Rejection - Black Snow

Anas Essop

Black Snow

It was everywhere. It drifted through the air, clogging the air with darkness. It covered buildings, trees, carts. It hid dead bodies, it covered homeless people. The ash was always there, always falling. It never failed, it never stopped. It never changed, it never stayed. It covered a city…no, no, a world, of destruction. Of tyranny. Of  darkness. Of Gods.

The year was 2880. The world had just suffered a war. It’s the first war, between the “neo” humans. The humans of the new age. The previous had been exterminated. Wiped out. No one knows what happened. Some say, the world collapsed within itself, crushing the humans as the ground was breaking, the sky blackening. They say that a new “Earth”, was formed. Some say they all killed each other, in the grips of a “nuclear war”. Whatever that is. The truth is, no one knows. No “human” survived to tell. No books of knowledge were left. All that was left was one person. He is said to have stopped the war, to have killed all leaders. He is said to be a God. History, or rather, the Neo-Human history, tells the story of a man who built civilisation, crafted countries, societies. He is meant to hold immense power. The king of the new world, a living God. A living death machine. The reason for famine, for corruption, for slavery. He’s murdered babies, hundreds. On purpose. With purpose. At birth, children are tested for “radiation”. If this “radiation” is present within the baby, it is taken away to Lord Adem. Who knows, what happens next. Apparently radiation was a technology that existed before the neo-humans, in the time of the previous human race. Apparently the Lord Ruler himself, has “radiation”. They check for radiation constantly, checks all around the city, the world, by the “Adem Watch”. They use machines that no one has ever seen before. Radiation checkers that are of the world before. Alien to us, to our technology, to our knowledge.

And then there’s me. Someone who has radiation. My parents, hid me after the machine’s “beep” confirmed my radiation. My father, he attacked the doctors, protected me, died for me. My mother, she ran with me in her arms, hid for years, until she was kidnapped, tortured and killed by the Adem Watch when she was out getting supplies for us. They never found me though, my mum sacrificed herself. I was taken in by a man named Kolfer. A fellow “Radeite”. He nurtured me. He looked after me. Taught me the powers that I have been gifted with, Radiation. He taught me how to use it, the strength, the speed, the teleporting, or “blinking”. From place to place, guard to guard, dead body to dead body, he crafted me into the perfect assassin. Kolfer’s power was moving things without touching them. Telekinesis. However, he could not move whatever he wished, only that of which his strength could muster, which was still an incredible amount. He introduced me to his band of thieves, of criminals. We caused havoc under the tyranny of Adem. We robbed the bank, we killed the politicians, the Adem Watch. We rejected their ideas, the rules that were forced unto us. The rules that caused death. We fought back. Several years of my life, spent creating mayhem. Until, Kolfer came home, last year, with a plan to kill the Lord Adem.

v   

“What?” we all seemed to shout in unison. Me, Carla, Nhey, Poot, Donnik and Kolfer were sitting in kitchen of our hideout. A pub, ironically named the “Adem Tap”. “How?” I asked afterwards, more intrigued than outraged now. How could Kolfer possibly think we could kill Lord Adem? He is never seen in public, and whenever he climbs out of his castle his heavily guarded with 1^st rank Adem Watchers. Plus we can’t get anywhere near him due to the constant radiation checking done by guards. “You guys are more useless” teased Kolfer. He was an enigmatic man, of power and courage, and an uncanny ability to persuade us to do anything he wants. He led us. Donnik seemed more sceptical than the rest. “Sorry, I won’t be a part of this one. You guys do it. And what’s the cut? How would anyone get any money from this?”

“Have you forgotten our cause?” questioned Carla. Anger seemed to rise in her voice.

“Okay, Okay everyone calm down, let me talk you through the plan, you will be amazed. Then, Don, you may reconsider your objection. It’s time. We need to take our profession seriously. All we’re doing is becoming enemies of the Adem. We need to destroy him. That is why we exist. Years have gone where all we’ve done is danced around the edge of danger, or actually helping people, or actually committing to our goal. We need to kill him. We need to achieve our goal. I have been away for six months, preparing this plan in the north. If I can’t trust you guys for the job, I will seek refuge in another crew. It is your choice. Bear in mind however, we may not be alive at the end of it”.

