The light of the early sun made its way through the cracks between the shutters of the window in Kelia's room. Sleeping on a mattress on the floor wasn’t the most comfortable setup to have, yet Lunarey made do and kept any complaints to herself.
She rubbed the dust off her eyes and got up on her feet. Kelia was getting ready for school, packing her backpack with several hefty books. She was dressed in her school uniform, which consisted of a dark blue sweater, buttoned at the center and showing off her school's symbol on its left upper side, a white plain shirt below it, and a long blue, checkered skirt that went all the way to her knees.
Lunarey noticed Cynthia giving Lunarey a plastic bag with a single slice of bread and an apple. Is this all the food she is able to spare for her daughter? It really is hard to live here.
Lunarey hated seeing Kelia go off to school, as she wasn’t keen on being left alone with Cynthia, yet she knew there was no other choice. She offered her help to Cynthia with any chores she might have had. Cynthia was a bit reluctant at first, but eventually she let her help. The two of them started washing the floor together. Lunarey was more than glad to give a hand. It was her way of giving back for letting her stay under their roof.
Once she was done helping around the house, Lunarey quietly sat on Kelia's bed, alone with her thoughts and wonderings. She looked at the ominous list of names, trying to figure out their meaning. How am I related to these people? And what do these reactions written next to each name mean? She wanted the answers so badly that her head started to slightly ache. What do I know about myself? These shoes that I wear… these clothes… Kelia mentioned that they're of high quality, and must have been expensive. Is it possible that I come from a wealthy family? And what about that injection mark? Could it have something to do with my memory loss?
Her train of thought was cut off abruptly when Kelia walked into the room, having just got back from school. She dropped her backpack on the floor, looking exhausted from her long day. Kelia looked at Lunarey and noticed the gloomy expression on her face. "Is everything okay, Luni? You look… down," she asked her.
"Yeah, I'm just… I keep wondering about my past. About who I am."
"Don’t get yourself too worked up about it. It'll come back to you, I'm sure."
"I… can't seem to be as optimistic as you, Kelia. Maybe we can use your SmartWrist to find something that can help us?"
"Sorry, Luni, but my SmartWrist can't really do much beyond making calls. These things usually have online access, by my mom says we can't afford to pay every month to have that, so there's nothing there that can help us."
Lunarey's face reverted back to its fallen state.
"Come here." Kelia approached her and gave her a warm, loving hug. "Everything's going to be alright, Luni. I promise you."
There was something in Kelia's words that managed to calm Lunarey down, yet she still felt like nothing would stop her burning desire to know more about herself.
"Hey, I brought you something," said Kelia. "I took a couple of books from the school library. Thought you might use them to learn more about where you are, at the very least." She pulled two thick books from her backpack. One had a green cover, with the title "Tales and Histories of Alataria", and the other one had a purple cover, with the title "Crown the Villain: A Brief History of Alataria's Crime Lords."
"Thanks, Kelia. I appreciate it." Knowing a thing or two about this place would be great.
The books looked a bit dusty, yet they both seem to have been published recently. The pages had a slightly yellow shade to them, and their edges were occasionally worn and crumpled, but she didn’t mind.
Later that day, Lunarey sat alone on Kelia's bed and opened the first book, the one with the green cover that held information about important events in the country's history. She tried concentrating on the words, but the noise that came from the living room wouldn’t allow her. After several minutes, she finally gave up. She put the book aside and moved to peek through the door.
Through the narrow crack, she could see Kelia and her mother sitting on the worn out couch in the living room. They were watching a man with a slick haircut saying some things on a device that she had only recently learned was called television.
"In other news, a local convenience store in Ussermis, Axfield, was attacked by 3 people associated with Men of Midas. The three men were gunned down by 2 other men associated with the Justicars…" the man in the television said. "Also, 3 other members of Men of Midas were found dead in a warehouse in Ashcote, Westden Fells. The police have yet to comment on any suspects or leads in the investigation." Men of Midas… what is that? "Charles Blackburn was scheduled to be tried today for the murder of Serik Sanders, yet Judge Hicken decided to postpone the trial by one week. No official comment was given by him as to the reason for the postponement."
