The crowd stretched as far as Auren Merrick could see, a restless sea of hats and banners waving beneath the pale autumn sky.
The plaza had never looked so lively. Banners of crimson and gold hung from every post, their fabric snapping in the breeze.
Auren shifted on his feet, craning his neck to above the masses. At the heart of it all stood his father.
President Elias Merrick stepped up to the marble podium, his grey hair catching the light like silver threads. His voice, steady and commanding, rolled across the plaza with the help of the new electric amplifiers that had become the pride of the capital.
"My people,"
Elias began, his voice clear as a bell,
"Today, we gather not as rulers and ruled, but as one republic. We have endured hunger. But we endure together.
And together, we will -"
For a split second, the crowd had blacked out as Auren blinked, thinking at first the amplifiers had failed.
But then came the crack of a rifle. The president jerked back, crimson blooming across his temple.
His words died in his throat, replaced by a silence more deafening than thunder.
For one still horrifying moment, Elias's eyes searched the crowd. They found Auren fifteen years old too young, too small, too stunned to move.
Then, the president collapsed, his body crumpling like parchment in the wind.
The crowd erupted. Screams shattered the silence as soldiers rushed forward, their rifles searching the rooftops for a ghost already gone.
The banners that had once fluttered proudly now under the weight of panic.
Aurens Mother clutched him, dragging him away from the crush of bodies, but
Auren twisted in her grasp, eyes fixed on the blood staining the marble podium.
The last thing he saw before the soldiers closed ranks was his father's hand, limp against the stone.
And in his chest, where grief and fear battled for air, one thought carved itself into him like iron.
Find the truth.