"Relax, everything is fine!" The agent pointed to the road before the car, where a large demonstration blocked the main road. Annie saw the countless new breeds and normies walking together, raising banners high above their heads, stopping the busy road all together. Demonstrators demand the shrinking of the military complex and stop the imperial expansion of the Reclamation Army. The rally appears to have spread across the entire road, effectively halting forward movement. Annie saw several police cars guarding the demonstrators. Several groups of the Ice Order wolfkins were also seen on the sidewalks, standing like magnificent statues among the living sea, "The direct route to USU is blocked by a… let’s say a more pacifistic part of our population, who are currently protesting against the small reunification operation that is being led by the First Army."
"Enough wars!", "Make life, not death!", "Instead of making others bow, convince them instead!", "Wars to the past! Peaceful life to the future!" and similar slogans were visible on the countless banners that floated above the people in the rally, some demonstrators were seen handing out flyers and booklets that were calling for peace to the people on the sidewalks.
"Never expect that people here will be against the ideals of the Dynast. He is the one who restored this land to life, and they are daring to doubt his vision?!" Annie looked up and saw that cars on the road had to take a detour because of how many people were in this rally, "There are thousands of them here! They seriously think that we fight for fun?! Idiots, the Reclamation Army has to unite all lands, so catastrophe from old times can never happen again," The wolfkin felt the fur on her neck rise in anger at these signs, some of the people carried photos of dead cubs and torn-apart people. Yes, war is cruel, and unnecessary deaths are terrible, but why can't they see... The scout took deep breaths, calming herself, before exploding in anger once more at the new thought, "Don’t they understand that they harm public traffic because of their rally! What if someone needs medical help or… Spirits, what if I end up late!"
"According to the news, tens of thousands," Angoro said to the crowd. Annie reached for the door, planning to walk to the university on her own if needed, but the agent put a calming hand on her shoulder, "Annie, it’s a nothingburger. You won’t be late, everything will be fine. This is an approved rally, blocking roads is part of the way…" Angoro raised the index finger and the middle finger of both of his hands in the shape of a V letter, before bending the fingers briefly, "… Of some people to make all people listen to the grievances of others. The government has taken precautions, medical teams are spread around the city. Let people vent out in a civil manner, unlike rallies against taxes, it is unlikely that the Dynast will ever change his mind about this subject. Relax, put your mind at ease, and enjoy the view."
Annie bit her lower lip nervously but forced herself to lean on the pillows of the seat and look out the window. The rally seemingly spanned the entire city, to her shame, Annie forcibly admitted to herself that gatherings in the Wastes looked like a drop in the ocean compared to this insane number of people of all various colors, shapes, and origins. And all of them were against the methods of the Dynast! New breeds, orais, and even some Ice Fangs wolfkins, stood shoulder to shoulder with normies and mutants, tall looking humans, clearly new breeds among normies, stood among demonstrators in a sign of solidarity.
Why? Don't they realize that unless the world is united, unless all lands are healed, danger will continue to exist until the world is united? Not today, not tomorrow, but as Gilded Host demonstrated, Abyss, as Chosen Prince recently demonstrated, danger is still lurking out there, waiting for the right moment to bite! The scout wondered, looking at the gathering. In the Wastes, protestors would already have started looting and burning had rulers not come to speak with them, yet the rally here merely wanted to let their… feelings known? How does this work? How does it help anyone?
Dragena once explained the main idea of the Dynast to soldiers in her pack. The Old World was a rich, multicultural place. Billions of people lived there, in a near golden age. Sickness was almost defeated, poverty was gone from the majority of regions, and space exploration finally kicked off in full. And then, because of some madmen, everything ended, simply because one person wormed their way into the highest echelon of power, because one finger pressed a button that should never be pressed. The Old World died and, from the smoking ruins filled with misery and despair, a new world came to be. The goal of the Reclamation Army was to reunite the world, to allow rich cultures to thrive but under the rule of one government. To eliminate all bias, to eliminate all borders. One world, a countless multitude of people, all united with the same desire. Never again. Never again allow the world to be destroyed, never again use apocalyptic weapons, and never again allow the dark age of barbarism to resurface. A healed world, a united world, and a safe world for all. The day will come when the sun will shine upon the territory of the state, a territory that will encompass the entire globe, forever eliminating even a chance that some mad politician might destroy the world. For this end, all must be integrated into the state. Some will be persuaded with words, some will be bought with riches, some will join voluntarily, and some will be made to see the reason by force of arms. For as long as even a single independent country exists, there is also the chance that two countries will fight each other and, in their madness, unleash something that was never meant to be unleashed.
