Storm huddled, tightly gripping the jagged edges of what remained of the wall that she clung to. It had been nearly 10 clicks since the strange men had left. She still could hear shouting and the clacking of boots in the distance, it seemed that her pursuers, or whoever they were, had truly gone and weren't lying in wait for her to appear from her hiding space. 

With her back to the wall, she slowly allowed herself to slide down it, her heart beating fast than it had ever done before. She still held some small hope that this was all just a terrible dream, that she would at least wake up, sore from falling over a piece of ice, perfectly fine and normal. No criminals, nothing, just her and her life.

She knew it was stupid to hope for such a thing, but she allowed herself to do it any. Feeling her heart slowly calming down, the fear of running and being found out and worse, was now over. She moved her legs out from under her, which had started to become numb from resting on them. As comfortable as she thought she would be, she thought over the recent events. 

Those men were most likely mercenaries

There was another possibility, but she didn't even want to think about it, lest it might come true. 

She had to move, from as far away from here as possible. Standing up, shaking the weariness from her bones that had set in during her brief rest. She looked around, trying to find the narrowest walkway that she knew men armed, and most likely armoured, wouldn't be able to pass through. 

She found what she was looking for quite easily. She began to move over towards it, slowly, as fearing that even the slightest noise would bring down the forge down upon her head. 

Her happiness for still being alive was quickly blown away after her first few steps. 

Her life was over

In front of her, as she had dropped down after the men had left, she completely forgot about her bag. Her bag which had opened during her rough decent. 

Crystals lay scattered, they weren't smashed, but they had cracks running through each and every one of them. 

She knew what this meant, she wouldn't be able to finish her job, for all she knew, her manager had never expected her return and someone else had already claimed her locker. Her name scratched out, joining another one of the hundreds who had passed through that very locker, someone who no one will think of, no one will remember.

She was already dead.

Collapsing as the strength left her legs, not even being able to muster the strength to cry her anguish out, just sitting there, eyes seeming to lose focus as she tried to come to a realisation as to her current predicament. 

It was all she could do to let out a small whimper, slowly tears started to form, dropping onto the hard, cold, ceclium ground. The tears reflecting the dim ruby flame from a nearby crystal, the sound drowned out from her ears, blocking out all but the sound of tear upon metal. 

Her soft whimpers soon gave way to full-fledged cries of pain.

Heads peered out of holes in shacks and doorways alike, turning to the source of their discomfort, but after one look at the girl who seemed to be screaming such a lose that they didn't dare want to touch a potential volatile crystal who would try to take out their pain in a more physical manner.

Her screaming however, had granted her more than just a few irritated looks from the locals, the sound of thumping boots seemed to converge on her location, hoping that whatever that scream was about it would lead to their elusive target. 

Storm didn't know that however, still blocking out the world in her pain. Even if she did know that she would be attracting the attention she sorted to hide from, what good would it do her now.

It was death to her anyway, whether it came from the lack of water and food, or it came from a quick motion of a blade, it mattered not. 

From the doorway of the building she had climbed to escape from the soldiers, a large silhouette appeared, approaching Storm at quiet but nonetheless fast pace. 

Storm didn't notice anything wrong until the flame from the crystals seemed to die down into darkness around her. She straightened her back, still sobbing, she knew what was coming, but it didn't make it any easier. Trying to resign herself to the fact of her imminent death, but still cursing to the endless forge who hadn't heard her hopes. 

Why did this happen to me

She heard the footsteps get closer, it seemed to take tens of clicks for them to reach her out to grab her and end her life. This only added to her growing fears, and with that, she started to sob even louder as her executioner’s hand came closer to her neck. Closing her eyes, preparing for her imminent death, but still being no quieter, she had at least one last hope, that it would be clean and quick.

But I don't want to die!

It was with that final thought that made the world around her seem to crawl to a stop.

She wouldn't be taken down without giving a fight. She hadn't lived for 16 revolutions in this shitty city only to be met with death over one crappy job. With a new-found strength in her heart, she waited until she could feel that the monster's hand behind her was just a damped arc away from her neck.

How she knew it, she didn't know, but she didn't care to understand. She threw her tight fist hoping to a least gain the first strike. 

She felt strong, stronger than she had ever been.

A delusion that wasn't held for long.

Her fist that she held all of her pride, and her will to live, was blocked by her assailants’ arm. 

*Crack* 

She didn't know what happened, only that she hit something hard and her arm had paid the price of her stupid thoughts that she would live through this. 

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The assailants arm came around her face, as time seemed to catch up to her, a filthy rag was held tightly over her mouth and nose, another arm came around and squeezed her neck so tight that she couldn't breathe.

So, this is how it ends

Storm could only think that as the city around her descended into darkness.

----------------------------------------

Nothingness

That was all that she felt

Darkness surrounded her

Like someone had smothered the flames of the endless forge 

She was truly alone

Is this what death felt like?

An eternity in solitude?

She felt like crying all over again, weeping through the rising and falling of countless cities

In the void, where nothing but her lived, she felt a hand, resting upon her head

Calmness overtook her, no longer with the urge to wail in her fears, she looked up.

