Alarms blare as Braeden’s bare feet pad along the long hallway made of every precious material the earth had ever yielded. His hospital clothes are crude, hardly more than paper. His face is tight, set against the oncoming storm; but he had to have it. He had to hold this small sword in his hands from the moment he saw it, hanging above The Paladin in his unused office. It had called to him; and now it was his.

He presses himself against the marble column, letting its cold cross over into him, slowing his heart and helping to offset the pain of his entire body. The markings on his arms, these sinister tattoos are red and swollen. They burned with every drop of sweat.

“Find him!”

Braeden’s eyes open, he knows that voice, The Paladin’s voice. As softly as he can, he slides back into the darkness of the executive wing, his feet suddenly feeling the cold floor. Boots storm down the corridors just beyond him. His eyes settle on an open window through an office. Quickly, faster than he’s ever been, he pads to it, slipping though with only a modicum of effort.

“There!”

Behind him the City Guard is bearing down on him, sticks drawn ready to beat the demon child to a pulp. The night air whips down the balcony, coming up across the fields of the Paladin Academy and blasting against Braeden, ignoring his joke of clothing and chilling him to the bone.

“Freeze, boy. Put the weapon down.”

But he is already frozen, a terrible noise filling his head, like static filled with a million voices. He drops to his knees, holding his hands to his ears and screams into the air.

“STOP!”

The guards freeze, unsettled by the animalism of Braeden’s roar. In his head, things become suddenly clear. He looks up, seeing the railing, knowing how far down it is. But a single word from among that static hammering at his head pushes him into action.

JUMP

With a small running start, Braeden vaults the railing and careens into the cold air, staring at the grass fields hundreds of meters away…

This wasn’t Braeden’s end, it was only his beginning. New exclusive prologue  to “forgotten” available only through Facebook, October 2010.

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