Banner Men
ONE ARMED SILVER TEETH
No sooner had Mire Festeune returned to Freeride, after murdering his Brother Dust, and having met with Silver Teeth, he took the object to the Fence, who bought it from him for a pittance. What happened to Mire after this, no one could say for sure. Perhaps he drank it away, from the guilt of murdering his Brother, or gambled it away on some silly bet? More likely, he was robbed soon after leaving the Fence, and his body fed to the animals of the Droke. Then, because the Fence valued his life and his business, the object landed on Silver Teeth's desk, who had been staring at it now for the last three hours, practically unblinking.
He had seen it before. He had owned it before, too. How had it returned to him, despite his efforts to lose it? Maybe he was cursed, as they had told him. Maybe he was destined to be burned with it in the fires of Hell? Maybe.
But it was just an object, wasn't it? It had no magical powers. There were no such things as magical powers - but then again he had watched often as Darik Wynter transformed into Happy Face, seemingly two different people from their height, bone structure, musculature and, quite frankly, their attitude. He had seen a dark mist dance around the dangerous tattooed Banner Man of Prudence, as though something inside him, or on him, had come alive. He had seen many things, none of which should be real. So why not a curse? Why not him? Why now?
Things had started picking up of late. There had been a slump when all Houses seemed to be falling into some kind of recession, but Freeride had done its upmost to bring the Droke back from some kind of brink. Just look at the local eateries? Of late, they were doing a roaring trade. Silver Teeth only wished he knew the recipe, because he would be making a mint, opening more and more eateries, with more variety and count the coins as they came spilling in.
Even the war was picking up profit, what with a technique developed to make more out of less metal. He had more and more Scavengers out there, picking up anything useful. He had the Engineers working hard, incentivised of course, to develop bigger and better Machines. The Secret Stores, out in a virtually unexplorable part of the Droke, where he had farmers growing food, were going a storm. Now this. This curse. Back to rear its ugly head. Its ugly, dangerous, corruptive, destructive head.
The object was said to have belonged to a collector, before What Came Before was even a suggestion of a possibility of a thing. He possessed a number of similar objects, all unique and sought after. For safety, he locked them away. Then his life began to take a severe downturn. He lost his family, his home; he lost everything. He cursed the objects for destroying his life, that in search for them, and the expense of collecting them, he had alienated his family and friends, even becoming distracted from his job.
So he left them there, in storage, cursing them every day. Then What Came Before happened. And the curse, it seemed to catch, becoming a part of the objects. The other objects, over time, had either been destroyed or buried, where it is said that the very earth they sit in is so cursed, if one were to step there, they would immediately disintegrate. That surely was bullshit, but this one object that sat before Silver Teeth, it glowed away, threatening to burst in Silver Teeth's face.
And there it sat. Just sat. Right in front of him, bold as you like.
He was sure once the Bandits had taken the object, he would never have to look at it again, only occasionally see it in his nightmares, or fevered sleeps. But just looking at it now, it caused more distress to Silver Teeth than when Madam Severity's Child had ripped his arm from the socket for repayment of a debt. It scared him that much, and Silver Teeth was afraid of nothing.
He couldn't destroy it. It was indestructible. He couldn't throw it away. It always found its way back, with much death and destruction in its wake. He couldn't keep it. It already began to bond with him, deep down in his subconscious. The dark thoughts Silver Teeth had, they were - beyond evil. And that's what the object did. It interweaved its untold evil around your soul and squeezed until you could stand it no more. If it had an ultimate plan - if it was indeed sentient - then it was never made obvious.
Kill them. Kill them all. What?
#
There it was. Safely nestled in his pocket. It would be safe there. No one would notice it. He didn't trust them. They were all out to get him and his object. Greedy bastards, the lot of them.
A man walked up to Silver Teeth as he was pacing the street outside his home. He lived amongst the people, refusing the big house of his position. He had never seen the point of being secluded from the action, which was where every good Ruler should be; with the people, "One Arm! Can I get a minute? I need to speak to you about -"
"Get away from me! Get the fuck away from me!" he shouted suddenly. He had to get to safety. They were after the object. He needed to keep it safe. The man merely watched him go, confused, but resigned.
By the time Darik Wynter was called, Silver Teeth had climbed the tower in the middle of the market, and was refusing to come down. For the sake of morale, Darik insisted he must be infected with a rogue drug from the Godenheim lot, trying to poison him, and that given a restorative, he would be fine.
Darik sat on a beam near Silver Teeth, "Barrey - sorry, Silver Teeth - So what's up? Are you stressed? Need a week or two off? We can cover things from here."
"I can't do that, Darik. I would love to, but, you see, they don't deserve me. I need to start again. This time, get it right!"
"I'm not sure I know what -"
"Kill them all! Every last fucker! Wipe the Droke clean and start again!"
"Right. You don't mean that. Besides, how could you kill them all? You're only one man. I'm two, and I couldn't do it either."
"Operation Cleanse." smirked Silver Teeth.
"I've heard of that before. Where have I heard of that before?"
"An abstersion, Darik."
"Wait, wasn't that some term used by Those Who Came Before?"
Silver Teeth laughed, "I know where the trigger is! I've always known!"
"Shit, Barrey. Think of what you would be doing? You would be killing hundreds of thousands of people? I mean, give Happy a weapon and a week, and he'd try his best, but at least its honest murder. There's no honour in this."
"Who gives a fuck about honour? This is fun!"
"Look, Barrey. Don't make me hurt you to stop this insanity. I will if I have to."
Silver Teeth pulled out an electronic device from his pocket, brandishing it in front of Darik, daring him to take it. It was cylindrical and had a big red button at the one end, which Silver Teeth was currently caressing with his thumb. Just do it! Press it! It was the voice inside Silver Teeth's head.
"Okay, this changes things. Would it be worth me saying don't press it?"
"Not really, no. Don't you see, it has to happen!? Just look how bad this world has become! We need to clear it out, start again! Get it right this time!"
"But you'd be dead. More importantly, I'd be dead too." said Darik.
"A small price to pay. A small price for perfection."
"Death and destruction is perfection?" asked Darik.
"Of course it is! Don't you see it? Beauty in death? Form in destruction? It will be a wonderful new dawn -" Happy leapt to grasp Silver Teeth tightly, the surprise enough for Silver Teeth to drop the trigger. It fell to the ground, and for one brief moment, the assembled crowd held their breaths, but were greeted by a maniacal laugh from Silver Teeth above, "It wasn't even turned on! Hahahaha!"
And there the trigger sat, a red light pulsing where it said Standby.
#
Silver Teeth was taken away then. Oh, not killed, not even silenced. Just - watched. No one wanted to see the end of Silver Teeth. He was a leader, a Ruler. He was a great man, who just took a funny turn one day. But he was better now. He must be, because he was back in his office, backed up with work. Oh, but no one could see him. He was chained to his desk these days. Making up for lost time. He was - unavailable.
Then, soon after the incident, a Clerk, a nobody, saw the shiny object just lying around. Someone must have dropped it. Something this valuable, and someone just left it lying around? Of course the Clerk would have to pick it up, you know, to keep it safe? Oh and there was an electronic trigger too, just by the object. Better pick that up too. The Clerk picked the object and the trigger up, one in each hand.
That one hand held the object carefully, shivering from excitement. The thumb of the other hand was poised over a red button on the end of a cylindrical device.
And just then - just then, a laugh burst from the Clerk, even as they pressed the button.
Without a whimper or a sigh, the Abstersion had begun. Nothing, absolutely nothing, would ever be the same again.
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