Chapter 84: A New Light

Dean was sitting on the sofa in his living room. There was a glass of beer in his hands, and a song playing throughout the surround sound stereo system.

The reverberations of the instrumentals, and the accompanying vocals were harsh and aggressive to others. But nothing but soothing to Dean after a long day’s work.

As the Archon, Dean operated the space of sovereign and general. In the morning he oversaw city-planning efforts, negotiated a peace between citizens with disputes, and engaged in any other administrative and legal disputes that arrived.

For the time being the law was primitively simple in Elysium. Murder, theft, assault/battery, and any other form of violence against another citizen or their possessions was a one-way ticket to the River Styx.

That was it… They didn’t have a centralized currency, a banking system, or a formal legal code. If you were disruptive to the survival of the community, you were as good as dead.

And for the time being it worked, no matter how brutal the enforcement may need to be, people feared the cold, the chaos of the outside world, and the barrel of Dean and his rifles more than they desired to mistreat one another.

So long as their bellies were filled with rations and their shelter was heated, few complained.

And when Dean wasn’t playing judge and executive. He was training the militia and instilling the discipline and mythos needed to defend what they currently possessed.

By the time the day’s work came to an end, he was cold, tired, hungry and filthy. Which he dealt with by bathing, eating, and relaxing in his hot tub.

Sometimes, like today’s he gave himself a bit of leisurely escape. Listening to music, watching a movie, or playing an old video game.

When he did, he usually had a drink in his hand, which he currently sipped from. All the while Katherine entered the room. Dressed in something loose and comfortable.

She too was exhausted after her own work for the day. Even though the workload had been slightly lessened with her nurses joining her. It was still a miracle that she looked after a couple hundred people and ensured they were healthy and fit.

Katherine and Dean shared a tradition on days like today. They would pour themselves a measured amount of alcohol and gripe about their day’s work.

She sat down so comfortably next to Dean, and didn’t even notice she was practically invading his space.

Nor did he, they both listened to the song. Katherine nodding her head along to the lyrics, and the intensive beat.

“Ephemeral Nightmare – Reaper’s Embrace… You have good taste, a bit esoteric. But they did always command a sizeable cult following. It’s a shame they disbanded after only three albums.”

Dean looked over with a smug grin on his face. Shaking his head in disbelief at the woman’s words. He chuckled softly in a way that only proved to provoke Katherine.

“Talk about a generational gap… These guys debuted their first album when I was a freshman in college.”

Katherine flicked Dean’s ear, sipping her drink as she turned her gaze away from him.

“What do you know… They were heavily experimental in the metal scene, and came out long after that low-brow garbage they call hip hop began to dominate the charts, but their songs were largely inspired by the sound I grew up with. Of course I listened to them.”

He paused for a second, as if reflecting on a life lived long ago. And yet somehow feeling like just yesterday.

“…The band name alone, and their first album being of the same name was enough to catch my interest.”

Dean couldn’t stop himself from smiling, he continued to drink his beer in order to hide the look that he could tell would only serve to further anger Katherine. But even so, he couldn’t help but poke at her.

“Oh yeah? I bet you had a crush on the lead singer? Or maybe the drummer? Despite them being close to a decade younger than you when they first debuted.”

It was Katherine’ s turn to smirk. Largely born from ignorance, she clicked her tongue thrive and shook her head. Wagging a finger in Dean’s face as she lectured him as if he were some uncultured peasant.

“Please… Do I look so simple to you? I’m not going to say that I had a crush on any of the band members, as I’m the kind of person to fall head over heels for someone I’ve never met. But I wouldn’t be lying if I said that I didn’t feel some degree of… affinity for the guitarist. He was, after all the one who wrote the songs….”

Dean choked on his beer when Katherine said this, coughing up a storm as she helped him sit in just the right position to get it all out. All while complaining about his reaction.

“For God’s sake, Dean.. If I had known you would have such an adverse reaction to my favorite band member, I would have kept my mouth shut…”

Dean continued to cough for a few seconds as he recovered from the impact he had suddenly received. He then looked Katherine in the eyes and asked her something she wasn’t expecting.

“Are you serious? Or are you deliberately fucking with me?”

Katherine’s reaction was genuine, and that told Dean all he needed to know.

“Why are you so bent out of shape over this? You’re listening to their music aren’t you? Or are you one of those casual fans that thought the singer wrote everything because the had that brooding look that matched the lyrics?”

Dean shook his head in disbelief and sighed, relaxing back in his seat before dropping the bombshell on Katherine.

“Katherine… I was the guitarist…. This was my band when I was in college… It’s why we didn’t tour and our concerts were local, because I had my duties in the guard one weekend every month that I couldn’t go AWOL on.”

Katherine stared at Dean in disbelief before breaking out into laughter.

“Good one… You almost got me for a second there… There’s no way you’re…”

She cut off mid-sentence as Dean shifted his hand in a way that cut off half of his face, mirroring the fringe bangs he used to have in college.

And when she saw his appearance, she instantly knew he was speaking the truth.

“Holy shit…”

Dean chuckled and commented on the whole affair with a wistful tone in his voice.

“Yeah… I honestly thought you knew and were fucking with me. But hey, who would have thought that you’d be a fan of the band me and the boys formed in college to help pay our tuition and afford some beer money. Honestly, we didn’t make much, we weren’t exactly popular. But hey, what we did make helped me setup my economic future, which in turn helped me pay for all of this. So I’d say it was worth it….”

Katherine sat there in disbelief, looking at Dean in a new light even if she didn’t realize it yet.

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