This is the prologue to my new novel. The actual story is set 320 years after this, but information from here is important, and more is told during the story.

The glittering stones captivated my gaze. I had been staring for minutes. Mother told me not to stare, that it was rude, but come on, it was an object. How could staring at an object be rude? I heard a groan in the distance, the horrible moaning sending a shiver down my spine. This wasn’t just any object. It was the Gate; the reason we were at war and the cause of weakness, even death.

The Gate was stunning. So tall that it would be impossible to climb, and so wide you couldn’t see the end. Sometimes I wondered if there was an end, or if it just went on forever. There was an emerald knocker, but it was just for show. You couldn’t knock on the gate. The other side was another world.

Thousands of jewels were inlaid around the edge. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, lapis lazuli, opals and garnets, as well as ones I couldn’t name. The door, which had always been firmly shut, was open a little, just a crack. I wasn’t supposed to go through. The one thing my mother had stressed for the past months was never going through the gate, because if I were to get trapped on the other side, bad things would happen.

I knew I shouldn’t. I had told my mother I wouldn’t, but in a snap decision, I slipped through the crack and into Nydia.

It wasn’t beautiful, or at least, I don’t think it was. I never got to see it properly, although I could smell burning tar. As soon as I entered, two guards thrust a coarse sack over my head and threw me onto a cart, which began moving underneath me, jiggling and making my stomach twirl. I screamed with fear, but I just got kicked in the leg.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a cell. Instead of my green dress, I was wearing what appeared to be a large sack. The room was small and gray, with a little bed that had a flimsy blanket and thin pillow, and an old, rotting toilet. There were bars on the doors, just wide enough apart that I could see the guard’s feet when he walked back and forth.

I’m a prisoner of war, I thought to myself. Oh God, what will happen to Mother when she finds out? And- and what about me? What about when the gate closes? What will happen then?

I lay on my bed, my legs drawn up against my stomach. I moaned, but that just made a guard bang a stick on the gates of my cell. I closed my eyes and tried to forget what was happening, and I fell asleep. When I woke up, there was a tray with a bowl of soup and watery tea on it. Realizing how hungry I was, I grabbed the bowl and slurped it down, then drank the tea in large gulps. But afterwards, instead of feeling full and satisfied, I yearned for more.

Weeks passed, and I was allowed out of my cell only once, and that was so I could scrub the entire prison with a toothbrush. Luckily, it wasn’t only me, but the other prisoners were hardly kind to me. Only one other person was from Salianne, a soldier captured while creeping over to enemy lines. The rest were Nydian prisoners, and even though they had committed horrendous crimes, they turned their noses up at me.

A few times each day a guard would lead me into a small room, where men smiled wickedly, their mouths twisted into horrible grins. I tried to run, but a man with a hair arm just knocked me back. I fell to the floor and pain shot up my back, forcing me to bite my lip so hard that I drew blood.

They took turns in kicking me and laughing at me until they got tired. I hobbled back to my cell, purple bruises forming all over my body.

The war ended a few months afterwards. Salianne won, somehow, but that didn’t stop me hating the curiosity that brought me over here. I mean, what use was winning the war when I was stuck here? I wondered what my family was doing while I waited for the gate to be sealed, and for me to die. Mother would have known by now, it had been ages. I didn’t even know how long, you lose track of time in prison. She would be struggling with the children by herself. Was Father killed in the war? I bet he was; most soldiers were. The war only ended because of a treaty the Kings made.

I wanted to die, I was miserable and lonely. But I didn’t. The day the gate was closed, the guards were cruel to everybody, even the prisoners from Nydia.

But why didn’t I die? I was supposed to die when the gate was closed, but here I was, alive and well. Okay, not well, but alive.

Finally, it was explained to me: There was a magic in the cell that kept me alive. I wouldn’t die unless I got out of prison, and apparently that was impossible. So I was stuck in this place for the rest of time, alone and miserable. From that day on, I tried harder than ever to get out- because I knew that they would have endless fun with me, the little girl from Salianne.

Feedback Questions:

1. Do you think it's to short/quick?

2. What do you think of the description? Do I need more?

3. Are you going to read chapter one?