Kiah's blood ran cold as the flat edge of a blade pressed against her throat.
"You better start talking," a voice whispered darkly behind her, "or I'll make sure you never speak again."
Her breath hitched.
She coughed to steady herself, her voice trembling. "Umm… my name is Kiah."
"Why are you following me, Kiah?"
"Because I saw what you did back there."
"So?" The blade nicked her skin. A sharp sting bloomed.
She froze.
This girl wasn't bluffing.
Kiah's mind scrambled. She needed to come up with something. Anything believable.
"When those men took me, they hit me hard in the head. I… I can't remember much right now. I followed you because I have nowhere else to go."
When Kiah finished, there was silence. Cold, lingering silence.
'Please, believe me.' She held her breath, praying the girl believed her.
Technically, it wasn't a lie. She really did have nowhere to go, and her memories weren't exactly helpful. Not that she'd want to return to wherever "home" was after everything that had happened.
She was floating in a foreign world, untethered.
In a nutshell, she was completely useless to herself.
"You did look stupid in the truck," the girl muttered.
'Stupid?' She bristled.
No one had ever called her that. She'd aced her A-levels. Got into Oxford on a full scholarship, top of her class. Stupid was the last thing she was.
But she kept that to herself.
"Very well. I'll let you live."
Kiah exhaled slowly as the blade withdrew. She rubbed the sore spot on her neck and turned — then blinked, taken aback.
Under the flickering street light, she caught a clear glimpse of the girl without a hood. She was breathtaking.
Her skin was deep brown, rich and smooth, contrasted by a waterfall of silver-white waves and burning crimson eyes. She was beautiful in a dangerous, almost mythic way.
"What are you staring at?"
Kiah stared, unblinking. "I've never seen someone with red eyes or silver hair before. It's… unusual."
As soon as the words left her mouth, regret hit her like a slap. "Sorry—that was rude. I didn't mean—"
The girl just snickered.
"Says the one with green hair and purple eyes."
"What?"
Kiah reached up and grabbed a strand of her hair. They were green. Dark green. No. That wasn't possible.
Rushing to a dusty windowpane, she wiped it clean and gasped at the ghostly reflection that stared back at her.
Green, glossy hair fell to her waist, and her bright amethyst eyes stared back at her.
She inhaled sharply. "Whoa…"
She looked stunning.
Back home, she'd been average at best. But this version of her? She looked like an idol or one of those K-pop stars people obsessed over. Maybe better.
She ran her fingers down her cheekbones, tracing the elegant angles of her face. Her nose. Her skin. Her lips. Everything looked designed in a striking and beautiful way.
Was everyone in this world so good-looking? Was the strange hair normal here? It had to be.
A presence loomed behind her. She glanced sideways to see the girl watching her with narrowed eyes.
"You either have narcissistic tendencies or that's the first time you've seen your face," the girl said dryly. "How hard did those bastards hit you?"
"I… don't know. It's all blank." Kiah dropped her hand, putting on a confused look. "The last thing I saw before everything went dark was a sign that said 'Welcome to the Dreg.'"
The girl's face hardened.
"The Dreg? That's where they found you?"
She nodded, unsure of the weight behind the name.
"That place is crawling with black market scum. What the hell were you doing there?"
"I don't know." She shrugged helplessly. It wasn't even a lie this time.
The girl hesitated, then sighed. "Come on. We have to move. It's not safe out here at night."
She started walking.
Kiah fell in step behind her, still wary to get close to her. Her sword was still hanging lowly around her waist.
"Why? Because of the traffickers?"
"I wish. There are worse things than slavers out here. Things you'd think only existed in your nightmares. And they like to wander after dark. Trust me, you don't want to come across one of them."
The way she said it sent a chill down Kiah's spine.
"What kind of things?"
The girl didn't answer and just continued walking.
Kiah tried again. "What's your name?"
More silence.
"I need something to call you."
"...Eden," she finally said. "My name is Eden."
"Eden." Kiah smiled weakly. "That's a beautiful name."
"I know." Eden's voice was a deadpan. "There's an inn around the corner. We'll stay there tonight and head out in the morning."
