Chapter 15:

Occurrens

A Steam Requiem


It was a few hours later and Louise was waiting for her husband to arrive. She felt her leg twitch up and down slowly as she felt her stress slowly grow. She was afraid, more of a subconscious fear over everything else.

She knew, that behind a solid closed door they could not hear her, she knew that with a quiet whisper one could hide many secrets. Though as she looked at her son peacefully sleep in the corner of the room, draped in thin cloth upon a ruined mattress; she feared.

A rattle at the door caused her to tense, as though person waiting outside knew everything that had been bouncing in her head, perhaps it was her husband, perhaps it was a friend, perhaps the Grand Master.

His power seemed so great, that not even a wall of solid steel could stop his unstoppable grasp. It would clamp its way around you and never let go, tossing you around as though you were a mere toy, a ragdoll of entertainment.

She walked over to the door; every step seemed to cause her leg to shake more than the last. Placing her hand on the handle it felt cold, chilling and raw. Her fingers stuck to the handle in a thick sweat, one that dripped down her cheek in the form of a single drop.

She opened the door.

“Hello Louise.” Said Revalia.

A friend.

“Hi Revalia, how are you.” Louise felt her voice’s fear dissipate, replaced with a harder and stronger tone. She made herself believe that it wasn’t a façade.

“Are you coming for cards?”

“I’ll be there soon. The usual place?”

“Yes, see you there.”

Once the friend was out of hearing distance, Louise felt herself sigh. It was a sigh filled with tension, fear and a very subtle annoyance. Revalia had always looked at her so high and mighty, she hated it. 

Though amusing herself in the irony that she lived above her… though below in status.

Quickly locking the door and pulling the handle twice, Louise strode briskly down the hallway. With each step her eyes drifted to either side of the corridor, and with every corner she would look behind. 

Were she to encounter someone along the way she would freeze, though thankfully, that wasn’t an issue today.

§

Louise arrived at her destination, with a swift motion slid her way inside. There she was greeted with the eyes of several others briefly glancing at her, before returning to look at their cards. The cards were a ruse of course, who wouldn’t want to entertain themselves from time to time.

It seemed she was the last one left to arrive, and the meeting would be underway soon. Placing herself next to her husband they talked.

“How have you been dear?” Asked Louise softly, she didn’t want to disrupt the oddly tense mood in the room.

“Quite well… although this meeting is supposedly going to be a long one, can’t say I’m looking forward to it.”

“Why is that?”

“Well… we’ll be discussing the food shortage, as well as a few other important topics, it’ll certainly be a long night of cards.”

“Indeed.”

Louise briefly spent some time looking around at her surroundings. Each meeting was held in a different home, to both avoid suspicion and certify the dedication of some members. 

Louise found some satisfaction in visiting these new rooms each day, entertaining herself by seeing what others may have defined themselves by.

Some had extravagant rooms, far more lavish than her own, while others may have been simplistic and bare. The current was dull, dark and musty. Louise decided it wasn’t going to be a good night with such an unpleasant atmosphere.

“We will now begin out game of cards!” Said the head of the table.

Louise failed to keep names of them all, as quite frankly she didn’t care much about them. Few more placed a higher prevalence in her mind than Rez, plus most of their names were obscenely dull anyway. 

She proceeded to do what she normally did during these dreaded meetings, sit back in her chair and listen.

“To begin we will discuss the food shortages. From what we understand we will not last too much longer off the current food we have. From our informative in the lower levels, we have an approximate timeline of maybe a hundred years if we are lucky.” The man stopped speaking for a round of play… Louise unfortunately lost quite badly. 

The group listened attentively to any sounds of the outside, a slight creak or breath… There was nothing.

“The food shortage is caused by out slowly reducing supply of grain. Some scientific systems have helped keep them steady, but they are beginning to drop. Similarly, the production of meat had almost entirely stopped, as most of you know the last cows have been culled into the grinder.”

A soft murmur spread amongst the group members, as another round of cards was held. Hushed whispers surrounding the events spread across the table. Though on the bright side, Louise won the next round of cards which she was happy with to say the least.

“The next issue I would like to address is what is occurring to prevent our food shortage. As fighters for equality, we aim to provide the best lives for both Spotless and Scorcher kind. 

Unfortunately, there are plans to eliminate most of the Scorchers surrounding the castle using a new manufactured substance. The elders below dug up some instructions on how to create thermite, a highly explosive powder which caused the explosion in the slums some days ago.”

This time the murmur between people was far louder, and questions began to fly across the table.

“What are they using it for?”

“Why kill them, they barely receive any food anyway… Shouldn’t we do something?”

“What if this powder is used against us, they could eliminate enemies in an instant!”

A raised hand from the head silenced the room, he looked sternly forth, reminding everyone of the caution they should take. Louise continued to listen quietly from her place at the table, though part of her wanted to shut up all those who had been loud… 

A single sound could spell the end of them all.

“Many Scorchers and Spotless have already been killed as part of one or two purposes. For a thermite test which occurred a few weeks ago… or for food. Again, as some of you know two of our members were recently disposed of into the grinder… we don’t know I they had been discovered or were simply of age.”

Oddly this time there was just silence, the people simply looked down at the table in fear.

Knock

Louise looked at the door, as with most others in the room at that moment she viewed it with a sinking dread. The head slowly walked up towards it, smiled at the table and turned to open the door.

The man who stood in the entrance, was the Grand Master.

“Oh, playing cards I see, do continue on. I wouldn’t want to disrupt any wonderful discussions you would be having; I do enjoy some gossip from time to time.”

“Feel free to have a seat Grand Master.” Said the head… the words came out as a quiet mumble, his lips trembling.

“I’m quite ok thank you, myself and a few of the other elders have just been talking downstairs. We should get ourselves some cards, it’d be some nice entertainment for us. Well, I’ll be off, I wish you luck!”

The Grand Master left.

Louise looked around the room, she saw the faces of people who seemed to have just recently died. They had lost their passion, their will and were looking forward to a life of fear.

For Louise herself she was simply waiting for the inevitable change to come. She knew that the elder’s recent changes would cause terror amongst the Spotless people. She didn’t know who, but someone was bound to make a change.

Louise’s only wish was the safety of her child. Watching the faces of the people around her, and the white plaster colour of her husband’s face; she decided to refill her flintlock sometime later.

Walking back to her room she felt as though thousands of eyes stabbed into her flesh, prickling the tips of her skin. Her husband her walked downstairs out of stress, to practice his method of releasing stress, swinging his shovel.

Louise herself simply laid on her bed, she watched her son and his peaceful sleep. Maybe the next few days would bring peace, maybe they would bring blood. Whatever came she had to make sure that nothing happened to Rez.

Part of this wish was for herself, a selfish desire to have someone beside her, who she could both nurture and entertain, a love that she hoped would last eternally. 

On the other hand, she wanted her son to grow free, not trapped within the castle walls; free to roam around as he pleased and explore the secrets of the world.

Louise loved her little detective, and it was for this reason… that she had a gun.

Sir Arthur Harris
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