Shadow Ravena
Paladin of Shadows
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Chapter One
I walk along the dark streets of Embra, my home city. "Home city, but not a home. I have no home."
I pass the school I went to as a child, where I was first picked as outcast. I see a old friend of mine, raise a hand in greeting. But she does not see me, though I only be a few feet away. No see, or acknowledge me. I am nobody. I am Outcast.
I walk along, passing the market and the mall. People rush hither and thither, all content and rapped up in their pretty little lives. I see, but cannot join in. "Maybe I'll go to the movies, but what does it matter, it will only be the same as before."
Everything is the same as before, each day only slightly varied. It was always the same streets I had walked millions of times before, always the same shops, same people, same dark black sky, same streetlights always lit.
"Hey, you their, girl. Come over here"
I turned to see a old man beckoning from the middle of the street. I walked over to him, and he suddenly spit in my face. "Sucker. Ya think I actually wanted anything to do with ya?"
I heard people chuckling at what the man did. Me, I just wiped the spit off my face and kept walking. I was used to this kind of treatment, I got it every day. The law states you could do nothing to Outcast except harm. I was lucky I didn't get beaten like many did.
And of course ignoring him wouldn't do anything, their would always be another. In the distance a clock chimed quarter till nine, I needed to get back to my house before nine 'o clock curfew.
I walked to the edge of the city, where Outcasts lived, and entered the house. "Shack is more like it." I thought for the millionth time. It was a shack, rundown and pathetic. There was a bed, a rickety old table and chair, a chest covered in dust, and that was it.
"At least its clean and they're no animals. Thats better than I deserve."
You might be wondering about now why in the world I didn't go to a different city, find a job, get a life. I couldn't. The iron band that marked Outcast also prevented me from ever leaving.
The cities in this world were islands, the only way to another was by government boat. Try to escape, and you were caught and jailed if lucky, tortured if unlucky, which most people were. For an Outcast, you were killed or worse.
"Why I don't just try and escape is beyond me, Death would be welcome relief."
That was not entirely true and I know it. I had a will to live, a will that would not be broken. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was stronger than them, that I could stand anything.
***
The next day, I got up as the clock chimed six, and headed to the meeting hall. It was my turn to get weekly rations, and the earlier I was the less likely the officials were to try and cheat me out of my food. I left my house and started walking down the narrow and muddy streets.
As always, the iteetlamps gave barely enough light to see by. Here on the outskirts of town, where the Outcasts lived, it was never maintained like the rest of the city. In fact, if any of the lamps burnt out either myself or a fellow Outcast had to steal a bulb and replace it, or their would be no light at all. Stealing anything was tricky, so only a few lamps had bulbs. The officials knew we had to be taking them, but never bothered to check who did it. Occasionally a random Outcast was charged with, but only when they wanted to punish someone. Which happened far to often. But bah, what did thinking about it help? Nevertheless, I did think, if only to break the accused monotony of everything.
No surprise, when I reached the hall, there were few people there. I still had to wait a half an hour to turn in my work card, get my new one and a food slip. Some Outcasts waited a few hours to do this- you had to by 9- but I knew it was smarter to go early. For one, less waiting time around other people, for another, better jobs and food given to early risers. I trudged to the other side of town to the Outcast headquarters- or I should say our superiors headquarters. There, we got rations and assignments. Why we had to go to town hall as well I did not know, but that was just the way things were done.
When I reached the building, it was mostly empty. I was, as usual, the first Outcast there. Not that it mattered if the others were there- we were forbidden from idle talk, or any talk outside of work. Which was rare. Anyways, I got my weeks worth- a 'loaf' of stale bread and a fist sized hunk of meat. It was better than I've seen! Normally both were rotten. And, of course, the pills that made up for the nutrient lack, one per day. We could work, but didn't have enough energy to rebel. They think. But thats another matter. Anyways, my job, like it always was, was 'janitor' duty at the local electronics' plant. In reality, it was more do-whatever-they-ask then janitor. The fact that they trusted me to have me do that was nice, it meant I could get a promotion. Not to any real work, but more tracking fiances, products, that sort of stuff. Computer work really, but computers fail and the average citizen was above such mind-numbing tasks. Still, you got a bit more bread with it, as well as a bit more few seconds. That made it worth it.
The electronics company and factory were joint building, as were many businesses. This made control easier, and prevented any funny business the workers might try. Not that anyone was that dumb. No work, no pay, no food, no life. That simple. You either earned your life, or you died. The government don't need slackers- they need idea people. We Outcasts took care of the rest. There was no free anything- your house was often government owned, as was you health insurance, all the businesses, stores, transportation, etc. Those that were useless were tossed aside like the trash they are. Mercy is not a word here- it is made of myth. Of course, with the land utterly hostile, with many necessities coming in from foreign lands via government trade, this kind of system worked. No government, we all died. But I'm rambling, again. The factory was on the west side of the island, so it was ANOTHER trek across.
Note: The island is roughly divided like this: Outcasts in the east edge, governmental stuff in the north, factories in the west, 'farms' and houses in the south, and shops in the center. Town Hall is in the North, the Outcast central in the east.
At the factory, I 'greeted' the manager, got yelled out for being late (I was ten minutes early), got assigned a section of area to clean, got my tools, got to work. Boring to live, worse to tell. What was interesting happened at five, when my work 'officially' ended (It often ran over till 8:30). In the janitor's closet, a certain bucket was turned over. I smiled, that could mean one thing. I quickly palmed a small note under it, and once safely away I read it. It was simply, 'Meeting at moon's hight, where shadow's are still cast.' Sweet.
< Message edited by tigerlady48 -- 10/25/2011 23:07:12 >
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