They turned a corner and stopped in front of a building with flickering, bright lights. The sign read, Winter's Inn.
Inside, a bulky man rocked lazily at the front desk, a bored look in his eyes. He sat up when he saw them approaching.
"One room," Eden said, pulling out a sleek device from her pocket.
The man scanned it with a machine, then handed over a key.
"Room 2."
Eden took it and climbed the stairs without a word. Kiah followed.
"What was that device he scanned?" Kiah asked curiously.
Eden held up the slim, metallic card. It looked like a credit card, but smaller.
"This is a chip. High-tech currency. But not everyone can afford this. We mainly use gold coins but those are easier to steal. I got this one during a raid."
Once inside the room, Eden locked the door tight. She dropped her sword beside the bed and pulled a dagger from her boot, keeping it close as she inspected the room.
Kiah stuck close to the wall, unsure about what Eden was searching for.
'Is this the part where she kills me and disposes of my body?'
That was hardly believable. If Eden wanted to kill her, she would have done it on the quiet, empty street, not in an inn.
When Eden stopped and exhaled. "It's clear."
Kiah didn't ask any questions and moved closer to the bed. She spotted a bottle of water on the nightstand and reached for it to quench her thirst. She had not taken a sip of water all night.
But before the liquid could touch her lips, Eden snatched the bottle from her hand and chucked it into the corner. "Rule number one: don't drink water you didn't bring yourself. It could be drugged or worse, poisoned."
Kiah was stunned.
From her satchel, Eden tossed her a sealed canister. Kiah hesitantly brought it to her lips and drank deeply.
After she was satisfied, she slowly handed the canister back to her in gratitude. "Thanks."
She climbed the bed as Eden moved to open the window, sitting close to it.
A yawn escaped Kiah's lips as her exhaustion finally hit her.
"Aren't you going to sleep?"
Eden gave her a blank look, tilting her head to the side slightly.
"You really know anything, do you?"
Kiah didn't know what to say.
First were the slave traders, then they were things lurking in the dark, and now she could even drink water from an inn? Just what kind of place was this?
She got the undertone that this world wasn't safe, but things seemed to be more perilous than she thought.
"Are things really that bad around here?" She asked, wiping her mouth.
Eden didn't answer immediately. Her eyes stayed fixed on the night beyond the window.
"What do you know?" She asked.
"Not much."
Eden turned and looked at her for a long moment. "Fine. I'll educate you before you get yourself killed."
Eden climbed the window and sat on the ledge, legs swinging over the side. She gestured for Kiah to sit beside her.
Kiah climbed up hesitantly, eyes flicking nervously to the ground below. The room was only one story up, not too high. She probably wouldn't die if she slipped.
She sat and sighed as fresh air brushed through her face. Auroras painted the sky above them in greenish and pinkish hues.
Eden pointed into the distance. "Do you see that?"
Kiah followed her finger.
It was hard to miss.
It was a wall. A towering, endless wall. Iron-gray and solid, like it had been forged to scrape the sky itself.
Kiah had noticed it from the beginning when she arrived at this place. But didn't know what it was, nor had she seen anything like it in her life. It stretched beyond sight, dominating the horizon.
"What… is that?"
Eden's voice dropped.
"That's Veloria city," she said. "According to the stories, after the apocalypse, the Overseer appeared. No one knew where he came from. It's like he came out of thin air. He managed to preserve our kind and save us from extinction. He brought his weird "technology" and made life bearable for all living things once again."
Kiah's eyes flashed.
"But things didn't go smoothly for long. Ten years after the fall, they built the wall and created Veloria, a perfect city. No chaos, no poverty, no pain. A wall to shield from the catastrophe of the outside world. But only a few chosen could enter."
She paused.
"The city could only contain a certain number of people, so they sort out the best of each of us. Families tore each other apart just for a spot inside. Children betrayed their parents. Parents sold their children. When the wall was complete, the Overseer and his chosen sealed themselves in… and left the rest of us to rot."
"They made paradise. Left us with the scraps."
Eden's voice grew colder.
"This place is called Duskworn. The cursed aftermath of everything we used to be.'