Endoxos Trilogy

Ok…

It looks like the pics aren’t working again… 🤔🤷🏻‍♀️

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Esther.

@whalekeeper

Oh yes, hehehe

@hybridlore @godlyfantasy12 @kyronthearcanin @whalekeeper @keilah-h

Alright everyone!! I’ll be sharing chapters of my second draft of the first book, Ember of Hope. Here’s the first one! 😄

Chapter 1

Amidala Nadir frowned. Something wasn’t quite right. She dipped her paintbrush in the pink paint and dabbed at the canvas. She smiled. Perfect. She placed her painting supplies to the side and admired the flowers.

Pink roses… her favorite. They reminded her of hope… and beauty… She peeked out the window and sighed. The sun was at its peak in the sky, shining down on the empty streets. Then it flickered. The artificial sky never really captured the true beauty of the real sky. Sure, she had never actually seen the real sky, but Ami believed that it was more beautiful than the fake sky created by The Orb.

For twenty years, The Orb had covered her country of Aletheia. Bayron Len had taken over the government and put The Orb in place. Nobody was allowed to escape it. People had tried and some succeeded, but they never came back. Len claimed that The Orb was keeping them safe, but nobody believed him.

He never hurt anybody, but his guards weren’t as merciful to those who tried to escape. Because of The Orb, Aletheia wasn’t able to trade over the border anymore. Slowly and at great cost, the people adjusted and learned to grow their own food and make their own supplies. But, The Orb kept closing in on Aletheia. Now, it was down to just a few cities, the District of Daemarrel.

With another sigh, Ami rose out of her seat, removed her apron, and went downstairs to clean her paintbrushes in the sink. As she turned on the water, her teenage brother Fynn rushed into the kitchen. He bumped into Ami and the colored water splashed onto her white blouse.

Fynn stopped and whipped around. “Sorry, Ami!” He called with a quick sheepish grin before rushing up the stairs. Ami sucked in a breath, then slowly let it out in order to avoid yelling at him. She relaxed and continued washing her brushes. The paint should come out of her shirt in the wash… hopefully…

As she dried her brushes with a paper towel, her eleven year old sister Skylar pounded down the stairs with a laughing Fynn on her heels. “Mom!” She cried. “Fynn took my bracelet!”

Adalynn came around the corner from the living room with her brow furrowed. “Fynn!” She scolded. “How many times have we told you not to pickpocket your siblings? Give her the bracelet back.”

Fynn had stopped laughing now, but a grin still played on his lips. “I know,” he mumbled. “Sorry, Sky,” he handed her the bracelet

Skylar snatched the bracelet and crossed her arms, whipping her head around. The ceiling lights illuminated the slight red highlights in her blond locks. Adalynn sighed. “Skylar…” she reprimanded.

Sky humphed. “I forgive you.” She muttered. The two siblings both walked away in different directions. Adalynn shook her head and walked over to Ami. “You know,” she said to Ami, “those children would be much better behaved if they took after their mother.”

Ruben, Ami’s father, walked in. “I heard that,” he said with a wink. He pecked Adalynn’s cheek with a kiss. “It’s all right. They’ll become mature,” he raised his eyebrows, “someday.”

Ami laughed. “Yeah… like when they’re forty!” She gathered her brushes and headed for the stairway. When she reached her room, she carefully returned her paints and brushes to their proper places, and quickly straightening the school books on her desk.

The district school had been cut off because of The Orb, but she still kept up her studies due to her parents’ wishes. She seated herself on her bed and a knock sounded on her door. “Can I come in, Ami?”

“Sure,” Ami replied. Skylar walked into the room. “I need help with my math,” Sky said, tossing her math book on the bed. Ami brought the book over to her desk and grabbed a pencil from her pencil cup. Sky flipped to the page she was having trouble with.

Most didn’t enjoy or weren’t good at math, but Ami enjoyed any branch of mathematics. Ami explained how to solve the problem. It was like a lightbulb went on in Sky’s head. “I get it now!” She exclaimed. “Thanks so much!” She rushed out of the room as Ami smiled softly.

Ami shook her head at her little sister. She was wild. She heard a knock on the door downstairs and heard two people talk for a little bit. “Ami!” Adalynn called from below. “Everton’s here!”

Ami smiled and quickly went down the stairs. Everton was her best friend since forever. Ami ran to greet Ev as he took off his aviator sunglasses and put them in the pocket of his favorite brown leather jacket. He rarely went without it. On the mat, he wiped off his red, worn Converse sneakers, the shoes he wore all the time.

