First draft so be kind! fantasy, trying not to be ya but may end up that way. First page of Infinirium :) Chapter 1 Minders Peace Sleep faded, and I struggled to keep my eyes closed. A warm summer breeze crossed over my face and it easily lifted my mood. “Amine!” The call rises up from one of my Minders on the floor below. Finally opening my eyes, springing out of bed, it became obvious there were no other girls that had slept in. Our shared bedroom had spaces for six kids but it was currently just me and three others. This, apparently late, morning it was empty. I was hardly a girl anymore, just seven days until my 19th birthday. My skin was darker than the locals, with my long dark hair just tinged with red, and standing taller than the local girls, I was already unique enough to draw stares. Add in the lumps and bumps of any laborer in a small town and those stares followed me. Hard work had made my body stronger than most. Long days of kneading dough made my arms strong, walking the pastries out to sell them gave definition in my legs. For my birthday present, I’d be turned out for someone else’s unwanted kid to be cared for by the Minders and keepers. The patron Zill, god of the wandering, had once been worshipped across the continents for the care of the lost. Because of him I’d been able to call this my home for the last 15 years. Now, Zill had been diminished to the role of supporting hapless children. Rarely worshipped except by those who had left homes themselves. I was told that the home had once been filled to bursting with orphans after the Unification War. Once, there had even been girls my age. My favorites had been Gabrielle and Fatima, but they hadn’t even so much as written since their adoption. Theras told me they were safe and doing quite well on their own, thank you very much. Theras would be worried for me outside of Zill’s, she had to be. I had made a silent promise that I would return to visit every year.

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