Awaken

Chapter 2

The sun crested the city wall, piercing through the morning mist to reveal the uniform, blocky structures of the outer city of Unity. The city was a dreary collection of uninspired buildings, constructed from identical blocks of grey stone. Straight black cobbled roads connected the streets which looped around the city in large, perfectly concentric, circles. Radiating from the towering centre of the city, before finally ending at the base of the unbroken, white, outer city wall; giving the city the appearance of dark, monochromatic, dartboard.

The city was split into four quarters each dedicated to meet specific requirements, allowing the city of Unity to survive, completely autonomously, without ever having to venture into the world beyond its walls. The north-east quarter was the industrial quarter and boasted several larger structures interspersing the ordinary squat buildings of workers and families; this was where everything from tools to clothing to furniture were made. The south-east had the markets, the spaces between buildings were slightly wider here to allow, heavily regulated, stalls to be set up without disturbing the flow of pedestrians and carts. In the south-west, the odd spindly masts of fishing boats could be seen between the squat structures that followed the unnaturally perfect curve of the river. The north-western quarter was the only one which gave a respite to the unrelenting monotony of grey walls and curving black roads. It hosted large, perfectly square, open spaces for farming and keeping livestock, producing almost all of the food for the entire city.

The Unifiers building, known as The Castle, rose from the centre of the city in open defiance of the bleak uniformity of the city surrounding it. With elegant, marble pillars, majestic sweeping arches and buttresses, soaring towers and enormous stain-glass windows it towered over the city, a powerful display of strength and beauty in the otherwise squat, grey and black of the despondent city below. This magnificent building housed the authoritarian elite who ruled over their city, venturing out of The Castle, never interacting with the people they ruled; simply passing decrees and laws from their sequestered privilege. Rules which were aggressively upheld by the city guard.

To Alister Greyling this beautiful building embodied the dichotomy of Unifiers rule; a pristine bandage hiding a festering wound. A monument to the hypocrisy, the lies and the rotting core of the Unifiers. He hated what they had done to the people of Unity; convincing struggling men and women their relentless and backbreaking work was ‘for the good of the city’. These heartless dictators ruled from the centre of it all; taking what they wanted and contributing nothing, while living in luxury.

He ripped his eyes away from the window in disgust and instead looked down at the small form of the girl in the bed. The girl he had saved. She was thin and grubby, her clothes were worn, in need of a good clean, or just burning he thought wrinkling his nose at the smell and the overlapping stains. He did have some spare clothes that would fit her well enough. He moved slowly across the room, quietly getting down a couple of mugs and putting some water on to boil. A slight shifting noise confirmed his suspicion that she had been awake for some time now, but he let her continue with her pretence. It had been a ridiculous risk and could easily have gotten him caught and hauled into the dark depths beyond those beautiful curves to be tortured, imprisoned, or whatever they did to The Awakened in there.

When Alister felt The Ripple he was a different man. He’d believed The Unifiers lies, had trusted them, believed that they were good. Inexplicably awake despite the long day assembling parts, he’d been sitting, alone, on the factory roof when he felt The Ripple. He remembered that fear; he had somehow betrayed The Unifiers and his people, he had Awakened. He knew immediately that he should hand himself in but, when he heard The Unifiers arrive, he’d panicked. Instead of going back down into the building and surrendering, he’d snuck across the roof and slipped down the ladder on the far side of the building. He’d only made it halfway down the alley when he heard the screams. That was the moment his naivety and trust in the Unifiers had been shattered. When any thought of handing himself in later, explaining that he hadn’t betrayed them and pleading that he didn’t know why he’d been Awakened, disintegrated.

He heard about what had happened later. The Unifiers hadn’t had a Listener with them, no one to confirm which one of the factory workers had Awakened and none of the men and women admitted they had Awakened, they dealt with them. The Unifiers had ensured The Awakened, who, they believed, was hiding amongst the group of innocent workers, people he called friends, by killing everyone of them. Forty-three unarmed men and women.

He hadn’t turned back, hadn’t handed himself in, hadn’t tried to save them; he’d been a coward and simply ran away. Since that day he vowed to avenge those people, to fight the Unifiers, so had worked tirelessly to learn everything he could about his powers. He’d managed to learn, not only how to hide from Listeners, but how to Listen; he’d learnt how to speak with his mind; how to spy on others' telepathic conversations and importantly he’d learnt how to defend himself.

Shaking himself back to the present, Alister turned back to the bed and made his way to the chest at its base. He removed a clean change of clothes for the girl, a pair of trousers, shirt, and socks. Her boots were still pretty sturdy, despite her having clearly been living rough for some time now. He flicked his eyes up, just catching hers as they flicked closed.

