The occupied Territories, Maramanakama, Tolina.

In the central district of Tolina, namely GIhapmesi, there was a very dilapidated and rundown building.

No, that’s not an accurate statement for the structure’s graffiti filled walls, stolen plumbing and metal beams, missing roof, shattered windows and vast halls filled with garbage of all manor, from material waste that came from the houses of the population of Tolina, to the social waste composed out of towngirls, junkies, drunkards, g.a.n.g.b.a.n.gers, that use this place as a shelter. It gave dilapidated buildings a bad name.

It was walled off by a fence that had more manmade holes, than it had gaps in its chain links, but the government didn’t care about that. After all, why should Imperials care for what happens to a building to which they have no attachment whatsoever?

What was this crack den? It was the Old Coliseum, the ‘Heart’ of the pre-war Maran Nation.

Kalynka stood just outside Old Coliseum, staring at it with a great longing in her soul.

“This was the very center of our culture! Here, each day great athletes and warriors would come and compete for victory, from dusk till dawn they would push themselves to the limit, for honor and glory and when the day was over and one was crowned the victor, a hundred thousand souls would stand up to shout the champion’s name!” she thought to herself as she fondly remembered coming here as a little girl with her mother and viewing the great games. The coliseum was the place where she had some of her most fondest memories. Viewing it now, closed, barred up and abandoned, in a decrepit state, the only emotion she felt seeing this was sadness and anger. Sadness for the loss of what brought her joy, and anger since it was the Imperials who closed the coliseum and let it become the rain shelter of all the dregs of society.

As she walked around the perimeter of the fence that engulfed it, her mind was flooded with images of other things the Imperials had taken from her and from her people.

The great field of flowers outside the city, that used to be covered with the most  beautiful flowers   from every solar sister in the Maran nation, now gone forever, leaving only rusted tools and forgotten irrigation pipes to poison the now gra.s.sy field.

The great fire pits, the ancient altars and temples, even many of the old libraries where locket away from their own people, even from their own owners!

And last but not least the great wicker giants, that where lit up at the final day of the ‘Changing of the Seasons festival’ in which they ushered in summer and banished winter.

Times where hard and with each pa.s.sing moment things only seemed to be getting worst.

Anger now threatened to overwhelm her, as she felt her pocket vibrate and took out her farview crystal and saw that it was a text message from Ahmaianos.

“n.o.body has summoned us for a meeting!” she thought to herself as she browsed the message, making sure that she read the fine print. Now smiling, Kalynka turned her head to get one last look at the coliseum before heading towards the meeting ground.

“Please wait a little while longer. Soon you’ll be restored and once more will there be crowds cheering for glory….one day…..one day soon……”she made a mental pledge to the building, turned around and walked toward the address where Ahmaianos said they would meet up, pa.s.sing by a skysc.r.a.per with a great farview screen attached to one of its sides, that was broadcasting the local news.

“The terrorist organization ‘the Maran Liberation Army’, along with a score of other such groups are the main suspects for what is now dubbed the Battle of Dukhym. The M.L.A, despite not releasing any statements of responsibility for the recent terrorist actions commenced only a few days ago, remain the most likely candidates, with some claiming that Alefran ‘The Slayer’ is the mastermind behind the disruption.

“Prince Gelios has recently declared that this attack is just the death throes of the Maran terrorist movement and not a significant threat to Imperial authority.”

And upon hearing that news Kalynka’s smile only widened, times where bad, but they where forever changing, and when your enemy publicly denies that you are a threat to them, well, that was the greatest complement they could give you, short of acknowledging that you are a real danger to their authority.

Sometime later, Kalynka had met up with the others and they had all made their way to the meeting ground.

“First he talks to us when we’re in our hideout, which was a warehouse, now he calls us here to another, the guy must have some kind of fetish, don’t you think?” Tubarin said with a grin as he walked alongside Akanthos and the others as they made their way to the rendezvous point with ‘n.o.body’.

“Hey, watch your tongue!” Ahmaianos said, shocked at his friend’s awful joke.

“What’s the matter with you? I’m just cracking a few over here!” Tubarin replied with a chuckle.

“Tubarin, I’m no expert, but I think that teasing the man who can defeat an armored platoon singlehandedly is not such a good idea!” Ahmaianos said and the sudden implication of his actions sank into Tubarin’s head as the grin disappeared from his face.

“That’s unnecessary.” a voice that vas identical to the one they listened to in Dukhym was heard and from the shadows a silhouette emerged. It was humanoid, with a very tall frame with broad shoulders. n.o.body was dressed in a long leather overcoat, with combat boots, his hands were covered in black leathery gloves and his face was hidden behind bandages. Also his eyes were covered by lenses that belonged to what looked like snow goggles, though their main body was also covered by the bandages and only the gla.s.s trickled out of the fabric. His mouth by was s.h.i.+elded what looked to be an armored mouth guard.

