The King pounded his somewhat large fist down on the side of his throne, his double chin shook slightly as the shockwave passed up his well insulated body. The man giving the report cowered, as he should. "You're telling me, that these... peasants managed to kill a Lord? A Lord of my realm?""Yes, My Liege.""Have all impregnation moved to within the gates of the castle. No Lord is to venture out without adequate protection.""At once sir.""Do we know who killed him?" Naturally the man was skeptical to say no, to do so when the King was in such a mood could resort in anything from a little bit of physical abuse to an execution. It wasn't at all predictable however to annoy the King now was surely not a good idea. "From what we have managed to gather from the scene and from what happened it appears to have been her brother-" He was making it up, everyone knew it. There was no actual evidence however her brother had disappeared and the only one who they knew for a fact had a connection with the woman. It at least gave them someone to place a Death warrant on. "-A warrant has been issued for his execution.""No.""No, My Lord?""

The King stood up and moved forward. "I want in brought here, right before my throne and tortured for what he did. I want him to beg for the same mercy he gave his rightful rulers and then. Then I want him publicly executed and hung from the ceiling of central." He looked out a nearby moment out at the city for a moment. "How goes the repair work on the Cathedral?" The aide who had been talking was promptly ushered away and a new one took his place. "Slowly, the ghouls are working as fast as they can and many have literally fallen apart my Liege. However we continue to press on, we should have all the rubble nearby removed so we can get in in about a month.""Unacceptable, our Father in heaven demands that we do this faster. However, the abominations that are the Ghouls obviously displease our Lord in working to save such a precious building." He paused as he moved back into his seat. "Have all men who are deemed to have possible rebellious tendencies, particularly those who work in heavy labor or have loved ones nearing the age of impregnation. ""Yes my liege" He waved the man away, without so much as that is all.

Peasants killing Lords, what on Earth would happen next? A full scale rebellion?

---

Half an hour later

An announcement had been declared for evening prayer. That could only mean something bad. Sam grumbled as he trudged through the slime that inhabited the lowest level off Dogsville, it was the reason why all the markets had been moved up to the next level onto platforms because it wasn't the cleanest place to have food down here, not that it had ever been clean since he had been here. Without growth they were at least five years away from completing the plumbing on all the current shacks however with the rate of growth it would never be finished and so the lower levels would forever be subject to walking through the filth of those above them. It was all very symbolic in his opinion, on how he had to deal with the shit given to him from the monarchy. I mean they had what, over a thousand people crammed in this building and the Kings priority was rebuilding a church. To be honest he didn't care unless they started putting housing up in the Church which they wouldn't of course. It was all a load of bullocks.

Now of course there was the odd building outside the civilization areas however the main problem with that was the illegality of going there, either try and sneak past guards or take your chances on the underground and neither sounded very healthy, hell for the Resistance he very rarely allowed use of the Underground tunnels as it was just too risky with all the spider things down there. Though things were slowly picking up speed, as long as it all didn't go to shit with that hothead slicing that Lords throat. IT would have been so much better if he had contacted the Resistance before and not after. They could have made it look like an accident or a resistance attack and not have the man targeted. It was all screwed to hell and back and he didn't have time for any off it. The city was just a giant sinkhole and if they managed to overthrow the King his plans were to just get everyone to leave, building new buildings is easier than repairing old ones.

As if to stress his point he walked through a patch of rain that had managed to fall down the several levels of doggsville from a hole in the roof, at least he hoped it was rain however it was that dark he couldn't see. The only real time you could see at the bottom was midday. He turned off into a tavern, assaulted by the smoke that filled the room navigating more by instinct in the fog than by sight as he moved into the back and took his usual seat and waited for his beer to turn up. Looking at the few others gathered around him. He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, he had rolled it earlier, before striking a match and lighting it. "So, whats the status on our little project?""It's slow going trying to keep its staff to a bear minimum. We've been managing to tweak medical documents with a little help. People have been slowly going missing, not enough to raise suspicion just a little more than usual. We're putting it down as illness due to winter coming in. It usually picks up this time of year anyway.""How many people do we have working on the project?""Fifty.""Fifty? Bloody hell that's almost half the movement.""I know, but it's going to talk all of us. Once we're done we can get to arming ourselves and get into the fight."

Sam tipped ash from his cigarette onto the mud encrusted floor. "We need this base of operations up, we can't do jack shit from inside Doggsville without putting everyone at risk, it is hard enough gathering support with all these restoration projects the King has going. The Cathedral, Museum, Imperial College. He's expanding, fast. Not to mention the broadcast is still drawing more and more people in. Some of them are even buying his crap. We need to get going, Museum should be finished in a couple of weeks and from what I hear they're stripping all the exhibits out to the Palace and turning it into another domestic hub. If we don't hurry they'll move half of us there and then it'll be harder to co-ordinates.""We know, it just takes time."

"I'm worried that we don't have it."

It was always a rare occasion when Annabelle performed in Doggsvile. She'd often be called away to perform in quite a few locations over the course of a few days and needless to say it would take a toll on the young women who sat at the back of the shoddily built stage. She had attended a lords dinner party recently, performing a melody requested specifically by him which she was given a matter of days to learn. It was exhausting, especially when you were also having to keep up with your secondary job as a doctor. Annabelle let out a soft sigh at that thought, wondering how mum was doing back at the clinic. No doubt she was working late tonight. One of the scaffolds for the cathedral had fallen, injuring quite a few workers and killing a few others. It was always harder when things like that happened as it meant more patients to deal with in a short space of time before the guards would come knocking demanding they return to work.

