by Ali House
When the summer arrived, Kendra headed to Cambria to take their summer defence course. After the Second Invasion, once Tecken was properly under the ISS’s control, the Council assured everyone that there would be no more conflicts in the Segment. This meant that the Cambrian Forces, which had increased drastically ever since the First Invasion, had to trim down and widen their range. They still had a small contingent of soldiers, but now they offered training to the public, allowing anyone to sign up for classes on how to protect themselves and use their element.
Learning self-defence hadn’t occurred to her until it had been suggested by Pitor. He was worried that once her true parentage was revealed, she’d become a target, and he wanted her to have some kind of knowledge of how to defend herself. It was a smart decision – especially considering that her next stop was Briton University. Living on Stanton had been difficult because it brought up a lot of memories and feelings, but living on Briton would mean being surrounded by Humanists.
The Church of Humanity was the lynch pin for her plan, as it had been back when Magnus Erikson the First realized that the Council of Twelve wasn’t looking out for anyone’s well-being but their own. The Council had managed to stop wars, but they had no idea how to stop hatred. Under their peace-loving eyes, the Church had been allowed to grow and spread their teachings, and now they were too large to stop. Everything Kendra knew about them was second-hand information, but none of it was good. As much as she’d prefer not to spend eight months on Briton, she needed to do this.
Dying her hair to a more Humanist colour was a small change, but it was important. Her hair would be her costume – helping her get into character. Every time she looked in the mirror, she’d see the strands of black hair and remember her purpose.
The decision to do this had seemed like a no-brainer, but in fact she’d had numerous discussions with Pitor about it. Kendra could tell that he wanted her to dye her hair, and she was more than ready to agree, but before he accepted her decision, he pushed her to justify why it would be best. Although it would be beneficial to keep her natural hair colour and experience the hatred of the Humanists first hand, she knew that she’d learn more about how they operated if they thought she was one of them. The idea of pretending to be a Humanist was sickening, but she needed to know what they were truly like. If she had personal knowledge of how they operated, then it would be easier to stop them.
She’d be walking a fine line while on Briton – pretending to be on the Humanists’ side enough to get them to show their true colours around her, while not actually causing harm or distress to any Elementals. It would be difficult, but it had to be done.
Δ
When Kendra first arrived on Briton she noticed that the island seemed like every other, with the same green parks, the same blue sky, and the same ISS building standing tall in the centre of the island. There were differences, but they were subtle. The people who walked the street mostly had hair colours approved by Humanists – dark yellow, brown, black, and grey. She could walk for minutes without seeing a single ‘un-natural’ hair colour. Most of the clothing was also subdued, with very few people wearing bright tones.
After the Second Invasion, the Centre finally turned its eye toward the hatred and discrimination happening on Briton, stationing people on the island to ensure that peace was being maintained. Around that time, the Humanists started keeping a low profile, and stories about their wrongdoings halted. In the years since, the pressure on Humanists had lessened, but reports from the ISS stated that all was still well. The reports were so positive that Kendra had wondered if she’d arrive on Briton to find no proof to help her cause.
However, the truth of the situation was all around her. All anyone had to do was open their eyes and see for themselves.
Chapter 11
Her roommate was already unpacking when Kendra arrived at the dorm. She gave Kendra a bright smile, and went straight over to her, extending her hand.
“Hi, I’m Sara Johnson,” she said. “I guess we’re going to be roommate this year.”
“Kendra Chen,” she replied, shaking Sara’s hand. It was obvious that Sara was a Humanist, from her brown hair and green eyes right down to her Biblically-Humanist name.
“Is this your first year?” Sara asked.
“It’s my fourth, actually. You?”
“It’s my third. I spent the first two years living at home, but then I figured that I should get the whole ‘being independent’ experience at some point,” she smiled.
She was nice, and Kendra wondered if she was a Humanist because of her parents or if she was a true believer.
“That’s why I decided to travel to different universities,” Kendra said, returning the smile. “Might as well see the rest of the Segment before I settle down.”
“So, if this is your fourth year, you must be turning twenty-one soon…”
The question was meant to be harmless, but Kendra recognized the meaning behind it.
She nodded, keeping the smile on her face. “I turned twenty last month,” she lied, “so there’s still plenty of time for me to figure it out.”
The statement was deliberately left open to interpretation, and her roommate took the bait.
“Not sure if you want to Accept?” she asked compassionately.
Kendra shrugged. “Honestly, the whole thing is a lot more complicated than everyone thinks. I mean, lots of people assume that we’re supposed to Accept, but if that were the case, it wouldn’t be a choice, right?”
Sara nodded. “Is that why you decided to study here? To get away from all that ‘We’re Elementals so we have to Accept’ propaganda?”
“Well, I just wanted to make sure that I understood all of my options. I mean, people say that it’s what we’re supposed to do, but if the Six-Elemental hadn’t Accepted her powers, then the Second Invasion wouldn’t have happened, and all those people wouldn’t have died. Right?”
