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Chapter Five

Seventeen years previous...

He looked out of the car window, watching the traffic glide by as they passed the huge towers in the Upper City of Crystal Lake.

Space was at a premium on this island city so all the privileged residents lived in the huge hundred floor tower blocks that jutted up from the foundations far below as the freeways and artificial streets, built on a "plate" separating the Upper and Lower city, continued to support the traffic and the middle class residents.

Originally, Crystal Lake had been one city at ground level but over the hundreds of years, engineers had been brought in to build an artificial plate high above the Lower City, supported by four massive colemns that protruded from the exterior of the plate, down into the abyssal depths of Lake Crystal.

Only the most expensive and exclusive residents could afford to live in the highest blocks of the many different skyscrapers that protruded high into the sky, with the most expensive properties being rich and exclusive manors built at the top of each skyscraper.

"Master Everson..?" asked a rather parched, old Cervijord, a deer-like species with long white hair that had once been a brilliant shade of blonde, possibly decades earlier.

The Cervijord originated from one of the most northern countries on Terra, which some of the coldest climates on the planet. Many had emigrated to different countries and were seen doing many different jobs all over more temperate areas such as Vulnira.

A twelve year old Janus Everson looked away from the window where he had been watching over all the hustle and bustle of the streets outside, with the many different cafes and boutiques. He faced the old doe, looking at her brilliant white fur which she had assured him before that she had been born with.

She was wearing a long back dress and a hate with a long veil that made her face more difficult to see, a very conservative dress which was strictly adhered to by all the females in Crystal Lake.

"Yes?" he asked, speaking with the beginnings of the same formal tone that would come to dominate his adult life.

The inside of the vehicle was spacious and comfortable, filled with many expensive fittings and comforts that were not afforded to less affluent people, especially those in Lower City which people in the Upper City prefered not to talk about.

"Lady Everson has requested that you be brought to the study when you come home from the Education Centre" said the doe. She looked down at a collection of files by her side and pulled one in to log Janus's location as she had been required to do by his stepmother.

Janus's biological mother had died when he was only three years old during an accident at the plant which Janus's father owned. Janus's father was one of the most respected manufacturers of satellite parts for use in Vulnira's attempt to create a holographic cellular phone system in orbit above Terra.

His mother, Celine had been commissioning the latest manufacturing plant of the time for Everson Systems when the infamous "Sarantaga Riots" happened almost nine years ago.

The Sarantaga Riots were one of the darkest chapters in the history of Crystal Lake. For over two hundred years, the rich citizens had been using the run down industrial estates of the Lower City to create huge processing plants, offering extremely low paid work and minimal safety to the residents of the Lower City.

Many residents had already died because of the toxic fumes being produced by these operations and that the local government had not installed atmospheric air purifiers in the Lower City, deeming it "too expensive" to set up and maintain.

The Sarantaga Riots changed all that...

Over five hundred manufactory workers from the small region of Sarantaga in the Lower City rose up against the local government in protest for better working conditions and sabotaged dozens of local manufacturing plants with makeshift explosives.

Celine Everson, a woman that had been extremely influential and was considering running for office as Mayor of Crystal Lake was reduced to just a name on a long list of victims of the uprising. Many more being added to the list as the local government with backing from the National Parliament decided to put down the revolt with brutal suppression.

In the end, the death toll was way over eleven thousand and it became infamous as the most violent loss of life since the formation of modern Vulnira.

The loss of his mother had greatly affected Janus's father who switched the companies focus from Cellular Technology, to Weapons Development and now Janus rarely saw him at all. His care was left to that of his stepmother, Elise.

The vehicle approached towards one of the colossal skyscrapers, boarding a huge platform which could be driven on from the road itself.

The platform then began to elevate up the side of the building, stopping every so often to let the other cars on the huge vehicular elevator off and enter the building through huge glass doors with internal roads leading into the massive glass skyscraper structures.

