2

When we entered the ballroom, everything was brightly lit in a golden hue. As we walked around, greeting people and making small talk, I noticed that the floor was split into two sections. The first section was where the large dance floor was. It was so big that it took up most of the room. A crowd of fancily dressed individuals conversing and enjoying their first drinks of the night. A full orchestra was set up in the back of the room, just off the dance tiles. The strings and woodwinds were playing a wonderfully dull piece. It was generic and sounded like any other Baroque arrangement. The other section was where the round tables and chairs were. People had put down their coats and purses and almost immediately went to the multiple large bars stacked with enough alcohol to give an entire city a hangover. As my friends and I helped ourselves to the first round of champagne, I stared up at the chandeliers that dominated the skyline. They were smaller variants placed in long lines leading to the center of the room where a giant glass dome revealed the dark abyss I had seen earlier.

Our little posse walked around the hall. I played my role to perfection as usual, flashing my teeth and bowing towards any person that looked even remotely important. After a while, when our feet were exhausted and glasses were empty, we all went over to a table to relax. We sat down and a waiter immediately asked for our drinks. We answered and they left. I looked around at all the people talking and gossiping.

"Looks like the entire town is here." I said, cracking my ankles under the table.

"That's because they are," Amelia said. "Don't you know about that big deal your father just made?"

"I don't really pay attention to company affairs," I said.

"Even though your parents run the biggest company in the world?" She asked curiously. "Surely you must have heard someone mention it."

I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't care about what my parents did. They were the joint CEOs of Alphacom. A multi-trillion dollar monopoly that had ties to every government in the world. They worked in every industry imaginable: Travel, Technology, Agriculture, Entertainment, and more. But what's most important is that money isn't a problem, so I can spend however much I want.

"Well, apparently, the Chinese Imperial Family has chosen to buy massive supplies of products from the humanitarian department in exchange for company land in America and the URC. They plan on building new Embassies with the acquired land," Amelia said.

I raised my eyebrows when I looked at her, "And that's important because..."

"Because the last time the countries actually were trying to be allies and help each other was back when the United Nations was still a thing. That was over one hundred years ago!" one of my friends said.

"And in one hundred years, I still won't give a damn." I said as my final statement. "Can we talk about something other than my father's ego?" I asked

Amelia's serious look turned into a sinister grin as she looked out behind me. If I knew one thing about Amelia, it was that it's never a good thing when she smirks. "Well if you really want to, you can start by looking behind you."

Even though I knew it was a bad idea, I turned around to see an extremely attractive blonde drinking a dry martini. I quickly turn around to Amelia who was still smiling.

"No." I said.

"Yes." She said, her smile curled back further and further.

"You can't make me." I said firmly.

"I won't," she said. "But we will."

I only now noticed all the other girls were staring right at me. Each one of them were smiling innocently though their eyes conveyed only sadistic pleasure.

"No. I will not do this," I said. I tried standing up to get away,  but it was too late. They all got up from the table with me, spun me around to face the blonde hottie straight ahead, and started pushing against my back.

"Please, can we just talk about this?" I pleaded.

Again, they ignored my cries as we all started picking up speed. No matter what I did, they kept putting me back in the same position as before. The path towards the stranger was clear so they pushed even harder. My legs were now running forward to keep up and just as we approached the bar. Someone steps onto the path. My friends stopped pushing me but there was no stopping me. I closed my eyes as I dashed face first into some person's chest.

As I hit them, I knew that the two of us would fall to the ground in a pathetic fashion.  My eyes remained squinted close as my body slammed the stranger. But instead of falling, I felt something wrap around me as the blunt force escaped me and flew through them. All the momentum I had stopped. When I opened my eyes, we were standing up and no one had noticed our collision.

"Hey, you okay?" I heard a voice ask. I looked at the face of a clean-shaven, twenty-something-year-old guy with brown hair styled in a pompadour. His skin was white but clearly tanned. There was a scar in the middle of his right eyebrow. His eyes were also sky blue like mine.

"I'm fine." I said, stepping away from him. I subtly looked behind me but none of my friends were anywhere to be found.

"Good. Not gonna lie though, I'm not gonna complain about a woman jumping on me." He said, chuckling to himself. I stared at him unamused before taking a look at his physic. He was tall, just over six foot. He was wearing an all-black suit which went with his semi-muscular build. I would be lying if I said he wasn't good looking, but he wasn't really anything special.