Sara paused to think, and Kendra wondered if she had laid it on too thick. Thankfully, Sara said the exact thing she’d been hoping to hear.
“Have you ever been to the Church of Humanity?”
Δ
The Church had services every day, but Sara informed her that the weekends were the best time to attend, especially for busy students. She used to attend the church near her parent’s home, but now that she was living on campus, the location on 8th Avenue was closer. One of the advantages of the Church of Humanity was that it seemed to have locations on every block.
“I have a present for you!” Sara said, holding out a book. It was Saturday, the day before Kendra’s first service.
Kendra took the book, noticing that it was a copy of the Humanist Bible. It was worn and well-used, obviously second-hand. Some of the page corners had been turned down, and the spine was cracked in a few places.
“It’s an old copy of mine,” Sara explained. “My parents gave me a new one when I decided to move out, and I’d like you to have this one. I hope you don’t mind that it’s used.”
“Not at all. Thank you,” Kendra said. “I really appreciate it.”
It wasn’t a lie. Having Sara’s old bible would be a good insight into her mind and the minds of other Humanists. Before going to Briton, Pitor had Kendra read an old bible from Archaic Earth, before the Last World War, when Humans still existed and the Earth was filled with giant land masses called Continents. There weren’t many copies of that book still intact, but Pitor had a habit of collecting rare publications. It had been much larger than the book she held right now, and she couldn’t wait to see what had been left out and, more importantly, what had been left in.
That Sunday morning, as they walked up to the church, Kendra steadied her nerves and tried to act relaxed. She had no idea what to expect and was surprised by how friendly and welcoming the people were. Many of them smiled at her and greeted her kindly. She wondered if it was because she was new and they desperately wanted her to join them, or if they were genuinely nice. It was probably the
first one. Kendra doubted that they would have been this kind if she’d shown up with her natural dark purple hair.
The building the service was in had probably started out small and modest, but over time there had been additions made and adornments added. The new clashed with the old, with bright shiny crosses hanging on faded wallpaper, and polished wooden pews standing on a worn floor. Kendra wondered if there was some symbolic reason for it, like if they were honouring the old while celebrating the new, or if they simply didn’t care about some things as much as others.
She followed Sara into one of the pews, her roommate smiling brightly with anticipation, and as they sat down, Kendra prepared herself for what was to come.
After the service was over, she was almost disappointed. The sermons seemed harmless, with the preacher reading passages from the Humanist Bible instead of spouting vitriol about Elementals. There were parables and teachings, but no fire or brimstone. She had expected more from them.
It was only after a few more services that Kendra began to pick up on the subtleties. The preacher only ever used the word ‘Human’ and never ‘Elemental’. There were sermons about how God should be the only all-powerful being in the world, worshipping other Gods was evil, temptation existed for us to prove our strength, and we should always strive to humble ourselves in God’s eyes. There was never anything directly said about the evils of Accepting or having an element, but it always seemed to be implied. Kendra wondered if they had secret sermons for the true believers, where the gloves came off and they were allowed to share their true feelings.
Those messages were spread throughout the Humanist Bible. Although she couldn’t remember everything that had been in the Archaic Earth bible, Kendra had a feeling that many of the stories had been modified to suit the Humanists’ agenda. Stories that were originally about rich versus poor had been changed to powerful versus weak, and parables about being a good servant always involved saying no to any kind of power that might be offered to you. She also doubted that the original bible had used the word ‘deny’ so many times, as it had not been such a significant word before Elementals existed.
Many of the pages that Sara had marked involved stories about being kind and honest, but there were also numerous passages about denying. It might have been her subtle way of convincing Kendra to Deny, or perhaps she had been trying to convince herself that this was the best way. Sara wasn’t as zealous as other church-goers, which made Kendra wonder again if she was a Humanist because it was something she truly believed in or if someone else had convinced her that this was the only way. Life on this island couldn’t be easy for non-believers.
The more time Kendra spent on Briton, the more she saw how the Church’s teachings influenced even the smallest action. Anyone with a different hair or eye colour was given long, discouraging looks. In stores and restaurants they were made to wait longer or were given brisk, unpleasant service, or sometimes their every action was followed, as if the person watching suspected them of wrongdoing. Elementals were made to feel as if there was something wrong with them – as if they were outsiders. The worst part was that there wasn’t anything any of them could do about it. They couldn’t go up to the ISS and tell them that a teacher had treated them differently, because they couldn’t prove it. What the Humanists were doing wasn’t outright discrimination, but it was enough to make a person feel uncomfortable and unwanted.
Kendra could understand why many Elementals didn’t want to live here – it was much easier to move to another island where they wouldn’t have to put up with this kind of treatment. Because of this, the Elemental population on Briton decreased and the Humanist population grew. If something wasn’t done about it, within a few decades the island would be populated only by Humanists.
