Royal Imitation | Kylo Ren

The Choosing

We sit knee deep in silence, but our hearts are screaming for release.

In the middle of the hundred rows of girls like me, every skin and hair that matches my own, reflects the golden rays of the sun which beams from above, not caring for our dark melancholy on this fateful day.

It seems so bright in comparison to the mortal Kingdom, and never-less the castle before me is so beautiful, but I have to keep my head down, for when I look through the huddle of trembling girls, I notice a dozen of the Kingdom's most trusted, with their pins and ribbons on their shoulders and chests, signifying their allegiance and importance to the King.

As I watch a man far off at the front of the lines, his medallion that hung heavy and cold upon the expensive fabrics above his heart, became a dead weight to my stomach which sunk as I saw him tilt a girl's head up to his gaze. He studied her face for a short moment, but then all of a sudden, he shakes his head in dismissal and hands her a silver coin – A StormTrooper takes her away shortly after and it happens over and over as he makes his way down the line.

There's a dozen of them doing the same thing and a woman is making her way down my own line, with a StormTrooper closely behind her, holding his blaster tight in his armoured grip.

The dread creeps over me like an icy chill, numbing my brain as I watch her give a coin to each girl further down as she is nearing my way slowly. In this frozen state, I can only make out the coin to be what I could earn in a day, but the faces that lighten when the silver is placed in their palms, are as if it was the token to their freedom instead.

Suddenly, I feel like a cow being herded into a truck for the slaughter house, only the cows seem to know what is happening as they all try and jump from the moving vehicles that leave the farm, and yet, I have no idea what will become of me once I am given a silver coin and lead away, following the line of girls that are now being packed back into the hundreds of vehicles that were parked by the palace.

Glancing above The First Order cars, I take in the glory of the Kingdom that was behind them, with the high peaks in the roofs and gold domed towers. Open porches are built into the strong bricks, signifying rich rooms that were the size of a house and were held up with the most ostentatiously, detailed pillars which were painted in a brilliant white. On the outside, there were no doors on the ground floor, only arches that lead to the stone hallways of the courtyards.

The crunch of shiny, leather boots upon grass take away my gaze and to the palace worker who tilts up the face of the girl to my right. She only takes one glance at the servant to her feet who shakes in her hand as she sighs and reaches into the silk bag in her other and passes her a coin, nodding to the StormTrooper who then took the servant away. Another Trooper came to take his place like a never-ending rotation.

Her clothes weren't as luxurious as the other men who did the same thing, but upon her dress, she had a small pin tucked against the fabric, marking her just as important. The Jorkhan symbol is a mashed-up twining cord that bleeds into the mark of The First Order.

To me, it was the mark of a traitor, yet here she stood glorified by the authorities. The shiny gold disk on her neat, pressed uniform, hanging her life far above my own as I kneel before her.

I tear my gaze away and stare poisonous daggers into the dirt by her feet as my chest caves in with unease.

My heart is pounding and when her cold, dainty fingers reach for my chin and turn it up to her gaze, I already am cupping my bound hands together in my lap, awaiting the silver coin to drop into them.

I was facing an enemy that was most likely the same age as me, but my skin seemed to look much thicker than her pale and freckly cheeks. There was a steadiness to her as she held her shoulders back stiff and her hands were potent upon my chin.