"Hus.h.!.+ Let him rest!"A sharp, yet kindly voice pulled Daneel from the land of dreams that was quite enjoyable, now, because there was so much more to dream about. He had just been reliving those moments when he had finally connected with the two loves of his life, but sadly, the sounds outside had been growing more and more disturbing until this voice had broken the thin layer of his subconsciousness, and given him no choice but to rouse himself.
He kept his eyes closed and listened, first, to find out what was going on. When he had given himself up to the Will of the town, he had expected that it wouldn"t let him go until its thirst for revenge had been quenched completely… and from the extreme fatigue he felt from all over his body, it was obvious that this might have been the case.
Along with the fatigue came a bevy of other sensations which made him realize that he might have been asleep for quite a while. For one thing, he was clean, with none of those sticky substances on his skin to remind him of the river of blood he had created, and waded through. He was wearing fresh clothes that hung loosely from his skin as if they weren"t his size, and his hair had been combed back neatly, reminding him of a memory that made a spike of sorrow pa.s.s through his mind.
Back on Earth, before he had transmigrated to the magical world of Angaria and become its G.o.dking, the old lady in the orphanage he had grown up in had used to comb his head in this exact manner before sending him to school. It had been their daily routine; no matter how busy she was, she would always drop everything and come to ensure that he was ready, and when she was done, she would kiss him on both his cheeks and smile the warmest of smiles before sending him on his way.
He took a few moments as he remembered her, enjoying the memory for what it was worth despite what it was making him feel. Yet, as he prepared to get out of it, he slowly recalled one other thing that he had discovered before his journey to where he was now… and this made him suck in a sharp breath, as he was once again reminded of all that he had to do in this mystical place.
The system had told him that the key to its existence, and hence, to his transmigration from his homeworld was present on the Mainland, of which the town was a part. So, if he wanted to ever see that woman to whom he owed his life again… he had a lot to do here, so he couldn"t really just relax as he was doing and hope that things would work out.
At the moment, at least, it seemed that he wouldn"t have been able to sleep for much longer, anyway, because the sounds around him were growing louder and louder. He heard the shuffling of hundreds of feet, and the whispers of many more that were m.u.f.fled, yet still clearly audible. There was too much being said to understand it, but one thing was common among it all: almost all of their voices sounded hopeful, and this was so different from everything he had experienced in the town so far that it made him snap his eyes open.
"He"s awake!"
A youthful woman"s voice shouted this, and when his eyes found her, he saw that she was clapping her hands ecstatically. She was wearing the clothes of a slave, and her face was bruised as if she had been punched recently, but from how happy she was, one would never have been able to guess that she had led a hard life until now.
He slowly rose, and as he got to his feet, he let out a sharp breath as he realized that there was a sea of people in front of him.
For the first time in his memory, the residents of the Pit, the Refinery, and the Courtyard were all mixed together, standing in the same crowded area without a hint as to the difference in social status between them. When his eyes fell upon them, the mutterings rose in volume until the general buzz in the atmosphere was so loud that it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.
"Everyone, shut up!"
The voice of the woman cracked through the air, so loud that it managed to be heard even in the very corners of the clearing. With each second, Daneel was spotting more details: for instance, he realized that he was on the same extended wooden platform he had seen before losing himself to the anger of the Will, and even though the corpses had been removed, bloodstains were still visible on the wood here and there.
"System, show me everything I have done."
[Affirmative. Replying memories.]
If it hadn"t been for his recent experience of discovering years of his life at once, the flood of images that appeared in his mind now might have overwhelmed him. Now, it was merely an inconvenience, and as he sorted through them, he winced at the cruelty he had shown, even though from the crime he had read out, it did seem that they all deserved it.
As for the source of all the data… it had been the Will, which had recorded all of the atrocities done to those that had been born to it. Essentially, it was the spirit of the land that existed to nourish life and help it in every way possible. Back on Angaria, he had discovered that the Will recorded everything that went on on its land, and here, it seemed that it had reached such a furious state that it had freely divulged this information on its own, just so that the n.o.bles could know why they were dying.
