Prologue

Hanging over the sprawling giant, the haze smothered everything from the jagged spires, exposed metal skeletons, and the staggering figures of lost souls. The orange glow concealed the stars so that only the coldest and brightest remained to leer out of the artificial dawn at the rotting husk. The smog clung to a lone figure running down the narrow alley way. It teased hair damp with sweat, obscured wild eyes, and tainted the open weeping wound in her side.

Those plump cheeks used to quiet words puffed out with her breath, barely stirring the air which now pushed her down. A discarded scrap of metal clawed at the heel of a once stylish shoe to send the soft white flesh crashing into the unforgiving concrete. Once youthful limbs scrabbled against the sludge of waste, searching for purchase as the shredded meat of her knees wept red onto the shredded hose. Clouded brown eyes, so endeared by many a young man, widened at the emergence of a darkened form in the mouth of the alleyway. With each breath, pain stabbed into her lungs prompting a harsh coughing fit. The coughing sharpened the pain into a fine point as the blood filled the air cavity.

"Why?" her voice rattled out.

The shadow did not say a word as steel cut through the girl's unheeded question. Her eyes widened against the last flash of pain so that her last image was the harsh light of the uncaring stars.


A/N: Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas.

Chapters 1-3 will be revised tentatively by Jan 2013 with new chapters hopefully coming after that. Sorry for the hiatus and thanks for any who still kept with this. As you all know Writer's Block can be a pain so your patience is appreciated.