“How does that make it any different? We always risk our lives in a job. Look at Peter. The odds didn’t play well for him”

“This….This job is more….dangerous. It is the end. It’s now or never. After this, if we succeed or not, there will be no more us. No more thieving. This is the last job for our crew. The last deed if you may. And with it, will, most certainly, come death.” And with that, Kolfer began to explain

v   

I will not bore you with the story of the plan. I will not bore you with the preparation that lasted an entire year. Instead, we will skip to the assassination. To the present. Today, at Three draft Severen, me and the crew will rise.

v   

The Lord Adem was in a cart, being held and pulled by several 5^th Rank Adem Watchers. Around 50 or so more 1^st Rank Adem Watchers surrounded him. They were in the town square, in the heart of the town. A huge crowd, almost everyone in the city, were at the event. The Lord was expected to give a speech today, and then give a “live” execution of bandits who attempted to steal from the World Bank two span ago. I was on the roof of a building over-looking the event. On the balcony below me was Poot. He was on watch. Keeping an eye on the scene. On the balcony on the building opposite were Carla and Donnik. They were to take out the guards on the left hand side. My building, which was on the right, overlooked the guards on the right. They were my job. Nhey and kolfer were on the ground, mixed in the crown. Their job was to take out the front guards as well as the Lord Adem. Nhey was also a Radeite. He was able to see in to the future by three seconds. This was extremely useful when it came to sparring. It almost seemed as if he would predict and react smoothly to any jab I threw at him. Unless of course, if I just teleported behind him and punched him in the back. The Lord Adem began to leave his cart. Mist followed him, circled him. The ash fell harder. The entire crowd fell into silence. You could hear the deep breaths of The Lord. You could hear the ash softly hit the ground. And then the guards began to shout.

“HALT! HALT! RADIATION!” The crowd burst into panic. A fire started, caused by Kolfer as a “havoc creator”. The crowds of people began to leave, but the Watch told them to stop. It was history unfolding. Halfway through staring did I realised Carla and Don killing guards across the square. I had missed my queue. I blinked. My glass dagger was in the neck of the guard. I saw his eyes, the colour drain from them. I saw the confusion amongst the guards. I blinked. I stabbed. Blink, dead, blink, dead. The guards began to catch on and started spreading out, on their toes, ready for me. Foolish. I blinked to the roof again, sprinted off and jumped. The guards were looking around, trying to find out where I had gone, puzzled, confused. I was falling through the air, measuring the angle of my fall. I landed on top of one of them, my dagger piercing his skull. Guard after guard were falling. On the opposite side, the swords of Carla and Don left behind carpets of dead soldiers. Kolfer was killing the guards who attempted to save the Lord. The Lord simply sat still, in his cart, emotionless. Nhey was taking out the guards behind Kolfer who were trying to get to him. Kolfer pushed from afar using his power against the cart. The cart fell to the ground, and The Lord Adem jumped out as it was falling. I saw my opportunity. He was naked of defence, in free fall, feet off the ground. I could could blink with my dagger in him before he even knew it. This is t, my chance. I blinked. The dagger stabbed air. A warm, liquid feeling surrounded my stomach. I looked down to see a sword that had gone straight through my stomach. The Lord pulled his sword back out of me, from behind. I fell. Kolfer screamed, but got cut halfway. Every single guard fell to the ground, as if they all fell unconscious. They all dropped to the floor in unison, like a rehearsed dance. All that were left was Kolfer, Carla, Don and Nhey, floating in mid air, gripping their throats, as if someone were strangling them with an invisible hand. The Lord Adem stood, watching them. “You will never rise. You can’t defeat God.” He walked to Nhey, or Carla. I couldn’t tell, darkness was clouding my vision. I tried desperately to get up, to save them. He looked Nhey in the eye, and he burst like a bubble of blood. All of them did. An explosion of red, of death. Then he walked over to me. “The last one standing. The young maestro, I presume. Why, must you reject my wisdom, my help. What I do for this world, what I have saved it from, the world before, and this is how you thank me?”

“You kill children and torture innocent lives” I spat. He turned around to leave me to die. Weeping. Everyone I knew had died. All my friends. I was about to die. All for nothing. I blinked. I had my dagger in his neck. I felt it, inside of him. I knew I had got him, yet when I looked him in the eyes, he was laughing. I knew then, that we were defeated, that I was going to die. How is he not dead? I had stabbed him in the neck. “Foolish girl, are you even stupid enough to believe me mortal?”

He pushed his sword through my heart.

I fell.

The black snow continued to fall, covering what will be forgotten.