Because the system was always watching, he was able to see what had happened after he had fainted, too. Some dwarves had ventured to the surface to see what was going on, and had been quite shocked to see the town in such a state. They had gone back and brought the residents of the three layers below, and even though he didn"t know why they had done this, he saw now that everybody was expecting something from him.
He looked at all the faces around him that were staring wide-eyed with the hope that he was truly their savior. For too long, they had lived with no hope whatsoever, and now that it was in front of them, it was sad to see that they had been conditioned to doubt it, as they had been hurt too many times.
Immediately, he knew what he was supposed to do. It could be said that he had made a career out of utilizing the best moments possible in no matter what he was doing, so there was no way that he wouldn"t have spotted that the iron was hot right now, in a manner of speaking.
The people of the town had gotten used to being controlled and stepped on by those on the surface. In the back of their minds, the desire to see things change had always been present… and now, they really wanted to believed that it had happened, so they needed to hear that it was all true.
"People of Graiton!" He shouted, and the last mutterings fell silent. With pin-drop silence, they all stared on, young, old, and even children frozen in time and s.p.a.ce as they could feel their world changing in front of them.
"For all these years, you have worked your lives away, believing that there was no way to truly work hard enough to rise above. Oh, you were given hope, sure… but it was also taken away so many times that you lost yourself in the rhythm of simply walking, eating, sleeping, and then repeating it over and over again, until you believed that that was all there was to life. Well, today… I"m here to tell you that you"re wrong. Whether you are from the Pit, the Refinery, or even from the Courtyard, you have all been controlled and used indiscriminately by these n.o.bles. Let me tell you who you are. You are the citizens of a brave land that once stood alone in the sea far away, unmolested and untouched by any but those born to your land. Alas, one day, you caught the eye of those who happened to possess much more power… and were conquered with the help of one man who turned tail and gave you up for his own benefit. He… was Harold Jerrock, Senior, the great-grandfather of the current Master. Along with a few others who l.u.s.ted for power, he betrayed you all to the conquerors…who cast you down, ordering that you should never be allowed to rise above your stations. Your land was reduced to just a mine meant to supply crystals to these cruel despots, and in all this time, despite the brave efforts of a few who wanted to change things, the status quo has remained. Now, I have arrived to break it and make it so that it is no more. From now on, there are no n.o.bles, there are no slaves, there are no workers. There are only people, equal under the sky, equal above the earth. The time has come for us to heal, for us to break free, for us to… live. Henceforth, there shall be no oppression. Henceforth, there shall only be unbiased, uninhibited, unrestricted liberty! Henceforth, the true age of Graiton begins! Rejoice… for we are victorious!"
Each word was like a thunderclap that jolted had the minds of those present. Understandably, those of the Pit were the most affected by it, with the residents of the Refinery not far behind, but even in the case of some from the Courtyard, there was joy visible, as they were sick of being looked down on by the n.o.bles, too. A loud hurrah went up, rising into the sky from all over the town, growing in strength and intensity until it was all that could be heard for miles all around.
Daneel smiled. It wasn"t the first time that he had caused a scene like this, but that didn"t mean that he enjoyed it any less. This was his purpose. This was what he had been born for, had been molded for, what he…lived for.
Raising both his hands, he prepared to join his voice to theirs…but suddenly, an all-too-familiar feeling ran through him, making him jerk his head around to try and identify the source.
It was that of being glanced at by someone with malicious intent. It was that of being just one step away from having an attack sent to kill him where he stood… and as he looked up to find two figures that had appeared out of nowhere floating in the air, his eyes narrowed, and his mind became filled with a foreboding feeling.
A voice rang out from the sky that cut through all the noise in the town…and as it echoed, alone, after a moment, Daneel furrowed his eyebrows and stared.
"Another uprising, huh? Well… good job, I guess! Congrats! But before you continue celebrating… just know that you either maintain your output, or be wiped off the face of this piece of land. Alright?"
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