"I hope they put that bastard away for life," Cynthia commented on the report. "Maybe we'll finally see one of those damn ringleaders get what he deserves."
Sick of watching from a distance like a spy, Lunarey opened the door and entered the living room. "H-Hey, w-what are you watching?" she asked sheepishly.
Kelia turned to her with dread all over her face. "U-Uh, mom, I'm off to my room," she quickly told Cynthia, while getting up from the couch and dragging Lunarey with her into her room. Kelia closed the door behind her and let out a long sigh. "Luni, can I ask you something?"
"W-What?"
"Never watch that show."
"W-Why? What is it, anyway?"
"It's the news. It's where they report about the things that happened today in our country."
"Then why—?"
"Because…" Kelia stooped her head. "I don’t want you to hear about what savageries happen around here. You won't like it, trust me."
"But YOU watch that show."
"Yeah, but I don’t have the innocence and the privilege of not knowing what goes on in Alataria like you do. I wish I had that. That’s one thing I envy in you."
"But—"
"Please, listen to what I'm saying. Do you trust me, Luni?"
"I…" Lunarey hesitated. "Yeah, I trust you," she finally gave in. "But I still want to know some things about what that man on the news just said."
"Like what?"
"Well… what's Men of Midas?" she asked Kelia.
"It's a group of gangsters who like to rob stores and businesses, along with selling drugs all over the country," Kelia explained. "Their ringleader is called Reus Mallistrom. That name ring any bells?
"No." Lunarey felt embarrassed.
"Well, almost everyone in this country has heard of the Mallistroms. They're a very wealthy and well-based family involved in many industries in this country. Reus’s father, Joseph Mallistrom, used to rule over Men of Midas, but after hitting 50 or so he decided to retire and leave the family business to his son, Reus."
"What kind of business do they do exactly?"
"Well, they have a very well-known record label called Golden Key Records, but other than that… I don’t really recall right now. But people always say the Mallistroms have their hands in all kinds of industries. I'm pretty sure you'll find plenty of information about them in those books I gave you today."
"Oh… And what about those Justicars?"
"Oh, they're just a bunch of vigilantes who fight other crime groups. They like to paint themselves as the White Knights of Alataria, the saviors of our society from all the crime and corruption, but their influence wasn't that great since they showed up, so no one takes them too seriously. They always liked to say they would rid the country of groups like Men of Midas, Lady Dread, the Ferals and all those others."
"Wait... W-What's Lady Dread and the Ferals?"
Kelia sighed in response. "Just read the books, Luni. Everything is in there."
Over the next few days, Lunarey did just that. Following Kelia's advice, she used every spare time she had alone to read the thick books, enriching her knowledge about Alataria and the people in it.
She occasionally felt embarrassed, needing to learn things that should be pretty basic knowledge for every citizen in Alataria, like knowing that the president is called Gerald Conrad, or about the massive uprising that happened 14 years earlier, in 2031, dubbed by the people as the Tearful Rebellion. Lunarey was quite shocked to learn of the events that happened in that uprising.
In 2029, 2 years before the Tearful Rebellion happened, there was an assassination attempt on then-president Dwight Hamilton. While Hamilton was giving a speech at a local university, a 40-year-old man named Carl Gardner managed to force his way onto the stage, and then drew a gun and tried to fire at the president. Hamilton’s bodyguards managed to seize the man before he even pulled the trigger, and he was given a sentence of 20 years in prison on the charge of first-degree attempted murder of a public official.
