The world swirls and fades and it feels oh so wrong. Absolute raging screaming, fills my ears. I open my eyes and all I see is large, gaping jaws full of salivating human teeth and dog teeth mixed together. I scream. I black out again and I'm standing on a misty field, on grass that is somehow wrong. I look around. My comrades are with me, Kata pulling Lilith onto her feet and Anderei looking around disorientedly. We seem to be in front of a wall. It's immense, stretching up and to each side so much that I cannot see its ends. It's brightly coloured with gold and silver accents. The carving is ornate, incredibly ornate. Whoever created these carvings must have spent innumerable time here. The carvings etched upon the wall's stone however, portray a horrific scene.

It's the War. Of course it is. The Great War of Arrangement. We've all heard the stories of it. Of how the Towerpeople, lead by their great Prince Audra, with the help and the blessing of the Fates, took over all the lands. This is the story of how he fought the "dirt savages" and brought them into their "proper places in the world." It's the story of how, with the guidance and support of the four Fates, they waged war against us and enslaved our people. The Towerpeople regard this story as truth but me, I have always wondered how much of it is merely propaganda.

Either way, looking at this scene kills me. The red of blood and the twisting of bodies and the silver glints of swords and spears and the burning horrible eyes of tall, broad, handsome-looking warriors and the untamed matted hair of scrawny, empty-eyed prisoners and dead people. The death and violence painted in bright colours of glory. The conquerors carved tall and strong and powerful and revered. The conquered carved as savage and inhuman. This is a sick piece of propaganda that stretches on and on and on and I know it is propaganda but it still hurts. It is some kind of victory though to be able to see something and to actually get to see it rather than having to anxiously scramble to clean it. I smirk inwardly.

"Damn. Who the fuck commissioned this?" Lilith. Snarky, as ever. She makes me laugh. She makes us all laugh. And the four of our laughter cuts cold and flowing into the muggy air. It's a sad sort of laughter. A destroyed sort of laughter. Gallows humour.

"Well it's just propaganda. Just some bullshit the towerpeople would tell themselves to boost their ego. Don't let it get to you." Anderei's voice is comforting. I know it's just propaganda. But hearing someone say that out loud is comforting.

"Let's... focus on our mission. We don't know how much time we have. What do we do now?" We have to keep going. For our kids. To give them destiny. To give them a better future. To free them.

"Perhaps we should go into the castle. It seems like a place a Fate would live in." Anderei's voice is cautious and not very confident.

"You're right it absolutely is. All this glitz and glamour and this macabre display of make-beleive superiority." Lilith's voice is bitter.

"I agree, a Fate is here. I can just feel it, this whole place feels so very wrong. We've got to go out and face it." I take a deep breath after I speak these words.

"Yeah. We can kill it. I'm sure we can. We have to. I remember what it's like being a child slave separated from my family. It's eating me up inside thinking my children - that any children - are going through the same fucking thing. We have to kill those bastards." He's feeling a father's pain. Of course he is.

"Guys, we have to go. We don't know how much time we have. We can't just wait around in fear. I know you guys are scared. I am too. But we have each other. We can do it. We have to do it. And the only way to win this battle is to move forwards. However we can. Whenever we can. We've made it this far. We've made it this far and that's absolutely amazing. We can make it even farther. We can make it all the way to the end. I just know it. In every part of my soul. And this isn't just hope. It's courage. Trust me. We can do this. Come on, there's a revolution to win."

"You're right, Kata, let's go."

We take unsteady yet sure steps through the field, along the depravity that is the wall. We look for a door yet there doesn't seem to be one.

"Goddamnit it'll break this thing myself!" Anderei exclaims as he slams his open palm into the stone. I fully expect it to do nothing but, no, the chiseled brow of a muscular tower barbarian crumbles, just a little bit, under the soft flesh of his small hand.

I stare wide-eyed. We all do. Katapa smiles. An almost delirious, wind-laden smile.

"How'd you do that?" I ask.

"I don't know. I fucking hate this wall. I hate the way it portrays our people. I thought about all the dirtpeople I love. About my Andronicha and Mafalia and Levi and Pavlin and you guys and my mom and my dad and Aunt Nocta and Aunt Judith and Titi Novell and Dariee and Uncle Hilden and Jaoi and Alessina and -"

"We get it." Lilith smiles at her husband, but it's an absolutely heartbroken sort of smile, laced with fear.

"I remembered how great we all are. How amazing. How resilient. How full of life we are. How much happiness we deserve. How much we make the best situation out of the nothing that we have. How human we are. And I don't know, it felt like something gathered inside me, strong enough to cut diamonds."

"Well damn," Katapa says, cautious eyes filled with wonder. She takes a moment to gather herself. And she hits the wall with her closed fist. A bit of stone gives out under her.

I take a moment to think about the adorable jokes Mafalia cracks about the towerpeople when they're out of earshot. I think about all the times Pavlin asks /why/ and I can't answer them. I think of the way Andronicha solemnly wipes the tears from your eyes. About how Levi sings under his breath before falling alsleep sometimes. And I feel heartbroken. But something wells up inside me and before I know it the bright electric magenta before me chips away leaving jagged marble.