"Everything is possible when you know nothing," Maya thought.
She was a fragile-looking girl of twelve, with silk-like black locks and bright, violent eyes. Eyes that matched everyone else in the world. She wore all black, not any other color or shade. Dark bags under her eyes made her look like she was a tarnished from the streets of Lineage City. The night sky gave light to many stars, and so did the moon. Even the moon was watching this vile day.
"Maya, please, don't do this!" her mother yelled. She looked the same as her precious daughter, only much taller and more tired.
"Kid, don't do this!" A defendman announced. He wore all-white armor, fitted panels, high collars, polished surfaces, and a light blue mantle, indicating he was a defendman of the Moonveil Crest.
Box cars with thin tires had surrounded the bridge. Their sharp edges and chrome bumpers were a beauty in a time like this. But their blue and purple light disturbed Maya's eyes. Many defendman were circling the edge of the wide and long RedBridge that connects Lineage City to the capital, Fated City.
"Maya!" her mother, Linya, shouted again, then again and again and again.
People had gathered around the bridge and stopped to watch what was happening. The night was awfully warm, warmer than any kiss little Maya had felt. Maya looked down for a moment. The Devisee Sea was quiet, as always, its odd white color never yielding to the night sky. The hot wind brushed over Maya's soft skin. Feeling the warmth of the air, she exhaled a single breath that came from her heart. "The Five were watching too." She knew. Even if they were not present here at the time, the Endless Greatness of the Five always watches. From their infamous spying system, they know what happens on the planet at any time, anywhere. Eirdena suffered because of them for centuries, perhaps. Maya doesn't like it. She hates it.
"Gods, please," Maya begged; her words were drowned out by the loud sounds of everything else that binds her back to life. "But gods aren't down here, right?" she muttered. "No. There are no gods to save us."
Maya's hands began to tremble; she did not want to be here. Her eyes blackened and lost focus until she forced herself to give the bending world her undivided attention. Maya finally looked up at the night sky and saw the gleaming stars. "Stars," she thought, "I like stars."
Maya leaned closer on the edge, and the more she got nigher, the more her mother screamed and cried—the more the defendman tried to reach her. Maya looked over her shoulder, seeing their desperate attempts to save her. But they can't, because Maya didn't want this either. She was afraid of what would come next. She pondered the Five Gods again—Truth, Donation, Justice, Freedom, and Protection. All made up. The Endless Greatness of the Five is merely five families of deceivers, liars, and manipulators. Tyrants and destroyers. Maya was little, but she understood the world enough. She clenched her fists, then unclenched them, doing it six more times until she heard someone scream, "Help the poor girl!" Maya silently prayed for them, for someone to save her from this madness and injustice. Her ear perked suddenly; her little ear caught the sound of a ship's horn. It was a giant livestock carrier, with tall wooden hulls made from heavy planks and A long bowsprit projecting from the front. Newly constructed by the Epaminondas Crest. They frightened Maya; she was afraid of the horns of the ships all the way back when she was a baby. But the situation she was in right now was more dreadful than any ship or horn or sound.
"MAYA, PLEASE!" her mother yelled. "Don't do this to me!"
Seeing her mother like that broke Maya's already fragile and small heart. "Mother," she mumbled. Maya needed her mother's embrace; she needed her mother's kisses, hugs, and love. But she can't. The Endless Greatness of the Five doesn't like being judged or discriminated against. And they also liked to do most things in the shadows. No one knows what the Five dare to be as the monarchs of this planet, but people have learned to fear them. Fear is what keeps humans alive.
"Life," Maya told herself in the chaos, "I don't want to die."
A single tear rolled down her cheek. Maya watched as the little tear fell from her chin to the white sea below; it merged with the sea, and soon so would Maya. Maya was always a kind and gentle girl. She always helped the many tarnished in the streets and talked with cats as if they were human. The cats always told Maya they were afraid of humans. If not, the cats had a limited vocabulary; maybe they had a chance to be more than pets.
Maya looked behind again. She saw her beautiful mother crying loudly and broken. The defendman was almost near Maya now. A woman with fair skin and violent eyes was talking to Maya, though the little girl could not grasp what she was saying. The woman then reached a hand to Maya. The woman's lilac eyes begged Maya to take her hand and hold it. But Maya can't; they won't allow her. The Endless Greatness of the Five did their deeds in secret and unannounced. They don't publicly tell that someone is going to be executed; they let the victim do it themselves. "But why me?" Maya uttered. Tears began to well up under her eyes, and not so long after, they began to fall, endlessly and shatteringly. "Why me?!"
