Chronicles of Those Metro kNights

[Wonderess]

Fabian Daigle had been doing tours of historic Knightley City for three decades now, and yet the sights and sounds of the metro never grew tiresome to him. He had been raised here, married his love here, and raised his children among the sights and sounds of the city. It gave him great pride to show his city to foreigners who came from all over to hear of the history and to experience the culture for themselves. He turned to his McMasterdonian group. They had arrived at one of Fabian's favorite parts of the tour, the estate mansion of Gerard Knightley, the man that practically built this city off of the lands of his own farmland. Countless nations had come through Knightley at one time or another to establish their own trade post and to make their profits. Immigrants from those nations brought themselves to this new, small world seeking something better for themselves, but they were not always accepted or successful. Knightley City was where they could come to escape all that and start anew. No flag defined them, no law disenfranchised them. This mansion was where that spirit, and that great experiment began. This was a world in a city, and he got to share that with these newcomers.

Spoiler: Mansion of Gerard Knightley

He stood with a smile, ready to begin his spiel.

"Knightley Orchards was a typical Kianese-McMasterdonian plantation grant of the crown that dates back to 1652 when a charter was granted to Demarcus Knightley for land spanning 600 acres. This land would be farmed on behalf of the crown so that part of the yields would be given to the Empire in exchange for the continuance of the charter. The Knightley family continued in this agreement up until 1865 when Gerard Knightley negotiated with the crown to allow the estate to become a freed micro state along with surrounding properties that now make up the city state today. Many of these plantations solicited foreign powers in order to profit, but Gerard refused this plan of action, instead favoring to provide his various crops to local settlers and residents throughout the area, preferably working and lower class families who may not be able to afford produce elsewhere. Eventually it became very clear that the arrival of these powers caused shifts in classes and great amounts of ostracizing of those who worked the farms from the previous Kianese system, new immigrants who were seeking work and a stable income, and others who seek refuge from abroad. Gerard seeing this decided to establish a town for these sorts and it would be supported by the farms and agriculture under Knightley's estate. He envisioned a community of self sufficiency. There were soon thousands of arrivals who joined the now created Union of Knightley. Over the following decades Gerard was able to acquire surrounding lands to keep up with the demand for work and crops including corn, wheat, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, and other vegetables. We stand today in the original Union, that is the beginning of Knightley City."

Spoiler: Knightley City's Original Section aka Union City

"Eventually the Union of Knightley became larger than any other settlement in the area and by 1985 the whole was unified as the City State of Knightley with the Union becoming the Principal City of Knightley. In this city, ladies and gentlemen, we will hear stories of salvation, of loss, and of millions of people dead and alive who owe a part of their stories to this majestic city. We residents have come to know ourselves that this is a place where people's dreams come alive in ways never imaginable. This is a place for people, a place that will see you, hear you, and bring you to know yourself in ways you never thought were possible. Let me be the first of many to welcome you to Knightley City, it's bound to be one of the greatest adventures of your life!"

 

[Wonderess]

Freddy had just moved to Knightley City from Callise. He was just out of college and was excited that he was hired to work at the headquarters of Dedidache Realty in downtown. It was very hard to get a position there since it was one of the leading real estate firms in the world. In fact, he had used their service to find his beautiful place in the historic Garadene neighborhood. Apparently Gerard Knightley had designated this part of his estate as the village for the bean crop workers, but today it's a historically significant landmark neighborhood with stately streets and nicely kept lawns. Freddy found an apartment in the basement of one of these opulent houses that he could afford, and it was over 1000 square feet!

Finally after a day of work he had settled all of his belongings so that he could begin his work in three days. Maybe he would go sightseeing tomorrow to get a feel for his new home. Freddy laid awake in bed. HIs clock said it was 12:42 AM. Everything was quiet, but there was something weird in the air. Perhaps it was just the big change he was going through. He drifted asleep.

Suddenly, Freddie was awake. He looked to his clock to see it was 3:09. There was a wave of fear that made his heart race with panic. That weird feeling from before was a lot more poignant now, but he couldn't make sense of it . . . nothing made sense. He just knew the house didn't want him here. Every wall, every brick, every light fixture was upset with his presence. The house was sending something to to take him, he just knew it. Was he going insane? Houses couldn't think things or hate people. Why was he feeling this was as if it really did dislike him? He didn't remember locking the apartment door. He had to go make sure it was locked so that the house couldn't send something for him! He opened his bedroom door which led to the living room. It was pitch dark in such a way that was menacing and heavy. He slowly crept through the living room towards the entry way so that nothing in the apartment could find him and harm him. He finally made it to the door to find it locked. It didn't help. Something was still coming and he would never be safe. Freddy returned to his bedroom and locked the door sleeping the rest of the nigh with his pillow over his head. He drifted in and out of consciousness as the hatred of the place bore down on him until dawn came.

