Chapter 1

I woke up before the sun could rise. I quickly got dressed in my usual shirt and jeans and threw on my black jacket. I dusted off the little pieces of dirt that had accumulated on it over the night dug through the pockets to find my little packet of mints. I popped some into my mouth before crawling under my bed to pull out a small wooden crate.

I took off the lid and pulled out the item hidden in there, covered in a thin sheet of black. I unwrapped it, throwing the black cloth back into the box, and held up the gun up to the light. It was a small one, something that could help defend me but not actually engage in battle.

I tucked it on my side and pushed the crate back under the bed. I stood back up and placed my hoodie over my head.

Slowly opening the door, I poked my head out into the hallway and glanced down the hallway to make sure that Mom was still asleep. Her door was closed and her lights were off, a sign that she wasn't awake yet. I quietly Stepped out and closed the door gently behind me. I tiptoed my way door the stairs, careful to not cause too many loud creaks as I went.

It was dark and silent downstairs, so I had to carefully make my way through the maze of rooms. My fingertips glided across the walls, barely touching it. I reached front door and pulled it open. The morning air blew in and rustled my jacket. My stray strands of hair blew around my face for a moment before becoming still again.

I walked out and pulled the door tightly shut behind me. I took in a deep breath before walking down the street. As I went, I gradually gathered speed until I was sprinting my way through the silent neighborhood. Most of the houses were dark, except for a few brightly lit ones. I recognized some of the lit ones as Connor's, Jazz's, and Clover's house. Maybe they were doing some last minute studying before the SoulMaker Trial.

The SoulMaker Trial. A trial designed to pick out the best of the best. A trial designed to lower the human population.

By now, it was no secret that Earth was depleted of resources and that the Council couldn't sustain everyone. So their solution was to make the SoulMaker Trial, an exam that you took once you turned 18 years old, in order to efficiently separate out the bad ones from the good ones. Those who pass could go on and live a pleasant life while the ones who failed... simply disappear.

No one really hears about them once the trial is over. Though some say that the failures join those living in the Gray Area and keep a low profile. But then again, there's no evidence for that since no one sees nor hears from someone who failed the SoulMaker exam ever again.

The thought about the SoulMaker Trial that was going to take place in less five hours made me run faster. My heart pounded in my ears, but I ignored it. I ran past all the houses on my block until I reached the end. Quite literally the end.

Each of our neighborhoods was built on a Plate, a floating area above the actual city of Kellos. It was the Council's plan to save as much space as possible. To the right were rows and rows of greenhouses and ranches for food. To the left was the actual city of Kellos.

I remembered learning in school that before Kellos existed, the world was collapsing after humans corrupted it too much with pollution. People were dying left and right from hunger and disease. But then the Council rose to power and brought things under its control. From the ashes of destruction, it build the glorious city of Kellos. Afterwards, in order to prevent a tragedy from happening again, it established the SoulMaker Trial. And that was how we were taught to accept the trial as a righteous event.

Ever since the SoulMaker Trial came into existence, people began to prepare for it rigorously. I remembered all the students of my class fighting each other to answer the teacher's questions in a vain attempt to appear smart because they thought it would increase their chances of succeeding the SoulMaker Trial.

As I stood there, absently watching the sun start to slowly rise above the horizon, I suddenly heard a small movement behind me. It was soft and barely there, but it was so dead quiet that I could pick up even the slightest sounds.

Immediately thinking it must be one of the Forsaken, I quickly whipped around in alarm and instinctively pulled out my gun. I pointed it in the general direction of where I had first heard the notice and steadied my aim, waiting for any further signs of movement. I waited, counting silently to ten in my head. Even though nothing happened, I still kept my gun pointed.

That was when I noticed a figure standing silently in the shadows near one of the houses. At first, I almost missed it since it was so dark and it was standing in the shadows.

Usually, I would have let my bullets fly by now, but I didn't. Something about the figure didn't seem hostile. It looked too thin, too weak, too frail to be able to do anything. I didn't dare to take my eyes off of the figure. It didn't move from it's spot.

After a moment, the figure turned and melted into the shadows, and it was like it was never there in the first place. I remained standing rigidly, the hair on the back of neck standing up. I didn't dare move in case the figure decided to come back and attack. When it didn't, and I had to wait some extra seconds just to be sure, I tucked the gun back into my belt.

I ran as fast as I could back home, the whole time looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was following me. The sun was beginning to climb higher and higher into the sky by the time I reached the front door of my house. I checked the digital watch wrapped around my wrist and saw that I still had three hours left before the SoulMaker Trial.

My breath was coming out uneven and ragged, and I was covered in a layer of cold sweat. I stood outside the door, trying to catch my breath and regain my composure before entering the house.

