Chatter slowly fills my ears as I sit at the long cedar wood table. My father is next to me as some High elders come over. As I stare off into the distance, trying to make this horrible feast get over with, my father nudges my arm.

“Nemesis, go talk to the other elders.” My father says while glaring at me then looking towards the Elder in charge of the farming district. I nod to my father and begin walking towards her. As I walk over, I feel her gaze digging into my skin. 

“Hello Nemesis. I assume Lord Aldric sent you?”

“That would be correct, lady Ceres,” I reply with a bow.

“There is no need for formalities anymore, dear. After all, you are on the path to take over your father's place as the head of the city.” Ceres replies with a chuckle. As she talks I force a smile onto my face and laugh. 

“I guess you’re right.”

Towering over me, she inquires, “How is your training doing by the way? Last time I checked you were almost done with your weapon training.” 

“It’s going well, I’m set to finish within the next couple of months,” I reply as I continue looking up at her.

“I assume then after you finish you will begin to take over your father's duties?”

“That is the plan,” I say, a bitter taste filling my mouth. I can't stand the idea of ruling over this city, and having to keep everybody inside the walls. “Well, I should get back to my father, have a good day lady Ceres.”

“You as well Nemesis, and send my regards to your father.” She says, then I turn away from her and walk back over to my father. The wind catches in my cherry-colored hair as I walk.

“Lady Ceres of the farming district sends her regards, Father,” I say as I stand firmly next to him, my dark blue dress flowing as I stop. 

“Very well, I suppose we should get this dinner started.” He says while giving me a nod. I sit down in my seat at the end of the table next to my father. My father follows not far behind. Slowly all the elders begin making their way over to their designated seats. Once everyone is seated my father stands up and begins to speak. 

“If I could have everyone's attention, if you have not met her already this is my daughter Nemisis. In a couple of months, I am set to step down as head of the city. And I am leaving my place to her. When she turns fifteen she will take control of the army, the wall patrols, the knowledge of the outside world, and total control over Bojan. Make sure you give her your utmost respect.” As he finished he raises a glass, “To Nemesis, future ruler of Bojan.” The crowd follows suit, raising their glasses and then taking a sip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the night continues everyone slowly begins to file out of the dining hall, leaving just me and my father standing by the door. I quickly turn my body to face my father once I realize the room is empty. “What did you mean by I would learn about the outside world? I thought that outside the wall is just deserted land left over after the war, but now you're telling me there is more in the world than just our city?” As I speak my voice slowly grows in volume until it turns into a yell. 

A stern look quickly appeared on his face as he towered over me. “Don’t yell at me young lady, I had to wait to tell you. But now I know you’re going to take my place so I can finally tell you the truth.” He sighs as he begins to lead me to his office where pulls a rolled-up yellowed map out of his desk. He slowly rolls it out in front of us, making sure not to rip it. It has a squiggly shape with several small dots drawn on it. I watch as he points to a shape in the northwest and begins to talk again, “This is what used to be called Minnesota. It was a part of a country called the United States, and this is where our city sits. A couple hundred years ago an all-out civil war broke out which left the country divided. But many people were still left alive so they created cities that are spread throughout the states, Bojan being one of them.” As he finishes he looks over at me, a look of curiosity in his eyes as if he’s analyzing my every move. 

I look up from the map, “If there are other cities then why do you tell everyone that it’s deserted out there and not allow us to leave?” As I talk I feel anger slowly rise inside me. His look quickly changes from curiosity to anger. 

“It's for your protection, we don't want to risk another civil war!” He replies, his voice growing more threatening. 

“But that doesn't mean you have to lie to everyone about what's out there or keep us stuck in this city!” I yell, any sense of rationality having left me long ago. I look back up at my father and then turn away, the anger bubbling inside of me now too large to ignore. I swiftly sprint away from him, running through the dimly lit halls that are filled with paintings of long-gone ancestors. 

