Destiny: Book of Light (6 page)

"We can't just leave him here captain, it's not right. There's gotta be something wrong with him in the head or sumtin?"
"It's what we're bein paid for Jimmy."

First to be created were massive support beams built deep into the core of the earth to support Riona Upper. These beams took many years to construct and to survive you not only worked on construction but you doubled as a soldier, as "The cause," was under constant attack from the gangs. With these attacks though, the Corporations became increasingly proud of their creation. No matter how many set backs or defeats they encountered, once the Anthium was in place and set, nothing the gangs did could affect it. Next came reinforcing the Towers themselves along with Ground Floor 40. This proved much easier without the interference from Below. Riona Upper was secure for now.

Bits of anything and everything including bodies were everywhere as if each had a story to tell of some warped, abstract artists masterpiece. The crew of the tanker unloaded six containers and the captain picked up a package from a locked safe with which he had the key. He walked to the safe with Sean and after taking out the package, shook Sean’s hand, said nothing and got back onboard. They were gone again within 20mins. All that time nobody appeared near the docks, and as the tanker left, Sean remained standing there, alone against the silhouette of a broken city.

"I'll see you in time, you."

What was once the greatest and most influential power globally, was now a ruin and a miserable form of existence. The cities foreign policies and war based conquering had left the city itself unnurtured. At it's height it controlled 62% of the globe but at home the gangs began to grow in power, and drugs and disease were widespread. Those who were not a part of the empire were set to be and lived in fear. Only one stronghold besides the conflict between Upper and Lower Riona, remained. Brima. Although Upper and Lower were at constant war if it ever came under attack they would be briefly united. But Lower was only interested in defence, it was Upper that conquered. Then about a century ago, on June 5th, after a foiled attack, the retaliating Brima sent a Dissect Bomb disguised among returning soldiers into the heart of Riona Upper. It was estimated that 490 million people were killed instantly. Countless more were permanently deformed from radiation mutation. Amack lost control of "Birth," and it drifted into the center of the Sun. The explosion and the previous draining of the Suns energy left it as a dying star. It was much dimmer and with a blue tinge.

"You just have to believe."

It took an estimated 33 seconds for the bomb to explode and spread across both Riona Upper and Lower engulfing all that it touched. In this time the face of the world was changed forever. The single greatest power in the world with whole continents bowing to it's command, suddenly released it's grip leading to a free for all. The blast sent out a blinding white light that was equally powerful at every point on the face of the Earth and lasted roughly five seconds. This was quickly followed by a wave of earthquakes rumbling through the whole world which lead to massive tidal waves and extreme land mass shifting destruction. Then a second blinding light from "Birth," being lost into the sun, lasting 15 seconds. The total number of deaths in this time was estimated at a further 300 million, but the real number would forever remain unknown. This incident in turn led to widespread panic at thoughts of a counter attack. The world erupted into riots and civil war. Especially in the countries previously conquered by Riona, both in political bodies trying to take control of the newly established countries, and in taking back their countries from the Riona military forces, also known as Ri. The latter was relatively easy to achieve as it wasn't the military presence that dominated these countries, it was the fear of the city itself. The world waited for the retaliation, but it never came. The city was silent.

"I don't blame you."

Years passed and the world began to rebuild and recuperate. All except Riona. Those that survived had to deal with poverty disease and mutation. The only structures of government or law were the principles set out by gangs who now totally ruled. There were six dominating gangs each with there own area of the city, and constantly in dispute with rival gangs over the borders, or smaller gangs trying to take control. The city itself was practically quarantined from the rest of the Earth. Not by force but by choice. Anyone who tried to leave the city were so different from what would be considered as normal human form that they were first greeted by crowds of stares and whispers. Nobody would speak to, or even go near them for fear of infection and their treatment within a community would be compared to that of a stray unwanted dog. Children would tease them, throwing stones and chasing them. Shop signs changed from open to closed at any time of the day as they approached and regulars only signs went up in all public houses. So the choice of the lesser of two evils would be to return to the city. Where their condition was normal. Quite varied, but normal. Also the daylight was an issue to them. They did not like it as it burnt their already deformed skin and hurt there light sensitive eyes. This kept numbers from trying to leave the city.

