Darkest Dawn

The Church Bells

The year 2086

Sea spray lashed over them with the bitter, howling winds. The cold crusted their bones, stiffening the joints and salt bit their open wounds. Hansel was the strongest. With his hair shaved close - the scars ridging his skull stood pronounced. He glared up at the heavens – the startling whites of his eyes stark against the grime engrained in his face's deep lines. He was one of the Shade. His left palm was swollen, the skin healing over a crude chip that tamed his unnatural power.

Those around him stirred uneasily, shifting and shuffling into protective herds. The Karma were the wardens. They enforced the Princeps' rule and kept the Shade firmly under heel. Hansel's jaw clenched, the tendons in his neck going taut as his watched them heave in the body bags. Their taunting smirks snuck beneath Hansel's skin but the Karma backed away, letting the Shade check the identity of the dead. Hansel could feel his heart pounding in his head, thudding against the inside of his skull.

"Hansel," one of the Shade called urgently. Hansel didn't rush over. His intense gaze remained on the Karma that were observing him with gleeful eyes. They wanted to see his pain – they enjoyed it. Slowly, he walked across, preparing himself for what he suspected he was about to see. The bag had been unzipped to reveal the head and torso of its occupant. She'd been blindfolded but the material had slipped and now hung loosely around her neck.

Hansel stared down at his wife. He groaned with the effort of standing tall - of not crumpling like a man receiving a moral blow. The Karma chuckled – but even now, even with him so low they were still backing away - their mirth quiet, wary. They feared him. He wouldn't lose that fear. Blood caked the side of his wife's face, matting in her hair, but her expression was peaceful. His body felt heavy but still, with effort, he made his feet turn and walk away. The Karma's sniggering stopped. He'd disappointed them.

The Shade didn't approach him. He strode between them, his stride quickening as his mind set. The Karma had taken the only restraint that truly held him back – fear of losing his wife – now unwittingly they'd set him free. He was the most powerful of the Shade. Whilst most were shadows, being pulled about by the fates and forced into bodies not of their choosing, Hansel was a phantom. His hungry soul could devour any host it desired and not even the movements of the planets could stop him.

The Karma were alerted that something was very wrong by the wailing of the Shade. Charging in heavily armed they were already too late. Hansel's body lay on its side - going cold. Blood had seeped into his clothing and nourished the soil. Its trial leading their gazes to the troubling discovery -  a severed hand, the chip embedded in it standing out beneath the fleshy palm in a silent mockery. The alarm sounded and the mighty claxon shrieked across the base.

"We have a loose Shade. Secure the area." The lieutenant barked into the radio.

"He could be in anyone." A soldier muttered nervously. Distrustfully the Karma eyed one another wondering if the man ahead or behind was possessed.

They didn't notice as suddenly they blinked out of existence. Hansel was the most powerful of Shade – a soul no mortal body could contain. He could possess any soul in any time. He could change time. The Karma would no longer be at Psyche Fort in 2086 because the Shade were no longer discovered in the 1700's. Joseph Debordes - the doctor who should have made the discovery -was found dead when he was four years old, his neck snapped. History was being rewritten, the stars repositioned by Hansel, the Hungry Soul.

Back to 2017

Londoners awoke to streets full of printed images of the royal family enjoying a ball. The common people starved whilst the Princeps' wife wore jewels the size of chicken eggs and carelessly danced the night away. The rage in London was real and this time it was the women who took action. For too long they'd seen their children struggle. For too long they'd been forgotten. The church bells sounded as six thousand women took up arms and marched on Eros house.