Thomas awoke the next morning a loud banging at the door to his room. He slowly rose from his bed and shambled towards the door. The banging continued until Thomas slowly opened the door. Standing on the other side was a tall spectacled man with a black suit.
“Master Stone, I presume?” he said as he peered down at the boy.
“I am Shunbeld, your personal liaison while you live here within the walls of the Grand Lexopolis.” His arms raised at the walls around them as he spoke. Thomas could hear the same awe and wonder in his voice that had been in Wyatt’s when he had spoken of the colossal structure. Shunbeld backed away from the door to as he slowly lowered his arms to his side before, he bowed before Thomas.
“Please Master Stone, go change into the clothes in the closet. There are many clean pairs. I will await you out here.” he finished his bow and closed the door between the two. Thomas sat there staring at the door. He turned towards his closet and approached it attempting to not make a sound with each movement. Thomas slowly opened the door of the closet and found many grey shirts, vests, and jackets hung in the closet. In a small dresser beneath them he found just as many pairs of black underwear, jeans, and socks. Thomas turned back towards his bed and spotted a small pair of black boots sat at the side of the bed. They looked just like the ones he had been wearing the day before, he could not remember when they had been taken off. The boots were brand new however, yet they fit him perfectly.
Someone came in while I slept. He thought to himself as he slowly got dressed. He returned to the door to his room and opened it. Shunbeld was exactly where he had been when he closed the door. He smiled at Thomas as he left his room. Thomas closed his door behind him to see a nameplate on the door that read,
STONE
“Umm… Shunbeld did you put that up this morning?” Thomas asked Shunbeld as he turned to face him. Thomas pointed to his new boots as he got closer to the tall man.
“And did you put these in there?” he continued. Shunbeld’s expression did not change, he continued staring down at the young boy.
“Why of course, as your liaison it is my utmost responsibility that you be cared for in every way that you could ever need. A part of that is identifying needs and wants before even you identify them. Every young lawman needs boots, and boots should fit.” Shunbeld said as he held his hand out to Thomas. Thomas walked forward and the spectacled man placed his hand on the young boys back. They began walking towards the small door leading to the hallway of rooms. He brandished a single key from a pocket on his chest and unlocked the door. The two ventured through the door and down the hallway.
“First and foremost, Master Madison tells me you cannot read. Is that true Master Stone?” he continued as they walked through the empty hall. Thomas noted that every door along the hallway sported a nameplate. He still could not read.
“Yea, is it normal for kids my age to read?” Thomas asked as he turned up to face Shunbeld before looking back at the many nameplates across the doors.
“In most parts of the world, no. But in this city, where education has flourished for a thousand years, children can be found reading from the age of two.” Shunbeld replied grandiosely.
“Do not fret Master Stone, by the end of the week you shall have mastered reading,” Shunbeld said as he pushed his falling glasses off his nose and back into place.
“But first, an aptitude test must be enacted. The Academy requires it of all their students.” He continued as the two approached an open doorway to a staircase. They ascended the staircase into another massive open floor above the dorms. The building confused Thomas, it was like a labyrinth with its many hallways and staircases, the floors made no sense.
“Are you a lawman Shunbeld?” Thomas asked as he stopped walking. Shunbeld stopped with him and turned to face the young boy, his sincere smile faded and was replaced by a sorrow frown. The natural light from the open room shone on his face as he spoke.
“No Master Stone, I could never stomach the life of a lawman, I am a man of the law yes, but I seek to uphold it so that justice is served rightly and fairly. I am a Prosecutor of the Court of Heavens by trade.” He said to the young boy, his smile soon returning.
“So why are you here with me?” Thomas replied flatly. Shunbeld quickly grew angry, his hands clenched into fists. He had to hold in his anger and kept a straight face as he stared at the boy. Thomas could see every vein in his head as Shunbeld’s blood boiled.
