From Inside New Pontis.
To me, the worst part of the Eclipse soliders were not their cruelty. The cruelty was bad enough as it was plentiful and quick to come down for the smallets things. I watched as they beat an old man for not standing as an Eclipse officer walked down the street. The worst part of the Eclipse soliders was not the oppressors that they repersented. Everyone in Steelbridge had heard of what the Eclipse were doing. Where they came from and what their goals were. No one wanted to end up being at the bottom of a bottle. At least, not their bottles. No, their worst part, by far, was the fact that I knew some of them. I think everyone did. They wore masks and helmets to obfuscate their identities, but from their voices and the way they walked, or carried on with their lives, I knew in my heart I was looking at people I once called my friends or neighbors.
The High Council told us to “be not afraid” and to ‘be assured that everything was under control’. Bullshit. The Eclipse army marched right up to our front gates. Every citizen in the city was prepared to fight for our home. Our city. We built this city with our own hands, sweat, and blood. I was sure as shit not going to let some infection-farming assholes take that over. When they reached our gates, there were no rounds fired, no molotovs thrown, no brawls started. Our own damn security guards turned on us and forced everyone back away form the gates. The explosion from whatever it is they used to blow the gates rattles my bones and made me see doube for a while. They then marched right down Main Street and we just let them. Steelbridge security forces told us they would shoot anyone who harmed the Eclipse. Orders from the High Council themselves they said. We were just supposed to sit down like and watch them take our city. You could cut the tension in the streets with a knife. We all knew that fighting an army of this size would end in more bodies than was worth it. Not yet.
The High Council has apparently struck an accord with the Eclipse. Total control over the city, and in return, the Eclipse leaves the citizens of Steelbridge alone. Again, Bullshit. The first thing they did was erase our identitiy. Burning any banner, sign, or postcard with the word ‘Steelbridge’ on it. They renamed the city to New Pontis. An ugly name for an ugly occupation. I was working a job up in one of the new towers right before their dumb-ass curfew when my buddy, Candle, said that he thought he was being followed when he walked home every night. I told him he was being paranoid and that he should just go home and drink a beer to calm down. I never saw him again. Lots of people have the same story. Friends or family disappearing in the night. We knew what was happening, but any sort of negative discussion of the Eclipse ws highly frowned upon.
“There is a meeting in the Heart in a couple weeks.” said my co-worker, Grange. He was another Yorker, like myself, and while we were up in the sky working to build the steel frames of a new building. No one could hear us up here. It was the perfect place to shit-talk our exes, or plot something you know you’d get shot for. “All them fella’s from Emberforge and other places are going for the Bloodberry Festival.” Just hearing that name made my mouth water. I had not had a blackberry pie since last year’s festival and I was sure that I would not get one this year.
'“You think that they are planning something bigger than that?” I said as I tightened the last bolt on my support beam. “If anyone would do something like that, it’s the Emberforge people. I mean, that’s what I would do. Build a ‘festival’ right by your enemy when you really a warcamp. Kinda genius really.”
Grange looked up at me with a look in his eyes. The same look when we go on a bar-crawl and he want’s one more round. “What?” I asked, stopping my work completely. He just kind of stared at me. No, through me at something behind me. I turn and face the building to our backs. We had both worked on that one too. Our personal investments made what happened next sting worse. We had painted ‘WELCOME TO STEELBRIDGE” in bright purple paint on the top floor. It faced southeast towards the waterfront so that everyone knew where they were when they arrived. Now, a giant banner, of what may have been bed sheets stitched together, that had ‘WELCOME TO NEW PONTIS. YOU ARE NOW IN ECLIPSE TERRITORY. DEADLY FORCE IS AUTHORIZED’ in large, menacing, black letters, was unfurled over our painted sign. “Don’t tell me you think they did a better job than us?” I said, choking back a tear.
“Screw that banner. Besides, it’s not the banner that I was thinking of. Look down to the ground floor of the building”. He said while pointing in the direction I should look. All I saw was the publishing house for the Steelbridge Star, the local newspaper.
“What of it? It was filled with propagada before and it is certianly taken over by the Eclipse now.”
“Perhaps, but I have a cousin that owes me a favor who works there. Maybe we could use the newspaper to get a message out to those on the outside of Steelbridge? Maybe get people to unite or let them know we are alright?” I hated to admit when Grange had a good idea. That was usually my job.
I looked down at the city. You could see the tension in the streets. No one wanted the Eclipse here. No one now trusted the High Council to protect them. They were all corrupt and needed to go. That would require resisitance. Underground resistance. I looked back towards Grange and smiled. “Let’s go talk to your cousin”.