Δ
Sara was delighted that Kendra continued to regularly attend the church. Although Kendra maintained her indecision and never said anything definite about becoming a Humanist, she seemed to have won her roommate’s trust. In the beginning Sara used to hover a lot more, finding excuses to be in their shared room whenever Kendra was there, as if she was afraid that leaving Kendra on her own would result in her Accepting. After a couple months, though, she spent more time away, leaving Kendra to her own devices.
Once she learned how much Kendra liked to read, she recommended a few bookstores that Kendra would have to visit before the school year was over. It turned out that there were a lot of little shops hidden throughout the island, most of which didn’t have signs and didn’t look like businesses from the outside. Kendra had walked past a few of them many times, barely giving them a second look because they appeared to be normal houses. It seemed that the only way to know what they really were was to have a Humanist tell you, which meant that they had to trust you.
Despite this, the employees of these stores looked at newcomers warily. On her first visit to one of the bookstores, Kendra noticed the suspicion in the cashier’s eyes, so she greeted him with a friendly smile and mentioned that her roommate had recommended this store – being sure to use Sara’s first and last name. After that, he’d warmed up considerably. A few more visits, a few discussions about the latest church service, and he was greeting her as if she’d been shopping there forever.
These bookstores were filled with books that Kendra had never heard of and were likely only published on Briton. There were essays about the virtues of Denying elements, biographical stories about people who had found peace through joining the Church of Humanity, and many fictional stories about how Elementals were going to destroy the world. There was even a secret collection that she was allowed to borrow from but couldn’t purchase, which contained stories filled with hatred and prejudice towards anyone who Accepted.
Kendra loved to read, but most of these books were hard to get through. Although there was one topic in particular that she couldn’t completely disagree with – the dangerous nature of the Six-Elemental. It felt wrong to agree with Humanists on any matter, but at least her hatred was born of knowledge and facts. She believed that this kind of power would be helpful if it were in proper hands, while Humanists saw the failings of the current Six-Elemental as proof that power corrupted. A lot of the anti-Six-Elemental books carried underlying messages about how terrible Accepting an element was and how people couldn’t be trusted with such power. Frequently they showed how bleak the future would be once they had all bowed down to the totalitarian command of an all-powerful being. No one seemed to notice the irony of how the Humanists’ goal was to control everyone and take away any personal choices they had.
But books weren’t the only resource that the Humanists had on hand – a much subtler weapon was the island’s newspaper, the Briton Truth. The writers had the same technique as the churches – to only say ‘human’ and sound as ‘normal’ as possible. The crime reports always referred to suspects as having differently coloured hair or Elemental Tattoos. At one point, Kendra started to wonder if all these crimes were actually happening or if they were being fabricated to make Elementals look bad.
The psychology of this was tremendous. After constantly reading about crimes perpetrated by Elementals, Humanists would look at every Elemental suspiciously, and innocent Elementals would start to feel guilty by association. The police, who were mostly staffed by Humanists, would have excuses to stop anyone they liked for questioning or arrest anyone who might fit the profile.
Whenever an Elemental was attacked, there would soon be a report exonerating the attackers. These people were simply being vigilant, protecting their homes from a perceived threat. The reports would say that it was terrible that they made a mistake and attacked the wrong person, but their hearts were in the right place.
Frankly, it was astonishing how the Humanists managed to keep up their agenda while pretending to obey the new laws against hatred, but it helped that they occupied most of the positions of power on the island. There was no balance here, no objectivity, only hidden malice in everything they did. Kendra would have admired it if
it wasn’t so horrifying.
Δ
It was a warm, sunny afternoon as Kendra headed out to the bookstore. On other islands she would have admired the nice weather and beautiful scenery, but on Briton all she could see was how twisted everything was.
As she walked, she made sure to keep her eyes open. One of the reasons she preferred to shop at a bookstore that was further away from her dorm was because walking around Briton was a learning experience. Watching this island’s everyday life provided her with plenty of examples of the Humanists’ influence, so if she could help it, she walked everywhere instead of taking her Sol-car. Many times she’d watched as Humanists unconsciously sneered or glared whenever they saw someone with a non-Humanist hair colour, as if their hatred was so strong that it could not be contained.
Sure enough, barely fifteen minutes into her walk, she witnessed a group of three people accosting a young man with light purple hair. The three had surrounded him and it sounded as if they were accusing him of some kind of crime. The man was loudly proclaiming his innocence, but it was having no effect. If he tried to move away, they would block his path, shoving him and demanding that he confess. Kendra had no doubt that the man was innocent, but there was nothing she could do. As much as she wanted to go over and break up the incident, she needed to keep her head down. If she was declared an Elemental-sympathizer, all of the work she’d done up to now would be for nought.
As tough as it was to continue walking and pretend that she hadn’t seen anything, she knew that it had to be done. For now, the only thing she could do was nothing, but she vowed that someday in the future, she would do what the Council could not and stop all of this.