After about ten minutes, Janus reached the top of the colossal glass tower and his car drove off the lift and onto the driveway of an impressive, multi-story manor house. This tower was not the largest in Crystal Lake, which was the Governmental Tower with the Mayor's residence on top of it however from this tower, Janus could see the distant shoreline of the many small villages that lined the shores of the lake.

There was a large shimmering transparent force shield that held back the intense wind speeds at this altitude and provided a way to protect people from falling off the top of the tower by accident. However the gardens and the manor itself easily rivaled the most exclusive stately homes of our world.

The car came to a complete stop after driving up the driveway and onto a beautiful crafted drive, with a huge fountain at the center of the courtyard. Janus knew this fountain well as it was the same one that he had almost drowned in when he was only four years old. He was still unable to completely recall the incident, only the sensations he felt and what happened when one of the servants pulled him from the water.

"Mrs Skuld?" asked the young Master Janus with a curious tone as they began to get out of the car and breath in the beautiful clean air that the rest of the Lower City could only dream about.

Mrs Skuld paused to get out the car, she had been busy putting away her files and looked back at him through her small spectacles, a substitute for her degrading eyesight of her older age. She also made sure that her outfit was completely smooth as Lady Elise Everson disapproved of anything that was not perfection.

"Yes my dear?" she said, a kind and loving smile coming over her old and aged face. She had known and helped to raise Janus since he was a baby. In a way, she felt as close to him as any mother did and she know that Janus felt the same way.

However there was always a formality there, always a "Mrs Skuld", she longed to be something different. Regretting the fact that she had chosen this life and never decided to have children of her own.

"What did Elise want to see me about?" asked Janus inquisitively.

"You mean "mother", do you not, Master Everson?" asked Mrs Skuld, who was struggling to get all the way out of the deep leather seats inside the car as Janus very chivalrously gave her some help.

"She.. is not my... mother..." grunted Janus as he attempted to pull the slightly overweight doe from her chair and help her out of the car.

"I would not let her hear that if I were you..." cautioned Mrs Skuld with a serious expression. "She does care about your greatly."

Rather than argue, Janus decided to remain silent, finishing helping Mrs Skuld out of the car who really should have been retired by now as the driver of the car also came to assist them and brought the old lady her walking stick.

He knew different.

"Go to the study, Master Everson" replied Mrs Skuld who was already out of breath just from that one little task, struggling to recapture it as she spoke. She had severed this household for a long time and by extension, it had given her a very privileged lifestyle as confident and, what Janus believed could have been a possible lover to his father. "I shall be fine."

Janus nodded and walked up the steps into the lavishly decorated great hall, taking the first door on the left and proceeding down the hallway, his tail twitching nervously.

He was absolute dreading this...

His school bag slung over his shoulder, he approached the large oak doors of the study and wrapped on it with his knuckles.

After a few seconds, he heard a soft and sweet call to "come inside, sweetheart.".

This made him especially weary.

"My sweet little pudding..!"

A female fox with long red velvet hair sprung to him wearing an elegant purple dress. He had distinctive red fur with the occasional white fur markings that travelled up the side of her body.

She rushed up and pulled Janus into an intimate hug. Something that he had always hated about her. Elise was always so tactile with him, even when he had not asked for it.

"How was today?" she asked, looking down at him with her large, dark red eyes, large and alluring and something that his father had found irresistible. "Did you have a good day?"

"Fine" replied Janus, looking down at the floor and trying to make direct eye contact with her stepmother as beams of sunlight illuminated the room through the large bay windows at the back of the study.

There was an awkward silence as Elise released him and returned to her desk, surrounded by the books and the large marble fireplace that adorned the walls of the study.

Janus did not move, he just stood there, looking down at the floor, hoping that he would be allowed to go up to his room in short order.

There was no such luck today.

