“Gotta love our new world order. Rezzers just love springing up all over, and we’ve got the freedom to remake ourselves into whatever we choose. But if I’ve learned anything in this wide world, it is that we still speak the same language, and that is at the barrel of a gun.”
–Hades, “Some Philosophical Shit”. 4 Years After.
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She couldn’t let this continue.
Leah watched the crowd beneath Elysium, her body shrouded in shadow. Another Beholder had set up shop, right outside the capitol to sin, where he’d get the most traction. So many had turned out to see this Brother Uriel guy, staring like hollows as he bleated about his nonsense endlessly. That Uriel had chosen to be outside Elysium brought insult to injury. Right under her very nose, where Leah and the Council conducted their governance.
There had been no time to waste after uncovering how far the Beholders had infiltrated her city. Leah had dispersed a flurry of Hunters to do some sneaking about and now knew the full extent to which their world had been invaded. It turned out that their economy was being undermined by the illegal swapping of the Beholder’s religious book – the “Holy Word,” as they called out – and more workers were opting out by the day. After watching Nathaniel and Uriel stand in place for so long, many were starting to believe their fantasy.
Leah swirled some thinned goats’ blood and sipped. Sustaining a Rez without flesh and brains? Give me a break. The science was clear. The Hollowing mutated their bodies into only accepting living flesh as sustenance, and every brain cell lost was one that couldn’t be replaced on its own. To think that their minds could remain stable with no more than a single book to read was nonsense. Lunacy, even.
And yet, hour by hour, more and more sheep were falling for the lies. Watching him. Listening. Turning their eyes away from the world that had been built for them.
Weakening Leah’s own defenses.
That was what made this so unsustainable. If enough workers fell for his bullshit, labor would slow, the economy would slack further than it was already, and insufficient food would be produced to keep society moving. Without a steady supply coming in, tempers flared, and the Hollowing flourished. A couple days of having the industrial farms shut down would force Pandemonium into a death spiral. The kind that she’d struggled to reverse once before already.
Then there were the Beholders just beyond the Styx, preaching the same shit while carrying crossbows behind their backs. This “Father Abraham” claimed that his intentions were benevolent according to his scouts, but he’d been taking his sweet ass time to make the trip over. Meanwhile, his minions continued to spread disunity in the streets, gnawing away at Pandemonium’s relative stability like poison in the bloodstream.
Oh, sure. They pretended that their goals were humble, but Leah had seen enough of this world. She knew exactly what games were being played.
There was no way out of this. As much as she didn’t want another show of force, it was time to remind her people of which immortal being they bowed down to.
Leah made the necessary calls. Within minutes, Dwayne rolled by with a crew of twenty. All her loyalists. All armed to the teeth. She relayed her commands and made her opening move.
Down through the halls of the Elysium, Leah marched. Past the graffiti-laced walls and the many rooms beside, filled to the brim with others of her race. Dancing, shouting, gambling, fighting, partying. Elysium overflowed with life through those embraced by the Sins, their own minds under a comfortable numbness that made their existence bearable. Gluttony? Lust? Pride? Who cared, so long as it let them enjoy their true selves.
She walked beneath the blinking neon lights and the blaring speakers above, vibrating the ground with the metronomic thumps of the heavy metal tunes that permeated this place. She listened to the interplay of several beats merged together. The fragments of a world long destroyed blared on, now recreated into something better than before. Something that was theirs.
Patrons watched Leah as she crossed into the open yard. They remained huddled while guards collected cover charges, the necessary tax to enter these profaned halls. Not that any minded. All knew just how much they had all struggled to reach a point where a place like Elysium could exist in the first place. A hub of raw emotional expression within an otherwise destroyed world.
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Then she cleared the cobblestone roads and tightly trimmed hedges along the exterior, and entered the city proper.
Buildings rose around. A mix of apartments, shops, warehouses, even skyscrapers. Each one was built upon the ruins of the civilization left behind, meticulously honed into place through the everlasting toil of her race. More neon lights clung to the frames of many, once again reminding their kind of how unique their existence had become.
