Sometimes, the World Needs Anarchy.

And we intend to bring it. Welcome to the Munificent Insurrection.

[stwna]

   chapters two and three of Sometimes, the World Needs Anarchy

                I splash water on my face, washing away the bad memories. The ocean scares me, but I love this lake. It has fish to eat and water to drink and wash in. I leave the water to drip down my face and neck and stand up, stretching. Last time I went to the city, I stole a new book, so I’m pretty excited to read more of it. I climb up a tree, pick an apple, and come down, but once I’m on the ground again, I see people. Two of them. I bolt away before they can say anything and hide. One of them calls after me, “Hey, where ya goin’?” but the other tells her to “Leave him alone, An.” They won’t find me, I tell myself.  “Aww, c’mon, I just wanna say hi.” I’m wedged in a small crevice in the wall. They won’t find me. “I don’t think he wants to say hi back, honey.” Please don’t find me.

                “Can I pleeeease talk to him?” the younger-sounding one asks. “No, love. I’m sorry. But you can do me a big favor. Go back home and talk to Tam. If you tell him I sent you on very important business, he’ll understand.” The girl agrees excitedly and runs off, going back the way she came.

                “Hello?” The woman is still here, though. I don’t recognize her, and I wriggle further into the crevice. Don’t find me, I beg her in my head. “I’m sorry for invading,” she calls, “I promise I won’t hurt you if you come out.” Please leave me alone… “Little deer?” She sounds nice, but I can’t trust her. I don’t know how she found my valley. I want her to go away. “I’m really very sorry. I will leave your home.” I hear her footsteps in the distance.

                I don’t leave the crevice for a little while. I can’t risk walking out and she’s still waiting. Finally, I poke my head out to look and don’t see her, so I weasel out of my hiding spot. I sigh with shaky relief. They’re gone. I pick my apple up from where I dropped it and sit under a shady tree.

                                  chapter three

                A week later I’m fishing in the lake and I hear, “Hello, little deer?” The visitor is back. I run and slip into the crevice where I hid last time. “I really don’t wish to hurt you. I brought you a gift.” I don’t want it. “You can come get it, if you want. Or I’ll leave it here for you and be gone.” I choose neither; I don’t want your gift, and I don’t want you here. “I truly don’t have any desire to hurt you. Your gift is by the lake. I’ll be leaving,” she notifies me. After a minute when I come out, I learn that she wasn’t lying. At least, not about the last two things.

                The gift is sitting by the lakeshore, a backpack with a blanket folded under it. I wonder what’s in it. She did sound nice… but I remind myself that it’s probably a trap, and decide I won’t check it. But then again…

                I scamper over to the gift and observe it from a safe distance. It looks okay. It looks okay. Is it okay? I grab a stick and step close enough to poke the bag. Nothing explodes or makes any suspicious sounds. Can I trust it?

                Within a few seconds, my hands are opening the backpack, and the blanket is draped over my shoulders. It’s filled with foods, and a knife is on top. I take out the knife carefully, even though it has a sheath. The knife slips out of its cover easily when I try to remove it. It looks handmade… Did the visitor really want me to have this? And all the food in the backpack? And such a warm blanket? I don’t understand why, but it seems like she… cares about me? She cares about me? I shake my head. There’s no way.

                But again, a week later, she comes back. She announces her arrival like last time, “Hello, little deer,” and I drop what I’m doing to hide. Again, she leaves a gift for me and tells me it’s by the lake, and that she doesn’t want to hurt me. Then, she leaves. The gift is safe: more food, a lighter, a blanket, and shoes.

                After another week, the same thing. Arrival, I hide, gift, leave, gift is safe. This time, she left a note, though:

                Hello, Little Deer

                                My name is Anitra. The young girl who was with me when I first came here is Aniece. I saw you for a short second, and it didn’t look like anyone was taking care of you, so I took it upon myself to do so. I’m sorry for scaring you, and so is Aniece. I promise I only want to help you. Everything will be okay now, alright, sweetheart?

                Anitra. She promises to take care of me? I don’t know why she would. Maybe she didn’t see my fins… I touch them self-consciously. She must not know, otherwise she’d hate me. I sigh and start sorting out and putting away the gifts she brought.

[stwna]

prologue and chapter one of Sometimes, the World Needs Anarchy, the new writing project I started! it's the story of a couple trolls in a rough world. it's sort of an au I guess? there's a different ruling bloodline idk. my goals for this project are to practice and get better at writing length and explanations, so hopefully I'll achieve those goals!!

                                prologue

                Many, many solar sweeps ago, a man began an empire. He was a man born with traits that made him unique; he had a natural strength far greater than anyone else he had ever met, he bore gills and fins in tandem with his air lungs, making him amphibious, and he had outlived those same folk he had been stronger than. The man, upon realizing his innate and effortless eminence, decided that he could do whatever he liked, and none would be able to stop him. So the man built his empire, rarely doing anything other than killing those who opposed him.

                The man’s gifts were granted to him by his blood, he came to see, for no one else shared his color. He set up a system of government based around blood colors. He placed himself at the top of his hemospectrum, his organization of the bloods. Below him he tested and found violetbloods to be the next most suited to ruling, as they shared his amphibiousness and were stronger than any other bloods, save for himself, of course. Under violet, purple. Purple gives way to indigo, indigo to cerulean, and the spectrum continues down into teal, jade, olive, yellow, brown, and finally red.