“I am currently serving a public servitude sentence; you are to be cared for at every waking moment.” Shunbeld said deeply. He turned back towards the open room before them, the giant windows on the outer edges of the room lit it with beautiful natural light.
“Wait here the aptitude test will begin shortly.” He said coldly before turning back towards the staircase and heading down the steps. Thomas stood there in the bright empty room. He feared moving would anger Shunbeld again. But he was curious about the room. It was giant, an entire layer of the colossal building was this room. The ceiling was pretty high too, being at least ten meters up. Thomas’ curiosity got the better of him, no way this place was entirely empty. He began walking around, before he began running. He ran to one end of the room, then back to the other. He raced past the staircase and then back again. Eventually he found himself in the middle of the room out of breath. Thomas began laughing as he fought to catch his breath.
A deep turning sound could be heard under the floor. A loud rumbling began to roar, Thomas stood up to see the staircase slowly being closed by the floor. The floor slide over the staircase in pieces, mimicking each step. He raced towards it but was too late as the last of it was slowly eaten by the floor. The loud turning and rumbling sounds came to a stop. Thomas heart sunk to his feet as he stared at the floor where the stairs had been.
With another deep turning, followed by a loud rumbling, large walls began to rise from the ground. The walls began to rise around Thomas as he watched in horror. They rose to create a dark labyrinth within the once bright empty room. Thomas found himself jumping over walls as they rose to avoid being trapped by them. They followed Thomas as he ran through the room, always attempting to box him in and trap him. Eventually the rumbling stopped as the last of the walls rose and met the ceiling. Thomas found himself in a maze of hallways. He heard another low rumble and turning sound, in seconds that rumbling stopped. Thomas could faintly hear the sound of footsteps. He began to walk towards them as he held his hand out in front of him.
“Shunbeld?” Is that you” the young boy called out as he continued on in the darkness. The footsteps continued, and more came than just one set. Thomas could see light peaking around the corners of the walls as the footsteps approached. His instincts kicked in and he began running away turning back to see three armed men in gas masks rounding the corner to the hallway. The men wore dark skintight suits that were covered in armor plating, and gas masks that covered their whole head. Each of them held a large rifle with a flashlight attached to the bottom of the barrel. The light was blinding to the young boy. The men chased after Thomas as he raced through the maze of walls. Soon enough the young boy’s eyes adjusted to the dark so that he could make out the walls around him while he ran.
Thomas dashed and zipped rounding every corner he could. He eventually halted himself and slowed his breathing, he could still hear the echoes of his heavy steps. He stood there for a few moments as he heard the footsteps of the men race past. The young boy waited for the footsteps to continue on in the distance. Once they began to get quiet, he dashed back around the corner in the direction they had come from.
Thomas ran directly into another masked man. The man attempted to grab Thomas, but the boy dropped beneath the man’s arms and dashed past him too. The man raised his rifle towards Thomas. Thomas zipped around another corner as the man opened fire. The shots echoed throughout the entire room, off all the walls of the maze. The shots lit up the maze enough for a moment almost blinding Thomas as they did. He dashed down another hallway never looking back to see the masked man chasing him.
The boy ran deep into the depths of the maze, every time he came to a wall, he would make a split second decision and change course. He raced up and down the winding hallways, always heading deeper into the dark room. Thomas ran for minutes before he heard the faint echoes of footsteps. He made a wild dash but had to halt himself as he heard the echoes getting louder. He turned back and headed back towards where had come from.
Soon heading that way, he heard more footsteps approaching. Thomas attempted to spin himself around but as he did, he could see the lights from the men’s flashlights peaking around the corners of the many hallways. Thomas went another route, but that too had the lights looking for him. Thomas ran back the opposite, almost perpendicular to the way he had originally come. He raced down the long hallway as long as he could, it made a hard right turn and he found himself at a dead end. Thomas turned to see the men slowly approaching him with their guns raised, the blinding lights of the flashlights prevented the boy from seeing the men. They kept approaching and once they were within grasp of him, a deafening buzzer sound went off in the room.
