As the rain was pouring down on the roof of his palace, King Riven looked through the window over his city, which was now veiled in darkness. Down in the streets he could see the paved road descending past the hill into the huge pile of dirt that the poor called home.

‘Honey, why don’t you come back to bed?’ asked his wife, Charise.

Charise was a tall, slender woman with brown eyes and long, blond hair that reached all the way down just past her waist. She wrapped the bed sheet around her body and stood next to her husband.

‘It’s not your fault,’ she said as she put her head on his shoulder.

‘Why can’t I do something about this. Those poor people have nothing, while we have everything.’

‘You already gave half of your wealth to them. You gave them a place to live.’

‘But what kind of place?’

‘You gave them a home, a chance to build a life within the safe walls of the city.’

She lifted her head from his shoulder and stood in front of him, while she held his hands.

‘You are a great King, Riven, the best we’ve ever had.’

She guided him to the bed and pulled a thick warm sheet over his cold body.

‘But even great Kings can’t do everything…’ she said as she kissed him and returned to her bed.

Riven felt her warmth beside him and slowly, he fell asleep.

The sun rose and the storm had passed away. Jonah opened his eyes, only to find that his wife Ava was already up.

‘Ava! Ava!’ he yelled as he quickly put on his clothes.

‘Mommy, mommy! Daddy’s awake!’ yelled little Sara.

She ran into her daddy’s room and Jonah picked her up from the ground and into his strong arms.

‘How are we on this lovely morning, princess?’ he said as he rubbed his nose against hers.

‘Mommy’s gonna show me how to make my own clothes today!’

‘Wow!’ said Jonah as he saw Ava coming in. ‘Well, you’ve got the best teacher around then, princess. Your mommy made all of our clothes all by herself!’

Little Sara’s face turned all bright and shiny as her jaw dropped in amazement.

‘All by yourself, mommy?’ she said while her big eyes stared into her mother’s eyes.

‘Daddy’s really good at exaggerating, honey,’ she said as she winked at Jonah. ‘How are you this morning, dear?’ She kissed Jonah on his cheek and continued to prepare breakfast.

‘A bit tired, but I feel today’s going to be a good day!’

‘Where did Rhyddion go yesterday?’

‘He’s on some sort of mission or something. He couldn’t tell me what it was, all secret and stuff.’

Jonah grabbed a slice of bread and headed towards the door.

‘Are you leaving already?’ asked Ava.

‘If I arrive at the mines early, I can still find the biggest chunks of Arcadium before someone else does and bigger chunks means bigger paychecks.’

‘Fine, off you go, but don’t you dare to be late for dinner!’

Jonah stepped outside and took a deep breath of air. He shouldn’t have done that since the air was filled with all kinds of foul smells. The muddy ground had now turned into a huge puddle of murky, smelly, brown water. Some of the straw roofs had collapsed under the weight of the water, but not Jonah’s roof. Jonah had made himself a wooden roof. All this misery, all this filth, all this poverty, it pierced Jonah’s heart with sorrow to see his fellow people living like this, while the rich lived on top of their hill. Jonah and his neighbors had nothing, but were contempt with what they had, while the rich had everything and even that wasn’t enough for them. The thought wouldn’t leave his mind as he trudged through the mud. One day, someone would do something about this great injustice. One day, someone would unite the poor and strike out against the rich. There was a time when King Riven seemed to be that man, but he needs the money and the services that the rich offer him and so his hands are bound. As Jonah walked past the shoreline he could already spot the entrance to the mine. The storm had flooded most of the ground, but Jonah and his fellow miners had built a small wooden road alongside the walls of the mine that could be used in case of a flooding. Just before he was going to enter the mine he heard someone calling his name in the distance. It was Sara.

‘Daddy! Daddy, come quick!’

‘What’s wrong, princess? Daddy has to work.’

‘It’s grandma! Come quick!’

‘Wait, Sara!’ but she was already gone. Jonah dropped his mining equipment and ran after his little girl. He found her in front of his mother’s house.

‘Quickly, daddy, there’s something wrong with grandma!’

Sara wasn’t wrong. The roof of her small shack had collapsed and it was completely flooded. A pair of feet came from underneath the collapsed roof. It had collapsed on top of the old lady’s bed while she was sleeping.

