Free The Seekers: The Children of Darkness (Dystopian Sci-Fi - Book 1) by David Litwack Page A

less with the doing of wrong than the
tendency to make choices that allow for the darkness to return. You do know
what the darkness is?”
    “Yes sir. The darkness is the time before the light, a time
of chaos and death.”
    The vicar in the center wore a hat with six red stripes and
a beard two hands long—an arch vicar. She’d learned the rankings in school, but
had never seen a vicar so powerful.
    He glared at her unblinking, thick brows hooding his eyes. “The
darkness was much more. This teaching will help you learn the truth about the
darkness, so you shall never forget the need to obey the Temple of Light.”
    Orah tried to stay focused, but her gaze kept wandering up
to the arches, which were lost in the shadows cast by flickering candles
dotting the surrounding walls, and back down to the panel of vicars.
    The clergymen sat at a curved desk mounted high on a
platform, which forced the person standing before them to crane their neck. A
tapestry hung behind them, covering the wall halfway up the dome. Its colors
had faded, but its meaning remained clear. On one side, the sun beamed across
rows of vicars with arms uplifted in prayer. On the other, a black thunderhead
threatened the advancing host. The battle of darkness and light.
    Beneath her feet lay the hatch hiding the teaching cell.
    She shook off such thoughts and answered with a firm voice. “I
look forward to your help. I’m an excellent student and eager to learn.”
    “And so you shall, Orah. Isn’t that a name from one of the
forbidden languages?”
    “It may be, sir. I’m told it comes from the word for light.”
She conjured up an image of her father, and raised her chin. “It’s a proud name
passed down in my family for generations.”
    “But forbidden, nevertheless. Rules exist so the darkness
may never return, yet you play loosely with those rules. That means you do not fully
appreciate the horrors of the darkness. Orah of Little Pond, whose name means light,
we shall ensure that you learn—” He leaned forward for emphasis. “—to the
depths of your being.”
    She withered under his glare and swung her hands behind her
back, hoping to hide how much they’d started to shake.
    ***
    Nathaniel could no longer contain his sense of awe. The
Ponds had only one-story buildings, all made of wood, but even from a distance
Temple City soared. Elaborate stone structures rising six stories or more
challenged the low-lying clouds. In place of the modest sloped roofs of his
home, sculpted spires rose above all, as if aspiring to the light.
    His impression changed once inside. While the official
buildings dominated the horizon, the dwellings within had been crammed together
off trash-strewn streets—half-built hovels no one in Little Pond would deem fit
to live in—and he found no hint of the hospitality of the Ponds. People cast
suspicious glances as he passed. Children fled into their homes or ran into the
soiled aprons of their mothers. All seemed fearful of strangers, and trudged
about in tattered tunics with the bent-over gait of someone recently beaten.
    Though quick to reach the gates of the city, he’d lost time
finding his way inside, wandering in circles and passing the same buildings
again and again.
    On each circuit, he’d run into bands of men marching four
abreast—temple officials, he assumed, but not vicars. They wore no hats, and
their black tunics matched his except for an insignia on their chests—the sun
icon shining down on the adoring family of three. In the center of the sun lay
a gem in the shape of a star. It held no color of its own but reflected the
colors from its surroundings.
    The men strutted about with disdain for all they passed. He
took a hint from the locals and shied away from them.
    After the third loop, he became desperate. Time flowed like lifeblood
leaking from his veins.
    He finally approached a woman whose kindly appearance
reminded him of Orah’s mother. “Pardon me, can you tell me how to find a