But the most unique feature about him was the fact that he was carrying a book in his left hand, whose cover seemed to every few minutes display random numbers.

4,   4

 “Tubarin’s joke is a direct consequence of my actions, so in a sense I am responsible for that.” n.o.body added as he took a few steps forward.

“Hey, what’s with the bandages and mask, why don’t you show your face?”Tubarin asked, his joke forgotten and his voice laden with blooming distrust.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” n.o.body replied, as he moved his right hand towards his left sleeve.

“Why? You shy or something?” Tubarin asked with a demeaning chuckle.

“No, it’s just that I’m not too keen on seeing what you’ve all had for breakfast.” n.o.body replied and pulled his left sleeve slightly back, and the sight of his exposed arm caused the group to recoil backwards in surprise, it revealed that the flesh on his left arm was badly burned with almost no normal skin on it, there were even a few pieces of white visibly sticking out of the flesh.

“You’re arm! Then your face is…….is………” Maiamara asked, eyes wide at the thought of what great pains, the one before her must have gone through.

“Scarred? Yes… heavily in some areas, in others not so much, but that is a story for another time, so for now why don’t I pull out the enrollment sheets and lets-” 

“I don’t buy it.” n.o.body tried to say but was interrupted by Tubarin who glared at him.

“Big deal, you’re mister barbequed skin, I still need to see your face!” the hot heated maran’s words where met with appalled reactions from those around him, at his apparent lack of empathy for someone who had clearly suffered a lot during his lifetime.

“Why is my face so important to you Tubarin?” n.o.body asked and everyone held their breath hoping that the situation wouldn’t deteriorate any more than it already had.

“Because we all came here thinking you could help us, Ahmaianos here even thinks you can be our leader, but being our leader means that we are putting our future in your hands, and I only do that to people I can thrust, and how can I have faith in our leader, if he doesn’t even thrust us enough to show us his face?” he replied and the rest of the warehouse’s occupants tensed and held their breath as they waited for the reply.

“Fair enough, you make a most valid argument.” n.o.body replied which surprised Tubarin.

“I do? I just said something intelligent for a change?!”

“Yes you did.” n.o.body replied.

“Whoa, I can feel my IQ rising………..It feels good!” Tubarin said with a smile, temporarily forgetting the situation they were in at the moment.

“Quite……now as I was saying ladies and gentleman, mister Tubarin has brought up a valid point and since thrust is required, we cannot go any further, until I can prove that I am trustworthy.” n.o.body told them.

“So then, you’ll show us your face?” Kalynka said, eager to see the one who saved them in Dukhym.

“Not quite, but I will show you something better.”

“And what’s that?” Usanthus asked.

“I’ll show you my power.” n.o.body replied as he walked towards a wall and with a piece of chalk started writing on it.

“The current situation is as follows: you’re group is one of the thousands of independent resistance cells scattered all over this sector of The Occupied Territories, namely the Maran nation. The various rebel groups have the potential to deal a great blow against the Empire, but are marred by the fact that they are not one organization, but rather a collection of bodies that have the same overall goal, but are plagued by a lack of common ground.”n.o.body said, the rest approached the wall and saw that he had written the names of the anti-Imperial organizations in a hierarchical order, with the names of their resistance group at the very bottom of the list.

“So what’s the answer?” Kalynka asked.

“This.” n.o.body replied and added another name to the pyramid, at which everyone’s jaws dropped.

“Don’t be ridiculous, all you did was write our group’s name above the others, how is that nothing more than a fantasy!” Kalynka replied incredulously at what they just saw, she along with Ahmaianos were the most supportive of this stranger, but this was too much even for them!

“Then we will just have to make it a reality.” n.o.body replied unfazed.

“How can you say it like it’s that easy?”Ahmaianos asked, astounded at the apparent lunacy he was witnessing.

Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, a great shadow fell upon them. They gazed towards the opened ceiling door and saw a great Imperial wars.h.i.+p flying high above them. After it pa.s.sed the sun came back, but that was a temporary situation, as another s.h.i.+ps pa.s.sed above them, once more blocking the sun, and then another and another, until the sky above the city was filled with Imperial wars.h.i.+ps.

“That’s reality! And you say that we who are barely half a drambaball team, can somehow unite countless rebel cells and fight against a galactic superpower! Just who the h.e.l.l do you think you are!?” Tubarin angrily shouted and pointed an accusing finger at him.

n.o.body merely turned his gaze towards Tubarin, Ahmaianos and the rest of the group and although his mouth was covered, the rebels could swear that a smirk was lying beneath that mask.

“I’m n.o.body.” he replied “And this is how I’m going to do it!” he said and threw a parcel at Tubarin.

Tubarin caught it and upon opening it, he saw what would be the means with which they give the first great blow to an enemy that outnumbered them by millions and billions.

It was soap on a rope.