Chapter Text
Chapter One
The smell of piss and booze is not the most pleasant smell in the city, but its something I was used to since the day I was born. my brown eyes open up to the same shit ceiling like nothing changed. I looked around to see only a single sink, a small broken cupboard and a single gun cabinet big enough to house a rifle.
I then turned to see my clock, cracked but still works, to see only eight o'clock in the morning. I stood up from my own bed and walked over to the sink where my hand mirror was. I looked like shit, much like yesterday and the day before that.
So I brushed my mashed up golden hair, checked my body for any bites from them stupid bed bugs. satisfied that I am not completely bitten ( in places I could see that is ) and got dressed in my piss poor clothes. then checked the calendar and prayed today was not the day, from opening my eyes I breathed a sigh of relief, its not today...but tomorrow.
I sighed and muttered ' at least one day is enough for me to get some shit done I guess'. Then I grabbed my pistol that is a size of a brick, loaded it up and holstered it. soon I was out of my small ass apartment and walked to the meal hall for breakfast.
when I stepped out all I could see is the rust of the buildings throughout the city. light barely filters through the clouds these days, the buildings reaching to heights of almost half a kilometre in the air. God forbid if any of the hundreds of these buildings fall on each other we're fucked.
as I walked down the stairs, walking past the dishevelled looking workers coming in from their night shift. some smelt like oil and sweat and some even got shit and piss on themselves. not even kids were spared from the hard workings of an adult...except one work...fighting.
I remember growing up that it was the one rule that no single child steps outside of these walls of our great city of Iron. As I got closer to the ground the closer I got to the morning breakfast, dinner for the night crews and lunch for the in between. the smell though was different then before, I knew they added something special today.
by the time I was at the hall just a good walk away from the piss poor building I call home, it was bloody crowded. I never seen the place full in my life, line up was in chaos, mostly controlled by the enforcers. while the tables were full of people trying to eat in peace, though it may be soup but its the best thing we have.
then I saw the pots, always empty and rotated and bringing back the smell of spices and some meat and veg. been awhile since I had meat, even for a breakfast it would no doubt taste great. problem is that I don't think much on what kind of meat it is...for my own state of mind and everyone else's, as the saying goes nothing is wasted...even meat.
eventually I got my bowl and sat down in my own seat as soon as someone was finished with their meal. when I took a spoonful of the soup, I tasted pork, some potatoes and the unmistakable taste of onion and some spices I never had before. My gut was telling me that this ' special' meal is for something big today, something I didn't like to know about.
when I finished my meal I walked straight to work, no delay and certainly no small talk when I can. course I walked straight to the checkpoint where the Wall divides the rings, a safety precaution I knew would save lives someday...I pray not too soon. there was no need to check for ID or any papers, just to mark I was present for my work and on I went, no one misses work...no one.
It took a few minutes but I finally reached to my work, the Smelter, the shearing heat coming from the very walls is enough to get people to sweat just by looking at the place. As soon as I walked into the factory Aprons were ready and men and women were switching off to their new shifts and some rest for most. I took my apron and put on the gloves to do my part for mankind...what shit job but an honest one.
My part of the contribution is to make sure nothing is broken down or clogged. the last thing we want is one smelter to freeze up and not produce Crimson steel, the lifeblood of our survival. made of the few components that would give any sane person nightmares...if there are any sane people that is.
I walked through the catwalks, walking past my fellow workers and the crucibles the size of my own apartment. I inspected everything from the tension of the Crucible to making sure the chains are still solid and safe to use. even to make sure the very footpaths were still decent enough to make sure no one falls to their death or worse...become part of Crimson steel.
you probably what it is, well I'm no expert but some genius a long time ago figured a new way to make iron...from our blood. well not our blood specifically but rather from the Scourge...the great enemy of mankind. Like I said, we waste nothing even from our enemies hell we even eat them once we kill the bastards with our bullets.
time ticked by, with small breaks in between so I don't pass out from the hellish heat of the fires of our mighty forges. for Crimson Steel isn't the only thing we make here, we make Bullets, Guns and whatever is needed at the trenches. by the time two o clock clicked my shift was over, I clocked out and headed straight to the ration point.
you may think we get a food ration bar or something...your wrong. we instead collect Bullets, the very thing we carry when the shift for the trenches begins. Oh yeah, each and every one of us, man and woman, old and young except kids of course, go to the trenches to fight the Scourge.
I can't exactly remember when this whole shift rotation business began but I do remember this life for most of my life. my first fourteen years of my life were perhaps the only time I learned to be free. but when my fifteenth birthday came, I knew that I had a duty to survive like everyone else, soon became routine.
when I finally came out of my own musings it was my turn to get my ration of bullets...especially for tomorrow. but then he said " Oh William, tough luck for you but your only getting three rifles and two pistols" I looked down for the bullets designations and it threw me off. I never had this few of munitions in a long time, I wasn't the only one I realised, the sour faces and even some anger from the other lines.
" Jacob come on, not this low I got a shift tomorrow for the trenches you have to get me more then this" I said after waving my hand at his face with the bullets. Jacob only shrugged and replied " Look I'm sorry Will but those were the rations for the day for everyone, orders from the council I'm afraid." Before I could borderline beg for more the armed enforcers were closing in on the frontline of the lines to deal with the trouble makers...me included.
with the message clear I decided not to push my luck till Jacob slipped me two rifle and two pistol. I nodded in thanks and and quickly left before anyone noticed me, after all he owed me this. after all I took his shift to see his kids ceremony that one time so we're even now.
It took longer to get home then I realised, mostly due to my quick stop to the drinking hole. where everyone gets a free dose of relief for the day before we may never come back. course it isn't that simple when your only source of drinking is Vodka and piss poor beer, the last recipes from the age of light. a time when humans didn't need to hide behind the Iron wall...nor die everyday by the Scourge.
Then Bumped into someone I knew in a long while when leaving the checkpoint. someone with a nasty burn scar on his left side of his face from a smelting accident. " Burn! been a while since we last meet up huh?" I said in drunken surprise after having a few cups of Vodka.
Burn only smiled and helped me to get home, along the way we slowly caught up after months since we last saw each other. It was great seeing this big bastard of a man with the meanest of scars, even if he doesn't talk much these days. but by the time I was in front of my apartment, something was in the air...silence.
not in a since of drunken euphoria but a unsteady silence, meaning one thing. the announcement, even Burn thought the announcement was pointless these days. Till the ancient Speakers were sounded and came the voice of Elder Horus, member of the council oldest man in the city.
" Children of Iron! the feast of today of the finest spices and meats is to celebrate not only our twenty-fifth hundredth year since the death of our saviour and the founding of the Iron city. But to announce that at last, after four careful years it has been decided to expand our domain! the time has come to reclaim our world!"
everyone cheered, happy to hear that the silent years of impending doom are over. the time had come for us to leave the shithole of a city. only not everyone was happy about it though.
" Fuck"