2 Enter the City

It's still dark when I opened my eyes again. I look around me. The city wall stole my eyes right away and I remember. I've been locked outside of the city gate along with some caravan last night when the rain poured down. But the rain has gone now, even if it's kind of misty right now.

I look at the caravan's direction and I notice they've ensemble theirselves into a line. What're they doing? I looked at them more carefully and notice something I haven't last night. Many of them are sporting ring a variety of red stones. Devout believers making their morning prayers. I close my eyes again.

The smell of a good food arouse me. I stepped down from the tree and look at the sky. The sun have arise and painted the cloud with shades of pink. It's always beautiful at the sunrise. I turned my eyes to the caravans and I see the big mouth tend to the cauldron again.

He saw me and grinned, "Awaken, kid? Get your meal here, now."

I stepped closer, "Thanks, are you the dedicated cook of the caravan?"

He shrugged, "I have helps, but they're mostly leave it to me what they don't to cook themselves."

I took out my bowl as he scooped some gruel from the cauldron. I look at him amusedly as he fill it to the brim. "Young kid shoud get more intakes to grow."

I might be short for those big brute caravaneers, okay, I'll admit I'm rather lacking in height department, but I'll be 19 in two months! Not that I'm telling him, though.

I taste it and it's as good as the soup last night. He refilled it when I'm finished but I rejected the second time.

CREAAAK.

That was when the city gates open with a loud sound. We stare at them as a some crowd leave the town in hurry while about two dozens wait patiently to enter.

I buckled up my backpack and told the big mouth, "Well, thanks for everything, but I'm going to town, now."

"Wait, I'm coming with you." He shouted to a brunette, "Martha, I'll leave everything to you!"

"You're coming, too?"

"Yeah, the early bird gets the worm, and the earlier you get to the market, you get the better and fresher food to choose from."

"I see."

We joined the queu and have some small talk as we waited for our turn. I relaxed when I saw the cursory inspection they do.

Apparently it doesn't apply to me as the officer looked at me suspiciously and asked me to lay my backpack in the table.

"Wait, I have very fragile merchandise, and I'd like to take them out myself for the inspection, please?"

It roused the big mouth's question. "Hmm? You still have book left?"

"Yes, I only lost one to the robber. I kept the others in the inn, so I managed to save them."

Fortunately the officer was rather lenient and he let me took out the containers that hold the books and left them for careful inspection after he graze the other things I put out.

"You can put them in" He nodded. He was about to touch the containers when I asked hastily.

"Umm, they're packed for preservation, and It'll be faster if I open them myself."

He look at me and nodded. "Go on and hurry."

I quickly put the other stuff into the backpack and left a screwdriver out. I took one of the container and located the bookbind and unscrew that part. Hopefully he won't ask me to unscrew the whole thing. But what he says later completely took me off guard.

"Hmm? Quantum Physics? This is a Pre-Fallout book?" He looked at me in surprise.

I stared at him. There's no way he's an ordinary guard. It's unthinkable that an ordinary guard recognise it as pre-fallout goods just from the title...

"How do you know it's Pre-Fallout book?" the big mouth asked curiously.

The officer smirked. "Because Quantum Physics was outdated even before the Fallout, superseded by Quantum Dynamics. A book containing Quantum Physics means it's printed before them." He grinned even wider, "And the name Quantum Physics itself is a misnomer, because it dealt mostly with particles, not quanta."

Show Off. Definitely not a guard, but someone high up in the ladder that somehow took a guard's post. A punishment? I looked at him carefully but he doesn't seem to show resentment at his guard duty. Something is fishy here, but it's not really my concern.

"Okay, I'll take your words that the other containers contain books as well. Although... have they been treated?"

"Uh, no."

"You won't get a nice price for it then, although some prefers untreated books over books that have treated poorly. Personally, I think it's best to treat it first before leaving it to the expert later. But if your other books is similar with the Quantum Physics one, then it's not worth of research. Are you trying to sell it as vanity goods?"

"Uhh, yes." I stammered again. This guard knows too much!

"We may be a frontier city, but we do have some antique shops with qualified hands here, although I'm not really familiar with them, so I can't recommend you any."

"Thanks, but I already know which shop to go."

"Oh? Alright then. You passed, go on. And you too." He nodded at the big mouth who's carrying a large empty basket.

