Content Warning: Instances of bullying, mentions of death, fire, and fire-related injuries

Context

A man only named "The Father" rules over the city of Aurelium, a shining gold city that floats in the Sky Sea. This city and others are connected via the Sky Sea, where all the land floats in the sky. Evander is a young boy who was raised as a soldier in the Father's army, but who is possessed every night by dreams of a woman with shockingly gray eyes.

Evander had the same dream, night after night. He looked upon his mother, or at least who he thought was his mother. She was beautiful, but not the kind of beauty that made Evander conscious, but beautiful like a sunrise. The start of a new day could only be compared to the woman’s warm gaze. He heard an infant’s cries, coming from his own mouth. The woman shushed him softly, smiling with more than just her mouth. Her nose bunched and crinkled; her soft black hair fell in spirals perfectly down the sides of her copper skin. But it was her eyes that truly gave Evander peace. The stark gray color eased his cries. Something about this dream felt so familiar and comforting. He looked forward to it every night, until the dream ended. His mother’s face faded and the last thing he always saw was soft, gray rings of her eyes.

The soft hustle and bustle of Evander’s barracks woke him up as the lanterns on the walls were lit, dimly illuminating the room. His brothers’ shadows danced in the light of the lanterns as he rubbed his eyes. He crawled out of his bunk, softly greeted his brothers and pulled on his own leather armor. Rory snored loudly in his bunk, just above Evander’s. Evander envied his ability to sleep so soundly, but shook the boy awake nonetheless.

“What is it?” Rory groaned. “Oh, Evander, let me rest.” He turned on his bunk as the others in the room chuckled at him softly.

“Get going, brothers. He’ll be up soon,” Evander assured them. His brothers already stood in formation, ready to depart for the Great Hall, and Rory could not even get out of bed on time. “Alright, Rory. But we’re leaving without you. Enjoy Strider’s late punishment,” Evander teased. Strider was strict; his punishments were the same.

Rory shot awake and stumbled out of his high bunk, pulling on his armor in an instant. “No punishment for me,” he said.

“Not today, at least,” Evander poked back. The two joined their brothers as they left the barracks. The hallways underneath the surface of Aurelium were dim, but the route to the Great Hall was known by heart by all of the young soldiers. They knew where to turn and how many steps.

“You’re not going to be recognized by the Father anytime soon if you can barely even get up on time, Rory,” Evander said in the dark hall.

“I’m here, alright.” Rory panted. “Captain Strider could probably use one less dock guard anyway.”

“Judging by your size Rory,” their brother Leto joked loudly, “the Captain would be down three dock guards!” His brothers next to him laughed.

Leto was a taller boy who always caught the attention of Captain Strider. Evander and Rory kept quiet, afraid that Leto and his friends would tease them further. The two had learned from experience and remained silent as they entered the Great Hall.

Humming with chatter and open-mouth chewing, the expansive Great Hall served as both a dining hall and a directory for the boys. Evander and Rory helped themselves to the food that sat at their tables: cold milk, mushed oats, gilded slices of turkey and ham, and steaming vegetables were quickly engulfed by the boys and they hurried to the directory board. Evander was displeased.

Dock security.

“Just for once I would have liked it if Strider would take us seriously.” Rory complained. “Being of service to the Father is so much more than watching Cloudfish be carted away in barrels every day.”

“Do better on the physical examinations in the future,” Captain Strider replied as he approached the two. “and maybe we will see about putting you somewhere else.” A few boys around them giggled quietly. “In order to move up, you have to…”

“Earn our quality.” Evander finished. “We know, Captain. But what does that even mean?”

“You’ll know it when you do it.” Strider reassured them. Easy for him to say. He was a muscular man with scars and stubble. He had seen battle. Strider patted the two on the back and began to eat at a table nearby.

“We are thirteen,” Evander said as the two left the Great Hall for the Armory. “We cannot save anyone from a burning airship or stop a theft in the market. How are we supposed to ‘earn our quality?’” His voice echoed through the brick tunnels underneath the city.

“Like Strider said, we will know it when we do it. And I’m going to do it. That will show Leto and the others. See how much they will tease me then.” Rory replied.

“I’m sorry that they tease you like that. They should know better. We are brothers, all of us.”

“No, we’re not.” Rory stopped and turned. “You are my brother, Evander. But not them. And if I have to endure a few teases, it will be well worth it when we have earned our quality and met the Father.”

He was right. Meeting the Father was the ultimate test of quality. Although neither of them had ever seen him, he took them in and raised them, all while ruling the Gilded Skyway. He was a hero to them. Evander’s mind drifted to his mother and her soft gray eyes. It was times like these when he wondered if she was even real, or just another myth.

The two continued to walk until the temperature rose and they reached the smoky dark armory. The two coughed as the sounds of metal clanging on metal reverberated throughout the building. The two boys retrieved a pair of dull spears and exited the building, finally enveloped by the sunlight of the morning.

The city of Aurelium never ceased to astound Evander. The air was light as he breathed through his nose. The chatter of the townspeople and the hum of the city’s firemakers filled his ears as Evander and Rory walked through the crowded marketplace.

The boys began to walk south towards the docks, with their eyes glued to the path in front of them. The two had learned that if they looked up at the townspeople, they would soon be given a reason to look down again. Just like Leto. The people’s eyes overflowed with so much disdain that it hurt Evander. Rory had been spit at. According to the older boys, the townspeople didn’t like being ruled by the Father, but Evander could not imagine why. Did he not take them in the same way he did Evander? What reason could they have to hate him?

