What's Wrong?

It was hot. The sun was peaking, but it was dark. It was a time to sleep. A time to stay home, dreaming of a radiant future that would never come.

That was how this day should have gone. Like all those of the past months. In the smothering fear of being devoured, sacrificed, forgotten.

Despair had become a tangible emotion that followed each citizen of Laudarkvik like a second shadow. And yet, for the first time in ages, the residents found themselves leaving their homes behind to attend the gathering at the top of the city where their new leader, Jake Wilderth, had convened them.

There was obviously not enough room for everyone on the Fifth Plateau, and the latecomers sat on the steps between the Fourth and Fifth Plateaus. Those who were lazy, physically impaired, or simply too late sat in one of the Faction Districts on the Fourth Floor.