“Nemesis stop.” My father screams after me. But I don’t listen, I keep running my legs burning beneath me. Eventually, I make it out of the manor, but I don’t stop. I keep running for what feels like hours, passing more houses than I can count. 

As I continue sprinting I make my way through a wheat field, the spikelets of wheat scratching at my legs and pulling at my dress. The more I run through the field the more I feel like I’m going to collapse until I suddenly do. I fall to the ground into the shadow of a nearby buckeye tree, the nearby wheat attaching itself to my dress. As I sit underneath the tree, the exhaustion still very strong, I see a figure start to walk towards me. I can only make out the outline of two long braids flowing in the soft breeze. As the figure gets closer I'm able to make out more details, it’s a girl around my age with two beautiful long black braids. Suddenly she extends a hand down toward me. “Hi, I’m Eros! Do you need some help getting up?” As she talks I smile and nod. I take her hands, which are as soft as silk. As she pulls me up I stare at her, the sun that shines through the branches lighting up her face. Making her soft features seem as if they are glowing, wisps of her black hair brushing against her forehead from the wind. While taking her in I see a small wooden pin with a red cross on it. 

Then it hit me, I had seen a similar symbol on my father's desk after he had been in a meeting with the elders trying to stop the people from revolting. Finally, I mustered the courage to ask about it, “What’s your pin?” My voice shakes as I ask. A smile appeared on Eros’ face as she heard my question. “It’s the symbol of the rebellion.” She paused before speaking again. “They are planning to try and take down the elders tonight.” Her eyes shine expectantly as she watches me. Then it hit me like a truck, people were going to take down the elders, my father included. Slowly the panic on my face changes to a small smirk. 

“Do you need any help?” Her smile changes to a large grin as she stares at me.

“We’ll take all the help we can get.” Suddenly I feel her start pulling my hand, her grasp still tight. And before I know it we are in a full-on run, the wheat pulling at my dress again. 

After a couple of minutes of running Eros suddenly stops us in front of a run-down barn with a spray-painted red cross on the side. 

“Come on, this is the place. The others are waiting inside.”  

Eros’s voice is soft as she lets go of my hand and begins to make her way through the barn doors. I follow her inside, the doors creaking loudly as I move them to enter. Suddenly dust fills my nose and I have to resist the urge to sneeze. I look up and through the dust, I slowly can make out the shape of around 20 people.  

“Hey Eros, who’s this you brought with you?” A tall man asks. His brown hair going in every direction.

“My name is Nemesis, a pleasure to meet you,” I reply, a small smile growing on my face until I see the scowl on the man’s face. We stand in silence for a moment until he speaks again. “Like the girl next in line to rule?” A small growl escapes his throat as he glares at me. I feel the angry eyes digging into me, waiting for me to respond. My eyes dart back over to Eros hoping for any sort of comfort, but all I see is her motioning for me to go on. I let out a long sigh and begin to speak again, “Not anymore, I gave up that place.” Looks of shock fill the faces around me. “What do you mean you gave up that place?” A girl from the back asks.

“I mean I’m not doing it. I don't want to run this godforsaken city. They lied to me, they lied to you, they lied to all of us. And I can’t stand it. So I’m not going to run this city.” As I respond a grin suddenly appears on the face of the man from before.

Suddenly the sound of claps fills my ears, I look around and see everyone in the room clapping including Eros. “I think you’re going to fit right in.” He extends a hand towards me. “My name is Perseus, and I’m in charge of this army.”

 I shake his calloused hand while giving him a small smile. “It’s nice to make your acquaintance Perseus.” 

As I let go of his hand Persues turns back to the crowd. “Alright folks, make sure you have your weapons and armor ready. We are set to leave in half an hour.” Then he turns back to me. “Nemesis, I’m assuming you have learned how to fight?” As he talks I nod quickly. “Good, we have extras of whatever weapon you could want. Make sure you’re prepared, we can’t have our newest recruit dying on us at the very beginning.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 After a little while Persues begins filing people out of the run-down barn. I follow the crowd but stay at the very back, grabbing a nearby sword as I exit. Suddenly I see Eros appear next to me; an oak horse bow on her shoulder. I look at her, a small smile appearing on her face as we continue marching toward the center of Bojan. 