I screwed back the lid carefully and quickly take off with the big mouth. It's kind of spooky when someone with really advanced knowledge take a lowly guard duty.

The big mouth also seems to noticed something unusual was going on and followed me quitely until we spotted a park. We sit on a bench and watch the crowds goes by their businesses.

A large, muscular middle aged man is practising some martial art routine religiously behind us.

"Something is going on with the city" the big mouth said slowly.

"Very much going on. That guard was likely a noble"

"Oh? There's no way a noble took a boring and lowly city guard duty, right?"

"You don't know what he's talking about. That guard knows the scientific advancement before the Fallout, particularly from Modern Age to Global Age. That's scholar level knowledge, you know."

"Really? Why would a noble guard the city gates and inspect our stuffs? Extorting easy money? But he let your books go easily, from the way he talks, any money we can offer is a pittance for him. It doesn't make sense!"

"It's Father Mercy"

The last we expect was someone to answer our query from behind us. We turned our head to see the martial artist middle aged man getting up from his - whatever that martial position was called and walked toward us.

"Uh, who's Father Mercy?"

He looked at me strangely. "You're not from around here, aren't you elf?"

"And why do you think so?"

"Because every elves I know is sharpening their knives just in case he reappeared again."

Okay, this is a bolt out of the blue, but I think I get it.

"It's someone who does great injustice to our race, then."

"And many others, actually. You'll get to understand how much hatred we have for that devil eventually."

Then the big mouth slap his thigh. "Wait, I remember that name. Isn't he that lunatic that burned down a hospital some years ago? The one who calls them house of cruelty because he thinks killing is merciful and delaying death is cruel?"

He nodded solemnly, "That's the one."

I recall there was something like that but, "Are you saying he's real?"

Both of them glared at me.

"I mean, I've heard of him, but I've always thought he's a bogeyman to scare children to sleep. Nobody sane would think that killing is merciful and to be merciful you have to kill, right?" I shake my head. "I'm sorry, but I've have always taken him for a fictional character because there's no way anybody can have that kind of mindset. And now, you're telling me he's a real person!?"

The middle aged man nodded, "I can understand your confusion, but I can assure you he's real, and here is this town was where he conducted his worst crime."

I was loss for words, and all I can utter was, "Why?"

Fortunately he understand what I tried to convey, "It's an old idea amongst soldiers, knights, and those trained to kill, "The Killer's Mercy", or Euthanasia."

He was silent for a moment. "An idea that was contained to those used to kill, when they feel pity for their dying enemy, to end the enemy's suffering by killing them."

Another silence. "And by extension, to their brother in arms, when suffered mortal blows, a merciful end. It was from those killers where the idea of killing is merciful came from"

I hesitate for a moment, but I notice something odd about his explanation. "You doesn't seems to completely disapprove of the idea."

He took a deep breath, "I know a butcher who tried to kill the sheeps, the cows and all the animals sent to his slaughterhouse as quick as possible, because he don't want them to suffer, and I know another butcher who kept the animals alive as long as possible during the bloodletting to make the meat tasted better. No, I don't think it's a bad idea, but there's a trap in euthanasia."

"A trap?"

"Euthanasia is called The Killer's Mercy because only those used to killings considers giving mercy by killing the other party. Euthanasia itself is an act of killing, even if it's in the context of giving mercy, to propagate it to general public is propagating the act of killing, making killers out of innocents."

"Is that what happened to Father Mercy"

"It's more complicated than that. You just don't simply believes killing is the act of mercy just because one screw loose in the head, there are more loose screws to make you truly believe that."

I took a glance at the big mouth and we nodded at each other.

"It's alright, we can take long explanation, and we really want to know how such a monster was born."

He smiled ruefully. "Alright, it's important to understand how things come to be, but this is a long lesson of history."

"Before the Fallout, there was what we called now "Deer Horse Right Movement". It takes the name from a historical attempt to call deers as horses, you can understand it as calling black as white. Euthanasia was one of those movement, where doctors around the world tried to legalised euthanasia and succeeded in some of nations."

"Doctors!?" I didn't expect this.

"Yes, doctors. I know what you're thinking. Doctors are supposed to save lives and they take the oath to do so. But it was a time when many has fallen and forgoes their oath, the worst of them were those agents of death who abused their authority as healers and lifesavers to propose killing their patients and selling the idea as saving them." There was disgust in his voice.