‘Mother? Mother can you hear me?!’ cried Jonah as he started to clear away the rubble.

‘Someone, please help me! Please!’ he cried as his mother’s face slowly became visible. A voice rose from the rubble.

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‘Jonah, my son, is that you? And Sara, little Sara? Are you there as well?’ The voice seemed obstructed and it was only soft.

‘Mother, please stay with me! I’ll help you, just hold on!’

Two finely dressed gentlemen passed the little shack and peeked inside to see what was going on.

‘Finally,’ sighed Jonah as he saw the two gentlemen. ‘Help has arrived!’

‘Help?’ responded one of the men with a distasteful look on his face. ‘And dig around in this pile of mud? No thank you.’

‘Indeed,’ said the other gentlemen. ‘These clothes are newly made and besides,’ said the man as he looked over Jonah’s shoulder into the pile of rubble. ‘She’s old anyway, one less mouth to feed!’ The two gentlemen started to laugh as they moved on.

‘Anybody, please! I can’t do this alone! Please, come back!’ but it was already too late.

Sara cried as she saw a thin line of blood dripping from underneath the rubble into the water.

‘It is better to die amongst friends, than to live amongst fiends,’ sighed grandma as her last breath slipped out of her mouth into the thin air that was suddenly loaded with grief.

‘No, no! Please, don’t leave me here! Please!’ cried Jonah as he was now furiously digging through the rubble, but with every piece he moved, the stream of blood grew wider and the air heavier.

‘Daddy…’ Sara’s face had turned red and tears, oh so many tears, ran across her cheeks. Drops dripped into the vaguely red water and she dropped on her knees as she grabbed her grandma’s hand that stuck out from the rubble. Jonah sat down next to her and his tears joined hers in the vaguely red water. A cry rose from the small shack, a cry of torment and death, a cry of great sorrow, a cry so loud that the entire city could here its grief, but only the poor people came inside. Only society’s rejects and misfits answered this man’s terrible call and started to take away the rubble and escort son, granddaughter and their now passed away beloved outside.

That night, the neighborhood gathered at the sea’s shore. They gathered around with torches in their hands and black cloaks around their thin bodies as the old lady wrapped in white rags slowly passed through the center of the crowd towards wooden altar there at the sea’s shore. Next to the altar stood Jonah with his family. Ava rested her head on his strong shoulder, while Little Sara held his hand. A single tear crossed her cheek as her daddy took his torch and set the altar ablaze. A thick, black cloud of smoke rose that night at the sea’s shore, a black cloud that was visible even in Riven’s palace and that single tear also crossed his cheek that night.

Jonah let go of Sara’s arm and walked to the center of the group.

‘This woman, my mother, whom we all loved, has passed from us this day. She has passed to Rhux’s Halls where here kind and generous spirit is finally released from the terrible burden she bore during her time in our earthly realms. She was a contempt woman and she died a contempt woman. She never had much, but for her, not much was enough!’ The people looked at Jonah with tears in their eyes as the flames behind him grew bigger and the smoke thicker. ‘In what terrible days do we live our lives, when innocent people have to die, just because some rich folk doesn’t want dirt on their clothes! What terrible days indeed, when they that have all refuse to even part with a single coin to help out those who have nothing! To help out other people like my mother! I swear to you upon all the gods, both known and unknown, I will not rest before we can walk amongst those people as equals! I will not rest before this unnecessary death has been avenged!’ cheers started to rise in the back of the crowd. ‘Let this beloved lady’s death not be in vain, but let it be the start of new days! Better days! During those days, someone will do something about this great injustice! During those days, someone will unite us who have nothing and strike out against them who have every damn thing! She made me realize, friends, sharers of my grief and my burden, that this role has fallen onto me.’ The cheer started to spread through the crowd until everyone was standing around Jonah, arms raised and voices high. Ava and Sara also joined in the cheers now.

‘Jonah! Jonah! Jonah!’

Jonah raised his voice one last time till it gained a strength that equals the roar of a mighty lion.

‘Together, we will stand! Together, we will make a difference! Together, we have more than they’ll ever have! Together we will open the gates to better days! FOR ALL OF US!’

‘FOR ALL OF US!’ replied the crowd in that same mighty roar. A roar that passed through Arcadia and made the ground on which the fortune of the rich was built shake…