Somewhere down the line, a fleeting memory.
The blazing embers engulf a large building, the wooden flame collapses and shrill cries can be heard from the outside reverberating through the starless night like a worthless furnace burning only for the sake of providing light.
But it was more than that.
Two figures stood at the edge of the street, just outside the building. Peering up at the catastrophe that had occurred but their faces were not one of fear or grief or betrayal, rather they held a complex emotion in their eyes that was one blended with awe and the uncertainty of the future.
"Mr Campbell" A man cried out, his suit tattered and his trousers torn from the calf till his foot revealing a deep cut that would surely leave a mark and yet he was still standing.
The old man next to him with a patch of white hair and a long mustache had blood trickling down from his forehead but without a care in the world he was staring at the spectacle, his eyes in slits and his face a smile.
"Where do we go now?" The man inquired.
The old man simply stared and closed his eyes briefly, he turned to watch the fire then pointed his index finger to both sides of his chest, going from his left to his right.
In succession, he spun his index and middle finger of both his hands and placed his fingers of his right hand on the palm of his left.
"We rebuild it?" asked the man in confirmation.
It had been over 10 years since that incident.
Johann slowed the car to a safe speed before reaching down to reveal the scar on his right knee.
When he got injured, he was certain that being able to walk again would be an unreachable miracle, but here he was a decade later driving alone through the busy highways of Marlen in a position he hadn't even dreamed of.
Reminiscing about the bittersweet past he callously took a sharp hairpin turn and if it hadn't been for the slow speed he had been driving at then he would've collided with the Cadillac Eldorado that was blazing through the highway.
For the few seconds that Johann had been able to steal a glance at them, it occurred to him how the shirtless kids had their torsos out of the windows and were shouting songs of an indie rock band.
Soon enough they passed, it was only shortly after that Johann heard a loud shriek, followed by a thud of a car crashing. He did not care to look back at the scene and continued to drive. He was now truly alone on the highway, save for a red Pontiac following behind him.
The scenery shifted to the streets of the Old Magshire and the busy masses going about their daily businesses, Johann had to stop his car and wait in traffic because there was supposedly some protest occurring around a few hundred meters away.
The men that were loudly talking about it on the street remarked that it was a rally of numerous women—all of them over the age of 30— shouting cries and demanding the immediate halting of drafting the men of the poorer sectors for war.
Or the drafting of all men in general, no one was safe in the eyes of the Marlen government when it came to protecting the 'sanctity' of their nation during a century old conflict which was started by them.
A pattern that even he had noticed was the larger proportions of men that were being drafted were immigrants and Aaergalians, they were being forced to fight the people of their own country after running away to Marlen in hopes of starting a new life.
It was ironic really, they did not have a place anywhere. Their homeland was so plagued with difficulties, draughts and starvation, new dictatorial regimes and civil wars, while Marlen was failing to cooperate and accommodate them, not because they lacked the resources to do so but because they simply hated the sight of them.
On the same street, Johann glanced at one of the restaurants with its lavish maroon exterior and the warm lighting of the interior which could seen from its windows, and the harsh cackles of a man with a child in his arms yelling at a guard stationed outside.
Johann didn't bother to look at it, he had already known the reason why, he shouldn't have looked at it but he did. His eyes narrowed with a sense of melancholy staring at a sign near the gate with its bold letters spelling out,
"NO AAERGALIANS OR DOGS ALLOWED"
He would write another report to the Justice department today, he thought, maybe this time they wouldn't take as long as they had before in responding. Their answers were progressively taking more time to reach back to him and their content was getting more vague by each new report.
Hopefully it was Mr Campbell's age catching up to him, that would explain the lousiness of how the reports were being treated, hopefully.
The number of such incidents in Marlen had also started skyrocketing, it wouldn't be long before they would start becoming a normal occurrence like they had during the old republic.
Soon enough he heard the sound of sirens and clanking of heavy metal as numerous personnel fully clad in black police vests and batons and equipped with transparent shields marched forward in a rush, and not even ten minutes later the road was easily traversable, or no, the sights of trucks blocking the way was still a problem at hand.
When he was finally able to travel forward, he looked at the side view mirror to find the red Pontiac still behind him.
He must be a part of the Goldford District as well, Johann thought.
He was proven wrong though, as when Johann finally neared the entrance the car took a sharp right turn and darted off into the distance as if found guilty of committing a crime.
Johann did not pay attention to it, he couldn't even if he wanted to due to the gathering just outside the front gate.
