Deception (ON HOLD)

Chapter 8

Day 2
It was the first council meeting that I joined today. Though each member of Imperious is supposed to be equal in power, Anika is quite evidently the one really in charge. She manages to manipulate the others into doing exactly what she wants, but with making them feel it is their own decision.

She attempted the same with me, and I played along and will continue to do so as to not to make her feel she is being challenged, resulting in a potential dismissal from my position. But only for so long. After all, I am not here to serve the Imperious.

The meeting was brief, shorter than I had anticipated. We were sat on a long, wooden table, the City's symbol engraved on the front. Each chair had a Listener symbol. I froze when I first saw these signs, fear consuming me. Why were there Listener symbols there? Panic began to course through my veins and my mind was not able to come up with a logical conclusion.  Did they know?

I decided to bring peace to my thoughts and ask Anika what the symbols were, as if I was naive to the truth behind the detailed patterns carved into the oak. She had looked caught off gaurd, just for a brief instant, just for a second. She had told me the truth, that they were Listener symbols, I had not at all expected truthful words to leave her pursed mouth. When I proceeded to ask why they were there, she explained that the Listeners once controlled the Imperious, a few years back, and therefore left their mark engraved on the council after their retreat from the City only a few months ago. She spoke with a spite in her voice that overpowered her attempt at keeping her tone levelled and neutral. 

Of course,  I was already aware of this, but I had to be cautious and the less I appeared to know, the better. I was also aware that not only had the Listeners dented the council with the traces of what was once so powerful and admired, now spoken of in malice and disgust, but also permanently penetrated the mind of Anika.

She spoke with such detest and I fought to bite my own tongue in defense of  my family. She will never know why indeed the Stone family left, specifically the Listeners. They knew it was coming, they could feel the darkness seeping into the border of the City long before it will become evident to the people. But they are still here, they merely left the Imperious, not the City itself. They live in the Undergrounds, along side refugees and run aways, safe in the forgotten ruins of the City, deep below the thriving streets.

They had begun to hear the council talk of upcoming wars with the surrounding towns of Aldern and Warray. The two envied the City, it's way if exceeding, and it's hold of the Listeners. Tension had been building up for years and now the Imperious wanted a war, and they were planning on forcing the people of the City to fight.

They were making decisions they would soon regret. The Listeners knew the Imperious would lead the City into the deepest depths of hell that they would not be able to rise from. The war would have a chain reaction, setting off a number of occurrences that would, in turn, snap the currently thick rope holding the City together that will soon dissolve into a thin, measly piece of  string.

The Listeners left because it was openly known to all who they were, it was prided then, and they knew that the Imperious would make them help them in their plans, forcing them to endure torturous trials when they would refuse to do so. So they disappeared overnight before the Imperious had a chance to do anything.

They sit and plot every night in the Undergrounds,  they plot their plan of protecting the people and the City from it's fate. But they require eyes in the City itself and most importantly within the Imperious, this is why I am here. The Imperious believe that all the Listeners left, along with the Stone family as a whole, so my presence does not arouse suspicion. I go under the name of Jaslay Alory, my family sporting the same last name to remain safe.