He ran a hand through his hair and greeted Ami, “Hey! I was bored, so I stopped by.”

Ami raised an eyebrow. “You… bored?”

He smiled. Ami grabbed the cookie jar from the pantry and offered it to him. “Want some?”

“Thanks,” he said, grabbing a couple of cookies. He took a bite and said, “Mrs. Nadir, I’ve never known anyone who can make sugar-free cookies as well as you can!”

Adalynn smiled. “I’m glad you like them,” she replied as she gracefully exited the room. Ev quickly finished off the last of his cookies. “So,” he asked. “What’s up with you?”

“Not much. I just finished another painting though. Wanna see it?”

“Sure!”

Ami ran up the stairs and grabbed her fresh painting. She proudly held it out in front of him. Ev raised his eyebrows. “I think that’s your best work yet!”

“Thanks! I think so too,” she gently placed it on the table.

Ev sighed. “I wish I was good at something like you.”

“You are! Plenty of things. You are definitely a problem-solver.”

“I can’t solve all problems.”

Ami sat by him and placed her hand on top of his. She knew he was talking about his home life. “It’ll be okay.”

He nodded. “Right.”

They were silent for a moment.

Ami sighed, breaking the silence. “So… what do you wanna do?”

Ev shrugged. “I dunno. I told you I was bored.”

Ami rolled her eyes at him as she stood up, walking around the kitchen. “Well… Destry will be home soon. Do you want to stay for dinner?”

“I probably shouldn’t,” Ev replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “I uh… have something to do in a little bit.”

Ami cocked her head. “Oh… okay…” She tried not to show her concern. What did he mean by that? With Ev it could mean anything…

She seated herself again. “Well… how’s life?”

“Fine, I guess… Asher brought Lukas and me fresh, hot doughnuts yesterday morning!” A grin grew on Ev’s face. “I couldn’t tell you the last time I had eaten one of those… it was absolutely divine.” Ev’s face held a look of rapture.

Ami raised an eyebrow. “It was that good?”

He nodded. She rolled her eyes again. “If you say so. Isn’t that just… too much sugar? I bet that how much Asher payed for it didn’t even amount to how good it tasted.”

Ev’s jaw dropped, pretending to be offended. He crossed his arms. “Fine then. Remind me never to buy you a doughnut again.”

“Again? You never have.”

With a twinkle in his eye, Ev produced a small carry-out box from his jacket pocket. Ami gasped. She grabbed the box and opened it, revealing a large glazed doughnut.

“Did Asher bring you an extra one?”

Ev shook his head, grinning. “I bought it.”

Ami raised her eyebrows. She learned closer to Ev and lowered her voice. “How much did this cost?”

He shrugged. “Nine dreks…”

“Nine dreks! Ev, you didn’t have to I—”

He held up a hand. “Ah, ah, ah! I already did. Eat it and be grateful.” He flashed her a smile.

Ami chuckled. “Thank you,” she said quietly. She daintily picked it up and took a small bite. As the sugar dissolved in her mouth, she sank into her chair in satisfaction. “This is divine…”

“Told you,” Ev said. “Do you regret what you said earlier?”

“Maybe just a little… Nine dreks might be a bit too much for this…”

“Naw,” Ev said, waving his hand through the air. “It was worth it to see you enjoy it.”

Ami melted under the gaze of his chocolate brown eyes. She smiled softly and took another bite, hoping that he didn’t see her blush. As she finished off the last of it, she licked the last bit of sugar off her fingers.

“Remember when things didn’t cost so much?” She asked wistfully.

Ev nodded. “Yep… I never knew a time when I craved sugar so much…”

Ami smacked him playfully in the shoulder. “You know, there are more important things than sugar that are hard to get.”

“I suppose that gasoline, eggs, and meat are just a little more important.”

Ami sighed. “Thanks again for the doughnut. I really appreciated that.”

Ev grinned. “Anytime.”

Ami raised her eyebrows. “Anytime?”

Ev blinked. “Er… not anytime. Only when I have enough money for it.” He smiled sheepishly.

“That’s what I thought,” Ami said, standing up. “So, not to kick you out or anything, but you probably need to go home now. Des will be here any minute and then we’ll be eating dinner.”

Ev nodded, standing up and walking out the door. “Right. I’ll see you later, Ami.”

“See ya, Ev,” Ami replied softly, gently shutting the door behind him. From the window, she watched him walk home and whispered a quick prayer for her life-long friend.

@hybridlore

Thanks! I kinda came up with that on a whim and was like, “Hey, that actually works.” XD