Forgotten Pieces

Two years had passed since the first meeting in town hall, which had ultimately led the small population to grow from 104 to 767 proud Laharinians. The new city was arranged into four districts to keep organization of the town simple. The western peninsula served as the commercial region which housed restaurants, theatres, gaming facilities, and hotels. The southern part was considered the business district because it held town hall, market stalls, and courier services. The northern and eastern sectors were designed for residential housing, schools, and apprenticeship facilities. In the middle of the town lay a giant park which contained training facilities for the militia and enforcement jobs. Lastly, to top everything off, the city was encased with a four-foot thick stone wall and three guarded gates made of plated steel that stood fourteen feet in the air. Two of the gates were located on the eastern wall while the other manned the bridge, and the only way to open them was the large cog based mechanism that required at least two men to clear.
Xandra took her time as the commander-in-chief of Laharino to train guards, maintain the militia, and govern over political issues while the others helped run the day-to-day town life. Divine worked within the ranks to haze out traitors and spies while Byonka ran the market district. She spent most of her personal time managing a bar that served as the main source for adult attraction in the district, dedicating a small portion of the space to Leonardo, who ran the karaoke aspect. Lukas owned the major construction business in the city and had teamed up with Maybelline, who owned the floor space for all the stalls in the market.
Town hall had become too small to account for the increased amount of people so they had leaders and elected officials decide on city matters, although they still sought out help from public polls they held frequently. Laharino was running smoothly, with no struggle from Luin, until a Royal Council Member from the Nobel Committee of Luin approached the city gates seeking entrance. Xandra and Divine were notified immediately and Phantis arranged a meeting in town hall while Xandra went to greet the foreigner. She walked to the gate and informed the guards to open the door, the cogs turning to make a heavy clashing sound as they opened slowly. Xandra bowed slightly as the outsider and his two guards took a few steps toward her, eyeing her moves cautiously.
“Welcome to Laharino, Noble of Luin, I will be your escort to the hall in which your inquiry may be heard” Xandra spoke gently, raising her head to meet his eyes.
The noble looked at his guards then replied, “is this location not suitable or are you not the leader?”
“All city matters are heard by our council which consists of forty elected officials, the keeper of Laharino, the market district owner, the commercial owner, and the commander-in-chief, now follow me.” Xandra turned as a few of her guards stepped behind the guests while the giant doors closed behind them, locking them within the city. The noble sighed and followed her without further question.
Town hall was set up in a coliseum style format with a center platform and five rows of seats that covered the interior of the area. Entering the room, the visitor was given a full view of the officials seated in the amber colored chairs as Divine addressed them on council matters only to be interrupted by him.
“Lords and ladies of Laharino, thank you for lending me your ears. Luin has become aware of your current state of wealth, stability, and power and as we are always aspiring to vary our diplomatic relations, we would like you to consider becoming a part of the Volund Council.”
“What are the terms and conditions for a deal like this?” Xandra spoke openly among the court.
“In exchange for your submission to our laws and taxes, Luin will offer you twenty passes to the festival every year” the foreigner said as he paced, glancing back and forth among the council members.
“All of our citizens are nobles, because of this we agree that no one should be excluded from festivals of great historical importance. Luin’s laws are unjust to those lacking wealth, which is what this city was born under the work of, and as long as that law is in place we will not come to terms with this agreement. If any of the council opposes this decision you may raise your hand now.” Silence consumed the area as the noble looked from each person in the council, noting that no hand was raised.
“The rules of Luin are upheld in order to keep order and peace; if the rules weren’t there our world as we know it would flounder on the edge of existence and chaos and destruction would rein throughout the country.” The noble locked eyes with Divine who had at that point stood from his chair and moved to the middle before bowing to the guest.
“War and violence are part of our nature, it is destined to happen where any sense of resentment is brought, but we will not change our ways just because your lifestyle is threatened. I know what you're thinking and you can tell your leader these exact words, nothing will crush our spirit. He know what’s coming and when he makes his move we will too.” Divine sat down and the council members talked amongst themselves as the noble bowed and exited. Xandra rose to escort him to the city gates where she then informed her guards that they were on the brink of war and be extra cautious. Leaving from the gates, Xandra made her way to meet with the captain of the militia to instruct her to ready the army and be prepared to defend their new city.

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Everyone returned to their daily tasks once the hype from the noble had calmed down and Xandra thought it would be a good idea for the main members of the rebellion to meet up. Explaining that she wanted to hang out before hostility broke out, Xandra asked the group to meet her at Byonka’s bar and only two declined, Shaun stating that he had no interest in personal events and Charly being too young.