This makes sense, right? Why then do these people oppose a noble goal of the Dynast? What… what am I missing? Although it was not encouraged by the shamans, it was also not forbidden for members of the Wolf Tribe to learn about the ideologies of other countries. While most in Dragena’s pack thought it was useless to learn ideas of other countries, with the permission of Dragena, Annie spent quite a time reading what she could about the history of major powers in the world and the end goals of these civilizations. You have to understand your opponent to one day overcome it. The Living Lands lived under the misguided idea of tranquility eternal, they believed that they had achieved the best form of government possible and that there was no longer any need to improve or change their surroundings. By being content with their lives and not striving for better technology, the people of the Living Lands believe that they will not be able to ruin the world like the people of the old.
The Oathtakers believe that humanity will never inherently be able to understand one another, unless they are bound with an oath that dulls the most savage instincts of humanity, allowing humans to create and to build a better life in the interests of the majority of the population, their main idea was "together for a happy future life". By giving up parts of their own will, the people of the Oathtakers believed that they could prevent another disaster. Meanwhile, people in Iterna believe in utopia, that one day, all humans can be united not through the will of a single government, which will ensure that no injustice is done, but through the common interests of people. Citizens of the Iterna believe in the impossible ideal that everyone can be redeemed; that there are no inherently evil people, and that true happiness can be attained through good education, the government's support for every single citizen, proper healthcare, proper housing, and proper food, as well as the right therapy for the mentally ill; and that by implementing all of these things and checks on their government, they believe that no more disasters like the one that ended the Old World will occur. In short, the core belief of Iterna could be summarized as "Never give up. Even if you've lost everything, you can still create happiness. Others will help you get back on your feet.". Neither of these ideas looked feasible for Annie. Surrendering your will to the current flow? Giving up part of your will forever? Believing in the impossible?
Annie looked at the rally, desperately wanting to understand them. If one can understand the opponent, one can persuade him or her, at least Dragena said so. But these people were simply mad in the scout’s eyes. The Dynast was right, sacrifices had to be made, so all humans could live in peace and tranquility. And soldiers are the ones who make these sacrifices! She fought and will fight so these people can always be safe. So what are you unhappy with? What exactly I can’t understand?
The car finally left the rally behind, moving toward the south of the city. As Angoro briefly explained to Annie, they would move through the south of the city, before turning north once more. The scout felt confident enough to navigate the sprawling maze that was Houstad after seeing the city map. But at the same time, she understood that she never really believed that this city was so big. Buildings standing next to each other, public parks, thousands upon thousands of cars, countless shops, theaters, cinemas, skyscrapers made of glass and stone, shining like torches even during day… And life. So much life. Countless people go about their business, unafraid of sudden attack. Annie blinked, feeling someone’s gaze upon her. She looked at the sprawling streets of the city, trying to locate the owner of the questioning gaze, but all she could see were just buildings and people moving on with their lives. Here were workers, fixing the cooling system in the building, here was a garbage truck taking junk from one of the cinemas, here were police officers keeping watch over the traffic. There was nothing that caught her eye. The scout wondered if perhaps she was on edge because of the countless security cameras spread across the city. Yes, this must be it.
"And here is a temple district," Angoro said, pointing to a large stone wall ahead. The road was taking a turn to the right and soon the car moved among tall buildings, "Devourer is an atheist. He claims that no higher being could have put humanity through such misery, no kind god would allow kids to starve and die. For the longest time, the commander wanted to ban religion from "his" lands," The agent's finger moved at his temple, indicating what the man thought about such an idea, "But these are the Dynast's lands, not the Devourer's, And our liege made himself clear: religion is allowed among the Reclaimers. In his spite, Devourer restricted places for religious worship to a single district in each of his cities. Safe for religious processions, well, here is where all the priests of the various faiths are usually. Unless they go shopping or …"
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
The car passed the enormously huge cathedral, built at the center of a field of green grass. While water ran down the various stone statues of angels made of white marble and glistering in the midday sun, the water fountain played nice ringing music. Priests in white robes welcomed the faithful and led wedding ceremonies on the green fields to the left of the main cathedral building that spanned an area the size of a small village.
