Mortal Souls
Record 1: Harmony
Chapter 1: A Very Productive Friday
The sun was a yellow ball in the sky. It was a Friday. It was hot, but not too hot. On the farm, things were happening. The grass was green. The dirt was brown. A man was screaming. He was screaming because a heavy stone was on his chest. The stone was for the new wall. It was a grey stone.
The neighbors came to look. They were happy neighbors. They liked to laugh. "Look at him," the neighbors said. "He is very slow. He did not jump when the rope broke." They did not help the man. Helping is for the weak. One neighbor stood on the stone and bounced. It made a loud crunch sound. Everyone laughed. It was a funny joke. The man stopped screaming and started to die. It was a very productive Friday.
Harmony put A Productive Friday back on the shelf.
"Is this what children read these days?" she muttered.
"Something wrong with the Classics, dear?" the Librarian yelled out from behind the desk. It was a middle-aged, overweight woman with her hair tied into a giant bun, wearing a monocle, not looking up from a scroll. She was at least one generation above Harmony. She was there when we invaded. The kind of human who survived by becoming harder. Harmony is the other kind, born into the wreckage we left behind, which I suspect is an entirely different education.
Harmony looked at the librarian and yelled back, "This piece is unfit for an adolescent mind. It is far too simplified."
"Simplified?!" the librarian exclaimed with indignity and stood up. "Strength is simple! Power is simple! Complexity is how the demons get in your head," she explained, pedagogically tapping her index finger on her temple.
Harmony's heart skipped a beat. Solaria, had a code. You learned it or you bled for not knowing it. She quickly regained her composure and barked back, "I am seeking something for a young teenager. Something with a bit more bite and nuance would suffice."
The librarian stood, taking a few seconds to think. Then she quickly marched towards Harmony. The clicks of her heels echoed through the library's halls. She approached Harmony, towering over her and staring with contempt. Maybe towering isn't the right word as the librarian was only a head taller than Harmony, but she sure felt eclipsed as the librarian's bun obscured the light from the clerestories. Harmony returned the gaze, not looking away even for a moment — that would leak weakness. The librarian, after letting the tension linger for a moment, said, "then why didn't you articulate so?" She snatched the book from Harmony's hand with a violent jerk and set it back in its place. "This educates the young ones on gravity. I reckon your…" She let the pause linger, inviting Harmony to fill in the silence.
"Students. My students. I am looking to study a script for my class. They already know what gravity is," she said, averting her gaze to the bookshelf. It was easier to lie when you spoke with conviction and avoided eye contact with the person you're lying to. Out-talking the librarian was a challenge, especially for someone who didn't feel like they fully belonged.
The librarian took a book off the shelf. "The Boy Who Didn't Flinch," she said. The cover featured a little boy with a wooden sword and shield standing up to a gigantic disembodied face with glowing red eyes. "This one's a formidable classic. Mature prose, invaluable moral lessons. It has pictures too."
The librarian shoved the book into Harmony's chest. She recoiled, but caught it with her hands. She flipped it over. The cover was embroidered with tough leather. The back cover contained the synopsis. As the kingdom of Ontonadia falls, one boy must stare into the face of evil and not flinch. An exhilarating adventure of hope, triumph, and—
Before Harmony could finish reading, a little boy snatched the book right off her hands and ran away laughing, vanishing behind the History of Triumphs section. The librarian exclaimed, "Ha! You're too slow. That's how the demons get you." She strutted back to her desk, shaking her head disapprovingly.
Harmony left the library empty-handed. She could not bear another interaction with that sinister woman.
The sun was a yellow ball in the sky, already setting over the tall, gray walls of Ward, Solaria's capital. She strolled through the marketplace. There were stalls selling all sorts of things. Foodstuffs, both the tasty and the nutritious kind. Bread, vegetables, dried meats. Some were selling trinkets. Various decorations for homes. Golden cutlery, gem-laden cups. Demonic memorabilia. Though inauthentic. Whatever remained on the stalls were merely replicas. Things like skulls, limbs, taxidermy. All cheap recreations as the real "trophies" were likely already bought out and proudly displayed by the elites, and the genuine weapons used during the war were seized and adopted by the military.
But none of that mattered. It was Friday. Friday means the market stalls were closing earlier than usual — most of them were already draped. Friday is when the pit fights happen. Naturally, the market crowds dissolve and get funneled straight into the state-sanctioned arena. Harmony looked at the stream of people pouring into the arena and ate her bread.
Tonight's arena night was special. It was the last pit fight before Victory Day, a national holiday of sorts where they celebrate their victory over the demons twenty years ago. Exactly twenty this year, as a matter of fact. The pre-celebration pot is always bigger than usual. The library heist had failed. Prior to that, she tried bargaining with a stall person who was selling plushies. Two gold pieces for a little lion, they said. Outrageous. But Purity loves lions. And that frustration from losing to the librarian had to go somewhere.
Harmony took a big bite out of her brick of bread. It was going to provide just enough fuel to survive long enough to make enough money for that damn lion. All she had to do was survive until the semi-finals. The pity prize was scraps compared to the grand prize would offer, but that's all she needed. She took a bigger bite of that bread.
But she could also just steal the damn lion. Or find a cheaper gift. Two gold pieces for a little plush lion? Outrageous. Or she could learn to sew a plush lion herself. But there's not enough time now.
Harmony took another bite.
She was advancing through the audience queue, which was moving quickly. She only had seconds to decide if she was spectating tonight or fighting. But her legs decided long before her mind did.
She finished the last bite and approached the two body bouncers who acknowledged her. "Harmony. You skirmishing tonight?"
her winning pit fights one after another (ez) the fight with omen. introduction to omen and his character (ez) knockout, interaction with father (ez)