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Theocratic-Monarchy: SunSide
19th Day of Month 6, Year 1628 DG
The sea of fog gives way to a shore of ore.
Symin, the twins, and their young companion reach the end of the Pass, marked by a large sign on SunSide’s border. A painted image of the MegaFather, with mountains of ore surrounding him, and the words “The Future is Forever” underneath.
A vast field welcomes the travelers, swarmed with Bravers, tents, and ore vehicles on ore roads. The tents house salvers, food, and other potential necessities, along with areas for additional interrogation.
The field diverges into two paths: a dirt track winding into the forest to the south, and the ore road to the north. The road leads to something dark towering in the distance.
Salessa squints and makes out a metal wall. “Is that a settlement?”
Symin shakes his head. “That’s the capital, Larso. The MegaFather’s true kingdom. There’s no loyalty or love for him beyond the city walls. He stays holed up in there. Protected by the ore, the Bravers, and the Facilitator.”
“Coward,” Naina responds with a growl.
They reach an area of the field where a crowd of Doruh have gathered. As they pass by the herd, the young girl breaks free from Salessa’s hand and runs toward it. An older woman shoves through the crowd and meets the girl halfway, wrapping her up in her arms.
Salessa’s heart warms, feeling fortunate to have played a small role in bringing the girl to her loved one. The young traveler waves goodbye as she departs. Salessa waves back and, when she notices Naina standing with her arms crossed at her chest, elbows her sister to join. Naina rolls her eyes and lazily waves until the girl is lost to the crowd.
Is the aunt going to pay us back? Naina questions, irritated.
Her smile paid us back.
Naina feigns vomiting.
“We have to keep moving,” Symin says quietly behind them. “If we get too close to Larso, the Facilitator may be able to use the Radiance to track you. The Radiant energy of the forest is impenetrable. It’ll shield you.”
Salessa’s eyes narrow. “The Radiance? I thought nymphs and pixies couldn’t access the Radiance in Larso because of the ore?”
“The Facilitator, his daughter, and the Head Salver are exceptions to that rule. Their connection to the Radiance is so powerful, the ore can’t weaken it.”
“And they’re all family, so it must be something in their genes,” adds a fourth voice nearby.
Symin and the twins turn toward the dirt path, where an old, rickety wooden cart stands. A Mega with his cornflower-blue chest bare and a fabric skirt wrapped around his waist, climbs out of it. Two small, sheathed daggers hang from a string of twine around his waist.
His fascinating piercings grasp Salessa’s attention. There’s one ring in each nostril, three on each eyebrow, one on each nipple, five on each side of his body along his ribs, and those are just the ones she can count with a quick glance. The Mega appears to be the same height as the twins, close to five-and-a-half feet tall.
He opens his arms and Symin leans down to embrace him.
“This is Ray-Mi,” Symin introduces him. “He’s going to be helping us navigate the first leg of the journey.”
Ray-Mi bows, an unusual gesture.
“Wonderful to meet you,” Salessa says.
“You, as well, love,” the Mega responds. He turns to Naina, expectantly.
Naina stands silently, awkwardly, for a moment. “Let’s go. We’re wasting daylight.” She steps forward, past Ray-Mi and Symin, and climbs into the back row of the cart.
“I like her,” Ray-Mi mutters to Symin, before they all join Naina. Symin places his hand on the cart and it rolls forward over the bumpy dirt path and disappears into the forest.
***
“THIS IS ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY,” Zar-Lo groans, leaning on his ore desk, completely naked. The desk sits on a circular platform in the middle of the Theater. His arms are crossed and he taps his foot impatiently as he waits for the three servants across the room to finish pressing and folding his most extravagant robes.
“I disagree,” Saith responds, seated on a chair near the base of the five steps that lead up the circular platform.
“Straighten your back,” Saimiza, the Head Salver, instructs Saith. Her wrinkled, bony fingers run along the green skin of Saith’s shoulder, using the Radiance to remove excess energy that attempts to burn its way through what remains of Saith’s lost arm.
Without this treatment, he would face incredible suffering. “I will not sacrifice the remaining hours we have before the reading.”
“I apologize on his behalf, Saimiza,” Zar-Lo states to the old pixie. He descends from the platform and walks across the room. Every muscular striation is visible on his physique, his turquoise complexion lending a cool tone to the room’s aura. “There was no reason to have your session moved here today.”
The Theater rests at the top of the highest tower in the Castrum. It is the MegaFather’s favorite room, and the one in which he spends most of his time. Similar to that of the Forum on the main level, the floor is polished stone, with shimmering gems embedded into it. Along the south wall, near where the servants press his robes, is a line of portraits. It begins with Red-Lo and concludes with Zar-Lo’s mother, Cor-Lo the MegaMother.
Directly across from the portraits of the Red-Lo Royal Dynasty is a wall made entirely of treated, protective glass, floor to ceiling. The Facilitator and the MegaFather often stand at the window wall, gazing upon the citizens, monitoring the city.
“No apologies required, Father,” Saimiza responds. A warm golden glow emanates from her palms, and with every surge of energy ripped from the stump on his shoulder, Saith breathes a sigh of relief. “I’ve traveled across the continent to heal strangers. I can cross the Castrum to treat my own flesh and blood.”