"Name's Jeremy," he said, reaching his arm out for a handshake. I just kept staring at him unimpressed. He didn't look like anyone important, and I could tell by the stitching that his suit was cheap.

"This is the part where you introduce yourself and shake my hand?" He said.

"I'm not going to do that for a peasant like you." I said.

He raised his eyebrows and threw his hands in the air. "Wow, okay, starting off a little bit harsh. Aren't we sweety?" he asked condescendingly.

"Sweety?" I scoffed as I looked up at him.

All of a sudden, he started laughing, cackling even. He put his hand over his face and through his gasps for air he said, "I'm sorry. Are you threatening me?"

I look at him, my molars pressing against each other and my lips curling inwards as I pull back my emotions. Clenching my fist, I looked right at him.

"Yeah, I am." I snarled.

"Okay cupcake," he said, once again with no hint of fear nor care. "You are cute when you're angry though."

I swear to god, he really had a death wish. As my anger approached it's limit, I asked,  "Are you flirting with me?"

"Perhaps," he said, grinning his teeth as he slouched down towards me.

"Listen here you piece of shit," I said, quietly exploding in his face. "Do you know who I am? Do you know how much I own?  How much I can have? I am above you in every single way. I can step on you and squash you like an ant and-"

"You say that like it's a bad thing." He said. He straightened his back and looked out towards the door and smiled. "See you around cutie,"

Before I could even react, he moved around and started heading towards the door. I spun around and stared out as he pushed the main doors and stepped out into the snowy night. My fist remained clenched as I glared with murderous intent at the door. My eyes wide and focused, yet I didn't even see Amelia walk over to me.

"Astral?" she asked.

Without warning, I shot myself towards the main doors. As my feet picked up speed, I found myself pushing people out of my way. Every person standing between me and the door was thrown away as I cut through the crowd. When I reached the doors, I blew them open and stomped out into the freshly cleared pavement. I immediately spotted him at the edge of the lot right next to the forest. His back was facing me, and I charged straight at him. As I got closer and closer, my fist was shaking in anticipation. I couldn't wait to feel his grimly face against its knuckles. My feet were lunging ahead to keep up with the speed.

"Hey, asshole!" I screamed.

He turned around to see me get into punching range. I couldn't slow down my speed as I prepared to take this sleazy bastard down. I raised my fist and threw myself upward into the air and began coming down at him. Just as my fist was seconds away from knocking him out, he dodged my attack. He moved away from my attack faster than I have ever seen anyone move before and hit something in the back of my neck.

Suddenly, all the energy that was flowing through my body disappeared. All the feeling in my muscles went dead. My body did a somersault and my back hit the snow below. I tried to get back up but none of my muscles responded. It was as if someone had chained me to the ground. Jeremy looked straight down at my head as I stared up in confusion.

"You're good, but not that good," he said seriously.

Suddenly, a wave of fear rushed through me. I tried with every bit of willpower to get up. Nothing moved though. My arms, legs, abs, even my mouth pressed down against the earth. I just laid there like an old broken machine. The only thing I could move was my eyes. I looked out into the forest as another man entered my view. He was wearing a dark wool mask and holding a strange syringe-like device.

All the stories my mom told me about people being kidnapped played back in my head as I struggled to do anything. I wanted to cry, scream, kick, punch. I wanted to do something to save myself, but my body refused to move. I begged for it to be a bad dream, but then I felt Jeremy lifting my upper body and knew it wasn't. There was nothing I could do. I just stared straight at Jeremy as he held me up. Kneeling in front of me, with his hands on my shoulders, he looked into my eyes with regret.

"I'm sorry Astral, but what's done is done." He said.

I started cursing at him in my mind as he nodded at the masked man. I felt the hair behind my neck move up and something poke inside me. Instantly, all my muscles flexed out. My head shot backwards. My ears were flooded with noise. I could feel every weave in my dress. I could see the small crystals that made the snowflakes as they fell from the sky. The black abyss above transformed as every bump and curve in the clouds became visible. The aftertaste of the champaign I had hours ago burned like vodka. I could smell the unique scent of each pinewood from the hundreds of trees surrounding us. The masked man looked right down at me and, through the worn and wet wool mask, he said something.

"AW01201, you have a new mission."

Then, everything went black.