"I've told you how euthanasia turns innocents into killers because it teaches that killing is an act of mercy, but when euthanasia corrupted lifesavers, it was the worst. There's the new idea that killing is saving. We called the corrupted ones as Anti-Lifesavers and Anti-Doctors now, but people back then was confused, so many nations legalised the killings."

"Killing is saving. I see. Calling black as white, or rather calling deers as horses. It's that kind of meaning. But I still can't understand how such depraved idea spread"

"The sick suffers from their illness, you know. Some suffers it so bad they'd rather die. And those anti-doctors provide the service. They actually sell it as honourable death, you know. As if by killing theirselves to avoid sufferance they gain honor. Kind of someone who was challenged for a duel but refused to show up and demanded to be declared the victor, because he's undefeated by way of not showing for the duel, and hence the victor of the duel. In the same manner we call it loss by default, we call such death dishonorable death by default."

"Phew. I have to admire their creativity, even if it's foolish as well."

"Yeah, there are others in the same vein. Like Whore Empowerment Movement. This one tried to sell the idea that whoring is the way to gain honor."

"Really?"

"Really. There are some convoluted ideas like since you get money by whoring, and money is power, whoring empowered woman. There's also the idea if you don't care the saying of others, you're independent and free from dishonor. So they demand you to honor them because they don't care what you say about them and they demand you to call them what they call themselves. They freed themselves from dishonor by disregarding what other said about them and gained honor - empowerment of woman - so other must sing praises. They're independent so others must support them."

"Okay, you're saying the idea is antithetic in itselves."

"I do. Many of those deer horse right movements lost their supports once you poked out their weaknesses. But the remains gathers into one cult - the Matrix Cult."

The big mouth interrupted, "Matrix cult? Isn't that the religion that teaches we live in a dream and tell its followers to try to wake up to the "real world"? I remember they're banned because many of its followers tried to kill themselves."

"It is. Then you know the demon in their canon "The Sleeping Beauty and the Matrix Prince"?"

"Yeah, it's Sleeping Beauty's brother, the Tyrant Monarch, right?"

"So, back in the days when Deer Horse Right Movements faces the opposition of "The Scent of the Roses Movements" the Tyrant Monarch decided to join the fun..."

"Wait, what is this "Scent of the Roses" thing?"

"Eh, I haven't tell you?"

"No, you haven't"

"Ah, well. Like I said, Deer Horse Right Movements were attempts to call black as white and eventually forces that opposes them arises, It's taking the name from a famous quote, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet." Essentially calling black is black and white is white, pointing the fact that even if you tried to call something with better sounding euphemism, the new name still refers to the very thing you tried to conceal. A meaningless struggle. Anyway, the clashes showed the world the true face of the Deer Horse Movements. That was when a bored rich man decided it's fun to make enemy of a world wide society."

We were dumbfounded at this turn of event. Fun? Making enemy of the world? What is he talking about!? Are we really talking about history?

"The Matrix Cult preaches humanity once lost to its creation, the robots, and those machinese put all humans to slumber, a slumber in which we all gathered in a dreamworld, the Matrix, and living our life in the dreamworld. But there proofs that this world is not real, chief amongs them was that the dreamworld is round and the real world is flat. That was the foundation of the Matrix Cult: The Flat Earth Society"

"The Flat Earth Society has been denying all proof that the world is round all along, to the point that the accuse the whole world of conspiracy in a round world. As people travelling the world, they were a minority who can't accept the truth and the convenience of travel the round world gives, preferring their own flat earth. But as the emergence of the internet and the fact that you don't have to travel the world to be connected to the whole world, they followed along other Deer Horse Right Movement who found out in the era of the internet that those who yelled out the loudest get the privilege of being the right one."