“I’m grateful, Aunty,” Saith replies, releasing another sigh. He turns to Zar-Lo. “Shall we continue the rehearsal?”
Zar-Lo grunts with irritation as he reaches the window wall and gazes down at his kingdom. Warm light from the suns drifts softly into the room and twinkles against every part of his bare anatomy.
“Be calm, Saith. I have a response to any question they could ask me. I don’t think this meeting will be as interrogative as you’re assuming.”
“We must be prepared, Father,” Saith insists. “Not every Member of the Assembly will be satisfied with the execution, treason or no treason.”
Zar-Lo turns around to face Saith. “I’m not afraid of Saila. I’m well aware that she”—he speaks conservatively—“dislikes me.”
Saimiza shakes her head. “Saila has become such a disappointment to our family. How proud we were when she was elected to the Assembly. Her father”—she gestures to Saith—“and I have spent our lives in service of the throne. Yet, this child insists on acting as a thorn in the MegaFather’s side. She’s no better than her mother.”
“Thirty-five is hardly a child, Aunty,” Saith remarks. “She’s old enough to know—”
He stops speaking and rises to his feet. His eyes widen and transfix on the city beyond the window wall as he takes slow steps forward.
“What’s wrong, Saith?” Zar-Lo asks, alarmed by the abrupt behavior.
Saith continues walking toward the window wall. “Everyone out. Now.” He says it firmly, yet doesn’t raise his volume. The servants look at one another with furrowed brows. Saimiza shares their confusion.
“Get out!” the MegaFather jumps in. The servants drop the robes and scurry from the room. Saimiza grabs her cane and hobbles out as quickly as she can. The two Bravers at the door exit and close it behind them.
“It’s been twelve years,” Saith whispers.
Zar-Lo’s heart pounds with excitement when he realizes what Saith feels. “The twins?”
Saith nods and faces the MegaFather. “It’s faint, so they must be far, perhaps by the Pass.”
Zar-Lo’s lips part to reveal a toothy grin. “Get them.”
Saith places his hand flat onto the glass and emits a pulse of Radiant energy from his palm. The burst ripples outward, like a stone striking water. As the energy extends, the glass beneath it shatters into tiny fragments, showering onto the ground below.
Saith steps out onto the ledge beyond the window wall, then leaps. As he descends, he flips around and sends another pulse of Radiant energy skyward. The energy reaches the window wall and reassembles the shattered glass, as if it had never broken at all.
Zar-Lo watches from the Theater as Saith enters a hover chariot and uses the Radiance to launch it into the air and over the city, heading for the Pass.
***
THE CHARIOT LANDS IN the field just outside of PeakHaven Pass. Saith jumps out of it before it even comes to a complete stop.
He closes his eyes to focus through the activity in his surroundings. A pulse of Radiant energy leaves his body and spreads parallel to the ground. Every organic signature around him is bland, faint, save for the oceans of energy bursting from the forest.
They’re not here. He sniffs. But they were.
A caravan of chariots arrives, releasing Vy-Ro and more Bravers into the field.
“Where are they?” he asks the Facilitator.
Saith raises a finger to the dirt path leading into the forest. “Cloaked. The forest’s energy is too strong to penetrate.”
“What do we do?”
Saith takes a deep breath to keep his frustration at bay. This is your job, imbecile.
“Two teams: one searching the forest, the other distributing flyers in the city. Have an artist draw up an image of them.”
“What do they look like?” one of the Bravers wonders.
Heat rises in Saith’s chest. “They’re animals. They all look the same. Two girls, around nineteen or twenty. I want a flyer in every hand in Larso by the end of the day.”
Vy-Ro points to two blue-masked Bravers and instructs them to each lead a team: one for flyers, one for the forest. He reminds the Braver leading the forest team that the twins shouldn’t be harmed. They are needed alive.
The Bravers peel away to strategize their missions, leaving Saith and Vy-Ro alone by the dirt path.
“After all these years,” Vy-Ro says, “they’re finally here.”
Saith remains silent, focusing on the faint sense of the twins he felt earlier. It feels like trying to find a specific grain of sand in a desert.
Vy-Ro continues. “Are you going to remain here to oversee their capture?”
“Believe me,” Saith finally speaks, “I want nothing more. I am the only one who can be trusted to complete this successfully.”
Vy-Ro’s expression contorts, but he remains silent.
Saith tries to restrain his smile. “However, it would be a personal affront to the theocracy if I weren’t in attendance at the reading of the Final Act.”
“The Bravers will find them,” Vy-Ro reassures him.
Saith growls. “They’d better.”
He turns to leave when Vy-Ro speaks again, stepping closer to Saith and lowering his volume to a whisper. “In twelve years, I have questioned neither the hunt for the twins, nor the abductions around the city. I’ve followed every order loyally, but I remain in the dark. I deserve to know why.”
Saith locks eyes with the Braver General. “Do not mistake the MegaFather’s soft spot for you for some kind of invincibility.”
He raises a finger and points to the dirt path again. “Keep your eyes and ears in the forest, before you lose them.”