"Is this… A freaking Planet's church and the cult of the Legend coexisting? How? Why aren’t they killing each other?" Annie saw the building next to the cathedral, a one-story tall building of brass and iron, painted in crimson. Space in the middle of the building was open to the air no matter the time of the day, countless braziers inside were spewing black smoke into the air. The Cult of the Legend was a church dedicated to the martial god of orais, a fierce and cruel deity that demanded sacrifices from its followers. Adolescents of the orais were supposed to bathe themselves in the flames of braziers, burning away their fur and hair all the way to the skin, gifting this pain to the Legend. Orais who died with wounds on their backs were forever banned from entering the bloody halls of the Legend, where blood flowed like rivers all day and war never stopped. Legend, the first orais to take life was venerated by acts of war and bravery during the war, by killing and striking down foes. Those who wanted to live a peaceful life were viewed as cowards and undesirable by the instigators and clergy of the church.
The leader of the cult was known as the Mortal incarnation of the Legend, a title that was passed to other orais in trial of combat that always ended up with the death of one of the fighters. The cult of Legend was a relatively new faith, one that came along with the discovery of orais, technically older than belief in the Spirits, but exposed to the world at large long after belief in the Spirits became known to the world. Meanwhile, the Church of the Planet was one of the world's oldest religions, dating back to before the Day of Extinction, before humanity's golden age. In the days before the Extinction, the church had a single authority in the city state of Parragia, the center of this religion, along with "Crimson Hats", people who claimed ancestry to the founder of the church of the Planet and were spiritual leaders of the church. All of them perished, unfortunately, during the Extinction, but faith endured. New leaders called themselves "Crimson Seekers" while most of the priesthood wore white robes. This religion preached the idea of non-aggression and peaceful coexistence of all people in the world.
The faithful were encouraged to better themselves with knowledge and donate funds to the resurrection of dead species of animals. The church of Planet believed that after death, a person undergoes a trial by the Spirit of Planet. Ones deemed worthy are allowed to move on to a higher plane of existence, ones who have learned too little are returned back to the planet and given another life in a mortal shell. The main religious center of this faith lay in Iterna, yet countless splinters of this religion could be found all around the world. Naturally, these two faiths were at odds with what Annie read, and the Dynast even thought about banning the cult all together as it had several other, more dangerous religions, like, for example, the flesh-eating church of Dust Walkers. And yet the parking lot between the two religious centers was clean and serene, not a single member of the cult tried to strangle the faithful of the Planet church either.
"Get with the times, Annie," The agent chuckled and gestured for the driver to stop near the sideways and pointed at several arenas before the crimson building. Orais and normies were hard locked in struggle with each other, competing in feats of strength and speed, while several instigators, priests covered in scars and with physiques that would put even wolf hags to shame, looked with hawkish eyes at the scene before them, "Devourer kept sending petition after petition to Dynast, demanding to ban the cult after some deaths happened in braziers. Tired of this, Outsider challenged the physical incarnation of the Legend to a fight. The Commander obviously won, but he spared his opponent, instead claiming the title of Legend for himself. As a result, there were some changes in the way orais worshipped the Legend. The faithful now worship Legend by working out instead of killing each other, and self-immolation trials are merely harmless, leaving no burns on the faithful and allowing even non-believers to participate. Self-mutilation rituals are also gone, much to the displeasure of orais, who seems to get off from the pain. Abyss, normies now make up the bulk of the faithful, and Outsider gave up his religious title some fifty years ago to one of the new breeds.
Annie looked at one of the orais instigators, a being the size of a warlord, walking on all fours around the edge of one of the arenas, missing fur the right size of his head, revealing the ugly scar around his vat-grown green eye. The fingers of this priest were easily the size of normie’s waist. The Instigator gave a loud noise of disapproval through his nostrils, charging toward the faithful from the normies, showing them how to adjust lifting weights better, showing the cubs how to do push-ups. Instead of the usual sneer or disgust that orais often showed to people whom they deemed weak, this instigator was helping both overweight and frail people with care and almost with gentle touch, giving them pointers. He casually encouraged the faithful who bore augmetics, telling them to keep on trying and to improve their remaining physical parts even further. Each of the movements of this instigator sends a tremor equal to that of the civilian walker through the ground, making windows in the car shake a bit. The instigator looked at the young orais, then at the ceremonial combat in front of him, and snorted loudly.
