovels and apartments, stuffed full of people, congested the walls and buzzed with dim, unnatural lights. Exposed wires hung carelessly between buildings and refuse littered the alleyways. Elijah's nose had curled at first whiff. The only way to travel from place to place was through suffocating pathways carved inside the mountain or risk the worn-out walkways that threatened with every step to buckle and drop you to the piercing stalagmites below. How anyone managed to live here, he didn't know. And he didn't plan on sticking around long enough to find out.

Running his hands up and down his arms to try to ward off the crawling sensation beneath his skin, he turned to the mat he had brought from the Heli sanctuaries. The hostel room had a bed in it, right next to the singular struggling lamp, but he refused to go near it. Or even consider last time its sheets were laundered. Sitting cross-legged, he pulled loose the cord that held his hair back.

He needed to clear his mind if he was going to sleep. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply through his nose. The meeting with the Colony Overseer had gone well. The issue of the bombing had been resolved, and the miners responsible found and dealt with. Elijah hadn't needed to get involved, which he was grateful for. No longer was he the young man starved for a fight. His bones had a near-constant ache these days and his body had grown soft and lethargic. As much as he disliked these diplomatic meetings the Chamber sent him on, a little peace was welcome.

Peace. Elijah took another deep breath, stilling his body and letting Heliocite energy flow through him. The essence of the crystals deep in the earth brought warm vibrations to his bones and soothed him. He thought of home. Tomorrow he would be back in the sanctuaries. He would feel the sunlight on his skin again. He would have a clean bed. If he concentrated, he could almost hear the soft burbling of the courtyard fountains. The light echo of laughter bouncing off the walls and the low murmur of mentors with their students.

The loud crash of metal being knocked to the ground followed by irritated shouting. 

Elijah's shoulders tensed in agitation as the noise from outside interrupted his meditation. God save him. What now?

"What in the hell is a kid doing in here?" growled a rough male voice.

"Calm down. He's mine," bit back a woman. Her voice was shrill, like nails grating against metal.

"What, he likes to watch?"

Elijah stood from his mat, knowing he wasn't going to be able to sleep with all this noise. They must be right across the alley. Curious, he moved to the window.

"Don't be an ass. He'll wait outside."

A small boy in a soot-stained tunic and torn pants was shoved from the entrance of a crumbling hovel by who Elijah could only guess was his mother and the owner of the shrill voice. She was frowning with deep lines that belonged more to strife than age, and her skin was pale and grey as was common among miners who didn't see the sun often enough. A series of chains hooked to her black leather pants and woven through her frizzy hair jangled as she pushed the boy to the opposite side of the alley, against a wall and out of Elijah's line of sight.

"You'll be a good boy, won't you, Azzy?" she crooned, the bite in her voice a reminder of what would happen if he wasn't. The boy didn't respond.

Elijah's stomach turned as the prostitute stormed back to the hovel, trailing a string of profanities with her that made the man laugh. The door slammed shut and thankfully, nothing else from within could be heard.