Warning: I am not an English major and I do not have a degree in journalism, so yes, you will find mistakes in my writing.
Clouds blanketed the sky, motionless, heavy with unfallen rain. Chloe tugged a strand of wind-rippled hair behind her ear as she glared at a swarm of wild swans gliding in and out of the dense clouds without a care in the world. She was envious of the birds. They were carefree. They had no idea of the terror engulfing the land below.
Thunder erupted as the Asgardian knight spoke as if on cue, "After every storm hails the sun."
Chloe's veins burned with hatred as she focused on the malevolent knight smugly patronizing her people.
A few young children whimpered frightfully causing Chloe to glance in their direction. The pitiful children were clad in rags, eyes wide with terror as they gripped their mother's skirt tale. Not just the children, but everyone reflected dread, poverty, dehumanization, and it was all because of the Asgards.
Their town was in shambles reminding Chloe of a movie she once watched as a child called the Hunger Games. Back then life had been livable and the movie was considered fantasy entertainment, now the movie had become reality; a living nightmare.
"Never mind the formalities; you know why we have come!" The Asgardian knight bellowed in a smug tone, obviously aroused by the fear in the mortal's eyes.
The young women quickly lowered their eyes. Fathers and brothers placed protective arms around their daughters and sisters.
"That one, and that one over there." The Asgard commanded as he pointed toward young women, all of which were quite fair, donning heavy breast and curves. These young women had no arm to shield them. They boldly stared at the Asgards, flashing inviting smiles. These were the soiled women. The ones who desired to abandon the wreckage of Earth to serve their Asgardian rulers for food, jewels, and gold.
"And that one!"
A suffocating fear washed over Chloe. It was as if she could feel the knight's eyes upon her body. Chloe's heart raced as boot steps pounded her way. Her mind whirled, she wanted to glance up, but was too frightened to find out if what her intuition forewarned was about to come true. Maybe if she kept staring at her feet, he would just pass her by.
Cruel hands captured her. "No!" she cried out living the terror her mind had conjured.
"Yes, yes, the little dark-haired one."
Chloe was not about to submit like some willing whore. She slashed at her captor raking her nails across his face, trying to flee. Without restraint, the burly Asgardian goon captured a fist-full of hair, punched her in the kidney, dropping her to her knees.
With harsh rocks digging into her flesh, Chloe closed her eyes trying to catch her breath, listening to the sound of the Asgardian knights as they laughed at her demise.
"You cannot take her!" echoed above the men's taunts.
Chloe's anger turned instantly to fright as her grandfather hobbled, using a cane, in her direction.
"She is spoken for. She is my granddaughter. You cannot take her into service."
Tears simmered in Chloe's onyx eyes at the heart-wrenching pain lacing her grandfather's words. Her grandparents were all she had left in the world, and she all they had. They needed her. They depended on her for survival.
Borius, the Asgardian General, stepped forward. He had been watching the entertainment silently until now. As he slithered toward the knight restraining Chloe, the mortals parted to make room for him, dropping to their knees as if he were a king.
Borius grinned revealing several missing teeth as he placed a firm grip upon Chloe's chin. "Will you continue to fight?" he asked in an unusual low tone, his dark eyes reflecting the evil in his inanimate heart.
Defiantly, Chloe jerked her chin from his grip and hissed "until the death!"
Borius erupted loudly with patronizing laughter, his men joining in as if they perceived a sick joke.
"Very well, little mortal. As you wish. Gut the old man!"
"No!" Chloe screamed out, tearing free of her captor to kneel before Borius. "I will not fight! I will go with you freely!"
Two Asgardian brutes started toward the old crippled man with extended swords. Borius held up his hand and they stopped obediently.
"That is a good girl." He spat, motioning his men to follow his lead.
Chloe glanced over her shoulder with tears streaming down her cheeks at her grandfather, his weeping eyes filled with pain, as the Asgardian knights led her to her doom. Her life, her world, and everything she knew was about to change.