Sean Wolfe - The New Order

“Let me start off by casting my vote,” began Stan, “which is for Pro-Constitution. The country of Elementia was founded on our constitution, and the present situation is not bad enough that we should start ignoring it.” Stan turned to the person sitting to his right, Charlie.

“I also vote for Pro-Constitution,” said Charlie, his voice steely as he shot a quick dirty glance at Blackraven. Thankfully, it went unnoticed.

“My vote is for Pro-Constitution as well,” added the Mechanist, glancing at Stan and giving him a warm smile, which Stan returned. As tired, depressed and angry as he was, Stan couldn’t help but take a moment to notice how very wise and kind a person the old Mechanist was.

“I vote for Pro-Emergency Powers.”

That voice caught Stan off guard. He tore his glance away from the Mechanist and looked, to his horror, to see Gobble-guy, sitting in his chair, looking timid and afraid.

“What?” Stan couldn’t help bursting out. “Why? Why would you support emergency powers?”

“Shut up, Stan!” yelled G. “He doesn’t have to justify anything to you, it’s his vote, not yours!”

Stan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, furious with himself for his outburst, but he now felt incredibly uneasy. He had completely forgotten about Gobbleguy, the former mayor of Blackstone, who had remained completely silent throughout the debate. Why would he of all people want to support the emergency powers?

“Well, I, for one, am all in favour of keeping Elementia true to what the country was founded on. Pro-Constitution all the way, man!” yelled DZ, a little louder than he ought to, but it made Stan feel a little better. Just one more vote and they would have a majority, and the entire issue would be resolved.

The feeling did not last, however, as one by one, Blackraven, Jayden and G all cast their votes for the Pro-Emergency Powers. The votes were now tied, four to four, and the final vote would decide. All eyes at the table were now fixed on the last council member.

In his entire life, from the minute he had first met her, Stan had never seen Kat look as uncomfortable as she did at that moment. Her reluctance to enter the NPC village during their trek through the desert months ago seemed like nothing compared to the girl that Stan saw now. Kat was squirming in her seat, trying to shake the feeling that all the power was now in her hands.

“What’s your vote, Kat?” asked Stan carefully, after the silence and staring had gone on for well over a minute.

“Well I … um … I think that they both have their positives and negatives,” Kat stammered. Stan couldn’t believe it. She was still undecided? Now was his chance to ensure that the constitution was upheld.

“Kat, why are you even debating this?” he asked. “The state of emergency is over, this deserves to be done right!”

“Don’t listen to him, Kat!” replied Jayden. “Having an election now would be stupid! It would only allow time for the Noctem Alliance to regroup, which would lead to another attack, and more people being killed!”

“Kat, you were with me and Stan the entire time we were on the journey to take down King Kev,” said Charlie, a note of pleading in his voice. “We fought so hard so that we could have a constitution. Do you really want to ignore it now?”

“You’re not ignoring it, Kat!” said Blackraven. “You’d be doing the best thing for our safety, and everyone else in Elementia, by getting this done as quickly as possible!”

“Archie wouldn’t have wanted us to ignore the constitution, Kat!” shouted DZ.

“But he can’t say that for himself, because the Noctem Alliance killed him!” cried G, grabbing Kat’s shoulders and turning her to look him straight in the eye. “Think about it, Kat,” he said softly. “What if that was you who’d died? I don’t think that I could bear it.”

“Enough, all of you!” cried the Mechanist, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. “Kat is more than capable of making her own decision, so everybody, stop talking! Kat, what is your vote?”

Kat had not said a word throughout the entire debate, but as she detached herself from G, she now looked more lost for words than ever. She looked slowly around the table, eyebrows knitted in confusion, sweat rolling down her forehead. Her eyes passed over the faces of all her fellows before finally resting on G, who raised his eyebrows expectantly. Kat opened her mouth, and it hung open for a moment, before …

“I vote … Pro-Emergency Powers,” she muttered in a resigned, uncomfortable voice.

A ripple of shock emanated from Kat and made its way across the room. Stan felt as if he had just been slapped across the face. Kat, one of his best friends, who had fought long and hard alongside him to instate the constitution of Elementia, was now voting against it. He glared at her, and caught her eye for a moment. She seemed embarrassed and tense, and soon broke the connection to hug G, which did not seem to ease her tension or embarrassment at all. Stan gave a subtle scowl, and shot a determinedly neutral look at Blackraven as he lowered himself into Archie’s chair, a faint air of smugness about him.

Stan was hardly listening as Blackraven dived straight into his ideas for hunting down the Noctem Alliance. After all, Stan trusted Blackraven as a strategist, and he knew that together with DZ and Charlie, the other two gifted strategists, they would figure out the best way to hunt down the remaining members of the Noctem Alliance.

It was undoubted, however, that something had changed within the council. The nine of them had always gotten along as friends, ever since the rebellion against King Kev. They had had their minor issues, sure, but they were always on the same side. This had been the way the council was, and it had served Elementia very well.

Now, as Stan looked around the table at the Council of Eight, he saw a divided group. As Blackraven spoke on, Charlie was huddled in deep conversation with the Mechanist, while Jayden and G did the same. The two groups kept shooting dirty looks at each other. DZ glared down at the table, a brooding expression on his face, while Gobbleguy looked straight-up terrified at all that had gone down. And Stan was sure Kat was feeling a lot of things at that point, but no feeling was as evident as the discomfort reflected on her face as G hugged her in thanks for her support.

Even Stan himself felt like he had been torn apart from half the group. He could never see eye to eye with G, Jayden and Blackraven, and he would have a hard time forgiving Gobbleguy too. And Kat … what Kat had done was outright betrayal, and he had no idea where they were going to go next.

As Stan looked around and saw all his friends arguing, it scared him more than a little bit. They were in the midst of fighting a war against an evil terrorist organization that had killed one of their own, and if they couldn’t even cooperate with one another to take their common enemy down, then how was the Republic of Elementia possibly going to survive?

“I just don’t understand!” cried Leonidas. “Since I came out here, nothin’ you’ve had me do has made any sense!”

“The decisions are not mine, Leonidas,” replied Caesar, a note of irritation in his voice as he paced the main floor of the Jungle Base. “Lord Tenebris has assured me that he has a plan that will make complete sense in retrospect, but will only succeed if you, Minotaurus and I follow his instructions to the letter!”

“Are ya tellin’ me he hasn’t told ya stuff? Ya know, ya being his right-hand man and all?” asked Leonidas.

“I never said that,” replied Caesar coolly. “As the apprentice of Lord Tenebris, I naturally have access to more information than either you or Minotaurus.”