~Oh child of light…~
~Oh child of light…~
~Fear not the night…~
~For new dawn…~
~Is horizon upon…~
~Though our world is covered snow…~
~And in the sky the dark moon doth grow…~
~So long as the sun rises after each nightfall…~
~There shall always be hope for those Radiant one and all…~
I’ve been told there was a time before the snow. A time when our world flourished with green. A time when cities could be built anywhere people wanted and not just around the volcanic rifts that we must cling to for warmth and energy. Once there were fields of crops that grew in tilled earth out in the open air so they could drink in the rain as it fell from the sky. Rather than underground warehouses with water melted from ice and ultraviolet lights powered by steam turbines. But all that had been long before I was born. Long enough that most people my age are all but certain the green-filled past was just a story.
I pushed through the old rusted hatch that was the front door of my apartment, the moment I stepped out I felt the cold blowing down from the snow-covered plains above the rift, and the heat rising from the lava flows below. My home was located on one of the upper levels so it tended to be too cold, but that was better than having to live on the lower levels where it was oppressively hot. Thankfully my destination was in the middle levels, right at the sweet spot where the air was mildly pleasant.
The metal and stone walkways that hang over the lava flows far below rattle and click with each of my boot steps. I had to politely dodge and maneuver around the other foot traffic of vendors setting up their stalls, and fellow citizens going about their daily errands. I reached the lift station, a large flat elevator used to move between levels, and noticed more of that Radiant propaganda. Someone had put up another set of those annoying posters right next to the lift station where they were sure to be seen.
‘Beware the curse of the Obscure!’
‘The sorcerers of the Radiant can light your path!’
‘To side with the Obscure is to doom the world!’
I shake my head and turn away, but as I do I catch part of a conversation between two others waiting for the lift.
“You ever think of joining?” The short one asks his tall friend.
“The Radiant, you mean?” Asked the tall one, disbelief and doubt written plainly upon his face.
“Yeah! Learn magic, fight evil, and help renew the sun.”
The tall one shushed his friend. “Keep it down, would you! Do you want to paint a target on our backs? Everyone knows the…” He hesitated to even say the word aloud so he just whispered it. I don’t need to hear it to know what he said. “‘The Obscure’... they are hunting them. People killed in their sleep, nightmares of dark places, friends turned enemies, and that’s just what the public hears about.”
The short one nodded and spoke in hushed tones. “Yeah, I know, but the Radiant have magic on their side! Real magic! And it was them that helped build this city so we could have a place free from the snow.”
The tall one nodded and rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes that is all well and good, but is it worth the risk of being murdered in your sleep? There are plenty of regular people living in Volanicburg. We go about our lives, do our jobs, raise our families, and we live happy little meaningless lives. Magic, curses, secret wars… save that for those that walk the shadows and keep your head down. That’s how us regular people survive.”
“But if the Obscure win and the curse spreads we’re all doomed!” The short one protested.
The tall one simply shrugged, “We were all doomed when the snow began falling and never stopped. I just want to live my every day until the day I die and my corpse is cast into the lava flows.”
Once the lift reached my floor I exited and make my way to the cross bridge, the metal and stone bridge that connected the north and south sides of Volicanberg. I spotted my contact there waiting for me. She was young, beautiful, and nervously biting her lip as she cast her glances about in search of something. I approached her slowly from behind. I accidentally stepped on a loose grating which caused it to rattle. Instantly she spun around to face me with the bright glow of a spell in her hand ready to unleash.
“It's okay! It's just me.” I held my hands up in a gesture of surrender to ease her nerves.
She breathed a sigh of relief and allowed her spell to fizzle. “Don’t sneak up on me like that! You know I have to be on guard.” She scolded me.
I shrugged apologetically.
“Do you have it?” She asked both pleadingly and demandingly.
I nodded and took the note sealed with the special wax seal and offered it to her. “It wasn’t easy getting this before the magister sent it out.”
She accepted the note eagerly and read it over. As her eyes flickered over the page her expression faltered. “No… it can not be.” She looked at me with a frown. “This proves my suspicions that he has turned to the Obscure. Are… are you sure you got this from the magister?”
“That is the magister's seal and his handwriting is it not?” I countered.
She looked down at the note frowning and nodding. “It is… we have no choice then. I’m sorry I must go.” With that, she turned and departed.
I watched her go for a while and then grinned. It hadn’t been easy to forge the magister’s handwriting or to get his seal… but the satisfaction of knowing the Radiant were about to unknowingly destroy one of their own made it all worthwhile. I took the real note from my pocket and tossed it over the walkway railing into the lava flows below as I walked away, my mission was complete.
~Oh child of night…~
~Oh child of night…~
~Fear not the light…~
~For a new order is on the rise…~
~The old ways were always lies…~
~In the sky the dark moon doth grow…~
~From which our curse shall flow…~
~There is no salvation for those Radiant one and all…~
~Because the Obscure will bring about their fall…~
