Wisdom's Son

If the Experimenters know, then the glitch is closed.

An ancient man trudged the narrow road, muttering to himself. The journey was pointless at best, foolish at worst. Still, Orian walked. The sun warmed his back, making the sloping descent pleasant. As it rose high over the flat horizon, he saw the familiar shape of a black orb in the distance. The dark metal sphere marred the deserted land, and- for the first time since he left at sun’s rising- Orian hesitated.  The darkness he’d lived in for so long- that he alone escaped as a young man- would consume him once more.

Unless I overcome it.

The thought was enough to make him take a few steps back. But there were people living in the orb- still breathing, eating, sleeping, and dying- in darkness. He had found what the Experimenters hid, what they in their schemes neglected: an exit. He walked back toward the sphere, one step, then another, his long, twisted stick assisting his aged frame through the rough patches.

Half a day’s journey later, he reached the desert’s center, where the eerie hum of the orb intensified. The dust covered his feet and a foreboding windstorm threatened the horizon. He must find the glitch fast. He located the section from memory and sure enough the buzzing orb held interference in a small, nearly imperceptible section low to the ground. They’d never found it. It blinked on-off, on-on-off, on-off, off-off… now. He slipped into the darkness.

***

With no sense of direction, Orian used the stick to feel his way through the blackness. Noises of the city rose around him. The staccato clicking, tapping, and sliding of many sticks sounded in a percussive symphony, as people felt their way through the walkways. He heard the haggling at the marketplace; the occasional spills, the bumps and groans. He followed the main path he knew well, past his old residence and toward the town’s center, never losing count.

Seven hundred steps. It was time. Orian closed his eyes, willing courage for the task. Then he felt into the folds of his long, thin cloak for the timber sticks. He gathered the flintstones he brought from his mountain dwelling. Quietly he worked, rubbing the smooth stones against each other and a spark appeared and flew to the ground. Then another and another until he managed to have a tiny flame burning on the timber.

A gasp sounded nearby. He placed a few more sticks on the ground and fed the flame. A crowd gathered around him, and the flames grew larger. The fire lit the faces of the crowd, and many closed their eyes moaning.
“Stop him, he’s destroying the city.” One cried.
“It hurts... I don’t like it!” Moaned another. Voices of fury and amazement, outrage and wonder, rose in conflict like the flame. Orian said nothing, feeding the flame.
“Who are you?” The man’s eyes were shut tight.

Orian added more timber.
“What do you think you're doing? What is this?”
He looked into the face of another closed-eye man. “This is light.” He looked around. “I found a way to escape this city. I can show you where the light comes from.” He added more timber to the fire.
“Don’t believe him. This is evil, there’s something wrong….”
“There’s no such thing as light, you fool.”
“I had always hoped…” Another voice whispered, quiet, but near enough that Orian heard him.
“Come with me.” He spoke to the timid-faced boy; the only in the crowd whose eyes squinted open at the flame.
“I want to…” He whispered. “Who are you?”
“Call me Wisdom.”

***

The crowd grew angry. Hard objects hurled at the man’s hunched form. A large brick landed on the  flames, which smoldered and still burned. Orian knew it was time. They did not want to see, they did not want to know a reality beyond their own pitiful darkness. He turned to leave, the boy close behind him. He counted the steps quietly, and the boy followed at the same pace. At the end of the square- just past the marketplace- he stopped.
“Boy, you must go on from here alone.”
“Why aren’t you coming?”
“The Experimenters are looking for me.” And I can’t risk them finding the glitch. Not now. He could hear the staccato clicks of several enforcers marching with sticks through town’s center. “Go quickly to the north side. Count two hundred paces from here. There’s a glitch in the orb. When you see the brightness blink on-on, step through.” The stomping-clicking-chiming neared them.
“What will they do to you?” His voice sounded small.
“Don’t worry about them. Go to the east mountain. You’ll find a small village with others from another town. Tell them you’re from Blind City… tell them you’re Wisdom’s son.”
“I should just stay here…”
“It will be difficult, it will hurt in some ways, but trust me, it’s worth all the trouble. I saw the longing in your eyes, the longing for light. Think of it- why do you have eyes if there’s nothing to see? You must come back here when you are old, as I did, to show another the way.”
He sensed the boy trembling in the darkness.

“I’ll go.” He heard the boy’s stick move quickly toward the north side, a small voice counting each step.
Yes, go. Live the life I lived; enjoy sun’s rising and warm fires at dusk.
“Come with me, light-bearer.” A stern voice spoke behind him.
“Where are we going, Experimenter?”
“Trial. It is not permitted to bring light into the city. You’ve created an outrage and will be executed for treason.”
Orian smiled in the darkness. He would not bring this knowledge to the grave. Wisdom’s son will succeed; others will leave. He laughed softly.
“You find that funny?”
“I’ve won, Experimenter. I will die knowing the brilliance of the sky and the flicker of a flame. This game; this foolish, foolish quest of yours will not last. You cannot maintain the orb forever.”
“Darkness is safe, and we strive to maintain it for the good of the city…”
Orian spat on the ground. “I know your chant by heart- don’t quote to me, light-stealer. You used our native ancestors for your cruel test…”
The man pushed him forward, and Orian stumbled to the ground. Several others groped for him, and hoisting him up, they carried him through the blackness. He closed his eyes, remembering the light. Remembering the sun. And smiled as he pictured the boy now seeing it for the first time. Not a foolish quest after all.