Title : 𝓑𝓾𝓻𝓷 𝓐 𝓛𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮

Subtitle : ༺աɦǟȶ ǟ քʟօȶ ȶաɨֆȶ ʏօʊ աɛʀɛ...༻

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ONC 20222

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Prompt No. : 51

Life hasn't been easy, but it has taught you about all the different variations of what family can really mean.

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Family... A word, around which a child's world revolves. Family is the single most important influence in a one's life. From their first moments of life, we learn to depend on parents and family to protect us and provide for our needs. Some lucky people are born into families they adore spending time with—their loving mutual bonds make holidays and multi-generational vacations a drama-free joy. And Sylvie was one lucky girl.

Sylvie was born and raised in a strange, yet, beautiful family... A family where people would live longer, 200 years, to be precise. They were sort of immortal. It could be considered as a blessing, or, a curse?

Most probably, both.

They could live for eternity, learn everything, do everything, accomplish everything, because they simply had no time-limit, and therefore, they were endowed with near-infinite promise.

But, in the end, as immortal as they might be, they were still human beings, and thus, their sanity, their view of the world and of time, was bound to eventually break down.

They were, by nature contingent, and merely representative of other parts of mankind, therefore, in order to remain vital as a species they had to die. Humans, technically, have no greater importance than that.

In the long run, immortality, for a human being, would become a curse. Just like it happened for Algyva...

Some needed power, some didn't. At the end, nobody was happy. Sylvie had come to accept family as a loving thing, firstly because of the older generation and then, because of her very own generation (Luna, Mavis, Rhys and Blaze). She hadn't even caught up with this generation, when suddenly, she found herself taking care of next generation, Valerie. And no, that's not all. She finds Mephistopheles back with an amazing news too.

Things were great, too great to be precise... A chaos was definitely needed. Enters, Dewin Cole Braxton. A typical businessman with a very defective family. He doesn't feel love, compassion, or respect, towards anyone. The world just exists for him. Of course, he won't go to the lengths of disrespecting someone just because he wants to. But, he wouldn't even try to respect someone who doesn't exist for him.

The reason?

Of course, a toxic family dynamic! Which made him feel contempt or disdain, instead of love. This toxic family didn't just: mock or belittle your choices. attack your vulnerable points. chip away at your self-esteem; rather, it's much more toxic... How? Let's find out.

There's going to be fire... Loads of it. I know, fire kills more people every year than any other force of nature. But, at the same time, fire is extraordinarily helpful. It gave humans the first form of portable light and heat, after all. Let's see how this fire burns our characters and how they use this use this fire to light their lives.

This is journey of lock and keys. How 'The Sanctuary' locks and how, our characters unlock. In the process, they'll get to learn how family isn't just love or hate, there are other emotions too.

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Author's Note

A sequel!! And what better way than to launch it at ONC 2022. I personally feel that ONC is the base of 'An Open Egress'. And so, the possible sequel should definitely be there on ONC.

Thank you for reading 'An Open Egress'... Hope you liked it and will give it's sequel a try too.