"Come... Come!" gestured Elise to a leather chair beside her, pouring herself a cup of tea from the boiling teapot on her the desk, which was strewn with papers labelled "Everson Systems" on them. Janus's father had allowed Elise to take an active role in the management of the family business as a consulting director, which meant that she had direct access to all the buisness accounts.

Janus felt that he should comply and walked over to the leather chair, dropping his bad by the side of it and slumping down into it as Elise, as glamorous as she was dressed up, slumped down in the chair next to him.

Elise was an enigma to Janus. He had absolutely no idea where she had come from or where his father had met her. He barely saw his father as he was regularly off around the world to various corporate events. He just woke up one morning a few years ago and she was there, moving her belongings into their house, something which Janus had absolutely no say over.

She ran her fingers through her long scarlet hair, now a bit worn and past its prime but still kept in perfect condition with the amount of hair products that she used in it every day. "So... do you like my dress?"

Janus grimaced a little internally. How did he know that the first thing that came out of her mouth was going to be about her?

"It's nice..." he said, almost immediately, trying not to look directly at her. It was if he had been a robot and was preprogrammed to give these kinds of responses, without emotion, or feeling.

"Nice..." replied Elise with somewhat of a sound of frustration in her voice as she trailed her spoon around the cup of tea that she had just put sugar in. Tipping it forward slightly but deliberately, the boiling contents spilling only slightly on Janus's exposed leg.

Janus winced in pain while Elise looked at him. For a second, her loving and sweet facade replaced with a cold and psychopathic glare, deriving some measure of satisfaction for his insolent insult.

"Oh my!" she said immediately, returning to her sweet side almost immediately after. "I am sorry Janus, my hand must have slipped."

"It's alright..." replied Janus, almost on command while using a cloth from the desk to clean the boiling hot tea from his trousers.

He had lived with Elise since he was three years old and she was always doing this to him. She used to play "games" with him where she would pinch him and ask him to pinch her back. But over the years, her treatment of him had become even worse, she would continually burn him with the back of hot spoons from her tea or knock books onto him on purpose while she was sorting out the collection in the library.

Janus knew that she was a monster, but he was powerless to do anything about and deeply confused from her behavior. It had led him to become a very quiet and insular child, especially when she would watch him with the servants to make sure that he was not going to say anything about her treatment.

She would pretend that this was all a game...

But it was not a game to him. This was his life.

"I... " responded Janus, the tears welling up in his young eyes.

"Ah!" said Elise, stopping him mid sentence. "What did we say about crying?" she said, as she casually sipped her tea.

"Crying is for girls?" responded Janus, still trying to hold back the tears.

"Are you a girl?" asked Elise, looking rather unconcerned as she sipped her tea.

"No..."

"Then don't cry... Or I'll have to make you dress up in little pink ribbons and march you round the house again. I doubt you want to go to school like that." she said, without showing any sort of emotion on her face, although through that mask, Janus could see a slight glint of sadness in her eyes.

Her own pain... buried deeply and quietly.

"Go upstairs and do your homework muffin" she said, looking over at him.

Janus immediately got up, he had finally been given the excuse he wanted to leave the room. He reached for his bag, his tail high up behind him, indicating his nervousness.

"Wait... " said Elise, looking over at him from the chair.

Janus looked over him. What did she want now?

"I have heard from Mrs Skuld that you have been refusing to call me mother." she said, a flash of anger in his eyes that instantly made him fearful. "If I ever hear that again, I shall come into your room at night and cut you up into tiny pieces so that your father will never find you. Not that he cares about you that much."

The evil comments filled Janus with sadness but he knew better then to react to such words.

"I'm sorry... mother" he said, almost automatically.

"Oh I'm sure you didn't mean it sweety" Elise beamed a smile at him and the sunlight had returned to fill the room, for now. "I love you."

"I love you too... mother"

"Now go, dinner will be served soon..."

Janus rushed out the room as fast as he could. Elise took a perverse pleasure in reminding him that his real mother was dead and she was all he had now. He could not cry.

He would not cry.