                The castes gave rise to hostility and segregation between bloods, and the man loved it. He encouraged it, even. Collective terms for groups of castes came out; indigo, purple, and violet were highbloods; cerulean, teal, jade, and olive were midbloods; and yellow, brown, and red were lowbloods. As you go down the scale, the bloods’ lifespans get shorter and their body temperatures get higher. Lower bloods also have a higher tendency toward special abilities, typically mentally. A redblood with the ability to make things levitate, a yellowblood with powers of persuasion, these are but two examples of the billions of powers and trolls in the population. The man, in his casting, did take this into account, but didn’t deem petty telekinesis enough to make up for their weaknesses.

                Given by his blood were not only good things. The man was no hero. Inside of him, there was an instability that he could not help but have. It made him violent and angry, more often than not. This was another effect of his unique blood, and another thing that lessens down the spectrum.

                The man became the first emperor, and his descendants, sharing his blood, took rule one after another after him, and all continued his tyrannous strategies. Thus begins the roots of our story.

                                  chapter one

                “ARCANO!” his voice rang out, loud and terrifying. He was angry. I hurried into my room and closed the door. His footsteps came down the hall. I knew he’d come regardless of the door, he always came no matter what, but I still held the hope that maybe this time he wouldn’t.  But he did. My door opened, and standing in the frame was the emperor. “You were in the library,” he said, and I knew the low anger that was under his smooth tone. “Y-Yes, sir,” I answered. Lying made things worse. “I told you to stop going to the library.” I nodded shakily. “Yes, I know, sir.” There was more anger in his voice, and I knew I made a mistake when he growled, “No, you didn’t know. You don’t know anything. If you had known, you wouldn’t have gone back in there. Why do you keep returning to the library?” I didn’t know if the question is rhetorical or not. “I asked you a question, Arcano.”

                “I-I don’t know,” I mumbled. “Exactly. You don’t know. You’re stupid and weak. The library can’t fix that, so don’t go back. Am I understood?” I nodded. His hand struck my face, and tears welled up, but I couldn’t cry in front of him. “Am I understood, you worthless piece of filth?” he repeated. I hadn’t answered him out loud, so he was angry. I hurried to say, “Yes, sir.” He made his order clear by saying it once more, “Do not step foot in the library.” He slammed the door shut as he left. I touched my face and shook as I started to cry, but I rushed to my bed and muffled myself against a pillow. I couldn’t be too loud, or he’d hear and ‘give me something to cry about’.

                I shake my head to clear the memory. That was a sweep ago, when I was four. It was the last time I allowed him to do that, since I ran away the day after it. I have a lot of bad memories from when I lived in the palace.

                My name is Arcano Acipen, and I am, or, was, the heir to the throne. I ran away from the palace and have had to struggle to survive ever since. The emperor, Terois Acipen, treated me horribly, and I was younger at the time, but I still knew it was wrong. He would beat me and insult me. I couldn’t be safe unless he wasn’t in the palace, and even some days, when he wasn’t there, one of his advisors enjoyed torturing me. Natali Otalia was practically his second in command. I always thought it was weird, how closely she advised him. He could make his own decisions, but he still relied on her ideas a lot.

                I was the heir, but that didn’t make my life easy. I wasn’t always fed, I wasn’t treated well, I was usually hurt from the emperor, and he banned me from the library, and reading was the only thing I liked doing. Escaping was hard, too. I tried to sneak and save food so I would have some, but stealing and saving it was difficult. Since I didn’t always get to eat, I was always hungry and eating even less made me feel sick and tired. I didn’t have much stored when I left, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to go.

                I stayed in the city until I noticed posters and news reports that said I was missing and asked to bring me to the palace if I was found. I ran from the city and tried staying on the outskirts, but there were still too many people. I went further, and after a day I found a small mountain. I walked around it and discovered a hole in its walls thanks to a small lizard that ran out. I clambered up the rock wall and through the hole. Turns out, the mountain had an open top, and inside was a valley.

                I sat in the entrance, stunned. The valley was so beautiful. There was soft-looking grass, butterflies, dragonflies, bees, trees, colorful flowers, and a lake. A couple of deer saw me and trotted away. I saw berry bushes and apples and cherries on some trees. I hopped onto the ground excitedly and ran to a bush, grabbing berries and eating them. I hadn’t gotten much food living on the streets. I had found heaven in the valley.

                Ever since finding the valley, I’ve been living here. I go to the city sometimes and steal supplies; I’ve gotten great at hiding and sneaking. Once, I took a huge black cloak that I used as a blanket now. I learned to fish, hunt, climb trees, when fruit and berries are ripe enough to eat, and when they taste best. Everything is great, and I finally feel safe. But then my valley got a visitor.

[stwna]

Here is the map of Omnera, the planet Sometimes, the World Needs Anarchy takes place on!

Terra Auri, the main city and capital of the empire, is on the shore of the ocean on the far right peninsula, a tiny bit south of the little spot of desert.