Leah moved into the open, straight for Brother Uriel. Some within the crowd saw her approach and made space. A fragile lake of undead shells, yielding to their pillar of strength. Her target smiled meekly, his true devotion hidden behind a veil of faux piety.
She strolled up to the Beholder. Up to this foreign body. This interloper who invaded her world. He stood and watched her approach. Just like the rest, Uriel’s smoothed-out face stayed locked like granite behind that artificial grin. She stared deep into his eyes, along with that strange frenzied flicker he kept buried beneath.
Leah drew her pistol and shot Brother Uriel in the face.
It was as though the air had been sucked out from the block as the crowd gasped in unison. Dwayne and her troops formed a line at once, their weapons ready to purge any who would dare step forth. Murmurs evolved into shouts as the consequences of her actions took hold.
Leah climbed atop his plywood box and turned to face them all. A mere stomp of her foot silenced the crowd. The wind gained strength around her, fluttering her scarf beside her.
“Everybody, listen the fuck up!” she shouted. “It has come to my attention that some of you have forgotten how this world works.”
The crowd hushed, eyes widened against this sudden brutality.
“Let me make one thing clear to you. There is no hope for our race. No salvation. No light at the end of a tunnel. We don’t live, but we sure as fuck can die. We face this truth every single day, with every breath we take, our memories leaking out from the depths of our consciousness. With each passing thought, we become lesser versions of ourselves.
“Do you think there is some divine plan against this fate? That you were inflicted by this curse only to be saved by something greater than yourselves? No. There is nothing to protect you, above or below. There is only us. Pitiful. Frail. Destined to lose the very minds we’ve gained unless we fight to keep them sane. Don’t believe me? Look at the corpse to my side and see the evidence for yourselves. Where is this charlatan’s god now!?”
She furrowed her brow, the wind growing with her intensity. “Fear the darkness and the light, my friends. Both will bring you nothing more than an accelerated death. Embrace the liberty you’ve been given under my control. Find security by making war against your inner peace. Treat these contradictions with the disdain they deserve. That is how you grow stronger. Every day, another battle. The moment you succumb to these false idols and their offer of tranquility without end, you are no better than pigs in the shape of men. Their promised land will become your slaughtering ground.”
She thought back to Socrates, her violet eyes unblinking as she recalled his lesson. “That is the universal truth of this world. You are all alone. You have nothing but yourselves within the relentless pandemonium that defines our existence.” She raised a fist. “Submit to this truth! Become humbled by it, as I have. Or stand in the way and get crushed under its infinite weight. The choice is yours.”
On that thought, Leah stepped off the plywood box and thrust it open. One of her grunts rushed over with a canister of rubbing alcohol and doused the pile of books within. Before anyone could wonder what she’d planned, Leah drew a match, struck a small light, and tossed it inside. The Beholder books burst into flame.
This was normally the part where the crowd dispersed. Regardless of how slighted or angry they’d become, most had the good sense to storm off without a word. To attack her directly was unfathomable for the average worker. They still treated Leah as they had for Hades, as an invincible overlord who could destroy them all on a whim. They’d always end up fucking off and going home while considering how to undermine her authority later, usually in the form of mindless rioting.
That was not what happened.
The crowd rushed for where Leah stood. Her guards interposed themselves in between, bludgeoning any who would draw too close. Shouts erupted, bones shattered, and no shortage of ichor splattered through the air as the firing squad let loose.
Dwayne grabbed her shoulder. “We’ve got to get you out of here, boss. Now.”
Leah buried her nails in her palms. She wanted nothing more than to stand her ground and face these challengers directly, but the weight of this mob was more than she’d expected. With a swallow of her pride, she turned and left, retaining only enough dignity to keep her head held high as she marched back to Elysium.
Unlike those who reflexively lashed out against her words, Leah knew where she stood in this cruel world. She was a killer amongst killers, forever in solitude as she struggled for the life she had gained. Whether others followed her by choice or fear mattered little. At the end of the day, they were all just demons fighting against the everlasting night.
And no one could change that.