"They prospered and proliflate along with with other movements, making case that they're the "righteous" ones and fighting the "evil" ones: the opressors and those with mental disease of phobia. But they yelled too much and too loud. Opposition arise to fight the Deer Horse Right Movements' crusade to "righting" the "wrongs". They argues that selling yourself doesn't empower you, it makes you object for sale for others to buy. They argues that killing yourself doesn't make you conquer your disease and should be honoured, instead it shows that they succumbed and run away from their disease. They talked back those who accuse others of mental diseases for not accomodating their whims and desires as showing the simptoms of mental diseases themselves: being paranoid of those who doesn't support them so they strike against their "enemies" for whatever-phobia, and for being world-centric in themselves. They talked back against those who those who protected Criminal's Rights against their victims. It was the time of loud voices, you see, and criminals loudly against the injustice done against them while their victim, well, the dead can't speak and the poor can't hire the lawyer to speak in their behalf, so criminals managed to showcased themselves as the ones to be protected."

"The opposition finally gathered in the same idea - the rose, by whichever its called smelled as a rose, and the dung, by whichever its called smelled as a dung, and they very much oppose the idea of selling dungs as roses or being called by whatever names the Deer Horse Right Movements decided to call them. They strikes back. And as both sides fights harder, coalitions were made."

"This was the time when the "Tyrant Monarch", which is actually just a bored rich man decided it's fun to poke at the flatearthers' worldwide society by shoving the round world into their mouths. The poor blokes were already at their edges by having the whole world as conspirators against them, when their old explanation can no longer denies the round world they turn into the idea that the world is a virtual world into which they dreamed on, and if they wake from the dream, it would be the real world - the flat earth. And they collected the Deer Horse Movements Rights groups that loses the fight and registered themselves as a religion to the nations in a desperate move"

The big mouth scratched his head, "I don't understand." he said. I have my own questions as well, but chiefly, "Why would they collected the losers? I understand their needs for grouping up together, but they seems like a loose group of diverse ideas with strong individual traits, they doesn't seems to mix well."

He smiled ruefully, "You have to understand that the core of the movements are excuses. The whore wanted to kept whoring unimpended and by calling whoring as the way to improve woman's life they wanted to be called ladies. The suicidals wanted to die and the killers wanted to kill and they make their cases as killing is saving the suicidals and honoring them. The LGBT being paranoid started accusing of their enemies as suffering mental diseases. There were thieves yelling thieves in flavour, but it's generally excuses to do what they wanted to do. And the excuse of life is a dream allows them to do whatever they want. And they've already lost their fight, anyway. They're maintaining theirselves by grouping with other losers, licking each other's wounds. That was when the Matrix Cult gaining its footholds"

"And then the politics turns to the worst and global war was imminent. Those with the resources built their own shelters and the Matrix Cult, for whatever it lacks, it certainly weren't lacking in resources. They built their own until their resurgence in the post Fallout world. They quickly notes that the human race have changed. Some sported longer ears, others only grows up until half the height of others, others sported extra large jaws and teeths, and so on and so on, to the point that even people with animal ears shows up. It was the Emergence of the Races."

"The Matrix Cult quickly preached that the world is a Virtual Reality Role Playing Games and not a real one, with the races and the round world as the proof of their claim. They also preaches of awakening to the real world to fight the machines. Just as many quack religions, the preachers' target were to relieve their followers' possession, while the followers, gaining the excuse of "this is not the real world" were given the carte blanche to do whatever they wanted. But Matrix Cult itself were the amalgam of many problematic ideas, prime of them was Euthanasia that plays with the idea of granting honors for the warriors to awaken in the real world to fight the machines.

"The thing is, what was originally excuses for others to buy, in the long run, especially when generation changes, they begin to buy those excuses themselves. It become a belief. And there come a time when that belief crooked even further: As killing is the way of mercy, then prolong life is cruelty. That's where Father Mercy comes from, a lunatic fighting a war of mercy against the cruel doctors."

We can't utter some speech for some times as we digest his explanation. Madmen and lunatics, in a holy war of killings against those who prolong life? This is utter madness!

The bell tolls anouncing the time. He looked up and said, "Well, I still have other things to do and I can't entertain you any longer. Still, you can find me in the dojo across the Adventurer's Guild. Just ask for the Silver Stallion the Magic Swordman. Bye"

It jolted me to my senses, and I hurriedly asked, "Wait, do you know the location of an Antique store run by a druid?"

"The old druid's store? Just go that way until the bridge and turn right. It's the fancy store surrounded by lots of trees facing the river in front of the fancy tower. You won't mistake it"

"Thanks"

"You're welcome. Bye"

The bigmouth stand up and said, "I guess it's time to separate. I'm going to the market over there. Bye"

"Bye"