"Annabelle?" called a mans voice expectantly as he peered through the doorway to the room she sat in, just off from the stage in the tavern. She looked up, snapping out of her thoughts, "Hmm? oh, sorry" she replied before the older man walked in, giving a soft concerned smile. "What's wrong?" he asked in a concerned tone. Annabelle just shook her head, "Nothing Franklin, just... got allot on my mind is all" she replied in her usual soft tone. Franklin nodded and offered a comforting smile, "Don't we all darling" he said before taking in a deep breath and looking to the door, "Anyway, you're on in five minutes. I err... I might have to give you less then the usual rate this time. We're running a bit low here at the moment" he said, scratching the back of his graying hair. Annabelle hid her disappointment, knowing all too well the troubles he went through just to keep the place alive. "That's ok Frank, I understand" she replied, the older man touching her shoulder comfortingly for a moment before heading for the door.

A few minutes latter she was on the stage, a place she'd been forced to like over the course of the last few months. At first it had been terrifying, having not the nerves to stand up in front of an audience. But the nerves no longer existed now. Instead replaced with emotion which she could carry into her voice. She sat at an old piano, it's wood stained, marked and scratched with the wood peeling from age. The wires had been changed but the keys were the originals, known only because they now took on a dark yellow where they had once been white. She took a seat on an old stool and tried one of the keys, pressing her foot on the pedal to check they were functional. Annabelle couldn't play much on the instrument. But she'd been learning so that she could back her voice with something other than silence. She took a calming breath, exhaling deeply before she pressed her fingers over the keys, beginning her song as she sang about one of the few things the King couldn't take away from them, love.

2 years earlier

“Get yourself positioned, there you go,” spoke Adrian as he hastily tries to get his sister on top of the trained humpback. They were down in the London underground, using one of the smugglers routes out of the city. It was dark, damp and reeked of a forgotten past. This station was once a public place used by the thousands per day but now it’s a forgotten maze of tunnels that can guide you to freedom or take you deep down the rabbit’s hole. There are so many tunnels in the underground that not all of them are guarded. Some of the tunnels are too dangerous to travel because they either filled with deadly creatures or intoxicating radiation but the smugglers have been doing this for decades now, they know the safe routes.

Adrian started making sure the bags were on tight on the humpback. His sister looked down at him from on top of it. Her eyes started crying with a look of both worry and sorrow.
“Why are you staying!? They’ll find you and they’ll torture you! Please come with me!” she begged Adrian. He simply took her hand and placed a small pendent in her hand. It gleamed its sliver as the light it the metal and it had a small ruby on the end of it. It was a charming item.
“This belonged to our mother before she passed away. You were too young to remember but she wore this all the time. It will bring you good luck wherever you go. When everything is dark, this will guide through it,” he then closes her fist with the pendent in it. “I need to stay and fight. I want a future for the next generation to be proud of. A future with out oppression and misery. I started a fight with the monarch and I will not run away,” His sister didn’t even speak but she did understand. She gave a nod towards her brother to acknowledge his decision.

He then goes to his friend Marco, the smuggler taking his sister out of London; they have been friends for years. He had a very tense look on his face, as if he had seen a horror too great to describe.
“Do you have an idea what you had done? They will not stop to find you, you’re lucky they don’t know your name but the kings guard are not idiots, they will slaughter everyone in London just to find you.” Adrian seemed unmoved by this comment. He just handed Marco a medium sized bag of jewelry and trinkets; to trade in the wasteland. “This will be more than enough to get her out here,” he then shakes Marcos hand. It was a shake of respect and friendship. “I know that I am a wanted man but I need to stop this madness. That lord was just the beginning,”

Marco gave a nod at him. “I hope to see you again one day friend,” he then grabs the rein of the humpback and starts walking through the tunnel. Adrian watches from a distance as his sister descends down the dark tunnel to the exit out of the city. His sister will be safe from the madness. With his sister in safe custody, he now needs to find the resistance and help them with taking down the monarchy. Revolution was coming.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Present day

Adrian woke up from his seat as he drifted off for a few minutes. He was at a bar in the slums of the city, pounding away a glass of shitey old scotch. He was remembering the day he last saw his sister. The day he decided to take down the monarchy. The bar was aloud with drunken men who try to drown their sorrow and suffering with a large bottle of whiskey. If you wanted to see a city at one of its worst times, go to one of these bars. They are filled with beggars and whores, anyone who are trying to earn themselves a scrap of meat at the end of the day. It was depressing and sad. There were even children in here, it was ridiculous.

His anger could not be controlled, a vein was popping from his bald, shaved head and his fist tensed up with sound of begging and drunken voices slurring through his ears. The things he could do to the monarchy could sicken even them. He’ll make them suffer for oppressing the people. His train of thought was derailed by an inquiry of the bartender. “Ya done with that?” he pointed towards the half empty bottle of scotch. Adrian gave a shake of his head to him. He proceeded to take it away but at this moment Adrian noticed something. His knife was in his hand, it what he was clenching when he was thinking about killing the king. He didn’t realize that he had carved something into the wood of the bar itself. He read the word written and it made him grin a dastardly smile. H stabbed the knife into the woodwork right beside the word and walked out of the bar. He was heading towards the base of the rebels; his time of sorrow about his sister was over now it was the time for strategy and action. In the bar, at his seat, was one simple word. It was a word that’ll change history for ever.

‘Revolution’