Part 1.
It was getting late in the day, the light was beginning to wane and a
slow realization was coming to Luke. He could never go back to Utop, he
could never again safely enter the great and mighty city of his island,
he could never go home. He had been walking for two days to get away,
and he couldn't go back. In those two days he went straight through the
center of the island, right down the middle of the rolling hills used for
farming and to the foot of the mountains that made up one edge of the
island.
The Randelphi were the dominant and almost omnipresent group on the
island, and their Peace Keepers were tracking Luke from Utop and on
through the farming districts. They realized he was heading for the
moutains and decided that if they didn't catch him before he started the
trek through the white tipped peaks, that it wasn't worth going any
further since the chances of him surviving were almost non-existent.
Even if he did make it through the small mountain range, he had nowhere
to go since the other side of the mountains was nothing but sheer cliffs
and craggy and rocky beaches too dangerous and nearly impossible for
ships to navigate or even land at.
As the night pressed on, Luke decided to keep moving and get over the
first ridge before he rested. The two full moons that lit the sky and
land around him marked the beginning of the harvest season and were the
only reason Luke was willing to move on over the perilous land scape.
Luke also knew that the Randelphi PK'rs were going to be using the extra
light to go on and also that they would stop chasing him once they
reached the base of the first mountain.
Luke at one point in his life was a member of the Randelphi Order, it
was established over a hundred years ago as a sort of religious
government and was since then quickly pushed what is now called the Old
Order out of the way. The Randelphi Order brought some stability that
was hard to find in the turmoil that it originated in, and was hurridly
accepted as the saving grace for the island community. Luke was even a
sub-head of a PK department, taking orders from a handful of people.
Over the years Luke became increasingly aware of the corruption in the
Randelphi Order and the fear that was used to keep themselves in power.
If you were not a Randelphi and followed under the Order, you were
considered of the lowest and basest origin. As Luke started seeing the
corruption and abuse the Randelphi Order used, he unknowingly searched
out a different way of living, and he eventually found the way of the Old
Order and joined a small clandestine group of followers. With seeing the
corruption, Luke also realized how ironic the title of Peace Keepers was
since most of the turmoil now existent in Utop and over the rest of Gren
Island was caused by the PK's to keep the people affraid of standing up.
With the following of the Old Order, Luke came to accept and live by
some of the basic codes and rules under the religion. One being that any
direct challenge to your integrity and honor was a challenge to a duel,
and your honor was only won back or preserved if you killed the
challenger. The practice was still followed by some of the Randelphi,
but only in the outlying farming districts and not in the capitol city,
Utop. In Utop it was punishable by nothing less than death.
This was why Luke was running, he was at a party hosted by the chief of
the PK's where he intended to give his resignation and walk away from the
corruption and abuse to some place that he could fight against it. At
that party he had gotten drunk of the fermented brice berry juice and got
in a heated debate with the chief of the PK's, who was also drunk. The
argument peaked to a point at which Luke mistakenly accused the chief of
abusing his power and at which Luke admitted his following the Old Order.
The entire party was struck silent and the chief stood the dumb-founded
for a moment till he could process this admission. Once the chief
realized the full extent of what was said he began the taunts and
harrassment that anyone known to follow the Old Order was given. This
was a personal attack on Luke, and in his drunken stupor he took to heart
what his religion told him to do and he killed the chief. One unified
movement had Luke across the room of the chief's residence and a sword
drawn and expertly directed through the center of the chiefs heart. It
was from there that Luke started running and has been running for the
last two days.
<<<There's my first submission, I hope that someone else will soon follow
and add their ideas and part>>>
DOn H.
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those
who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
--Dr. Seuss
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