Chapter 14: Council and Governance

Thank you for everyone who has read so far.

Hope you are all enjoying the read.

If you have any feedback please let me know, not sure how the discussion went in the later part of the chapter and how well it flowed so any feedback would be fantastic.

Enjoy the chapter.

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Looking on as the new arrivals watched in excitement as Michael was healed before their eyes and his subsequent question saw many of them on the verge of jumping into the water. Stepping forward I did caution the people that it would be a very jarring experience, when we had gone in we only suffered from simple cuts, breaks and contusions. Nothing to the extreme that they had under went at the hands of the Demon.

Stressing caution due to not being aware of the reactions their bodies would have, I saw them take a hesitant step back. Approaching the group, we came up with a plan; starting with an individual we would see the reaction that they would have and go from there, asking for any volunteers Laurie stood forward putting his hand up. Nodding to him I accompanied him to the edge of the lake. I decided that it would be best to go in to help if it got too extreme and overwhelmed him.

Entering the Lake I turned to him,

"Ok Laurie I'm ready if you are, take your time entering, it's only when you get just past your knees that it will start having some effect. Before that it will just feel like the best bath you've ever had."

Nodding to me he took a step into the lake with a smile spreading across his face. Making his way towards me I could see the moment it started affecting his body, at about the mid-thigh point he fell back into the lake going limp, worried I rushed over to him finding him passed out. There weren't any indications of there being something wrong apart from Laurie being unconscious, I was about to pull him out to check him over when I could notice faint imperceptible reactions happening just under his skin.

Looking on in wonder I could see the reactions ramping up until it looked like a mass of worms trapped beneath the layer of skin. It started around his chest level and spread out from there covering his whole body. There were no signs of pain on his face and if I didn't think it would affect him negatively, I would have had him straight out of the water.

The other people on the shoreline were looking on in concern wondering what was happening but didn't want to raise any commotion fearing it would hinder the recovery, or what they thought was suppose to happen. Supporting Laurie's head so it stayed above the water to get air, I could see the body continue with its pulsing and shifting. Amazingly before my eyes he was starting to fill out, the colour of his skin was shifting to a healthier pallor and atrophied muscle from the malnutrition and lack of energy were starting to revert to what was their original condition.

It took about an hour for it all to start ramping down and returning a sense of normalcy. It was not much longer after that when Laurie woke up, looking around wondering why I was holding him by his head with his eyes darting around trying to take in his current position. Moving upright he looked down at himself in shock inspecting every part of his body that he could. Absolutely speechless he started up at me mouth wide open and silent, eventually being able to formulate some words he spluttered," how… How is this possible?"

"Well, you know I can't really give you a solid response, we think this Lake has some form of restoration effect with it impacting living and inanimate objects. We've seen it be able to heal a ridiculous number of things and honestly don't know the limit of its capabilities."

Walking with him to the edge of the Lake we made our way out of the water and in front of the assembled people. Showing off his body with a sense of satisfaction I could see the excitement from the other residents of the compound. The hope that all they had suffered could be fixed within an hour was extremely tempting. I did bring up that with the condition of their bodies and the reaction that Laurie had we would need to do it a few at a time. Some of the current residents of the Sanctuary would come and help them go through the transition, I didn't want to rush it and end up making the situation worse from someone drowning due to their bodies lack of air.

It took a few hours to cycle through all the new people due to the time fluctuating depending on the differing conditions of their bodies, but in the end we had everyone fixed and back to their pre compound condition. Seeing the relief on their faces now that they didn't have to live with the consequences of the Demons influence made the whole experience worth it. Wanting to help people and make the current situation better was one of the driving forces behind my choice to continually go out and explore.

The possibility that I could miss someone needing help because I got lazy and rested on my laurels turned my stomach, this meant for the future after seeing the effect of my actions on a group of people like this I would make the same choices time after time. Knowing that something like the Demon is out there, and knowing what it is capable of should make any decent human being want to help.

Nat made her way up to me letting myself know that we had an area set up for the rest and recuperation of the new residents, I turned to let them know. I also advised that I would have some more information tomorrow and would discuss any activities or options that concerned them after a good night rest, which had them sighing in relief that the uncertainty of their futures would be figured out and they would be able to put their various skills to use.

Making my way around the area I asked the various personnel to make their way to the club house for an in-depth discussion about what happened. Spending the rest of the afternoon just resting and having a soak in the Lake really helped drain the remaining fatigue and tension. Going to the meeting fresh of mind and body had me determined to set us up for the future so we can help more people and be a force for good in this so far crazy world.

With everything changing and new creatures and beings becoming apparent, it was concerning and we needed to discuss a game plan and where to go from here. Having an idea of where I want us to go and a plan for the future, I wanted to use everyone else as a sounding board and to get their impression.