A year later, President Christopher Alford was elected, after running a most promising campaign which filled many citizens with hopes for a more stable economy, and a better future for themselves. Instead, Alford immediately started passing bills that further favored the rich over the poor, increased the gas and food prices, and didn’t seem to have any effect on the losing war on crime. Further on, with the memory of President Hamilton's assassination attempt still not forgotten, Alford decided to minimize public officials’ exposure to the people, considering the ever-growing criticism against them at the time. Under his order, the government constructed a special quarter in the Alataria's capital city, Hartleigh, also known by the people as the Heart. That quarter was sealed off in all directions, where alongside governmental buildings, they built mansions and villas, where the leadership’s men would live. That way, the president and his men would always be protected from the public, working and living in a sealed off part of the city where no citizen could put them in danger. Therefore, they called it the Segregated Quarter.
Most people saw it in a different manner. They saw it as the president avoiding having to look at his people’s grim state and ever-growing poverty while he sipped champagne in his large house. Wouldn’t surprise me to know that this was another factor that would later trigger the Rebellion.
Ever since then, matters like press conferences and public announcements exclusively took place in the Segregated Quarter, minimizing any risks of harm coming to any of the politicians there. When the politicians had to leave the Quarter for campaign rallies or suchlike things, they were accompanied by a hefty security detail looking out for them.
During his first year in term, Alford quickly became known as one of the most hated presidents the country had ever seen. Under his leadership, Alataria saw its darkest days yet; financially, educationally and even diplomatically. When Alford was forced to cease all commerce activities with China, it brought forth uproar from the eastern country. Rumors say that a war was only prevented through backchannel talks.
Soon enough, the people decided that they had had enough. With the government ignoring their pleas and secluding themselves in the Segregated Quarter, an uprising soon started. At first, they were small protests in various districts, but as the media caught the attention of that, the flame of rebellion was kindled within many citizens, and before long the streets were packed with roaming, angry, violent rebels.
The government used almost any means it had to suppress the rebellion, using the military and the police forces to either arrest rebels or simply have them beaten. This course of action worked only partially, because while it did put many rebels out of commission, it enraged many others, and sparked them to join the fight. The streets of the Heart were swarmed with angry mobs, holding protest signs and yelling their frustrations out in front of the courtyards of the Segregated Quarter. Everything she read about what happened back there made Lunarey so furious. How could the government ignore its people like that? How come things had to come to such a state?
Most presidents didn't get too much love. Every new one that got elected brought new hopes with him for a better Alataria, but by the time they were halfway through their tenure, they showed that they were pretty much as worthless as their predecessors had been.
The Segregated Quarter was another thing that upset her. They fear their people, and yet they barely make this place a better one to live in. Unemployment rates rise each year, crime rates aren’t showing any improvement either, poverty plagues the country and meanwhile, those fuckers rest their legs on their high hills at the capital.
The disastrous failure of the Tearful Rebellion had grievous consequences. It further established the domination of crime organizations like Joseph Mallistrom's Men of Midas and Henrick Trife's mob gang, as more and more people resorted to crime to survive. On top of that, the aftermath of the uprising was the desertion of General Charles Blackburn, along with a few of his soldiers, and the founding of Code Sanguinary, a paramilitary group of ex-military soldiers who participate in anti-government activities. Blackburn and his followers refused to obey some of the orders that were given to them that meant harming innocent civilians simply to induce fear in them. That’s the guy that had his trial delayed by a week. I saw it on the news. But… from what I read here… he doesn’t sound like such a bad guy.
All that information simply made Lunarey feel worse. A part of her preferred not to know of these horrors. To this day, 14 years later, the impacts of the Tearful Rebellion are felt. Although Henrick Trife passed away and Joseph Mallistrom decided to quit his reign over his organization, the crowns were simply inherited by their children. Sunyula Trife, who renamed her organization Lady Dread, and Reus Mallistrom, who replaced his father as the man with everyone in his pocket, not to mention other groups who are now also in play, like the Ferals and Harley Nation.
Among all that depressing knowledge, Lunarey managed to find a glimpse of optimism, a thing which even surprised her. Perhaps forgetting my past is for the best. Chances are there might be things there that I should be glad to forget.
