The Coming

CHAPTER 6 - CUTTING THE LOSSES

…after the toxins concentration into a person’s body reaches a critical amount, a variety of unpleasant things will happen. The lucky ones died quickly but these blessed few were quite uncommon, if not rare. Most of the time people would fall ill, losing motor or sensory abilities and body function control until they choked or coughed to death. Others would bleed themselves dry from both ends until there would have been not enough blood in them to sustain them to life…

Journal entry 01-01-03-37 from the Personal records of Ahien the Elder.

The first light that came upon the land was strangulated in a thick and deadly veil of mist that covered everything around it in a white wet toxic blanket. Mornings were mostly quiet and relatively safe compared with the other parts of the day or night. The time period when the Aspects either arrived in their burrows and lairs in order to rest and sleep, or they haven’t emerged from them yet to feed.

The entrance to the Den was practically invisible from outside the cave even with the large fires that were burning for hours now to the interior of the entrance chamber, in order to keep the mist away. Behind the flames, the two sentries that happened to be on duty were trying their best to stay awake and look sharp. People began to wake up already and very soon the Den would be a busy hive, teeming with life. The sentries could not afford to be caught sleeping at their posts, especially after what happened last night.

Deeper in the Den, many residents were already up and getting ready for the day’s chores. A small number of women gathered around the various fire remains, their hand-sacks in hand, in order to gather the ashes. Fire ashes were a valuable asset to life in the Den. It could be used, among other things, to clean surfaces, clothes and for personal body hygiene purposes as well. The gathering of ashes was a really important part of a family upkeep. Ashes were among the resources that were not rationed from the Rulers. For this reason it was often used as a popular form of trading currency in order for people to obtain other resources.

Each family was responsible for the gathering of the ashes from their own fire, while everyone had equal rights over the ashes from common-use fires. People had to follow the rules over the gathering process, mainly concerning the amount of ash that could be collected by someone at any given time. The sacks used were of a standard size and only one sack could be filed from each person at any given time. Someone with a full sack would have to leave the area, take the sack to their settlement and then, if they wish, return to gather more.

Arguments and fights in the case of rules-breach were quickly settled by patrolling sentinels on duty. If any argument was spotted, the sentinels would confiscate the entire lot. The only exception to the free access for ashes gathering was around fires at military posts. These fires were off-limits for civilians and the only persons that had rights over them were the duty sentries, right after their watch ended.

Taking the ashes from someone else’s settlement was treated as stealing. Stealing from others considered to be a grave violation of the rules of the Den and was therefore heavily punished by the rulers. The verdict was always the same, indefinite exile.

In a deep and dimly lit area of the Den, not far from a Sentry post, a barely visible solitary figure was feeding his own fire with some more fuel. Ruler Nathan had awakened a while ago and was now getting ready to exit his settlement as he was summoned not long ago together with rest of the council members for today’s Rulers meeting. He already knew the topic of discussion but he didn’t like it just the same. It was the Ruler Council’s intention to call off the search for Alex and the rest of the missing party after yesterday’s incident. He was about to leave his settlement when he spotted the Great Mother approaching.

‘Good morning Great Mother. ’

‘Nathan I am here as a friend, nothing more.’

‘I see. Please sit down, you look exhausted.’