“Good morning, sunshine,” he said with sarcastic brightness, amused to see a slight twitch from the girl as she realised her pretence of still being asleep hadn’t worked, “Are you thirsty I have some not disgusting ale?” Alecia didn’t move for a few seconds, knowing she’d been caught but not wanting to admit to herself that he knew she was. A touch of amused condescension entered his voice, “come on, little one, you’ve been awake for a while now. So, do you want an ale or am I drinking alone?”

She finally admitted defeat, pulling her knees to her chest as she scooted across the bed putting the wall behind her. Alister sighed, turning away from her, he rummaged around the kitchen area before selecting a metal tankard and pouring a mug of ale, which he placed on the bedside table near the scrunched-up girl, before withdrawing to a seat a short distance from the bed. He tried to give the girl a reassuring smile but she just narrowed her eyes towards him.

“Good morning,” he said again, with forced cheer, “I’m Alister, and you, young lady, are in rather a lot of trouble.” She didn’t reply, seeming to withdraw further into herself.

“You have nothing to fear from me. I, like you, have a similar issue. The only difference is the Unifiers believe I am dead.”

“You drugged me,” she muttered, flicking a nervous glance at the ale.

“Yes… That was unorthodox… your Awakening had made you quite conspicuous and I couldn’t tell if those Unifiers had a Listener with them. I am sorry, but there wasn’t time to explain. You see their Listeners can hear Awaked… Knocking you out was the safest, and only, way to get you out of there without them being able to track you.”

Her posture relaxed very slightly, “I assure you that I mean you no harm… despite our slightly.. Erm.. problematic meeting. As I said, I am also Awakened and not particularly inclined to let the Unifiers drag me into the inner city.”

“You were the voice in my head,” she said aqusitorally.

He flashed another grin, “yep!” then rolled his eyes dramatically and glanced to the table by the bed, “I didn’t put anything in the ale by the way.”

After a moment’s indecision, the girl slowly uncurled and took the ale from the table, wary eyes never leaving Alister. She sniffed it, suspicious, but took a sip. They sat in silence for a long moment, Alister trying to be as non-threatening as possible. The moment began to stretch uncomfortably when the girl muttered, “thanks for the ale… a-and for saving me. I’m Alecia.”

“Well, what can I say, I’m quite the hero!” a half smile flashing across his face, “to be honest, it wasn’t totally planned… I was tracking those Unifiers trying to figure out how they can tell where Awakenings are going to happen before they happen. Then I felt you Awaken. I was impressed, you moved so quickly, you were almost fast enough to get away on your own – not that getting away would have helped you much if they had a Listener with them.

“You know most people don’t run. Most believe what the inner city says… that untethered Awakened will go mad, attack people in the street and perpetuate the destruction of the old world. I mean, I Awakened four years ago and, while I’ll admit I may be a little eccentric, I’m definitely not mad and haven’t hurt anyone.

Anyway, most people just hand themselves in. They don’t, you know, grab a knife and look about ready to die fighting if necessary.” He took a long sip of ale and a failed attempt to cover the flicker of fear that passed across his face, “I’ve heard that those who do escape tend to hand themselves in later…”

He let the last sentence hang as a question. Was she going to hand herself in? What would it mean for him if she did?

There was a strong belief among most of the populace of Unity that Awakened were extremely dangerous, not only to themselves and others, but weakened the city defences; potentially allowing the monsters of old world sin to enter. Therefore, it was right to hand yourself over to The Unifiers, if you Awakened. Removing the danger to the general populace for ‘the safety, protection and Unity of all’. Alister didn’t believe a word of it.

The Unifiers claimed that everyone was equal, everyone had their place and only through collective Unity could the world be restored to the glory of the old days. They mewled about equality while living their lives indulging in opulent luxury, with absolute freedom, in their towering fortress-headquarters at the centre of the city; literally raising themselves above the people of the outer city. Lavishing in luxuries bought and paid for with the pain and struggles of people of the city, most of whom believed they were righteously doing their part to restore the world.

It was said that those of The Castle had rid themselves of past sins and therefore were free to use their powers, further elevating themselves above the people they ruled. It was from these ranks The Listeners were recruited.

Alecia’s glare at his unasked question, but she said it anyway, “no. I’m not handing myself in.” The knot in his stomach loosened,”I’ve seen firsthand the evil the Unifiers can do. I won’t let them take me.” she said it forcefully, but she withdrew back into herself as she said it, “but they’re so powerful, what am I supposed to do now? Do I just hide for the rest of my life waiting for a bunch of Unifier thugs to kick down my door, dragging me away?”

The corners of Alister’s mouth lifted, once again widening, “Well, I can help with that… I can teach you how to hide your powers from Listeners, that’ll make it much harder for the Unifiers to find you, and I have contacts who could help you hide. I can’t guarantee they won’t find you but I can help to hide you. You can take a new name and hide in the far reaches of the city. It might work...”

