Chapter One

Bright embers flickered across the velvety blue sky as the sun set behind the Great Wall. The weathered grey stones still stood tall after so many years, protecting the glass city of Chapnera from the Outside. A smokey cloud floated across the sky, drifting on the crisp breeze. Aspen shivered beneath her cloak and her slight hands drew it closer together. Her windswept dark brown hair, deeply tangled, moved around her, framing her slightly pointed face as her hazel eyes stared at the horizon. The sun, she decided, was the last thing left from the Before. Even the stars and moon were gone. She spotted more clouds gathering as if there would be a storm but Aspen knew that wouldn't happen. It hadn't stormed since she was three though lightning showers were very common- and deadly. She sighed slightly as she thought about the Before. She had been born in Chapnera, specifically in room 23 of Louis Bernley Hospital at 4:31 a.m. on June 19 2034 but, unlike her peers, wished she had been born before the Great Wall was needed, before Chapnera was built, before the last several decades were called the Before. The setting sun glinted off the tall, shiny buildings of steel and glass. Stretching behind Aspen, hundreds of silver towers pressed upwards against the darkening sky as if they were straining to break free of the polluted earth.

Within the building, Aspen's mother Karen gracefully flowed from room to room, her long shimmering sequined dress swaying behind her, her caramel hair professionally done up in a bun, silky strands hanging tastefully down her neck. As Aspen watched, she absent-mindedly tucked some honey hair behind her ear, her diamond earring sparkling in the light cast from the diamond chandelier. Aspen wished she looked more like her gorgeous mother with her slim figure, bright green eyes and caramel hair that was never hard to brush. Then she thought of her dad, Roger, whose dark hair was shaved close to the skull in patterns of interlocking triangles and circles and his sharp hazel eyes which she had inherited. Both of her parents had been born before the Wall, before mutations were intentional. As Aspen was taught in history class, there were phases that the world had gone through. First had been the Before, when the world was somewhat healthy and alive, when animals and humans and plants had co-existed. Then the pollution had become too much and the planet had died. With it went almost all animals and plants. Humans needed to adapt to a place without much food or water, where there weren't plants to produce oxygen and they needed to do it fast. Scientists quickly created AER- Artificial Enviro Respiration- which basically made oxygen for humans through a complicated scientific process. After the near ending of mankind, some idiots somehow managed to poison themselves with heaven-knows-what and nearly kill themselves. When they got better, they were practically radioactive and, starting the beginning of an era, began to develop strange abilities. Scientists took advantage of this and used their abilities to help improve the way of living for people everywhere by creating GUM. Not the bubble blowing strawberry flavoured stuff but Genetic Uler Modifier, a pill that recreated your genetic makeup to give you powers to help you survive on Earth. Only the rich and powerful got GUM. Aspen, although she her family had a lot of money, had never taken GUM. Her parents didn't approve of their only child developing unknown- potentially life-threatening- skills.

Aspen could hear her mother calling for her in an angelic voice, telling her to get inside as supper was ready. As she walked across the sweeping balcony, Aspen glanced once more at the clouds that never rained water, only acid, and sighed. She wondered what life had been like before the Ending.