That night I met up with the other long time residents of the Sanctuary to find out what had happened while we were gone and what had happened I started the meeting off with asking about the current situation. Nat and Andrew summarised it for us and it consisted of another 3 families joining us after Tom and Roger had gone out to collect some supplies from the surrounding area. They made it seem that it wasn't that hard to convince them and ended up actually finding some contractors that Tom had worked with previously.

Being able to vouch for them and know what they and their families were like made the decision even easier and I trusted their judgement. We had another 12 people from those additions and coupled with the compound residents we brought with us we had in total just over 60 new people. This is a massive increase on our existing population and made it even more important to set in place a structure that will prepare us for the future.

Dan, Sarah, Michael and I started explaining what had happened, coupled with the additional bit of information that Nick and Laurie supplied, we were able to go over the whole picture from the beginning before we arrived til the post battle with the Demon. As our story went on, I could see the shock deepen on their faces and when it got to the detail of the Demon and what had been happening under his rule I could see the fear and disgust cross their faces.

"Are you sure you killed that thing?" Tom asked.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been able to survive with a spear through its neck and losing all its blood, but if it makes you feel better the body decomposed before our eyes. Kind of like watching those nature shows when they speed up the process of a bug disintegrating over time." Dan replied.

The look of relief was felt all around and it was the main thing that made us feel better after the whole thing had been over…. that it was finally gone. Coming down to the nitty gritty we had to figure out where to go from here, Nat piped up letting us know that the new additions outside our group had mainly been sorted out, we had a few more people helping out Tom and Roger being contractors, a teaching student that was helping Sue with her classes, some line cooks that assisted in the kitchen and general yard hands that assisted in various different roles around the place. Some more kids but they along with the existing children in the Sanctuary did their classes day to day and helped out around the club house with general duties.

Already being aware of some of the roles for the people we brought with us made it a tad bit easier. The police officers would join Michael with combat training, doing supply runs and generally keep the peace around the area. With an increase in population it was granted that there would be some conflict and having some individuals trained up to handle that helped out. Having one registered nurse and who knows how many others trained in first aid, we would be able to set up a pseudo clinic for any illnesses and injuries that the lake might not be able to heal.

There wasn't any guarantee that the lake wouldn't be able to heal those as we just haven't had the chance to test it. If so then we could start involving them with recording the progress we were making, and documenting the level people were getting to with the enhancement. Having some health professionals that would be more knowledgeable about the human body would assist with keeping a base line for further tests and will be able to inform us of further changes.

Tomorrow we would need to sit down with the new residents and find out what everyone's particular skills were and where they could best help out. In the meantime, we needed to sort out the plan for the future, looking around the table I made eye contact with everyone.

"So we need to come to a decision about what we are going to do as a group. What is our plan for future contact and our position in regards to outside influences? I have an idea but I want to get your opinion, and if anyone has an idea, I would like to hear it."

Looking around I watched to see if anyone would step forward and bring anything up. Seeing no movement and hearing silence I took a breath and stated my plan.

"Based on what I saw out there, the fact there are other beings that would look down on and take advantage of humans as a whole, or even other people who would use the chaos and uncertainty to assert their dominance over other humans, I think that we need to set ourselves up as a strong influence in the area. We need to show people that there is a better option and they don't have to live under oppression and a tyranny.

If we can be what Switzerland was in the world before, a neutral party, not aligning ourselves with any particular government or ruling power, staying out of conflict between groups or nations, being a collective in of itself that seeks to help. I think we would be able to do so much good for the world, or at least the part we are in.

We also need to make sure that if anyone is being inhumane and needlessly hurting or forcing other sentients, then we need to be able to put our foot down. This won't be a decision we make lightly but one that we make as a group, there won't be a majority outcome, it will need to be unanimous. Setting up a form of council to manage these decisions and to help organise the Sanctuary as a whole is necessary."

Looking around at the other individuals at the table I could see the steely determination on their faces, the fact no one was outright turning the idea down was heartening. Waiting on someone else to say something or do something was tense and I started to think I made a fool of myself.

Andrew looked me in the eyes, he didn't say anything just nodded. Staring around the table I got no verbal response but each time I made eye contact with someone they gave me a sign of approval. Dan being Dan chose that time to pipe up,

"I think that's a yes from all of us mate. Personally, I like the idea and wanting to help everyone got us to where we are now. I think moving on from there following the same ideal is a great way to go."

"Oh…uh… alright then, well then if we are going to make this work then we need a group to organise the over all picture.

If we start off with the people we have here and add others down the line when we get specialist areas set up, what do we think of that?"

Getting a yes from all parties we decided to break for the rest of the night and come back the next day once we had a chance to meet the new people and work out what skills and experience, they have.

With that we adjourned our first meeting and with heavy steps and drooping eye lids I made my way to bed to get some well needed rest after such a mentally draining day.