And there she was

Pale cream skin like her own, the strange girl's hand resting on her head was so soft it felt that she could just melt into it. Unlike her own, callused with revolutions of work

Storm passed her gaze over the girl,

She was short, yet so tall to Storm who felt so small under her hand  

As she continued to move her gaze over the girl, their eyes met

She was the girl she saw in her dream

Storm's ruby eyes met sapphire eyes

The girls face seemed to be without imperfection, eyes, nose, cheeks

It all felt so perfect to her

She could even blink as she seemingly lost herself into the sapphire gaze

"*ga 7m1 7 rwab:0 3:m= Storm"

"n2 n =12w vga 41m1 vga lga=0 l7==gl   vgam rg 97==10 017w4 a?w:= vga 79wa7==v 0:0 0:1"

"nw :r ?gw vgam w:>1 v1w[ 8aw :w l:== 9g>1"

"z?0 l41? :w 0g1r[ vga l:==

She didn't understand her, no, it was more like something stopped her from understanding, scrabbling the words before her mind could understand them

But whatever she said, it was obviously the end

The strange girl removed her hand from Storm's head,

Disappointment ran through Storm as she lingered to feel her touch 

Her eyes started to water, having them held wide open without blinking since the girl's hand had rested on her head

She blinked, rubbing the soreness out of her eyes, as she looked back up the girl had already disappeared

Alone once again, she felt an overwhelming urge to sleep

And so she did, she closed her eyes, and let another darkness take her

----------------------------------------

She woke with a start, darkness once again surrounded her, but unlike before, she knew she was alive. The pain from her arm attested to that very much. 

Looking around in the dark, she opened her mouth, hoping to draw someone’s attention, but at that a familiar hand covered her mouth. She started to flail about, hoping to dislodge the hand from her mouth. 

A quick shush from the person behind her caused her to briefly stop, hoping whatever her captor wanted would hopefully have the hard metal hand removed from her face.

Wait, metal?

"If you want, to get us, both caught and, most probably killed, then I suggest, you shut it!" The voice behind her was sharp, but cold. It reminded her of that ruster that had been outside the factory taking down the workers records. 

She decided that it would be best not to antagonise the person who held her life literally in hand. Slowly the hand that once covered her face was removed. Storm's first response was to gasp for air, partly because she had trouble breathing through hands, and partly due to the overwhelming stress over the last clicks.

"Be QUIET" 

With that, she attempted to control her breathing, taking long breaths in and out. It wasn't long till she had finally regained control over her breathing. 

"Who are y..." She was cut off the stranger who, in the darkness, she had yet to see. 

Waiting in silence for a few clicks longer, she could not bear to just wait. Just as she was about to move, the thunder of boots sounded above her. 

There must be hundreds of them 

Placing her hand across her own mouth, she attempted to quiet herself, fearing that even one slightly too loud breath would alert everyone to her location. The falling of boots soon stopped, and if she just strained her ears slightly, she could hear parts of a conversation. 

"Well then... she?!"

"..don't... sir"

"... cry was heard... upon searching... marks of her travel..."

She could barely even hear them through cracks in what she thought was a ceclium floor, or ceiling in her case. Yet that was all that was needed, it seemed that they were looking for someone, most probably the person who had assaulted her outside, and now was trapped with. 

Thinking about it, it was a surprise that she wasn't kill, with the way she was making noise, anyone who wanted to evade someone without being seen would rather kill said person, throw them someplace where nobody would care about an extra body, then continue on their way.

She hoped that as this was not the case, so other horrible fate didn't await her. 

The rumbling of movement sounded above again, and once it had died down, she allowed herself a deep breath, expelling the anxiety that she had built up. She waited just a few more clicks until the other person had started to move. She let them do whatever it was, as in the darkness, she was more likely to trip and break something else. 

Storm quickly shut her eyes, the flame from a crystal was too much for her eyes that had been experiencing darkness for what seem an age. After a brief contest fighting off tears from her swallen eyes, she looked around, noting the various boxes that had been distorted by the tears still ligering in her eyes. 

Remembering the general direction that the other person in here had took, she spun her head, and in the depths of the darkness that still lingered in the dim flame of the crystal and the brief flashes of ruby arc, she saw a figure. 

Tall was the only word she could use to describe the person, reaching what she thought was nearly 2 norm arcs tall, she could swear that if they were any taller, they would have hit the ceiling. 

"How's the arm?" 

The woman, now identifiable from the slight feminine pitch in the voice, asked, putting on a emphasis on the last word that caught her off guard. 

She winced, it seemed that forgetting a potentially broken arm, then moving it was not one of the smartest of choices that she had made. This time she slowly raised her arm, hoping not cause any more damage than had already been done. 

Peeking through her eyes, wary of what she might see, her arm had been bandaged, although poorly. 

At least she doesn't want me dead I suppose

Staring suspiciously at the woman who had yet to reveal herself from the darkness, Storm went over all the number of reasons that a person might not only not kill someone but also try to heal them. 

Slave? Prostitute? Meat shield? Distraction?

She didn't know, but the possibilities weren't exactly what she would have hoped. 

"Do not worry, *click*, I will not, *click*, hurt you, *click*, so please stop, *click*, looking at me, *click*, with such eyes"

Despite the woman’s pleads, Storm only grew warier, nobody helped someone and didn't demand some form of compensation. 

She thought it wise not to reply. Though, now it had quietened down outside, she could focus more on the woman's voice. She wasn't able to hear it first, but she noticed that when the woman stopped talking, there would be a small *click*. She knew where it was from, it was the sound of  gear teeth as it spun. 

As she was considering why the woman was making that sound, she didn't notice the woman moving out of the darkness and into the flame. 

Only when the woman came to a stop in front of her did she refocus her eyes on the woman in front of her.

Or, thing, would have been a better word to use.

“A ruster”

That had earnt her a slap from ruster.

Though she didn’t have any time to scream in pain as the ruster had obviously not held back, slapping her hard enough that she went over backwards, crushing her own arm under her weight.

Storm fell into darkness once again, something that she had experienced multiple times over the last 60 or so clicks.