Shadow Moses [Fransykes]

Chapter 3

The dome looked quite different when the lights were switched off. I never really paid attention to how the gray of it would melt into this dark mix of black and blue creating a perfect illusion of a starless night. It was truly fascinating how such technology could ever, let alone still exit, especially since it was apparently the last of it left in the world.

I lowered my gaze from the darkness basting over my head looking at the orange flames dancing in front of my face. Strong smell of smoke flowed through my nose and I bit on my lip tasting ash in my mouth as the fire happily crackled before me.

I was sitting so close to it I could feel the waves of heat sending goosebumps down my skin as I stared at it. The fire devoured surpluses of hay and wood we didn't use today rising up into the air and spitting sparks all over the place witch each crackle. Our Organizer has told me to back away from it. He even offered me help if I needed it, but I refused. The realm was usually a very warm place, but nights could get quite cold, and although this wasn't one of those, the intense warmth pleased me as I sat on the bench tightly clenching onto my legs hoping my feet wont touch the ground.

Like every sane person would, our Organizer probably thought that after what Chrissy did to me yesterday, I wouldn't be able to bare nor the sight of fire, but I actually found the heath of it quite comforting. It reminded me of good times. My parents, Tom, Hannah and I used to gather around it whenever something bad would happen and talk until we weren't all laughing. For some, fire meant danger or panic, for me it meant safety. And although everything was different now, I won't let them take that away from me. They can't break my spirit as long as there's hope, and there's always hope.

I pushed my thoughts away raising my gaze towards the slaves loudly chatting with each other, most with smiles on their faces. They've learned to cherish what they had, I understood that, but still, I didn't know how to grasp the fact that they were just so... okay with it. It wasn't okay. This life wasn't something you had to learn how to cherish. This life was something worthy of change.

I returned my gaze to the fire watching it slowly die down as it ran out of hay to feed off of and soon all that was left of it was a small pile of burnished ash on the ground. That was the point where the slaves moved to the wooden benches lined around it. They all sat across me acting like even looking at me would be a sacrilege. It's been a day and a half and they already viewed me as an outsider - as the one who managed to get on Chrissy's bad side in just one day. It seemed as if that fact alone told them everything they needed to know about me and I let it be.

I didn't need validation from anyone. They were all a bunch of dumb boys just like me, and if they wanted to think they were superior, so be it, we were all the same pile of shit in the eyes of the Franceschi's so who's the real winner here - oh, that's right, no one.

So I just watched them. Not really expecting or longing for anything as I listened to their conversations.

"They say he'd appear in the dark, quietly and suddenly, you could never see him coming. No matter what you did or how well you tried to hide it, he'd always know." One of them spoke. "They say he carried a sword as long as a mountain and as sharp as a shark's tooth. His punishments usually varied - from quick and merciful to slow, painful and utterly inhuman. Some say he actually isn't even human. Someone that brutal couldn't have a soul, they believed. They say he could let someone's blood run and watch it dry on their open wounds without batting an eyelash. And no matter how many pleas they'd let out he'd never give any mercy, in fact, they say pleas and whimpers of pain aroused him."

"But that's just a rumor." Someone else commented their voice slightly shaking.

"Every rumor has some truth in it. I've seen him." The third one spoke. "I don't remember it clearly because I was really young, but I've seen The Night Assassin back when I was still a worker. I lived in one of the cabins near the forest and he'd always come at night moving through the bushes like a dark silhouette of chaos. He'd sweep through the cabins of disreputable workers like a ghost leaving only terror behind. Some nights you could hear the silent cries and pleas of the workers whose homes he'd invade, but nobody dared to think of ever entering those cabins again. They'd reek of death and torture for years after."