The slow turning and rumbling began once more as the men threw their rifles to their side and assumed a marching stance. As the rumbling continued, the walls of the maze slowly sank back into the floor flooding the dark room with the natural light it had been deprived of. Thomas looked around him to see at least fifteen armed men in several spots around the room, always in groups of three. Three of the groups were in Thomas’ vicinity. Slowly another turning and rumbling began and ended, replacing the once covered stairs in the floor. Another staircase formed in the floor on the opposite side of the room. The men all formed single file lines and marched to the second staircase before forming one large single file line and marched down. The turning and rumbling began and stopped again, the floor consuming the staircase as fast as it had formed.
Thomas sat there in disbelief. Moments ago, he thought he was going to be killed, yet here he was fine. A few minutes later Thomas watched as Shunbeld slowly rose from the first staircase in the floor. He slowly walked towards Thomas, that sincere smile on his face the whole time. When he got to Thomas, he held out his hand for the young boy to pick himself up with.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“You must be hungry Master Stone,” Shunbeld said as he walked the boy towards the stairs.
“There is a great little restaurant not far from here, free of charge to those who live and work in the Great Lexopolis,” he continued as the two slowly descended the stairs and approached the now closed doorway to the dorms.
“What was that Shunbeld?” Thomas asked as he fought not to cry. His eyes teared up and he kept wiping them. He looked to Shunbeld who held out a small handkerchief to the young boy. Thomas took it and continued to wipe his eyes with as the two walked.
“That was the aptitude test Master Stone. Sadly, you failed.” Shunbeld replied flatly, he patted the boy on his back.
“But that means nothing, only that there is much more work to be done,” he continued as they approached the doorway to the little vestibule Thomas had gotten his ID card in.
“Why is there never anyone here?” Thomas asked Shunbeld as they entered the vestibule room.
“They are all in class or on missions, we have to adjust you to the Academy’s schedule so for right now we move you around while everyone else is occupied. Soon enough Master Stone you will be amongst your peers at this Academy.” He said as they descended the staircase from the little room. Thomas waved to the man behind the desk who had given him his ID card. The man nodded back to the young boy as he closed the door behind them.
Shunbeld and Thomas descended down the staircase back into the open first floor of the building. Shunbeld directed the young boy towards the entrance on the opposite side of the building from where Thomas had entered the day before. They weaved in and out of a sea of grey jackets and black suits. Everyone rushed to get where they were going, like the whole city was five minutes behind. Thomas struggled to stay with Shunbeld as they delved deeper into the sea of people. Shunbeld held his hand firmly on the boy’s shoulder blade until they finally game to a door outside.
They proceeded out into the illustrious courtyard, it too filled with people. As the young boy walked, he stared down at the patterns engraved into the seamlessly cut stone beneath his feet. He struggled to see beneath him with all the people walking around him and Shunbeld. The grey stone was interlaced with reds, yellows, oranges, violets, blues, indigos, and greens, creating an image of a giant floral bouquet across the decadent stone courtyard. Shunbeld and Thomas walked from the courtyard past the great marble steps and finally descended the small marble steps nearest the building they had just exited.
As they descended the stairs, the true scale of the structure Thomas was just in donned on him. As he got closer to the street level beneath him, the people on it looked less and less like ants. He turned back to see the mega sphere towering over all in the city. It blocked out the sun as it began to set.
“What time is it Shunbeld?” Thomas asked as he stared at the sun slowly being eclipsed by the mega structure.
“Tis a Quarter Day now, you slept much of the morning,” Shunbeld replied sincerely as they descended.
“Tomorrow, I shall wake you much earlier,” he continued as they continued their descent. Thomas turned to look down the stairs he was descending.
“Shunbeld, what was that test? Were they trying to ki- “
“No, they were never going to kill you,” Shunbeld cut in, slowly taking a deep breath before continuing.
