[Sarah]

(Safety M)

“You know who dies in the streets? Rats. We are not rats,” she spat. On the rooftops they were unstoppable. Only the gods could knock them from their place.  In the streets people fought and suffered and died. She knew all too well the savagery of a man connected to the earth. Her feet had not touched earth, true earth, for months and the feeling was freeing. No longer did she have to worry about where her next meal might come from. No longer did she have to fight for her life over dirty water and leaky shelter.

[Sarah]

“Height gives us freedom. Even the nobles have to fight and suffer for what they have,” she said. Perched atop the church she had a clear view of the center of the city. She watched men stab each other in the alley ways. She watched women get stolen right in the middle of the market. She watched children so sick they were walking corpses. Once she had entered the sky she knew she was better than them.

[Sarah]

“Those who seek to destroy us will never have the chance. Only people like us would be able to take on such a feat, but they would not want to. Our people are rare and when we find each other we are generous,” she said. She looked at her companion now. “You are new among us, stay with me a while,” she offered. It was not often that she got to entertain company. Now, more than ever, it was important to have connections with her own kind.

[Sarah]

”You’re sure it isn’t too much trouble?” her companion asked. Having some place to stay for a while would be good. Having a guide around the tops of the city would be even better.

“I would not offer if I thought you were going to be trouble,” she said. “I’m Neliana by the way. You can call me Nel if you like though my full name works just as well,” she introduced herself.

“I appreciate your offer, and I think I will take it,” her companion said with a smile. “I’m Bree, it’s good to meet you,” she added.

[Sarah]

Neliana led them to her safe space in a nook of the church. The bell tower had once functioned and even held a bell, but it had long since worn away and fallen. Neliana might have been some help in the falling of the bell… None of the church members had dared to make the climb to replace the thing. They’d seen that she’d taken up residence and now that part of the church was ignored completely. This safe space was a popular one as it over looked the city. She liked to check in on it often to see if there were any newcomers, or any old acquaintances.

[Sarah]

“We’ll rest here tonight, and then tomorrow I will show you how to hunt,” Neliana said. She went down a floor in the bell tower. Although there were visitors that came to the top, none were allowed down here. This place was hers and she protected it fiercely. It was well insulated and warm, even in the cold months. She had stashed of clean clothing and dry blankets.

“Hunt?” Bree asked. “I uh… don’t eat meat,” she said awkwardly.

“Of course not my dear. You are ascendant now, flesh would do your body no good at all,” Neliana laughed.

[Sarah]

“I’m-“ Bree was cut off.

“Wait until tomorrow my dear, I will show you then. I remember when I was new, the hunt was something I did not understand for a long while,” Neliana said. “You are lucky to have a guide these first few days,” she added. Neliana, like so many others, had not been so lucky. “Sleep well Bree. I think you’ll find Ascension suits you,” Neliana said. She closed the hatch on the woman, and settled into her small room.

[Sarah]

Even the Ascendant had to rest. It was one of the few qualities they kept. Although rest too was different from those on the earth. Ascendant were plagued with dreams of the future, Neliana was plagued with her own future. Every few years the same dream would come to her. Slight differences could be seen, but it always stayed the same at its base. No matter what she had tried doing the outcome remained the same. She’d moved territory more times that she could count, killed countless of her own kind, killed those who showed potential as Ascendant. It seemed everything she had done played right into the scene of her future. All the while she’d made a name for herself as some ruthless untamed beast.

[Sarah]

People were tolerant of the Ascendant. There was nothing they could really do about the people that did not touch the earth. Neliana had heard their cries, cried that were growing in the recent events. They wanted her tamed, or put down. She was fighting her own fate as hard as she could, and she would not let them take her. Perhaps she could change fate by staying in her hole for a while. Let rumor spread of her disappearing, let some opportunistic fool claim that he killed her. Then she remembered the newcomer above her. Neliana should have shoved the woman off the building the first chance she got. Instead she had made a pact to help her. Stupid.

[Sarah]

The next day came quickly. Neliana suffered a dreamless sleep, her path unchanged. She glared up at the hatch, focusing her hate towards Bree. Idly she wondered if the woman could feel it. With a sour taste on her tongue she got up and dressed. They would not make it to the hunt. Neliana was lucky so far that she had made it to sleep the night before. No, she was always captured, interrogated, controlled. How many times had she seen it happen?

[Sarah]

Resignation settled over her as she opened the hatch. Someone grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, lifting her out of her hole. In the next moment she had a hood over her head. A needle pierced her arm, and her world collapsed into unconsciousness. It was quite unsettling actually. Though she had seen her end over and over since she had become Ascendant, to have it actually happen was something else entirely.

[Sarah]

“Three of them?” a voice purred in the distance.

Neliana woke to a dark room, her hands and feet were bound. Beside her were two men that she did not recognize. They were bound as well, and looking at something across the room. She followed their gaze slowly, trying to take in her surroundings. The room seemed to be storage for something, but it was mostly cleared out. In front of them was a man.

[Sarah]

He was a plain looking man, tall with tanned skin. Fit but not overly muscular. Black styled hair. He wore a white t-shirt with black pants. Their eyes met and it took Neliana’s breath away. His sclera was white, but his irises and pupils were both black. He saw her expression and smiled, it was somehow both soft and cruel.

He held something in his hand. A long stick with prongs at the end. A cattle prod? Neliana could hardly believe it.

[Sarah]

“How long has it been since you’ve been connected to the earth little bird?” he asked. The man came nearer, much to the distress of the bound men next to her. One of them tried to block her, and the cattle prod found flesh. A crack of electricity and the man screamed. “Take them away,” he spat.

Others she hadn’t seen before came in and took the two men away. Now it was just her and the black-eyed man.

[Sarah]

“How long?” he asked again, the end of the prod settled dangerously next to her arm.

“Years,” Neliana said. Her voice quivered in fear.

“What did you dream of my dear?” he asked.

Neliana shuddered. Had their kind been studied so extensively? She remembered a time when no one knew her kind existed. “You,” she breathed.