As the time dragged on, Amber could not stand one more minute. She was about to stand up, when the east side wall exploded.

Shards and debris showered on screaming scythes as they scrambled towards the exit. Some of them went to save their apprentices. Amber coughed as dust and gun powder billowed everywhere. Out of her watering eyes, she made out the blurry shape of Avery as he climbed up a big slab of stone wall that blocked their way to the door. He had a small bleeding gash across his forehead, possibly a minor concussion. Amber her eyes sting even more. As she looked towards the big hole, she saw a reddish flickering flame. Fire. Fire. Someone wished their deaths and planned this. She was absolutely sure of that.

She coughed as the fire spread, the heat making her choke. She fell to her knees, coughing. Then she heard shouts. Scythe Victoria and Scythe Darwin were running and tripping towards them, their robes torn, full of dust and debris. They were screaming, yelling and gesticulating at her. She frowned and looked around her. Then she looked up. The ceiling was collapsing and she stifled a shriek. Amber scrambled to her feet and ran. She bolted away from the collapsing ceiling, Avery beside her, supporting her as hacking coughs racked her body. This was not supposed to happen. The Conclave was ruined, because of an unknowned attack. The thoughts churned inside her head as she stumbled away. A chunco of the ceiling fell with a great smash, more cracks appearing as more chunks were loosening from the structure.

They would die. They would all die unless they escape this place. And they would not be revived, she realized with a sickening feeling in her stomach. As it was scythe business, nobody would come save them and revive them. Unless some benevolent people would carry them to the nearest revival center, but she doubted it. The people were more likely to kiss the deadish scythe's ring to gain a year of immunity, then hurry away in glee. Amber shook her head in disgust. The screams and shouts from the people around deafened her ears, and her head spun from all the smoke and dust.

Then she noticed.

She finally noticed the figure.

Holding a rifle and aiming it at Avery.

She froze and then she heard the fatal click. She let out a high pitched scream and pushed Avery out of the way with all her might.

"Run!" She shrieked.

Then a pain rose suddenly from her side. She looked down, and saw blood spreading across the bullet wound. She crumpled and fell onto her knees, panting as blood gushed out furiously. She pressed her hands onto the wound to no avail. Her words came out as a gurgled noise, and she choked on the smoke again. Her vision swam, and the screams sound so faraway...as if she was leaving the horrors of this place and flying towards the unknown. Through her blurry vision, she noticed faintly that the ceiling was collapsing above her, Avery's anguished cry...then the world went black, and she slid into the blissful darkness.

•••

Amber woke up to the faint sound of scraping metal. She opened her eyes and sat up, then immediately regretted it. Her side hurt so much that she let out a pained groan. She slowly, carefully heaved herself to a sitting position, then took in her surroundings.

Everything was so unfamiliar. The whole place was bathed in an unnatural blue light, and it smelled like unpleasant detergeant and metals. The walls were metal, the table too, and the bed, ceiling, floor...it looked like a prison at first, but then Amber thought it looked like the inside of some sort of spaceship. She fought down her fear that her theory might be correct. Memories flooded back into her mind. She took a deep breath and urged herself to think calmly. If she was on a spaceship, then how many days has passed since the attack? Or months, possibly years? Most importantly, where is she? What had happened? Last time she remembered, she was crushed under a thousand tons of rock, from the high stone ceiling at the disastrous Conclave.

Clutching her side, she slid of the bed quietly. She had to explore; assess her surroundings. One thing she learned from being a scythe apprentice was that she always needed to have weapons. So she fumbled in her pockets of her black suit. Somebody, whoever saved her, must have taken away the grzy robe she had on before, which is were most of her weapons were concealed. She found none. Then she knelt to look into her boots - which were left by the bed - and found one small dagger that could not do much damage, unless she was fighting within close-range. Amber hissed her disappointement, but still slid the dagger in her wrist pocket. That way, she could flick out the knife quickly and stab someone more efficently. She then slid her feet in her boots, and attached her fiery hair with a headband that was left on the nightstand.

Armed and feeling slightly better, she crept towards the door and opened it gently. Clearly, her captors did not think to lock the door. She cast a wary glance. The hallways were empty, metallic too, the same blue light plunging the whole area into an eerie atmosphere. She gulped down her fear and crept silently towards a random direction. She arrived at a crossroad, and chose a random hallway arrived at some sort of sitting room.

The room was vast, gray and of course, made of metal. The blue lights shone brightly, and this time, she could hear noises. She hid behind an iron counter and observed at the sides. A woman was sitting on a gray sofa, sorting through papers on the aluminium coffee table. She had rich brown skin, piercing green eyes and white hair that was gathered in a high ponytail, not a strand out of place. She wore a furred jacket and some thick woolly pants, her outfit completed with some high furred boote. The woman looked fearsome and commanding; and the papers looked important, almost highly classified.

"You can come out now, child," the woman suddenly spoke up, her stormy eyes lit up with amusement. "I know you've been here for a while, spying on me."

At first Amber thought she was talking to somebody else, but then she realized that the woman was staring at her hiding place. She slowly emerged, but made sure that her dagger was still in her sleeve. The woman gave her a smirk and stood up, shoving the papers into a dark green folder.

"I'm Commander Velis. I see that you're in a state well enough to walk."

Amber lifted her chin.

"Where am I?" She demanded.

Velis eyed her curiously, then at her sleeve where the knife was hidden. She knew.

"I suppose you know that you are not here as a guest?" She inquired. "How surprising that you dare demand things from me." She gestured the armchair across the sofa. "Sit here, and I'll tell you, but others will not be so kind to comply."

Amber stiffened and quietly trudged to the armchair, and eased herself in. She winced; her wounds hurt, but she kept her mouth shut.

Velis sat back down on the sofa, and faced her with a hard expression.

"There was an attack, as you know," she began. "Me and my men are still looking for the culprits, but to no avail so far. You suffered no serious injuries: just a very broken arm, your bullet wound, and bruises. At least you did not die or have internal bleeding. That ceiling could have obliterated you, crushed you to dust. But you did die, nonetheless. It hurts a lot because we did not have the necessary equipements to do a full revival; we could only bring the life back to you, along with your senses, but we fixed your broken arm and side wound in the old mortal ways." Velis heaved a sigh.

"Is Avery here? What about Scythes Victoria and Darwin? Are they safe?" Amber questioned.

Velis glared at her before responding in a clipped tone.

"I presume they are, because they were not among the bodies found. And no, I cannot be sure. And about the boy, it is a nuisance that he is not in our care."

Amber froze.

"And why is that?"

Velis gave a smile, which looked more like a maniacal grimace than a grin.

"You see, both you and the boy are very important in our plan. Very important indeed." She leaned forward. "And now our conversation is over. You'll see, this is for your own good." With that, she stood and motioned to somebody behind Amber.

"What is-"

Before she could finish her sentence and turn, two buff guards grabbed her by the arms from behind. She let out a screech of pain.

Velis glared at one of them.

"Mind her arm, or He won't be happy," she snapped. "She is very important, and we cannot inflict her harm. Be careful of that arm, you idiot."

The left buff guard shifted his grip and together, both guards escorted her out of the room. Normally she could have killed both of them easily, but now, with her injuries, dizziness and weak limbs, she would be rushing towards death if she did so. And she had no idea if they would revive her a second time.

Behind, she heard Velis's chuckle.

"Enjoy your last moments of freedom, child. Your little freedom, limited by the walls of your rooms."

Amber hissed her displeasure as the doors shut with a click behind her.