“It was simply a test to see how well you can use your… blessing.” He finished as he slowly undid his tie around his collar. He still held his right hand out on the boy’s shoulder as they descended; yanking and pulling on his collar, in a vain attempt to loosen his tie ,with his left hand.
“My blessing?” Thomas asked as he turned and watched Shunbeld tug on his collar. The young boy turned back to face the fleet of stairs still before them. He turned back to Shunbeld to see him finally loosening the tie.
“Your gift from the Gods, yes” Shunbeld said as the two neared the bottom of the stairs.
“Now quickly we have to rush to the restaurant before they close!” Shunbeld said to the young boy. Quickly he began running down the sidewalk of the street as vehicles zipped by on the street next to him.
Thomas had only ever heard of the mechanized world from the outlaws in Shooter’s Draw. He stared in awe at the small metal chassis containing only one or two people. They road on four rubber tires propelled by loud booming engines that roared when the buggies took off. Large exhaust pipes extended along the side of the chassis’ out to the back, blowing plumes of black smoked as the engines revved. Thomas attempted to race one along the street as he chased Shunbeld. He locked eyes with the driver as the slowly crept past the boy. With a single nod from the two they took off and in an instant Thomas was left standing in a plume of black smoke as the buggy roared and took off down the street.
The mechanized world amazed Thomas, only ever seeing it from magazines or photos the outlaws would bring back. Racing down the street of Palacia after Shunbeld gave him a sense of familiarity. He felt like he was home for a second when he ran. But just as he forgot he remembered who had changed everything for him. Deadeye Wyatt.
Wyatt’s sinister glare came from the dark recesses of the young boy’s mind like a snake from its den. He stopped running, he stood still there on the streets of Palacia crying. The image of Wyatt’s face burned deep into his mind, overlaying all the horrid things he had seen in the day before. Thomas stood there and cried alone, as people walked past not bothering to stop or even walk around him at times. He was bumped and fell to the ground forgetting all around him, all he could think about was Morgan’s corpse. His face to face he had stared at the corpse in that rotorcade.
Morgan had looked finally free, finally happy. It pained Thomas so much, he had never once looked like that alive, why was he so happy to die. Thomas’ young mind darted back to Wyatt, the man who caused it all. The memories he had of being carried out of the rotorcade by Wyatt would forever stick in the young boy’s mind, always bringing out a deep seeded burning rage.
Shunbeld finally came back to the young boy and attempted to cheer him up, but he could not help. Thomas’ cries began to worsen as the reality of his new life really set in on him. Soon that sadness, corrupted by the burning memories of Wyatt, turned to rage. Shunbeld felt the boy’s body begin to heat up. He knew in an instant what was about to happen. He hugged Thomas as tight as he possibly could in hopes he could maybe stop what was coming.
In an instant Thomas’ body erupted into an inferno of black flames. For just that first instance Shunbeld could feel Thomas’ pain, his sadness, his suffering. Shunbeld too overcome with emotions felt no malice or hatred towards the young boy as his body was incinerated by the growing flames.
The nightmare flames rose out of the boy and began to spread out all around him. The once crowded street was instantly clear of people, some escaping and able to run away, but most were incinerated instantly in a giant wave of fire. The blackfire quickly rose to a giant mass of flames standing at least fifteen meters tall and ten meters wide. At the center of it all sat the abyssally dark skeleton that was Thomas. He could barely think as his body slowly became the flames. He could feel the ground his flames spread out too, like his fingers were grasping the ground. Thomas could feel the slow burning of the dirt and stone around him, but most of all he felt the people that his flames reached. The way the flames had exploded out, Thomas had felt them for an instant before they were incinerated. Slowly Thomas’ mind began to slip in and out of consciousness.
He kept finding himself waking up back in that sea of black flames from his dream, but he kept waking up right away and slowly slipping back into that dream state. In an instant it was over, Thomas was unconscious.
