The Rising Dawn

Chapter Twelve - Order, Chaos and Villainy, Discussions On

Luo was, to the surprise of most people, not a street boy. He couldn’t read the patterns like others could. He had grown up relatively comfortably, well-schooled and in a safe family. His life was stable and secure, up above the gutter.

 The thing was, however, that this bored him to the extreme. Luo had an unexpectedly sharp mind and the well-kept life of an ordinary family – as ordinary as anyone can be, these days – was too dull for him.

 He met the Raven and things changed. The Raven, a creature of power and strength, wasn’t unintelligent. But he was clever in a street sense of the word. Luo, on the other hand, had a through-and-through brilliant mind. The Raven was prepared to reward that.

 It startled people to find that the Raven’s second wasn’t intimidating or strong or dangerous but a small, well-mannered young boy who insisted on brushing his hair. It startled Luo, too. But he revelled in the ever-changing, deadly, smoke-and-mirrors world of the gutter people.

  Yet he had learned, during his time as amongst the true downtrodden people, how to read the mood of a crowd. He looked at the one gathering in front of him and it took him less than a second to decide that they were one step from becoming an armed mob.

 He made his way to the front, sliding into spaces and ducking under arms. Eventually, he was in a position to see the piece of paper that so infuriated them. He froze, automatically spreading his elbows and allowing people to see him filling a space, giving him time to read.

 Loyal Citizens, It Cannot Have Escaped You That The Neutral Ground – A Part Of The City Which Isolates All Things Dangerous And Unwholesome From Your Lives – Was Vandalised, Attacked, Three Days Ago. Criminals Imprisoned For The Safety Of All Were Released. Guards Were Brutally Murdered.

 These Are Dark Days For The World Yet Each Day Is Lighter Than Yesterday. Each Day, The End To Our Patience And Our Suffering Draws Nearer. A Future Awaits; A Future In Which We Can Relax The Boundaries Upon Ourselves And Re-enter A World of Plenty.

 Whilst The Hard Times Last, Order Must Prevail. We Cannot Have Chaos. We Cannot Have Anarchy. We Must Have Control. We Must Have Laws. We Must All Abide By The Same Rules And We Must All Work For The Betterment Of Our World.

 These Rules, These Laws You Toil Under In Your Good, Honest Lives, Were Broken. They Were Broken By Those Who Live Among You But Are Not Like You. They Were Broken By Those Who Think They Are Better Than You Are.

  While You Struggle To Live For The World, For Mankind, For The Future Of Our Race, They Live Only For Their Selfish Todays. They Have No Thought For Others Yet They Speak Of The People. They Try To Rule Your Lives And Yet They Talk Of Freedom.

  I Am Asking For Your Cooperation. Let Us Rid Our City Of These Parasites, These Hypocritical, Ruinous Liars. Let Us Free Ourselves Of The Taint Of Their Company. Let Us No Longer Labour Under The Threat Of Those Who Would Destroy The World For The Sound It Made.

 They Live Among You. You Know Who They Are. Unafraid, Unpressured, We Ask For Information. Help Us So That We May Help You. Together, We Can Stand In The Light Of Tomorrow.

There was the signature underneath, the sign of the ruler. It was an official proclamation. It was a warning, to everyone. The world had to come first and people with selfish thoughts of freedom, luxury, rebellion – people like Luo – were grit in the wheels of the world.

“This,” he murmured, “is really not good.”

“Threatening us,” Nika murmured. “They never threaten us. We’ve always been…I don’t know what we’ve been. The good guys, I guess.”