The bar floor was tiled black but the cracks between each tile had baby blue lights surrounding them. There were many tables clad in navy tablecloths with matching chairs spread out across the room and a brightly lit stage that could be used for performances. On this particular day, it happened to be Lukas’ birthday, in which everyone agreed to celebrate at the bar by bringing gifts and cake. As the guests collected in the area, Byonka arranged the gifts into piles on either side of the stage surrounding a four foot birthday cake centered on the stage. By the time Lukas and Maybelline walked in, the culprits had already been waiting a few minutes and were eager to jump out and surprise them. Byonka, Leonardo, Xandra, Annaliese, and Teresa were gathered to sing the birthday song as Lukas walked unsteadily to the table and looked upon his friends’ faces to share in their joy. They exchanged greetings after the song and talked for a while before Xandra quieted everyone down to explain the main reason for their party.
“My friends today is a day to celebrate, but as you know life’s peril waits for no one’s happiness. Today we were offered a place in Luin’s council but respectfully declined, I expect combative actions soon in which they could try tonight or some time from now so the city is on guard. Therefore I would like to spend the night bonding with everyone in this room, not only to grow closer as comrades but because this might be the last night of enjoyment we’ll have for a while.” Byonka, realizing the severity of the evening now, stood to signal she that was going first.
“My mother was pregnant with me during the war and gave birth the day after it ended. The war brought wealth into consideration and the families with many kids struggled to keep their nobilities before eventually falling into the slums. I was the reason my parents lost their status because I had special needs in order to stay healthy and they only cared about saving me, this went on until I was sixteen and my life forever. I came home from school to find a note on the kitchen counter telling me that we were buying a house out of the district to give me a better education. I had to say goodbye to my friends and part ways with them which was difficult of course, but the hardest part was that first night in the new house. I was awoken by a noise and got up to check it out but was stopped by the sound of footsteps at my bedroom door. Squinting, I eventually tapped into my ability and saw a heated figure walking towards my parent’s bedroom. I ran to their rescue screaming as I pushed the cloaked figure as hard as I could, revealing his face to my newly awoken parents. It was the first time I had seen my dad’s ability; noticing the danger he spoke harshly, ‘necrosis garden’ and suddenly vines sprung out of dad’s body to impale intruder’s, causing him to bleed out in front of me.” Byonka sat to finish the second half of her story.
“After that I became distant and my parents tried to console me only pushing me to rebel, they spent so much time worrying that they never noticed things happening around them. I was walking home from school one day and there was smoke hovering above the district. Curiosity got the best of me and I ran towards the cloud just to find my house burning down and the charred remains of my parents being escorted out of it. I returned to the slums as an orphan, spending over a year stealing from people and getting into fights before one crime earned me my execution sentence. Xandra saved me before anything could happen and I have been in her service ever since.” A serious look befell everyone’s face as they realized how important this talk was and without hesitation, Teresa stood up.
“I was born after the war, originating from Stengraff. My family members were low ranking nobles in the alliance and our education was mediocre at best, so we didn’t excel at jobs but we were fairly good entertainers. My mother and father had unique illusion powers in which they could manipulate peoples’ sight and thoughts so they worked as a team to perform shows without much effort. Unfortunately, I didn’t inherit their ability and couldn’t help much with the business at first. It used to bother me a lot so I would spend times in a field singing by the lake where cherry blossom trees bloomed, slowly developing a talent for singing because of the constant practice. My parents became curious after a while and used their powers to hide themselves as they followed me to the field where they watched and were filled with so much joy that they organized a grand show for the city in my honor. They did it in secret of course, not wanting to admit they had been following me, and used their abilities to hide the town as they approached behind me. Using their influence on my thoughts, I sang that day with so much passion that anyone who heard, relished in the notes. I sang so hard that when I was finished I was panting as my parents removed their illusion of me being alone to show the whole town cheering and applauding. Happiness flooded over me to know that I was as useful to them as they were to me.” Teresa began walking around the table as she continued.
“I continued to perform with them until Delus refused to rank up our family’s nobility, saying that our ‘wealth never changed’. Furious with his decision, I bid farewell to Stengraff to go to Luin in hopes of becoming the most popular singer in Volund to bring glory to where it belonged. When I arrived, I settled in the slums and started performing all around the town. I did that for about a year before requesting to sing at the festival, only to be refused by Delus who said ‘it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve saved to pretend you have wealth, you’re still a low nobel and will not perform.’ I bought a ticket anyway to perform without his permission but the execution penalty terrified me and I hesitated to do it. After the assassination attempt by you guys, I came to help your cause to give people like me a better chance and here I am now.” As she finished she sat back down, the smile never wavering from her face. Leonardo stood next, his eyes full of sorrow at the tragic memories his past brought back, and spoke in a saddened tone.