"I chose to come back."

The world itself went into economic depression. Much of the worlds technology was lost with the city of Riona. Many of the companies that controlled the worlds advancing technologies were nestled in the heart of Riona and most kept their secrets well hidden from the outside world. Products were sold throughout the world but never their secrets. Any products that did make it through the dark age were in need of repair and with no companies to do it for them, people were reduced to homemade, improvised repair. Cars and other vehicles were abandoned on a biblical scale. Massive junk yards began to appear all over the world. Roads began to deteriorate. And basically the world as people knew it was never the same.

"Don't be so hard on yourself."

Oblivious to Sean, thousands of eyes followed and analysed each movement as he made his way from the docks up one of the streets. There were many streets to chose from, all littered with destruction and shadowed with endless towers. There was no way of choosing which one he should take except that he had to chose one. He had no way of knowing where Jones would be and trusted him when he said he would find him should he ever step foot in Riona. Not long after he started on the street, he could make out a figure in the distance.

"Miss you."

The journey back had begun rough, but about a month into the trip a calmness came over the seas. Sean woke that morning and peered out the window at cleared skies revealing a relaxing blue day. The skies were blue, the sea was blue, and the light was blue. The sun, although still bearing the weakness of a dying star, warmed the air, but had no effect on the light, cool breeze. The captain slowed the ship to drifting pace. The whole crew were on deck marvelling at the rarity of such a sight in these parts. But those that were below stayed below. They did not wish to deal with the light any more than they had to. Even the captain made his way from the bridge, nursing a cup of coffee. But he did not share in the excitement of the crew. He had a blank stare on his face. A stare that matched Sean’s. A stare they each recognised and did not need to address. There weren't many in the modern world that didn't have a hint of the stare, but there were those who were defined by it. It was a stare that was the reward for dealings with death. The more experience you had with death, the more stare lay in your eyes.

Sean watched a gull that climbed and dived in the breeze. The freedom it must have. He wondered how its life had been. If it had suffered hardships, if times were hard. If they were,he wondered did that gull worry about it. How it seemed so peaceful gliding through the skies so effortlessly and seemingly careless. He imagined its life being simple, with thoughts only being focused on food and mating. He wished to be the gull. He wished to be free. To not care like when he had been a child around the estate. It seemed that he had been a completely different person back then. That those memories were ones he had stolen from somebody else. But it wasn't and even if it was, the weight on his shoulders he felt now would not be lifted. There was nothing that could lift it. He reminded himself that he didn't want to anyway. He didn't care whether he walked in life or slept in death. All he cared about now was that he at least attempted to avenge all that had been wronged. It meant the death of one man. Admittedly, he probably would be the hardest man on the planet to kill but at least he would die trying. His conscience could deal with that. It seemed ironic to him, death was the only way he could live with himself.

"Focus on the beauty we saw, and felt."

The gull disappeared into the distance. Sean felt on some level he was showing the way as land appeared on the horizon. It was Retsa. Although the ship was headed towards the dreaded Dills Pass, due to the new additions to the cargo. If the ship had docked in Retsa city, the cargo would surely be discovered and the outcome of questions asked was anybodies guess. This many Rionions had never been seen outside of Riona since the disaster, but refuelling was necessary. Through Dills Pass however, no questions would be asked, should they make it through alive. Dills Pass was a channel that formed when two great countries, Retsa and Denibo, broke apart many years ago. The outcome of this left many uncharted islands at the end of the channel, and these islands were home to the criminals and pirates that were expelled from anywhere else in the world. The idea behind attempting this was to then dock in Woshell, more like a camp then a city.

