Breaking Utopia

Chapter One | Part Three: The Papermaker

Huxwell was an exceptionally large city, situated a couple miles off the coast of the Silent Sea. It fit a population of nine thousand, not including their Rel slaves. Inside its tall walls was one of the most beautiful structures in the territory. The head of government and home of the Tiso himself, Kantara Palace. It was named after the first Tiso's wife, Marianna Kantara, who by all accounts was loved by her people and her husband Tiso Hugo Lestare.

Its major exports were weaponry and textiles along with a plethora of luxury goods.

The concrete streets, illuminated and functioning on steam power and brass cogs, were always crowded, with steam carriages and mounted Kelgrif pushing their way through the busy roadways.

Among the chaos of the busy city lived an unusually unassuming man. His name was Tucken Furnoon and he, as unassuming as he maybe, was the most important person in Huxwell.

He lived in a cramped little apartment on the second floor of a butcher shop. He awoke every morning to the sound of machinery priming up and slicing through bone. He never minded it too much, as it became his rooster overtime. His wife though, would resort to taking a broom from their tiny kitchen pantry and leaning out their window to smack the butchers below. It never resulted in any change.

Today though, as the saws began to buzz below and gently shake the apartment's floor, Tucken was surprised with a thud at the bedroom door. He groggily wiped the grime from his eyes and turned to his wife beside him. "Ignore it, my love...just ignore it." She groaned into her pillow. Another thud against their door and Tucken began to pull his body up from the bed.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd mistake our children for burglars." He said rubbing the lethargy from his face.

"They are burglars, burglars of my sleep." Morrigan, his wife said stretching out along the bed with a sigh.

Finally, the door burst open and two small girls swarmed the room. One with red hair and pale skin along with light blue eyes landed on Morrigan and the other with hair as dark as a crow pounced on Tucken.

"My girls, my girls!" Tucken said gripping the black haired one tight in a hug. "Save us, this beast who has been banging on our door!" He joked coyly.

"That was us daddy!" The red headed one giggled.

"Who turned my innocent little girls into door bashing beasts?" Tucken said wrestling the one in his arms. The pair giggled as Morrigan climbed up from her rest. She held the red-haired one in her arms and brushed her hair with her fingers, trying to clean up what her daughter's pillow must have done during the night.

"Are you going on your walk today, daddy?" The raven haired one asked looking up to him from his chest.

Tucken looked over at his wife cautiously, who only gave a subtle nod in retaliation. "I'm...why yes, Little Love, I might need to, today."

"Can Clara and I come, today, we wanna see the outside of the city!" The little one asked hopping up and down on Tucken's lap.

"Oh, I don't know about that, Abney." Tucken replied as his heart sank slightly. "It's not as safe as in here.

"But it's so boring!" Abney said, crossing her arms in aggravation.

"Miss Sojinger said fresh air might do Abney and me some good." Said the redheaded Clara as her mom tugged at her knotted hair.

"Miss Sojinger is just trying to find a way for you to stop knocking on her door asking for more treats." Morrigan jumped in as she began to wipe some unknown gunk off of Clara's face.