“I was born into a family that was part of a group called The Runaways of the Old Order, they were stragglers of the war and opposed the new rule. Clean up crews hunted the Order down and others like them to abolish any chance of threat to the new world, this is how my parents died, with me in their arms. I was spared that day because of the eclipse that had awoke my full powers for all to see; one of my hands covered in ice and the other in flames they knew I was an elemental and Delus saw me as a great tool of war so he adopted me into the army. He never masked his intentions nor did he lie to me, he ensured that he broke my spirit early as a child to make sure I knew I only had him in a way to force me to become what he wanted me to be. I took on years of physical and mental training which brought sorrow with it, especially when I killed my first person. After my first I was trained to kill more until it became like second nature to me, prior to my fifteenth birthday at least. After meeting Delus’ new stepdaughter, Xandra Genesis, for the first time my life changed and for the better. We would spar more than anything to build our relationship, even though she would lose a lot she never gave up and I liked her for that. We eventually developed a special relationship in which I could open up and tell her anything.” Leonardo sat down and folded his arms, closing his eyes as to not see their expressions for the rest of his past.
“We secretly hung out at night and I would share my life stories with her which made her question her new stepfather’s intentions. We eventually formed a pact to take Delus down when her mother died and she told me of all the evidence against him. I pledged my life to her, to be used as a weapon in which she could do what she wished, only to be used as a spy and sap funds from them unnoticed. The money was going to be used to rebuild the slums but of course plans changed after the festival” Leonardo sighed and sat down as Byonka placed a piece of cake in front of everyone. Lukas rose from his chair and sat on the edge of the stage looking at everyone before beginning his story.
“In Briskle, there’s a company that my family owns. We make our money from construction jobs, manufacturing heavy equipment, and so on. The genes in my family are all strength based so it’s a dominant inherited power, but every so often we can fuse with another ability. I was different, my gene was a special blend between my father’s strength and my mother’s self boosting skill, as a result I became the strongest member in my family. I became a golden child with that power, I had given our family the chance to go down in history and become something great. I was treated as a god, people would do me favors with no intentions just so I’d prosper over them. It didn’t take long with everyone treating me that way for Luin to discover me and wish to put me in the secret guard, that way if a war broke out I wouldn’t be a danger to them and they could ‘breed’ more of my kind if needed. My parent’s said they would think about it, weighing the pros and cons without asking my opinion, no one ever did. I felt like a product because of this and decided to leave and go to Luin to find my own way, eventually settling in the slums” Lukas walked over to the table and took a drink before continuing.
“I stayed there for two years as I worked small building jobs and repairs fixing up a few things around the town. When I was employed to demolish a building in the moonlight district I met Xandra for the first time, who was leaving shortly to live in the slums. I ignored her at first, thinking nothing of her until soon after I finished the demolition job I met her again, covered in blood and helping Byonka to her house. I asked what had happened and she didn’t spare any detail, finishing by saying she’d strike me down if she had to. I refused the offer to fight but for the first time in my life I saw someone who I could believe in.” Maybelline patted his shoulder and walked around the table, touching everyone’s shoulder as she told her story.
“I was a resident of Uuwean, spending most of my life running my family’s small fishing business. My parents were fairly poor because they couldn’t get a stall license to sell fish in Luin so we would transport them to the nearby towns and try to make ends meet. Eventually we got the money to buy a permit but we didn't have a dock importer so all the fish we caught were almost spoiled by the time we got to our market. We never could make enough money there so we froze the permit to maybe get use out of it later. A few years passed and it eventually expired so we needed to renew it, although we were unsure of whether or not it was a smart idea. We began to look for struggling fishing families to partner with and split the profits but no one wanted to work for half the income. My parents discussed moving to Luin and working in the city stalls and I agreed that it was wiser to work there than where we were” Maybelline looked out the window as she took a deep breath.
“I spent so much time learning different merchant trades and keeping the stall in order that I never learned how to fish so when my father fell ill I was unable to get fish to sell in the market. We couldn’t afford his medicine and eventually he died, my mother following him a year later from grief. I was left alone and the only thing I had was the stall permit and my parent’s home which I sold to have enough money to move to the richer district of Luin and work as prominent merchant.” Annaliese stood up and stopped Maybelline by hugging her tight before letting her return to her seat.
