Aftermath

I figured with the end of the world, the Aniege group would no longer be valid.

For those who have not read Partners or Sequel, I am trying to make this stand alone, without the others.

For those who HAVE read them, you'll notice the oddities. This is based on the time that has passed, the people talking about it and the fact that no one besides those involved in Partners and Sequel actually know, much less understand, what has happened.

I've no idea what his name is yet.

Read, Review and Enjoy.




“There was once a man of power and this man hated the people and was jealous of our civilization. He came to us, speaking of the gods, of how their words flowed through him and to the people. This man was powerful enough to flicker the lights and then. In an act of ultimate betrayal, this man shut off the lights and destroyed all that the people held dear. For a short time the people thought the worse was past. And then this man sent his power forth once more and ate the buildings, ate the very clothing on the backs of the people.

“He rode off that night and I saw him go,” the middle aged speaker tapped under his eye and coughed terribly, rocking the chopped out log he sat upon, “moving away in wood and pulled by horses. To this day he lives happily while the people suffer, while we hurt and scrounge and die and are enslaved by those who once were protectors of the people, we die.

“We have taken the name of this one. Aniege are we. Aniege, we shall rise above our lords. Aniege we shall destroy all those with power, as Ayato once dictated should be. Aniege, our names shall go down in history as those who stood up for the people, of the people, for the people, always in the name of the people. Aniege, we shall tear down the ruins of the gods and build our own. Aniege we shall live. Aniege we shall die. Aniege, we shall fight to our last breaths and be heard.

“Our Father, Esiodius, says that the Aniege scum must be the first to be destroyed. That one who calls himself Rel, that one who dares take the name DeAniege. Death shall we bring to him and to any bastard children he has begotten since the end of the world. He destroyed our livelihoods, he took from us our families and our work and our place in this world and from him we shall take everything. We shall be victorious.

“Aniege are we. And we shall protect the people and bring civilization and technology back to the world. We shall survive.”

The man leaned back and drew in a haggard breath. Struggling for a long moment before he began coughing wetly, thickly into his hand. Pain creased his face and those who watched him, had come to hear him speak, were silent as he coughed up blood. The Aniege knew he was dying, and so if anyone from the meeting gave him over to the authorities, it wouldn’t matter. A good, able body would not be lost.

Coughing subsided and the man breathed several times, “fourteen years. Fourteen years, we have struggled to rebuild. Young men like yourselves. You would have jobs by now, houses of your own, families you could rely on. What have you got? You. What have you got?” the man jabbed a finger at the eldest of the group.

Twenty-four, he had been ten when the world ended. When everything came to a stop. His family had been one of those ones who stuck together, who fought through. Still heard from his sister every once in a while. But him. He had been sold. Too many males about and too few females. Even though his father had a higher rank amongst the group that they had lived with…

Being gay meant he was useless to his family. So he had been sold to Lord Past. One time defence minister to a nation called Norash, the power of bringing people to heel had gone to the man’s head. None of his ‘workers’ were any better than slaves, the women kept separate and made to be available to Past at all times. He had suffered under the sons of Past, who abused the servants whenever Lady Past was out of sight.

That day he had not been quick enough to kneel at the younger brother’s feet and he had been beaten. Down his back and legs. Something in his side hurt, a burning pain that just wouldn’t go away. The skin by the pain was boiling hot. Fevered. His lip was cracked, several teeth loose and one gray eye was swollen shut. The brothers didn’t like the ‘pretty’ looks on him. They didn’t like how his hair was dirty blond, a colour unlike their own. They didn’t like how he was smart enough to catch on.

He could read because he was a classroom servant. While the brothers had lessons, he stood in on them in case anything was needed. Anything at all. So he could read and do basic maths beyond what he recalled from before the world ended. He knew the basic geography of the land under Past’s control and he knew that the other council members had each taken a slice of the nations that had once been Valease and Norash.

All of this he related to the recruiter. He told the man how he had to steal food to sate his hunger and how he had watched friends die from the brutal treatment. He spoke of the muddy water the servants had to drink and how the last servant to be outed as gay had been brutally sodomized by the brothers for fun.

He spoke of how hard he worked and the fact that he was paid nothing and told that he didn’t work enough for the food he ate, the clothing on his back. And when he was finished, he watched the man spit up a dark, thick something onto the ground by the fire.

“And how long have you worked for Past?”

“Uhm.”

“You don’t know do you?”

“After the third winter, my father sold me.”

“And why did your father sell you.”

“I. I was supposed to be married off, pledged, to the daughter of another group’s leader and I…”

“You gay, son?”

He turned his gaze to the beaten ground at his feet. He had never told anyone at Past’s compound about being gay. Just being gay made his existence invalid.

“The Aniege don’t fuckin’ care if you’re gay or you want to be a woman or you want to do sheep. You work within the rules to gain a lover, then that’s your thing. We want the down beaten, the walked over, the mats and the slaves and the whores. We want those who have no choice and we want to give them the choice. Give them a weapon and then ask them what they are going to do with it. We will teach you to fight, we will help you find the object of your hatred, the ones who brought you to such a shameful place and we will help you destroy them.

“Is that what you want? To right the world, to punish the unjust?”

“Yes,” he said, cringing as his side pained him.

“You think you have the balls to kill a man? You think you are able to look him in the eyes and end him? End him like the world was ended?”

“Yes. That is exactly what I want to do.”

“And who. Tell me, who, is the one you brought you so low? Who is the one who hurt you so much?”

“There’s only one person in the whole world I want to end like the world was ended. I want to hurt him like he hurt me, hurt us all.”

“And. Who is that?” the man leaned closer to him, the smell of stale beer oozing off of the man’s beard.

“Rel DeAniege.”

The man laughed and ended up coughing instead, coughing wet and heavy, “you. My boy, you have exactly what the Aniege need.”

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