Foreword: I’m not amazing with prologues and the like as I tend to give too much away and shut doors for later on, so I tried to keep it shorter and sort of introduce the world (simple world ik but I want to avoid info dumps later on) without giving too much away. Don’t worry though cos the chapters will be longer than this (hopefully about 2000 words).
Criticism is welcomed (though right now there’s not much to go on) and any errors pointed out will be a great help.
------------------------------------------
All was silent. The heat beat down upon the sand without mercy from a cloudless sky. The only shelter available was the dried out husks of buildings, half buried beneath the layers of sand and ash. There was no movement, no sound. Nothing, other than the sun and the dust.
Yet empty as this waste seemed, it was clear that something did still live; footprints crisscrossed over one another in all directions and in the distance a faint noise could be heard, straining against the oppressive silence, trying with all its might to reach a being which would acknowledge it.
Again the short ‘clink’ could be heard from the distance followed by the sight of a small white object impacting the dust before coming to a stop. Following the sound and direction of the ball a figure was seen standing atop the tallest building around gazing after the ball. Wearing some ancient looking combat boots with a pair of baggy and faded trousers, patched so many times the original colour was long since lost, tucked into the top and a tight fitting shirt revealing a body of medium height and muscularity, though he seemed to move with a beautiful grace, hinting at strength beyond normal men. His face was completely obscured with a scarf wrapped around his head multiple times only leaving a gap for a pair of mirrored goggles to peek out.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Slowly and completely at ease, the figure bent down and grabbed another white ball from the huge mountain of them to his side with a gloved hand, and, after carefully placing it before him, raised an object which seems like a thin pole with a thick ball-like head attached to the end, before uncoiling and launching the ball far into the distance.
Apparently satisfied with his efforts, the figure placed the club on the floor before retrieving a large great coat which hung down to his ankles and, leaving it open and pulling up the hood, he turned to the side and spoke in a quiet yet rough voice, as though unused to talking, “So Emilia, I was thinking we could go on holiday again, y’know? Maybe down to the fields or something?”
Turning further the figure tilted his head as though listening, though there was only silence. With a sign the man swivelled and dropped off the side of the building falling multiple stories, before landing with a dull thump and creating a crater around him.
“One of these days you’re gonna answer Emilia, you can’t always sit on the fence like this,” the figure muttered with a trace of annoyance, before choosing a random direction and walking off, raising small puffs of dust where he trod in the still air.
As the figure slowly sauntered off talking to his invisible companion, the silence once more enveloped the land, glad it would not be disturbed again by the strange, lone man for some time. Because after all, when the whole world is yours, why bother staying in one place for long?