“Most of you, if not all, were born after the war - I fought in it as a ten year old girl. I lost in that war. I was dragged into it to defend myself and my parents. The war started when Old Luin upgraded the city and declared all other cities recognize them as the major power. The cities on the northern continent agreed, but the southern cities wanted no part of it. Before Laharino was built, the area was just open space and the north gathered an army and sent their battalion to take over the territory. They remained undetected until breaching the land of the cater of crops, Tsugrova, who offered no fight and surrendered immediately from lack of armed forces. The northern army remained unscaved as they cut off food supply from Tsugrova to the other cities, which revolted and created a militia to fight off their attackers. The fights raged on over a span of five months, with a battle at least every three days. My family lived in Agorith and wanted to help with the revolt so they began strengthening my ability to aid in communications.” Annaliese swept her hair to the side to reveal a crest on the back of her neck while she spoke.
“Any person who bore this symbol was able to speak to me directly. As a result, all the generals had it engraved on their cufflinks while I did reconnaissance for them. Unfortunately, the northern forces were aware of this ability and made a surprise attack that confused our people and brought about the end of the war. When our soldiers moved to get Tsugrova back, they found the city to be unoccupied by enemy forces, only civilians. The generals didn’t know how to react and wasted hours trying to think of a retaliation strategy, all the while northern forces moved back across the bridge, through Luin, and came across the second bridge leading directly into Uuwean. They burned most of it to the ground and without distant forces, we lost three cities before we could defend against the fight. Ultimately we surrendered in order to keep our people alive” she sat down to finish the rest of her tale.
“I remained hiding in Luin’s slums for 5 years, trying to feed information to the rebels who paid me no mind. I lingered, a citizen of the city I despised until they set fire to their own town.” Xandra nodded and rose as the last one to speak. Following in Lukas’ sted, she rested on the stage and glanced at everyone before starting.
“I would like to thank you all for sharing your past with us, I know it was hard for everyone. My mother and father were nobles from Luin and had me a year after the war ended. My father worked as the army’s weapon specialist and customized personalize weapons for every high ranking officer in Luin. My mother was the lead doctor for the Moonlight General Hospital because of her ability to retain all information she read. I lived as a pampered noble for the first ten years of my life while I was educated in business affairs, different styles of art, and general studies for all subjects. During my tenth year, father received a promotion for a spot that was already guaranteed to a general, but instead given to him by Delus. The general became enraged by Orcanus’ decision and developed a drinking habit which ultimately led to my father’s assassination - Delus executed the general in return but no justice was seen that day. My mother didn’t want to be around nobles after that so we moved to the slums where she homeschooled me while working for the free clinic. Delus grieved over my father’s death more than my mother did and he began hating the very nobles he put into power. He visited us in the slums often to help with the pain of father’s passing and it eventually led to a relationship between my mother and him. We moved back to the Moonlight District soon after and Delus trained me in the art of war before introducing me to Leonardo. Ocranus ended up seeing me as his own and would do anything to stay with me” Xandra reached into her pocket and took out a photo to pass around. It was a picture of Delus, her mother, and Xandra on the day she met Byonka. Xandra continued her story as everyone took turns gazing at the photo.
“Delus’ obsession with me began to outweigh his love for my mother and I became suspicious of his affections for her. I started dipping into his files and eavesdropping on his conversations only to find out about his hatred for the other nobles. Ocranus decided to use his abilities and make the world submissive to his will, including my mother. He eventually began to loathe her when she refused to help him seek revenge against my father’s assassins, stating that there was no need for more bloodshed on his account. Infuriated by her decision, Delus formed a plan to kill mother and frame the same nobles that murdered father in order to convince me to join in his plot for vengeance. Unfortunately for him, the day she was killed I left home grief stricken and moved to the slums where I met Byonka and Lukas shortly afterward. From there I investigated the evidence behind mother’s death and found it pointed back to Delus - I struck a deal with Leonardo to bring him down after that. I feel as if all Volund’s problems will end if Delus is removed and that the world will change for the better, which is why we’re here now.”
Clapping could be heard from the front of the bar when Xandra’s story was finished and everyone’s eyes widened as Oliver stepped forward from the shadows. The group was amazed to see him alive for they all thought he died trying to save his sister on the docks. Teresa stood and went to hug him but was stopped by Leonardo’s hand; it was plain to see the hate on the visitor’s face as his glare scanned the group, finally settling on Xandra before letting a smirk escape.