There were both men and women this time of various ages, they were grouped in a circle surrounding something, maybe it was ritual during dire times or simply a coping mechanism through which they gaslit themselves that by trying to irritate the uncaring folks of the Goldford District they could make a real difference. In reality they were blocking the entrance to the street.
Thankfully, dressing as pretentiously as he was forced to, his presence was found to be seen as more important when he made his way to the crowd ready to throw a small fit. He decided to make his way through the gathering and to the centre of the attention, where upon he found a young boy, no more than the age of 9 on the ground with his rags for clothes even more dirty than usual.
Instantaneously, he moved to the middle, grabbing the boy shaking him to make sure he was still breathing and he got his confirmation when the boy's eyes widened in horror, he moved his lips to say something but no words came of him.
By this time, the gathering had started to boo, they closed up on Johann attempting to stop them.
"Are you retards not satisfied eating our taxes. Coming in way of us speaking now?" A man dressed in casuals addressed Johann.
He was the first to speak and when he came forward the rest of them stepped back as if allowing him sufficient room and having their trust in him.
"If you really want to do something with all of this then the parliamentary building is not far from here." Johann said absent mindedly, his eyes were still on the kid and trying to get him to his feet.
The man stepped forward pushing Johann's shoulder back making him fall. When he got up, he briefly dusted himself off, trying not to show even the most slightest bit of emotion as he walked over to the man.
"Go to the parliamentary building for all of this, you're wasting your time here."
"Huh? You got something to say?"
"Take your merry band of idiots elsewhere, I am not going to repeat myself." Johann's tone grew more grim as he stood tall against the man who scoffed loudly at Johann's words drawing closer, his eyes glued to Johann's staring up at him.
"Do you think I'm a successful con artist that I was able to get a home here? Or was that government issued vehicle a stolen one I bought off the black market? Get out of here, I'll give you one more chance or I will have to make sure you're dragged into prison for years."
The man stumbled back a little before shouting for the crowd to retrace their steps, it was met with reluctance and confusion, breaking out in quarrels between one another. Seizing the opportunity, Johann took hold of the young boy's arm and started to run, the crowd was too preoccupied to notice him, and the ones who did shouted too late as he had already made it a safe distance away.
He wouldn't stop until he reached home.
He was too absorbed in his actions that he didn't register the boy calling out to him repeatedly to let go.
"Mister! It hurts! It hurts!"
He stopped in his tracks, right in front of his home and let go of the boy's calloused hand, and apologized for hurting him.
"No! Please don't say sorry mister Johann! I was the one who almost got you into trouble!"
Johann dropped to the boy's level, his eyes focusing on the boy's saddened face covered in grime and dirt.
"Anis. Why did you come here? How did you end up here? I told you before to avoid coming here! It's not the t-"
The boy's face was stooped low staring at the ground as if he couldn't lift it up, well, he couldn't lift it up.
He was teary and couldn't muster the courage to look at Johann.
He stopped mid sentence and unlocked the door, and led the boy inside.
Cleaning his face in the bathroom, Johann waited at the empty dining table. The house was completely empty but not dirty, it was clean and neat, for which he had himself and his wife to thank for.
Soon enough Anis emerged from the bathroom and sat himself across Johann, his face still casted downwards.
"I'm sorry for yelling at your earlier."
"please don't say that! I-I was going to the market to buy something for sister but.."
"You were climbing over the wall and they saw you?" Completed Johann.
Anis nodded in confirmation, and Johann let out a sigh before getting up and making his way to the refrigerator, pouring a glass of milk and setting it on the table in front of Anis.
"They're taken care of for now, but don't come out here alone Anis. We were lucky I spotted you or they may have done something horrible. They-"
They grew a girl off a bridge a few weeks ago, all the perpetrators—the ones that had been caught—were rotting away in jail. He couldn't get himself to say to such a young child though.
"Just stay safe and have someone you trust by your side when you go out."
Anis could only nod at Johann's words, and the words themselves were largely wishful thinking. Both his mother and father were working people, barely providing a roof over his and his three other sibling's head.
"Did mister fric not come today?"
Fric. Mr. Fric. How adorable, if only he knew that the 'Mr. Fric' was dead not only in actuality but also in Johann's memories as a comrade and friend.
"No. He was-" He stared at the ceiling contemplating his next words, "-preoccupied with his duties."
He didn't want to think about to it. Wanted to forget about it, forget about all of it as if it never happened. It was a mistake, his mistake to know and trust someone like Leofric.
