Purity of Mind

Chapter 23: The Eclipse

"When's the last time anyone here saw justice?" King yelled.

The crowd replied with an incoherent roar.

A full week had passed since I'd officially been inducted into this crew, and in that time I'd mostly been ignored. King hadn't sent for me, I'd spotted his generals only sporadically, and the rest of the citizens of the underground didn't seem to quite trust me yet. I spent the time with Pawn Seven, who apparently had a number of duties to the group, most of which consisted of stealing things. When we could slip away, we checked the dead drops. There was no word from Pawn Eight, and of course, we couldn't share anything we knew with him so we couldn't really start a conversation either. It would have been a restful time if the general tension of the undercity hadn't been building the whole week.

I'd been awoken earlier this morning by Pawn Seven, who told me that everyone was to attend a speech by King. This was apparently nearly unprecedented, judging by the furtive conversations I heard whispered around me while we gathered. There were far too many of us to fit in the upper floor of the Void Kingdom building (which is apparently what the crude Hidna carved into the surface of King's building meant). King himself was instead standing on the ledge inscribed with those very words, and everyone in the undercity was crowded in the broken streets below.

"That's right, you see justice every day down here, don't you?" King continued his speech, "If someone steals from you, you shiv him! That's justice!"

A cheer came from the crowd, mostly driven by the generals who were seated up front.

"But up above, there is no justice. We get discarded down here, forgotten, made to work as runners or servants at best. And who, I ask you, gets shivved for that?"

A jumble of words poured from the crowd, incoherent.

"That's right, nobody! Well, today's the day that finally changes. Many of you knew this day would come, and many more of you could only hope. Today is the day of the Eclipse, the day my power will be at its greatest, and today is the day we shiv the surface!"

This time, the cheer came from the entire crowd, not just the die-hard loyalists.

"I mean that literally," King said, holding up what looked like an improvised knife. "My generals are going to be passing these out after the speech. If you've got a grudge to settle against someone on the surface, we're going to be headed up there in about an hour. Take the time to think of some people you really hate. Now," he set the knife back down so he could resume his grand gesturing, "some of you might rightfully be wondering what'll happen if you stab someone. No matter how much they deserve it, that tends to be frowned on topside, because like I said, there's no justice up there. Well, that's where I come in."

He gestured to one of his generals, who immediately ran into the building, presumably to fetch the knives. "Anyway, you're not just going up there on your own. We're all going up there, and we're all settling some debts. The one force that's worked the hardest at keeping us down is the Empire's Intelligence Service."

A chorus of 'Boo's, mostly general-driven, erupted. I personally doubted that the service had done much of anything to most of these people–the enforcers seemed focused on their specific roles suppressing the Gifted. Likely this was just King's way of pinning the blame for the poor conditions on people he didn't much care for. So far his speech had been nothing if not predictable.

"Their four enforcers," King continued, "have long been the true power behind the Emperor, and thus the true reason our justice is denied. I, personally, will deal with these four! Once the false rulers have been cast down, we will take our rightful place on the surface, and live like kings!"