As we walk farther large buildings start to come into view, large intricate pillars made of marble only found in houses of elders like Ceres. The longbowman slowly start to spread out to find advantage points, while me and the other swordmen march closer for combat.

I look over at Eros before I go forward, “Stay safe, alright?” As I talk she gives a small nod. With confirmation that she will stay safe, I head forward with the attack line. Suddenly I see that the others are fighting, and arrows begin flying past my head going both directions. I quickly rush towards a tall man in chainmail armor and stab towards his stomach. Blood oozes out of the wound as he crumples to his knees.

   As I turn away from the man a blood-curdling scream fills my ears. I try to locate the sound; turning in every direction I can think of. Finally, I find where it’s coming from, Eros is lying on the ground with an arrow protruding from her stomach. A piercing cry escapes my mouth as I run towards her.

Tears flow down my face as I watch the blood pool on the grass beneath her. Falling to my knees beside Eros I quickly pull her onto my lap and position her head to face me. My tears start falling onto her body as if it is beginning to rain. 

Suddenly I see her give me a smile smile, one filled with pain. “Guess I broke our promise.” A small chuckle exits her mouth as she stares up at me. 

A small smile makes its way onto my face as I brush hair out of Eros’ face so that I can look into her eyes. “Yeah, you did,” I respond as tears fall faster down my cheeks.

Suddenly I see Eros sit up, groaning in pain as she does. Then she put her face against mine, her soft lips filling my senses as she touched mine. After a moment, I break from the surprise and kiss her back. It feels like it lasts forever, the feeling of her touching me taking over all my senses.

Then she falls away from me, her body going limp in my arms. Her umber-colored eyes look dull and lifeless. Tears drop onto her cheeks as I use my fingers to shut her eyes and lie her on the ground. After I place her down gently, making sure her braids don’t get caught in anything, I stand up and wipe my tears onto the sleeve of my dress. Suddenly I see my father out of the corner of my eye holding his bow while glaring at me.

I march towards him, my sword drawn. “Father, was this your doing?” I ask while motioning towards Eros’ corpse. I glare at him as I stomp forward. 

As I stand in front of him He tries to speak but I cut him off, “You killed her! On top of lying to all of us, you killed her!” It comes out as a scream, my grip on the hilt of my sword tightening. Without another word, I knee him in the chest, making him stumble backward. The ground shakes as he falls flat on his back. I quickly plant a foot on his chest, my dress getting caught on my high heels. 

“You brought this upon yourself, Father. You have killed someone I care for. Now you must pay.” I yelled, a low growl escaping my mouth. I lift my sword above his chest holding the hilt with both hands, and bring it down with all my strength. As It hits his chest blood bursts out and the color drains from his face.

As I watch the blood pool under him, I lift my foot off his chest and turn away from him. “Goodbye Father, enjoy bleeding out like Eros did.” As I finish I begin walking away and towards Persues who is talking to a group of rebels. 

Once I get closer, Persues turns towards me. “Hey Nemesis, is Eros with you?” As I hear his question I look down in shame and shake my head slowly.

“She’s gone Persues, She’s gone.” I choke out, tears begin to flow down my face once again. I look up from the ground and see that his eyes have turned red, but he is still resisting the urge to cry.

“Then we have to get going, Miller was able to blow a hole in the wall for us to escape out of.” He turns away from our group and begins to lead the five of us toward the hole. As we walk through the wheat fields once more, the buckeye tree I met Eros under, passes by me on my right. Tears drop onto the spikelets as the tree fades into the background as we approach the hole.

“Nemesis, are you ready to start a new life outside this city?” Perseus inquires as we stand by the hole. The sight of bright green grass is barely visible through the smoke, but it’s there. I nod and begin to walk through the broken stone, all I can hope is that this new life will be better than my former.