DarkLight

Part 2: Soran Lex

The man’s transport burst up the motorway at amazing speeds, the top of the Barracks slowly edging into sight over the top of the artificial plateaux in front of him. The tower itself was one of the smaller constructions in the city. At only one hundred and fifty storeys tall, it was considered a dwarf compared to the surrounding cityscape. The tower was simply a large block of concrete, steel and glass extending out of the ground surrounded by a large concrete wall. A mammoth steel security gate interjected this wall, allowing access into this restricted area.

The man turned off the motorway onto a smaller highway suspended in the air by colossal pillars reaching down twenty storeys below. The whole of the Corporation sectors of the city were raised onto this man-made plateaux, making unauthorised access that much harder. This mammoth raised plate in the centre of the city was the hub of The Corporation, containing its entire military barracks and right in the Heart of the city was The Corporation H.Q. This tower was the tallest in all of Utopia City at over six hundred storeys high. It was dubbed ‘Heart of Utopia’ as it was situated in the centre of the city and was the hub of control for the entire nation. Sitting atop this tower in her penthouse was the most powerful woman in existence, High Matriarch Rammachandra - head of The Corporation and the nation of Utopia.

Everyone knew who she was, and everyone loved her. She was the benevolent and ever present ruler over this vast domain. She appeared on bill-boards, televised propaganda, newspapers, every form of social media - and her word was the word of God. Everyone knew her story too, of how she had worked her way to the position from a working class upbringing. From the slums of Utopia, to the best Utopian educational institutions and then to defeat her opponent years ago to ascend to the position of High Matriarch. People knew her story as well as they knew their own, but strangely when Soran tried to find details of her predecessor or details of Utopia City’s history before her rise very little information was available.

Soran snapped out of his thoughts and back to reality.

As he approached the gate, he started to slow down and stopped just before the massive sheet of metal in front of him. After a few seconds, he heard that familiar mechanical clucking sound of the gears turning as the metallic gate opened out towards him, allowing him to continue through into the Barracks complex, his home. Except it didn’t feel like a home any longer, it felt like a prison.

The large steel garage doors opened at the base of the concrete tower and the he directed his transport into one of the many available bays.

“Your transport almost killed me” He spat at a nearby mechanic. “Sort it out.”

“Yes, Captain Harris, Sir. Sorry Sir.” The young boy replied, shaking in his shined boots. New recruits always feared him; he was a legend within Utopia. Captain Rin Harris, defender of Utopia-a title given to him from High Matriarch Rammachandra herself, when she also gave him the deadliest weapon he had ever wielded-the DarkLight Sword. But no-one knew his secret; no-one knew that he wasn’t who he said he was. He didn’t even really know how he knew himself, but he did. He had always known it. Not even the seven Lords of Utopia, who govern the great nation, knew that Rin Harris was actually called Soran Lex - and that he wasn’t a corporate man.