Euryce ~ Past ~ The strings of a Lyre ~ part 3

The stream had fell on what would be the last day on the great city of Nochightdad.

What started the chaos was a shout. An irresponsible guard, the one that failed in its duty and gave us the window of time we needed for our plan.

“The baby is gone!”

And all hell broke loose.

Those who had their doubts about sacrificing it now were in the streets beside those that needed it to happen for the sake of their spiritual peace. Zealotry and compassion as opposite streams and every shade of gray in the middle converged in a single task of finding where the baby could have gone to.

That was the new keg of powder that was formed that day, a bigger one than in all the other riots until then. The final spark that blew it all up was a different shout, one from a woman who was, very unfortunately for us, in the exact place and exact time to ruin our escape plan.

“The prospects are running away!”

Meofor’s guard intervened, the ones who wanted to sacrifice them all collided with the families of those who had been imprisoned and had just found a hope of helping their loved ones escape. Thousands of people were now running in all directions, shouting at each other, fights breaking out faster than the guards could try to intervene and break them out.

In a way, the disaster was our salvation, as the damage control Meofor’s guard had to do to stop the chaos was the only reason we got as far as we got in our escape. After all, there was only so much a group of dozens of people could do to go unnoticed.

Dozens of people. Meofor had absolutely lost it. He decided that the only way to return the city to the way it originally was, way before the chaos with Howard started, was to compensate the missing rituals. To do so, he reunited enough prospects to account for two whole years of rituals.

So many people ran from Nochightdad with us that day. Many of them old, but the fact that there were also several young couples between them terrified me. How could he be so callous? So heartless?

In the end, we were not as crafty as we thought we were, as we were only half way through the city when out path was finally blocked by Meofor, who could intuit the path we were going to escape towards and arranged enough guards to stop us right there. It was no wonder we had manage to get so far, he had reunited all the forces he could spare in the single point of the city he knew we were going to escape towards.

Howard, Orphie and me were leading the entire group. We stopped there, knowing that although we did manage to steal some weaponry and light armor, we had no chance to pass through Meofor’s guard.

When Orphie noticed that Meofor had come himself to stop us, he stepped ahead, trying to talk the situation out with him. He lightly pushed me back towards Howard who was carrying the baby.

We had only managed to see the baby a couple of times before our escape. All we knew is that it was a little girl and that the only thing she came with besides her clothes and blanket was a little golden collar with a cross tied to her right hand.

That, and of course, that even now she was glowing. The light was so strong in her we could barely bare to see her.

Meofor stepped forward, willing to meet with Orphie to talk it out one last time.

“Father, please, you must understand. What you are trying to do is not right.” Started Orphie, trying to appeal to his compassion.

As soon as Orphie said that, his father sighed in disappointment.

“It must be done, Orphie. This city has not met peace in any moment of the last two years because we refused to follow the divine mandates. If we right our wrongs, then the Gods will forgive our transgression and we will know prosperity once again.” He said, out loud, making sure everyone could hear him.

“Father, nothing has happened in the last two years. No Gods have punished us, we have no one to blame but ourselves for all of this. People are confused, but we can talk, we can reason with them.” Orphie said, his voice starting to crack when he saw his father transforming their conversation into a speech for his army.

“That’s where you are wrong, Orphie. You only see a ritual and a sacrifice that gives its life, but you can’t see its meaning. Someday you’ll understand that out beliefs are more than a ritual or a senseless death like you seem to think it is. It’s something that gives people peace of mind. The punishment we have received is the fact that no one has slept well in the last two years. The fact that people no longer have certainties, but only doubts. The fact that every time we fail to fulfill our duties, the world only gets darker and the veils only seem to grow closer and closer.”

Meofor was no longer talking with Orphie, he was walking around, giving a speech for everyone who could hear him. He sounded confident, almost maddeningly so, as he paced, looking nowhere with his crazed look.

“And even if its hard, even if a lot of people don’t understand, some things simply have to be done. Because we are the great city of Nochightdad. Home to hundreds of thousands of people that live in the biggest city this world has ever seen. A city that extends as far as your eye can see, and that it’s the only beacon of hope for any living being in this world.”

Finally, he had returned in front of Orphie, grabbing him by the shoulders.

“And that’s why we are going to capture you today. And that’s why all of them are going into the stream. For the good of this city, someone must give us that peace of mind.”

With those last words, the stalemate suddenly broke. All the soldiers shot forward to capture the escapees, starting with me and Howard. Orphie tried to get back and help us but Meofor had grabbed him and prevented him of going towards us.

Everyone started shouting, the few armed people we had tried to keep them at bay but soon we were completely surrounded.

The baby was crying louder and louder as everything around us fell into chaos.

In the middle of that pandemonium, Meofor looked at Orphie to the eyes. His stern demeanor giving way for a moment to a storm of emotions he could not understand in the brief moments that it lasted.

“I’m so sorry.” Meofor said, in a low voice that was drowned by the chaos that soon plunged the city in darkness.

With a shrill scream, darkness started flowing around us.

Howard and I were the only ones to see what had happened, as we tried to shield the baby with our bodies. The baby screamed, its light becoming more intense for a moment before the veils started shooting from the ground everywhere. Was that infant power over the darkness as strong as it was over the light?

It was power, but it was not control. Once it started nothing could stop it. What was one veil suddenly spread all around us, all the way around the city.

The guards panicked, scattering around and trying to run from the darkness that threatened to engulf us all. Orphie managed to free himself from Meofor’s grasp and ran towards us, as all the prospects and us gathered around the baby.

The baby was still crying, but its glow, its brightness only increased. In the middle of the everlasting darkness that grew around us it gave us a place we could be in. Meofor was grabbed by one of this most trusted guards who tried to get him away to safety.

I looked at Howard and we both understood that we were safe for that moment, but it would not last for long. Looking back at all the prospects, we started to move forward, towards the place we were always meant to go.

The only one who stopped was Orphie. I told him to look forward, that we were almost out of that hell. He walked by our side for a moment. Darkness was starting to surround us, suddenly we would barely be able to see in front of us. Once that happened, there would be no turning back.

You simply have to keep looking forward Orphie, there’s nothing left for us here.

I had nothing left in that city. Everyone I had I was bringing with me towards a place that I hoped would no longer bring me such pain.

Howard had nothing in the first place, stolen from his home and forced into this situation he never wanted to be in. He didn’t even think about looking back once.

But Orphie?

Orphie had someone.

Orphie turned around in the last second, before the darkness closed, and saw his father looking back at him.

What did Orphie see in him in that moment? In that last instant before we lost all sight?

I never knew, I did not look back.

But whatever he had seen was enough for him to go running back, just as the darkness closed around us.

When we tried to get him there was no trace left.

If we went back, we risked the guards finding us. After what had just happened, Meofor would never forgive us. We could not return under any circumstance.

Feeling completely alone, carrying that baby in my arms, my only beacon of light, we pushed on. The light guided us through the barren alleyways, devoid of any light or people. Whether they had all ran away, or something came up with the darkness and got them I never knew.

The only thing I knew is that we needed to push onward. To walk out of the hell we all had landed ourselves in.