Chapter 1: Rift in the Clouds

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Amazing cover image made by Shreya_VA <3

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Another day, another long, boring car ride with her mom, Lauren, in the front seat driving in complete silence. It doesn't matter how many times Naomi asks her to turn on the radio, it's never gonna happen.

Every day for the past two years it's been like this. Her mother insisted on always driving her to school instead of taking the bus, despite having to drive all the way from their home in the city of Riven to Wrightendell, a whole city over just to get to school.

It's annoying, but Naomi can't really blame her after what happened. It was in Wrightendell where her father died, after all. The city has always had a higher crime rate than anywhere else in Eutria. That's where the rogue Hexes seem to enjoy hanging out. And it was the rogue Hexes that caused the fire that took the life of Edgar Morris.

The Imperium was insane to think that giving half the population 'superhuman powers' was a good idea. Sure, the majority of Hexes work towards helping others with their abilities, but in any scenario where people are given power, there will always be those who only want to cause harm. Not to mention the unspoken class divide between the Hexes and the 'lowly' regular humans.

Naomi stops her train of thought the moment she realizes that in her boredom she began pointing out the obvious flaws of the government power that rules over the continent. Moral of the story; shit's fucked. Moving on.

She tilts her head to the side and peers over the back of the driver's seat in front of her, peeking over her mother's shoulder. "...So... I was wondering if... maybe Kitty and Oliver could come over tonight? Just for a bit, if it's okay?" she asks. Through the slightly frosted windshield, she can see the school, Wrightendell High come into view.

Lauren shrugs with defeat and nods. "...I don't care. I'm going out tonight so it's not my problem," she murmurs and turns into the school parking lot. Naomi nods her head and sinks back into her seat with a sigh. The car comes to a stop and her mother just waits without even glancing back at her.

Forcing herself to muster the will to face another boring day of disdainful glances from the self-righteous Hexes of upperclassmen and teachers who always look so stiff and austere that you wonder how they manage to teach with the pencils shoved so far up their asses, she opens the car door and steps out into the cold winter air.

Naomi glances back at her mother and nods. "...Have a good day, mom." She flashes a small smile. Her mother just nods and pulls away as soon as Naomi shuts the door.

With a sigh, she turns back to the school and meets it with apathetic enthusiasm. Just two more years and she can be done with this shit. Then she can finally move out and go live in Nerawin with Kitty and Oliver. She just has to make it two more years.

Easier said than done.


By lunch period, Naomi is already inclined to kindly request directions to the nearest cliff. But alas, asking people questions would first require social skills. And people who notice her existence.

"What up, muffdriver? You look like you could use a joint."

Well, there's that one. Naomi lifts her head from the lunch table to see the living carnation of the saying 'it's not a phase'.

Dressed in mostly black with baggy pants that have chains looping around her legs, and a black sweater with an 80s Kool-Aid ad printed in a splash of colors. She's wearing spiked black platforms with a blasphemous amount of buckles. Her messy black hair is tied up in two large buns on the top of her head. Her green eyes are behind a terrifying layer of fake lashes and eye makeup that is way beyond Naomi's ability to comprehend or describe, so just leave it up to the imagination. Most people who meet this riot of a woman usually do.

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