~

As much as he disliked how dull dock security was, he enjoyed the view. Nothing to see but endless sky. The clouds above and below him broke up the eternal blue, as did the Sky Sea. How beautiful. Endless strands of blues and greens wove through each other, creating a pathway for airships to travel throughout the world. The aquamarine braid confounded Evander. What was it like to sail through the Sky Sea? What did it feel like? What did it smell like? Endless questions that he was afraid would never be answered.

One day, Evander thought, Rory and I will sail through the Sky Sea together.

Evander was broken out of his mind by a quiet boom and fast-paced footsteps behind him. He turned as dozens of people ran towards him, away from the market in the center of the city. A pillar of smoke rose from behind the crowds of fleeing people. He looked at Rory at the other end of the dock.

“What do we do?” Evander yelled as Rory approached. The two heard screams as townspeople scattered.

“We stay here. Earn our quality.” Rory said, stoically. He grabbed his spear, the tip blunt, and held himself ready. Evander followed his lead.

Armored soldiers soon joined them, their gold armor no doubt weighing them down as they clanked towards Evander and Rory.

“An explosion has hit the town center, but no one is injured,” one of them reassured the boys. He turned to another soldier, covered in a green dust. “It seems to have been a defacing gadget. The entire town center is covered in this same green dust. Be careful, brothers. It could be volatile. You two,” he turned back to the boys. “We will stay here with you. Let no one leave.”

Soon crowds of people began to gather at the docks, itching to take their airships and flee. The people screamed at the soldiers. Evander was afraid. He didn’t know what was happening. Looks of horror on the people’s faces terrified him. He looked at Rory, who was muttering under his breath.

“Earn your quality, earn your quality.” Rory said, determined.

A man soon pushed past the crowds and made a break for the dock.

“Sir! No one leaves until the situation is resolved.” The man was scrawny and jittery, his dirty gold greaves, chest plate, and goggles covered in the same green powder. He fished for something in his pocket, and the man suddenly produced a puff of fire, cautiously igniting the green-covered soldier in blue flames. The soldier screamed as he boiled in his armor. He collapsed on the dock, and the armored men began to panic, quickly removing their armor before it ignited. The jittery man with the flame leaped over the burning body and sprinted for an airship. The blue flames lit the wooden boards of the dock, and soon the fire began to spread.

“Evander! Quickly!” Rory shouted at him. Evander could barely get his legs to move, but soon the boys chased after the man. He stopped at the end of the dock as the boys brandished their spears at him. The fire was catching up, igniting the moored airships in a series of ear-piercing explosions. All of them were destroyed, and he had trapped himself on the dock with Evander and Rory.

“There is nowhere to run anymore! Come with us, now!” Rory commanded. The shaft of Evander’s spear shook in his hands.

“No! Do you not see what the Father has done to you? To them?” He held a small gadget in his hand, flicking it open and creating another flame. “He has poisoned your minds. He chokes the Sky Sea with his iron grip. I would rather die than live in a world ruled by the likes of him.”

The Father? His Father?

“Please,” Evander pleaded, speaking up. “Please just come with us. Enough harm has been done today.” Evander lowered his spear. He was panicked, but he didn’t know what else to do. So he thought of his mother. “Do you have a family?” He asked.

“I do,” the man replied. “A wife and daughter.”

“Is this something that they would want you to do? Hurting and killing people? Please,” Evander begged. “No more death.” He let his spear drop from his hands.

The man stood at the end of the dock, dropping his fire tool. Rory quickly rushed to grab the tool as the man approached Evander, sobbing. “I’m sorry,” he said to the boy. He stepped towards the boys, his hands stretched to be bound by Evander.

Click.

The man screamed as his armored leg began to burn with a bright blue glow. Evander stepped back; his mind barren. The heat pressed against him. His eyes were scorched by the bright light of the flames. The fire spread. It covered the man’s chest, legs, and head in an orb of fire. The man’s unburning arms scratched and clawed at his chest, and he stumbled down the length of the dock. 

Rory held the man’s fire gadget in his hands, admiring it. He cradled the gadget and illuminated a small blue flame.

“What did you do? What did you do, Rory?” Evander screamed as he shook him.

Rory clicked the gadget shut. The man tumbled off the edge of the dock and into the sky below them, his screams echoing throughout the Sky Sea.

“I earned my quality.”

About the Author

This is the first chapter in a larger work titled "Gray and Gold," which will explore Evander's journey without The Father, Rory, and Aurelium, but he will meet a woman named Rhea who will change everything he knows. This piece was initially created as a creative writing story submission for a class last year, and every so often I return to this world and its characters. 

I began to write in high school, very much inspired by my sophomore English teacher, Ms. Kelley. She is who I am most thankful for when it comes to writing because she was the one who showed me the immense power of it. 

I am also very much inspired by the themes, creations, and characters of popular fantasy such as J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," Sarah J. Maas's "Throne of Glass" series, or Netflix's "Arcane." There are themes of the choice of family throughout, inspired by Naughty Dog's incredible game "The Last of Us." 

Throughout the many past drafts of this story, one thing has remained the same: At the end of the day, you choose your family.

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Cover design made using Canva design tools.