"Jimmy why are we going through Dill’s Pass, the lads are saying we're going to die?"
"What age are you now Brendan?"
"15 sir."
"Well then you're a man on this ship so I won't lie to you. For as long as anyone from our lands can remember there has never been a ship that made it through Dill’s Pass."
"Then why.."
"If you listen I'll tell you."
"Sorry sir." He hung his head. The prospect of dying not sitting well with him.
"The reason we're doing this is because we can't moor at Retsa on account of our cargo. We gotta head for Woshell."
"Why don't we go around the long way then?" A gleam of hope in his eyes.
"You remember why we're doing this don't you?"
He nodded still looking down.
"And the problems back home?"
A less enthusiastic nod replied.
"It would take us an extra three weeks to go around the long way. We can't afford that kinda time. Anyways we're low on supplies so we gotta tie up soon enough."

Brendan went about his duties.

Woshell was part of the country Dasmir. Dasmir being the only country in the Southern Hemisphere to have two of the worlds 21 main cities. These 21 cities decided world order and dominated law and politics since the fall of Riona, but Woshell was fully inhabited by hippies and nature enthusiasts. Besides this and contrary to most of their beliefs the city became a great power because of it's open armed, inviting and relaxed policies. Laws there, were practically non-existent, allowing the free trade between the city and the pirates. The only thing that actually was illegal was murder. It was also home to the criminals should they want time ashore to spend any earnings. A dangerous city at times, but never the less all were welcome. Except of course Rionions. Not even a city that earned it's name for acceptance would accept what they did to the rest of the world whether or not they were innocent of any of it. They got their just punishment and what they did to the world would never be forgotten.

The deep Jungle rose towering like pillars guarding the entrance to their way forward. Two, long, white sanded beaches spread along the coasts of each country. The beauty of the day and the beaches made it seem as if it was still the tropical paradise of its glory years. The pass itself on the other hand was a deep threatening thought that they were headed straight for.

"Maybe it would be best if you went below?" asked the captain.
"The only people it would be best for, would be anyone waiting in them bushes." Sean replied, then checked that both his handguns had full clips and a round in the chamber and he strapped them both back in their holsters hanging from under his arms.

He glanced over the weapons supplied for the crew and picked out a rifle, he cocked it took a look down the sights of the barrel, and then let it rest in his arms waiting with the crew, smoking a cigarette. As they approached, the trees towered bigger than any Sean had ever seen. He had assumed that the pass was much smaller than it actually was because of the illusion the size of the jungle had created. Tensions were on edge as the ship entered the pass.

Everyone felt the change in the ships speed as the ocean current was funneled into a single underwater valley. The currents below water nearly doubled in speed and a couple of guys on deck stumbled. With the arrival of James, an engineer, all 39 of the crew were on deck now. The Jungle shadowed the height of the ship and all eyes were focused on either side, listening for the slightest sound, or watching for the smallest movement. It created a strange atmosphere with bright blue skies high above and yet shadowed darkness all around.

The captain was kept busy in the bridge trying to navigate a safe passage down the Channel. Even still though, his gun lay on the mahogany bench in front of him. Sean was now on full alert. Not only did the Jungle tower above the height of the ship, and not only did the speed of the ship continue to pick up, but Sean had noticed mountains springing up in the distance, meaning any village or anyone on those mountains would see the ship from miles off.

Suddenly a ping of a ricocheting bullet ringed through the air.
"Who saw it?" Shouted Sean scanning the jungle as it flashed by.
Another whizzing sound cut through the air as a bullet sailed just upward of the crews heads.
"Who saw it?" Shouted Sean again.
"God damn it!" He roared as he scanned the Jungle even more intensely.
All was silent for a moment until another whizzing was heard for a split second, but before anyone realised where it was, Dani, the ships Chef hit the ground, his throat bursting open as he tried desperately to hold in his blood. The strain of him struggling to breath, silenced the rest of the crew as they all slowly watched his spurts become less frequent and his eyes roll back into his head. He was like a fish out of water as he flapped around on the deck.
"Ok, everybody stay down, get down now Jim." Sean ordered as another bullet whizzed just over the deck hands head.
"We can let the ship protect us from bullets but we need to keep on guard for anything that can damage the ship. I have a feeling this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, but all it seems to be right now is a couple of snipers target practising. So keep your fucking heads down but your eyes wide got it?"