"Mister...are you alright?" Anis lifted his eyes for the first time and they were filled with a certain worry. Funny. Only a child could put up such a face and not be deceitful.
"Yes. No need to be worried about me, take care of yourself first."
"Oh yeah? And who's going to be the one taking care of your stupidity?" A confident female voice came from the door which had been sprung open with haste.
A woman and a man stepped inside the house and made their way to the table.
"Dad! Please stop just staring! help me with these bags a little!" The young man dressed in casuals cried aloud.
"Geez. You should at least be able to lift that much easily you know? And why do you look like you just saw a ghost? Missed your wife that much?"
"Frankly, yes. Way too much."
To which she let out a triumphant short laugh.
Anis's eyes lit up with an explosive joy at the arrival of the two, he got from the seat and made his way to them, he even tried to lift the bags from the young man's hand but he was politely denied.
"You're pretty late today Ann."
"Oh really? Well ask that to your son who spent all his money on his stupid friends and didn't have enough to return. Am I right Ethan?"
Ethan's face contorted in horror as if he had just been ratted out for a crime,
"Mum! You said you weren't gonna reveal that!"
"Well I just did, so now you better know when to act better and not be whiny when I shop."
A little while later, they found themselves at the dining table, chatting away with each other.
Anis found himself nervous, Ethan had approached to greet him but he squirmed in embarrassment.
Soon afterwards he asked them how they had been able to go the market, knowing that Johann was the one who had taken the car.
To his surprise, they owned another one. Anis had hardly ever met with someone with a single car, let alone two, to which Ethan had an idea.
"Hey Anis, you said you were going out to buy your sister some clothes right? You haven't gone there yet have you?"
Anis shook his head.
"Then it's decided! Mum! I'm taking Anis for a ride, we'll be back in an hour!"
Anastasia stood up abruptly at the bold declaration, grabbing his hand.
"Young man! Where do you think you're going?"
"Mum! Just for this once! Please! Poor Anis is so excited!"
"Don't you dare use him as leverage!"
"It'll be fine. He got his license anyways, let him just this once Ann."
Unexpectedly, Johann took the boys' side while Anis looked on in desperation for Anastasia's approval.
A sigh escaped her, "Fine. But if anything happens, you're not driving ever again young man, remember that."
With a shout of "Yess!" The boys ran outside house, the engine's muffled roars could be heard from inside the house and the car took off for the road, leaving the couple sitting besides each other.
A warm silence maintained between them as Johann drank his coffee and stared at the clock hanging on the living room wall.
It was already seven pm, he would be leaving for the office gathering at nine.
Truth be told, he didn't want to go in the first place, being surrounded by legitimate idiots trying to hide their faces and personalities and chatting away on redundant topics with meaningless glamor, was unpalpable for him. Even setting aside what he found uncomfortable, the real danger in question was Thomas himself.
Day after day he was getting more volatile and hostile, the absurd, blood wrenching scene that took place today was something he tried not to recall, but even the slightest thought of him made him want to puke.
"Good grief, you really aren't alright." She patted him on the back and was about to go to the pantry but he held her hand, asking her to sit back down, repeatedly telling her he was fine.
"Ann...do you, like it here? In this house, in this state, in this country?"
Her focus was now stolen from the day old newspaper and landed on her husband, she adjusted her glasses with a pensive look before answering him.
"Here? It's manageable really. Everywhere is, if we were to run back to Aaergale today, even that would be manageable."
Johann stared at Anastasia trying to find the intention behind her vague words but thankfully, he had no reason to dig deeper.
"But with you and Ethan and those letters I've been getting from Reina so frequently now, it's pleasant. So yes, I like it here."
"I see. That's a relief."
He shifted his seat closer to hers, his head now resting on her shoulder. She didn't protest nor react, she simply let him be and even adjusted herself as if inviting him closer.
"Well? Do you like it here, honey?"
"I do. I like living here."
"They why are you so hesitant?"
"Because no one else does." His words felt sharp despite the calmness with which he said them. They were true, the government, the protests, the people who weren't of his shared blood, treated them like a nuisance, something they were forced to accept.
"But there's still time right? Time before the world's kindness for us runs out. Let's cherish that for now. I'm sure we'll figure it out when we have to."
"Yeah, let's."
He needed this, needed this more than anything. To think that such interactions he was having, in this house, in this country would soon be next to impossible as they tried to find somewhere else safe to be was terrifying, and yet he felt no sense of dread creeping up on him like it usually did, for in that place, at that time he felt safe, safe enough to conquer the world and overcome any challenges he might face.
And that was all the motivation he needed.