EMBER thought of herself asan average girl in the small town of Humbar. Well, mostly. She didn't have any close firends at school but it wasn't like she was an ostracized outcast either. Most of the time she spent quietly by herself pouring herself into stories or studying in hopes of leaving someday. She found little interest in the gossip of idle teenage girls, and the boys all reminded her of her father in one fashion or another. It was a small town afterall. One she hoped to be leaving as soon as she graduated.
Ember often thought that if she did have any light in her, any concept of good and morals, it had come from her mother.
But Mom was gone now. In her place was her drunk father. Father… A word that barely fit the man. Useless, angry, unmotivated. All those words would fit into his description. It made going home tiresome, never knowing if he was home or out drinking. Never knowing which version of him she would find.
Even now as her old shoes scraped against the pavement on her walk home Ember found herself bracing for what she might find. Her chest tightened in dread and anticipation. If she was really, really, lucky he'd be gone, having left a little money for food for the week. But… If she was unlucky he'd be there, slumped in an old chair staring into space with the TV blaring for hours before falling into fits of shouting and breaking things.
And if she was really unlucky? Ember's chest tightened more, her breathing catching a strange hitch. She tried to focus on something else. Her shoes. The pavement. She forced herself to move forward. Her eyes wandered before she glanced bleakly to an advertisement on the side of a building. It's bright colors caught her attention and she stopped studying it as she willed her breathing to even out.
It was huge and freshly painted, taking up an entire side of the building. On the top in big bold golden letters it read "Join the Army of Light!" Below a smiling man beamed with perfect white teeth. His muscular arms bore wide in a flex, flaxen hair combed neatly in place to match his tidy white and yellow, uniform with the crest of the Light King center chest. "Become a Solider of Light! Apply today!" It continued below him in more gleaming perfectly scripted letters.
A slimy feeling of contempt crept into her. The Light Army didn't actually want anyone in this forgotten town enough to want them to join the Army of Light. They didn't care about anyone in this town. Especially not Ember. No, the reason this had shown up was almost laughable. Tomorrow was rumored to be the day the Warriors of Darkness came, bearing with them the necklace of every King and Queen before it. The Light King was giving everyone a reminder of where they should stand. But, rumours abounded about the mysterious dark army, and people had been acting a little cooky about it as if something might actually happen.
Ember blew a puff of air out her nose. The Army of Shadows had been looking for their new King or Queen for decades. Nothing was going to change.
She imagined the current Light King was thrilled they still hadn't found them. He endvoured to finish his late father's work and finally crush the Army of Shadows, and without their leader it seemed his dream would come to pass soon if rumors held true.
The Warriors were dwindling fast… The next war would finally end them... The new Royal hadn't been found for a reason… But Ember knew the real reason. Every one did. To become the new King or Queen of Darkness was a curse. No one wanted to take on the mantle of evil and darkness. No one wanted to wear that necklace of its forbearers going crazy until they spoke in multiple tongues as many people in one.
Ember also wanted no part in that. She had a plan. She'd work hard to pass the test into the high college in the city under the King of Light. There she would study and take internships until she could pass the rigorous test to become a Scroll Keeper in the neutral city library of Sonder.
There Ember's dream would be achived. She'd live a simple life, forever more surrounded by more books than she could ever read in the peace and quiet of the largest library to ever exist. She'd never have to worry about food or old clothes that were falling apart faster than she could find replacements for. She'd never have to worry about going home to her father.
Ember would be at peace. She'd already applied for the test to get into the college. She'd kept her grades up. It was only a matter of time now. She just had to bear it for one more tiny month and then she'd be a legal adult.