In The Glint of His Dagger

1

He began his rule before I was born, all I have ever known is being ruled and hidden away. When I was born, I had a number, meaning I had a soul mate. But this number was not one you wanted to see. You want to see a zero, I did not. The number tells you how many people you soul mate has killed. Mine was at 835.

Over my nineteen years, the number has gone up and my mother kept me hidden from the world as best she could, not wanting anyone to know about my number.

Today King Loki has an announcement, everyone in Manhattan is required to attend or face death. The only exception is if they are already speaking with death. His announcement will be broadcast to the whole world, but he does love to have an audience.

"Are we ready?" mother asks as I help Tali put on her coat.

"Yes ma'am," I nod tugging the sleeves of my turtleneck down farther to make sure my number won't show.

I hand mom her coat for her to put on before we head out the door. The cold air seeps into the fabric of my sweater, making me shiver against it. I wrap my arms around myself to keep warm as we walk with the swarm of people.

"Are you sure you don't want to use my coat?" Mother offers.

I shake my head, "you need it more."

We hadn't had enough money to by me a coat, but I manage to deal with the cold fine. We make our way to the square that mother says once help a large tower that earth's mightiest hero's once occupied. The tower is nothing but a pile of rubble now, destroyed in the battle that decided our fates, the fates of all human kind.

As we approach I can see a trio of people running away from the rubble, cans of spray paint in hand. Looking the the rubble I can see a large letter 'A' painted onto it. I've seen it painted in many place throughout the city, but I don't know what it means, or what it could stand for. I've asked mother if she knows, but each time she just says that it's nothing of importance.

The crowd starts to thicken and I tug at my sleeve again, making sure the emerald green numbers on my left forearm cannot be seen.

"Midgard," King Loki's voice sounds from the large pedestal of gold before us, "you must all be wondering why I have summoned you. Starting today, my guards will be searching for a certain individual. This individual will have a number much greater than others. They will be brought to me immediately. Trying to hide this individual will result in your death."

Mother grasps my arm as she pulls Tali to her.

I've never seen a number even close to mine let alone bigger. Maybe there is a bigger number. Maybe that's who he's looking for.

He continues on about the distribution of this months food and where to find it, and the up coming gala for the Noble folk of Manhattan, the ones that helped him take over or those who could afford to pay the price of Noble status.

He isn't an entirely bad rule, nor is he entirely good. Mother once said that when he took over, not much changed, but something's did. There were no longer world leaders, only him and his council. The guards, large blue or purple creatures, began patrolling. Food was distributed almost fairly, no one went hungry. People were assigned jobs based off of skill or necessity, everyone had a source of income. Everyone was taught to read and write, no more illiteracy. Everyone could suddenly understand each other, no more language barriers. Resources we shared, no more wars over them.
Truly, the world had peace.

Until the radicals began to disrupt things, breaking into businesses, stealing technology.

Punishment for such acts came swift. Executions, lashings, stonings, imprisonment.