The lights were all on, so it meant that Mom was awake. I heard the unmistakable sounds of sizzling coming from the kitchen and immediately knew that Mom was cooking our breakfast. I pulled my gun from around my belt and tucked it under my jacket, keeping a hand there to keep it from falling. I left my hoodie on as I made my way into the house.

I had hoped to be able to walk past the kitchen without Mom spotting me, but I had no such luck. She saw me the moment I tried to creep up the stairs.

"Evie, is that you?" Mom called. She was dressed in her usual white lab coat with her dark brown hair pulled up into a messy bun on top of her head. Mom worked for Kellos science research department as one of the higher ups. She was always so busy that she would go to sleep in her work clothes and simply wake up and go to work without changing. In my opinion, it was quite efficient since it saved a lot of time. But today she chose to take the day off since it was my SoulMaker Trial and she wanted to be there for me as much as possible.

I froze on the first step of the stairs and quickly replied back, "Yeah, I just came back from a quick jog around the neighborhood."

"Evie, you know how dangerous it is outside these days," Mom scolded. "I heard that there are some Forsaken members running around. They are said to be mainly active when it's dark. You could have gotten yourself into trouble!"

"I'm fine," I lied and turned to face her. "I stayed on our street. Nothing happened. I promise."

Mom frowned and her eyes searched my face for any signs that I could be telling a lie. I put on my best poker face and hoped that she couldn't see how pale I was from running and the lump beneath my jacket that concealed my gun.

Finally, to my relief, she sighed. "Oh, alright. As long as you were careful. Go ahead and change so that you can come downstairs and have your breakfast," she said as she went back to tending to the bacon. "You know that they'll come to collect you soon for the SoulMaker Trial."

I started to climb up the stairs when she turned and called out to me again, "And... please wear something nice for... you-know-what, ok?"

She didn't say the real name, but I knew she was talking about the SoulMaker Trial. She wanted me to change into something more suiting for my age and for the trial rather than my usual black jacket and jeans. But she didn't understand that the jacket was a gift from Lucilia and that it was one of the few things left I owned that reminded me of my sister. Although it's already been 11 years since I last saw Lucilia, the jacket still fit me because when Lucilia had first given it to me, she had accidentally brought one three times my size. Now that I've grown so much, the jacket fit me perfectly.

Instead of arguing with her, I decided to say, "Ok, fine." I continued my way up the stairs, the hilt of the gun digging into my ribs. I quickly made it into my room and closed the door behind me. I placed my gun on the bed and took off my jacket. I placed it next to the gun and get onto my hands and knees. I pulled the dusty, old box from under the bed once more and opened it.

I grabbed the crumbled black cloth from inside and the gun from on top of my bed. Carefully, I wrapped it back up and, after making sure it was secure, I gently placed it back into the box and sealed it once more. I pushed it into the dark shadows at the back of the bed and stood up.

I grabbed my jacket and shook out the wrinkles and the dust particles. I folded it neatly and brought it to my closest. I flicked on the light and it blinked for a second before stabilizing.

I didn't own much clothes because I mainly stuck to a few sets of clothes only. Also, there were basically no color variety except for either black or white or a dark shade of gray. But amongst the bland colors was a single red dress. It was one that Mom brought for me on my eighteenth birthday a few months ago. One day, when she came in to inspect my room, she happened to take a quick look inside my closest and was horrified by how colorless it was. So, she immediately went out and bought the dress to give me as a preset for my birthday.

I placed my jacket on a shelf and stared at the red dress. Then I pulled it out of the closest and brought it to my bed where I placed it down and continued to stare at it. It stared at the bright red stash, the frilly hem, and the strapless top. It was definitely completely different from my usual outfit and it made me extremely uncomfortable. Finally, after taking in a deep breath, I decided to get it over with and changed into it.

The red dress was tight and itchy and uncomfortable. It went slightly above my knees and the portion at my chest pressed tightly into my skin. I tied the sash behind me and felt the knot sink into my lower back. It felt like I was in a cage. I grabbed the only set of low high heels I owned and placed them over my feet.

I stood in front of a mirror and frowned at my appearance. It was odd to see myself dressed in something other than black, white, and gray.

I smoothed out the dress and watched as the colors shimmered different accents of red. The vibrant red of the dress brought out my blazing red eyes. I blinked and the colors in my eyes seemed to reflect more red than usual. My white hair had grown longer over the years and now reached the bottom of my shoulder blades. The side bangs that framed my face had gotten as well and could now partially hide my eyes.

Everything about my appearance was odd, abnormal. My eyes, especially. No one I knew had red eyes like mine. Theirs were normal: black, blue, hazel, green. I was always different from the crowd. I wore my black jacket to hide my eyes mostly and my pale hair. Mom had always told me that when she saw me walking around the house in the dark, she thought I was a ghost.

I decided to let it go this time instead of finding ways to cover up my features. I did a quick comb of my hair and headed out my room and down the stairs.