Looking at all those helpless purple eyes, Maya couldn't help but remember her best friend—a boy with flowing golden hair and… eyes. He had not purple but gold eyes that were piercing. Maya always believed her best friend was special, but not to other people. To them, he was an anomaly. There weren't many golden-eyed people in Eirdena's history, maybe only seven. And all of them did very bad things. But her friend was not some bad person. He was born into a family; he had an older sister who, weirdly, also had golden eyes. "Like sister, like brother," Maya thought. The tiny reflection brought a smile to Maya's crying face. But the smile didn't last long. Her quivering lips unmade it instantly.
"Maya Melody!" A voice announced. "My name is Hedrick Mentior. I am the head of the seventh division of the defendman of the Lineage City. Please, you don't want to do this. You are just confused. Your mother is beside me; she is broken and hurt. Come on, girl. Let's not make your mother cry anymore."
Maya looked at the defendman. He had no hair in the crown of his head and pleading, violent eyes that were overshadowed by the night sky. "He is a liar, isn't he?" Maya reckoned. "He was sent here by the Moonveil Crest to be certain I was dead. For what crime? Criticizing and hating on their falsehood rule?"
Maya ground her teeth; she really was going to die. She couldn't accept it. Who would? This is murder. Inhumane.
"I want to go home," she said, not loud enough for anyone to hear. "I want to eat and drink and play in the streets."
She pictured her little brother before her eyes. He was always smiling—Maya never saw him cry once. Deon was a kind kid, always helping Maya and his mother. And he died because he wanted to help Maya, falling from a chair and hitting his head when he was only seven. Linya never learned why her son died, only that when she came home, she saw dear Maya crying and holding her lifeless little brother. Imagining the moment now broke Maya even further. Tears had stopped their roam in her eyes; they were red and dry now, losing the will to live with each passing second. Maya regretted most of her life, but never loving her mother, brother, or best friend.
Her face hardened, and she crossed her brows, an expression that did not suit her sweet face.
"Maya!" her mother screamed once more, to no avail. "Come to me! Let's go home! I promise you, I'll make you a chocolate cake, your favorite!"
Maya wanted to run into her mother's arms. Maya wanted her words to become reality. But the more she thought about the future, the more Maya recalled her moments with the Five. They were flying in the sky. It was fascinating. Humans flying like birds, like magic. She recalled how they threatened her, how they would force her to jump, and if not, they talked about how they would hurt everyone Maya loved and held dear. The Endless Greatness of the Five says they built a world of perfect order by controlling everyone's lives in the Twelve Cities.
"It's unfair!" Maya screamed into the shadowy night. "I don't want to die! Please! I am sorry!" Why was she even shouting, just for no one to hear her laments?
Maya's entire body began to shake, and her eyes were filled with tears once more. But lay there was something deeper in those little, watery eyes. Maya was much smarter than her years. But she was yet a child. Even they cannot escape control. This must happen for the perfect order of the Five. No one can rebel; no one can speak out against them.
"This is my fault," she whispered, "but I just did not want to believe they were the true rulers. I hate them."
But questioning the legitimacy of the Five's rule was meaningless. The Endless Greatness of the Five ruled Eirdena for more than five hundred years by overthrowing the Last Republic. Was it so wrong? Yes. Many others were also dead because of this; Maya was just another unlucky one.
Her mother's cries, people shouting and begging for someone to save her. Maya's eyes flashed with a sudden burst of pain and anger. And… And everything went still and silent. Maya's eyes widened as motes of purple covered her eyes. Purple particles were everywhere around her. It was beautiful. Maya wanted to see more of the particles; both of her hands reached for them as she tried to hold and cuddle them. But little Maya could not realize that she was already falling. The sensation of falling through the air was not as scary as she assumed it would be. It was peaceful; Maya felt free, maybe for the first time in her short life. Tears from her eyes fell with her, almost like rain, and Maya smiled. Laughter escaped her mouth uncontrollably like an unquenchable fire. Motes of lavender and tears of blue dancing around her. And before her body met with the Devisee Sea, Maya hoped one last time,
"One of them will surely seek true rigor. A liberation from the path of the Five. So great, such a shame. Rulers who shan't cease lies. My mother used to tell me to have faith in our monarchs. They took my brother from me; now they take me from my mother. A blind eye to the chaos rising amidst our world. My death shall not be a loss, but a future. I lived happily, and now, I die vengefully."