He paused, deciding if it was worth opening himself to the dangers of the other option, “I’ve learned more than just hiding from Listeners so… you could stick with me… I teach you more about your powers than just hiding from The Listeners.” He flashed another one of his frustratingly chipper smiles, “I promise not to drug you again… after you learn to hide your powers, obviously.”

She smiled despite herself, “I’ll give you a little time to decide… although the one thing I am going to insist you do immediately.”

“What’s that?” she asked, suddenly apprehensive.

“You stink… you need a bath.”

Chapter 3

“Another one escaped,” it was a quiet statement but it still sent a chill through Demetrius, “you are aware, that for each one that we don’t bring in, the weaker we are. This isn’t about those in The Castle, you know, it’s about everyone in the city.” Demetrius knew this much, the threat of untethered Awakened free in the city was dangerous. “If more escape I don’t know what the council will do to maintain the power we need to survive... though it will likely mean the streets of this city will run red with rivers of blood once more,” Her tongue flicked out as though she could taste the blood in the air around her. “Do you understand how important it is to recover these… people?”

“Yes, Mistress,” he said, suppressing a shiver. Despite his numerous years in the military and reporting to this woman for the last two years, the cold thrill that entered her voice when she spoke of death still chilled him to his core.

“Dear Captain,” she whispered, stepping in close and placing her pale hand gently on his chest, “I’m tasking you with finding this Awakened. Bring them in... the council would prefer them to be alive when you bring them in but if that's not possible,” her eyes rose slowly to meet him, skewering him with an icy intensity that took his breath, “their corpses will suffice.” The corners of her mouth flicked up as she stepped back, her hand gliding, almost lovingly, down his chest, as she turned and strode away from him.

Freed from her soul piercing stare, Demetrius could finally suck in a breath. He spun around, trying, unsuccessfully, to appear like he was simply leaving to fulfil his mission - and not fleeing from the small woman as she leaned on the balcony overlooking the city far below. He managed to maintain an even pace as he left the balcony, but his speed increased as he almost ran down the empty hallway to the lifts. He slammed the lever down and his stomach lurched as he flew down the elevator shaft. Breathe! You’re a Captain in The Unifiers. Just… just breathe.

Slowly he regained his usual calm and gently raised the lever to slow his descent. By the time the lift had reached ground level, Demetrius’s breathing had slowed and his pulse had returned to its usual stoic rhythm. Finally having collected himself he moved calmly out of the lift, and crossed the busy atrium filled with the usual collection of scribes, messengers and bickering Castle residents. Walking outside he took one final stabilising breath, before heading down to the barracks which stretched around the rim of the inner city wall in front of him.

He breezed past a group of Unifiers undergoing intensive training on establishing a perimeter, another drilling on systematically searching an area and numerous on subduing one of The Awakened. Entering a smaller training area tucked up against the base of the inner wall.

“Orders!” He boomed as he stalked into the small training area dedicated to his own elite unit. A pair of veterans, Elisa and Warren, disengaged from an aggressive bout, involving an odd mismatch of weapons - Elisa with a flail vs Warren who sported a short pair of throwing axes - and marched up to the muster post. They had risen through the ranks with Demetrius, having joined the guard at the same time as him, before following him to join The Unifiers. Moments later, Preston, the squad's crack shot, retrieved his arrows and joined them in front of Demetrius. While Logan appeared, as if from nowhere, and slid into line with the fluidity of a dancer, a pair of 9 inch daggers strapped to his belt. As always, he wore his specially commissioned armour, its snug fit and mottled grey colouring allowed him to blend in with buildings of the city beyond the inner wall perfectly. It should have made him stand out against the porcoline white of the masonry in the inner city but even here it was difficult to pinpoint him, even when you knew to look for him.

“Last night a newly Awakened escaped.” He said in a clipped tone. They would have already learnt about the failure of The Unifier squad; the squad leader's head was probably still warm on its pike above the door to the unit’s barracks. “We have been tasked with finding them and bringing them in,” he paused, meeting each of their eyes in turn. “Our orders are to bring them in alive if possible. Barring that, the corpse needs to be recovered. You know what to do.”

They had their orders, they were the best of The Unifiers, they were tenacious; if anyone was up to the task these men and women were. The squad broke apart, taking off to their tasks without needing to waste time discussing it. Logan gave a quick bow before disappearing out the gate; he’d head into the city to sweep the area for clues the regular Unifiers may have missed. Elisa and Warren collected a pair of short swords, before heading deeper into the training grounds to interrogate the initial squad about last night's operation. They would determine if the escape was simply a failure of command or if some traitors had infiltrated the squad. Preston grabbed a new quiver of arrows, a cloak and a heavy sack of gold before heading out to ingratiate himself with the nearby residents and see if there was anything in the rumour mill that would help them track down their quarry.

Demetrius headed back towards The Castle, gritted his teeth, and marched back towards the lift to request the assistance of a Listener….