Wyatt stood facing the small boy as he lay on the street. He approached him and noticed a small wound where he had shot the boy twice now when he exploded into flames. The wound seeped blood that quickly raced down the young boy’s head. Where the giant mass of black flames had been, once a streetway and the sidewalk, was now an almost flat piece of black charred land. Streaks of that charred landscape shot out across the street and sidewalk around the circular patch that Thomas sat at the center of.
Wyatt picked the young boy up and slowly began climbing the marble stairway the boy had just descended. He slung the boy over his shoulder, letting his blood dribble onto the obsidian slabs on the top of the steps.
Thomas did not see the city of Palacia again for years. That night before he regained consciousness, he was transferred to an island not far from the land bridge containing the great city. Thousands of years ago, many Emperors and Kings used the island to banish political rivals and enemies, nowadays its used as a bootcamp.
Thomas awoke the next morning at dawn to a man in a armored grey jacket yelling at him. The young boy awoke on the ground in the middle of a small camp in the center of the island’s forests. The man had short dark brown hair and light blue eyes, but his deep roar of a voice killed any idea that he may be soft. The screaming man introduced himself as he yelled, his name was Brassus. He screamed and berated Thomas as he made him do pushups and sit-ups while he laid out the basics of how to read letters.
Brassus would yell at Thomas to do pushups and hold up a card showing a single letter. Thomas had to say the letter, its sounds, and say the letter again in the time it took him to do one pushup or Brassus would add fifty pushups to Thomas’ total. After doing that until Half Day, Brassus would demand Thomas found himself food in by Quarter Day. Thomas often attempted to run away, only to find no way off the island. Brassus would always catch him and steal whatever food he could not protect or hadn’t eaten and beat the boy senseless. He’d drag the boy back to camp and berate him about Morgan and his life at Shooter’s Draw. Thomas endured it all.
For months this kept up, yet Thomas never had a breakdown like he had on that street in Palacia. Eventually one day he did get upset, he was trying to sleep and began thinking about Wyatt. He didn’t burn as bad as that day at Palacia or at Shooter’s Draw. Brassus got clear of the flames and began to call out to the boy. He cheered for Thomas to fight. Thomas began to fight to stay ‘awake’. He eventually calmed himself down and retracted the flames like a cat’s claws. Thomas was awake and had used his power. Brassus began helping Thomas with a lot of things on that island.
For years he taught Thomas to read, to slowly learn how to control his ability and use it on command, he taught him the basics of law, the basics of right and wrong, he taught Thomas how the world they lived in worked. Thomas had found a new father in Brassus, one he vowed to fight hard to protect. When he turned twelve, Brassus began training the boy on how to use firearms, and how to subdue people. Thomas moved to an even more brutal fitness regiment, training, hunting, training, studying. He sharpened his body, mind and soul over the years he spent on that island. For ten years he lived on that island, training with Brassus as his only companion.
Every few years, a ship would stop by and drop off heaps of boxes that Brassus would store underground at the little campsite the two lived at.
When Thomas finally returned to Palacia, he was there to take his graduation test as a Lawman. He had not been in the city since the day he had killed Shunbeld and all those citizens. For years Thomas had nightmares about Shunbeld, but never had he had one where he was back in that sea of black flames. Thomas’ remorse for killing forged itself over the years into a fear of using the Blackfire.
Thomas passed the lawman test, as he knew he would. It was a simple written test covering basic laws and procedures while on the field. The hardest part of becoming a lawman is getting the money to fund the schooling, Thomas was paid for by the state. The real test would be out the field and he knew that. As he left with his badge, he was ushered by a servant to the Danerin Assembly. Before them Thomas pledged loyalty as a lawman to the Danerin Confederation. A lot had changed in the world in those ten years on the island. Just when Thomas thought he was getting over his childish dream of revenge, he was met by an old friend outside the Grand Lexopolis. Osman.