"Wasteful movements! You are shaming us in front of the other faithful! How often must I show you…" The instigator stood up on two legs, hitting himself in the barrel-looking chest with trunks like arms, "Maidens! Lubricate my body! I will show these youngsters the proper way to knock and kick, to throw and to bend. All of you, against me!" The head of orais twitched, two of his eyes burrowed into the eyes of Annie, unnaturally keen eyes easily pierced through the tinted windows of the car. A smile appeared on the muzzle of the mighty being, revealing a few white strands in the fur on his jaw, "Black wolfkin! A rare treat indeed. Come in, play with us, and give the Lord of Might your sweat! All are welcome in the training arenas."
"Yeah, I want none of what he offers. I am brave, not suicidal," Whispered Annie to the agent, before lowering the window and waving her paw, "Sorry, mister! I am here on a tour… I think." She smiled to the priest, trying to look calm, keeping her fangs behind her lips. This specimen put even Tegrin to shame with the size of his muscles and looked like he could crush her just with the snap of his fingers. Orais were not mad beasts, clearly, but they could be… expressive. She knew from Tegrin how deceptively slow they were in regular situations and how fast they could be in actual combat. If the instigator thinks that she is playing with him or somehow challenging his authority, he will be on her before she can even blink…
"Don’t be afraid, missy! No pain, no gai…" Orais stopped, turning to look at his temple. Annie felt the same presence as before, as if some inquisitive eyes were looking at her. Orais walked away from the arena, sniffing the air, while several women dressed in crimson came to him, covering his fur with ritual oil, "Who is this? Why hide in this place? Come out and play or train, curiosity, no one will dare to hurt you... Not irrecoverably at least…" The instigator gestured with his arm, making maidens step away from him, then leaped on the roof of the arena, sniffing the air and looking around the place.
"Move it, move it, while he's distracted," Annie said quietly to the driver. She could have sworn that the woman smiled, moving the car forward. Well, she had all rights to, this whole trip was beyond stupid. This city was supposed to be civilized, yet the scout "walked" here almost as if she was surrounded by mines! Rally, Ice Fang, now this strange orais! Angrily, Annie turned to the innocent-looking agent, "Ok, this is getting ridiculous. I can sense someone! Who exactly is trailing us?"
"Someone who was scheduled to get an appointment with doctors here in the city and now has way too much free time," Angoro raised his hands in a gesture of apology, "Listen, I am sorry, but I can’t reveal any more. You know how wary the Wolf Tribe are after what happened with Kalaisa. Dragena pulled quite a feat, ensuring that this person, of all people, will watch over you. I know that it sounds ridiculous, but your warlords are being paranoid and…"
"Don't you dare insult my leader by calling warlords paranoid," Annie said calmly, locking her gaze on the agent. She forced herself to be calm and tried to explain her view, "They have every right to be wary, you have no idea what the Wolf Tribe had to sacrifice to save A…"
"Sure, sure… I apologize for the insult." Angoro pressed both palms together and moved his head to the left, showing his neck as a sign of apology. Annie refused the invitation to bite the man, and he leaned back on his seat, smiling once more and gesturing for the scout to look in the window. The scout leaned forward and groaned at what she saw.
A building of black stone was built into the ground. Steel gates, with images of the Spirits floating over the mighty form of the Ravages, were standing tall, covering the entrance to the underground floor behind them. Braziers of green flame were lit over the doors, burning brightly despite the daytime. Shamans, male and female shamans in simple brown robes, were welcoming people into the darkness that led deep into the temple. This place resembled nothing of the strict discipline of the praying dens in the Wastes, for Spirits' sake ,the locals had traders who sold cotton candies outside of this prayer den! The ceremonies were led by normies, instead of wolfkins, no one was biting each other, instead a crowd of people were laughing, moving through the main entrance. The only thing that reminded Annie of home, were shamans who cleaned the sidewalks themselves and were performing some maintenance on the outer walls of the praying den.
"Why is this a thing?" The scout chuckled against her will. People here had so many wonderful faiths, why in the Spirits name, this faith spread here?! Annie fell back on her seat, smiling against her will. She looked at Angoro, "Listen, sorry for my words earlier. You and others are watching over me, and I am acting like a spoiled brat. I am… just a bit on edge today."
"Eh, no harm’s done. Forgiven and forgotten." The agent lifted his hand and exchanged a friendly fist bump with Annie. The scout made sure to exercise the bare minimum of her power in order not to hurt the comrade.