Vow of Amber
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters. Promise.
Chapter One: Usual?
Looking over the whole city that stood in twilight, the teenage girl smiled. She couldn't help but notice the beauty of the city from so high up on the clock tower. The yellowish light touched everything and everyone, making it almost seem the whole city was a golden jewel, unwilling to be sold and worth millions. Wind blew the girl's long brown hair and sent chills down her back. As much as the girl hated this place, she couldn't help but have a slight feeling of enjoyment as she looked on Twilight Town.
With both of her arms wrapped around one of the clock tower's tall columns, her brown eyes watched in amusement as she looked down upon all the people that walked along and continued with their day as usual; keeping to their schedules like little lapdogs. Of course, she had one too. Everyone did. No matter what, you always have to go to school. Not much of one, but still so.
She never did like school. The first day of kindergarten, she cried for her parents all day.
"Knew I'd find you here, Lei." a male voice stated bluntly. She knew that voice well. Thinking about it, he cried with her that day. It was her twin brother Zane. His hair was quite a bit shorter then hers and blondish, but they had the same light blue eyes. You wouldn't know they were twins by looking at them.
Letting go of her column, she tuned to her brother that had come up behind her just moments before. "I knew you would; that's why I'm here."
Zane only smiled at his sister. He had taken care of both of them since the first day in the orphanage. That was a long time ago, though. He, being the almighty mature one, did his best not to think about it. He turned his gaze to Lei, "What's so great about being up here anyway?"
Lei remarked, "I like the view. The city looks a lot better from here." Thinking to herself, she realized how simple of an answer that had been.
"Hey guys!" a female voice said, walking up behind them. A cheery disposition seemed to flow within the voice.
Turning around, Lei took notice to her and her brother's friend. "What's up, Lilly?"
Lei noticed that Lilly seemed to have a bigger smile on then she had ever seen on her before. Her nickname, Phoenix, appeared to be anything but fitting for her at this point, but she was not named that for the sake of pure anger. It was her quick fuse that earned her the nickname. However, she was still a wonderful friend to have around if times got rough. She was a very reliable; especially when you needed her the most.
"The sky, what else is their?" Lilly said. She took her place between two of the columns of the tower and just sat there, as she usually did. She held a small cherry red apple in her hand, taking a bite every now and then.
"Not sure," Zane stated with a little hit of sarcasm. Strangely, he looked at his friend as if this would be the last time he would ever see her again.
Lei took a notice to her brother gendering at Lilly in such an abnormal way. Unsure of what to think, she looked up at her brother. He only pretended to smile back at her. This was not normal. The way he looked at her; the way he faked his smile. He knew something that no one else did. Lei, being the almighty immature one, was bent on finding out what it was. At least, she usually would be. Whatever he knew was bad; she was probably better off not knowing.
Startling brisk footsteps were heard from behind the teenagers. The sound was, Zane could tell, that of hard shoes; possibly boots. Zane was the first to turn to the sound of the footsteps. Just as he feared. It was him - the one he had been running from all this time. A smirk was pasted on his nearly whie face; strange how noticeable the color was even with the hood that covered most of his face.
Lei and Lilly followed, standing, as the sight of the clocked man disturbed both of them. "Who are you," Lei declared, trying to sound like she was fearless.
The clocked man turned to Lei, his smirk widened. "It took me quite awhile, but I finally found both of you."
Lei wasn't amused. She could tell that whoever it was could certainly see right through her; surely he acknowledged her fear. The teen was made very uncomfortable by this. However, the fact that there was nothing she could do about it only appeared to make it worse. Who was this guy anyway? A big shot in a black coat who thinks he can own the world?
Lilly's eyes meet Zane's. The first thing she noticed was the stricken look of grief on his face. He looked as if he was lost in his own little world, not noticing that something needed to be done in this time and day. The truth was he knew. It was, he figured, his fault the man he tried his best to give an angrily scowl was here because of him. He did it. He and his sister, one knew very little of the situation, have been running from them for quite sometime.
"She's wanted, you know that, don't you?" he spoke again in the same deep tone. Yes, he knew. Lei was wanted by the order. She was supposed to become one of them. Why not? It made since. They couldn't have him; they wanted her.
Lei's gaze changed once again towards Lilly. Was she the one they wanted? "You know that I won't let you have her while I'm still breathing."
The smirk never faded. "I was counting on it, actually. To bad it would happen that you'll have the grief of knowing that she slipped right through your fingers."
Lei remembered that she could nearly read her twin's mind just a few minutes ago. It would seem that whatever bond they shared had broken – at least for the moment. She was getting more and more worried about what they need her for (no longer did she think it was Lilly they wanted). The last words of the clocked figure kept running through her head in an endless loop. She was going to be forced to protect herself.
"What about me?" Lilly, who was now looking angry, yelled. "I'm still here to help him!"
"You matter not." he looked at her and said simply.
It was then Lilly decided to eat the last bite she could have of her apple, and threw it at the man with all the force she had in her wrist. She aimed for the head, but it didn't quite make it. He had caught it without any error, of course, with his right hand. Lilly's small fuse was getting shorter, but there was nothing she could do.
He let out a laugh and gazed at Lei. "Have fun with the dusk. They will bring you to me."
As quickly as he came, he used a black portal and made his way back to wherever he came from. Soundlessly, a white thing appeared. It was about four feet tall, and had a stringy kind of figure. The symbol on top of what would have been its head was that of the order, Zane knew. He also knew at a disadvantage because he had never faced one of these things before. He had no idea what they would do to him, either.
One more came, and the first one lunged for Zane. He used his only weapon, a small and simple sword, to fight it off. However, it didn't work very well...