He got out of bed, and the horrible sensations of danger were gone. However, he felt alien in this apartment. It wasn't his, and it didn't want to be his. He had never felt like this before, but there was just something intense about this house that he could not ignore. He wasn't stupid enough to believe in haunted houses or cursed land, but something mysterious infused the house with this extraordinary life. He couldn't keep feeling like this so after three nights sensing the same anger and alienation, Freddy decided that urban life wasn't for him and that perhaps living out in the suburbs would suit him better. Too much history happened here apparently, and he didn't want to deal with it.

Freddy a little over a week after moving in packed up his things and moved out to Lawrenceson. On his way out of the city, he passed a statue of famed chef Hank Charleus. Beneath his statue which looked out over the city was one of his quotes:

"Knightley is not like any other place out there. It will either take you as one of its own or push you away as an outsider. Hardly anyone is left in between."

 

[Wonderess]

This post contains adult themes. Skip if you find more graphic or very serious plots disturbing.

Rachel looked at her blood on the wall. How had it come to this? Eighteen years of her life had been spent in this house, in this family, on this path. She was in fact one of the most successful women in all of Knightley. So much effort had gone into her finally becoming the President of Historical Isle Tourism Co. the leading tourist company in the nation. She told people how to do their jobs on a daily basis, but here she was crouched on the floor in fear. Baron, her so called love, was in the other hand tending to his bruised hand. It turns out the bathroom wall and her own face were strong enough to wound him after all. She could never pinpoint when their marriage had become this horrible circus of anger, disfunction, pain, and torture. The first thirteen years were special to her, and that was the man that she still loved. All the stories she told herself before were still there in her mind. If only she could show him who he was then, and make him stop the anger or be a father to Paul. It was so hard to take constantly being torn apart inside. She didn't deserve this and deserved better than the taste of blood in her mouth on the weekly. She made it to the top of Historical Isle, that was the proof of her strength. She should be strong enough to end it with this piece of trash and take her son somewhere safe. On the other hand she loved him, and just knew that she could save him from all of this. It was her vow to get him through this after all.

She managed to crawl to the bathroom. Her head was still buzzing from the impact. The other ladies at the office always complimented her on how pretty her makeup was. It seemed fitting that they were complimenting something that hid a lie. Her makeup routine was made about fifteen longer a few years ago just so she could spend some extra time working with the bruises around her nose. She was practically a form of artist at this point. She had even invested that one time in eye contacts for the time that paper he had thrown sliced her eye. He was getting creative so she had to as well. A game of chess is what it was. A voice in her head responded, or is it a game of cat in mouse. She quickly forced the thought out of her mind, but the tear had already come down her cheek. She looked in the mirror and gave her award winning smile. It looked just like her portrait in the executive offices, but with some discoloring and a tear added as if someone had sat down at a computer and used some ImageShop software. She felt that divide in her again. Love and anger wrestling . . . always wrestling for dominance in her heart and mind. It was slowly killing her, but so was the pollution from the plants down the coast so what was the difference? She didn't know how she kept herself together. It must have been God, because she just knew she would have fallen apart otherwise if it were just her. Somehow she was feeling nothing at all. All the emotional energy she could muster that day was used defending herself against Baron after she had asked if Paul had been given his nightly inhaler treatment for his asthma. He somehow worked that into her calling him a bad father and then it was boxing time. It's funny how he always found a way to get to the fight. She feared anything could set him off, even talking about the stocks could end in a concussion. Rachel finally tuned into her surroundings, her reality. She had been staring into the mirror for too long again. She imagined if this was a tv show or a story people might think she was insane just staring like that, like a machine or ghost.

She made it a routine after every fight to go check on Paul in his room to make sure he was ok. Anyone in the house would hear the battle as it was no secret affair. "Love is a battlefield." She laughed too hard at that thought. The song made it sound like such a cute little notion. Well may be the reality would show the singer what really goes down on the battlefield. She entered Paul's room and he was there with his favorite Kliff the Friendly Bear stuffed animal. He seemed just fine. This was so regular to him that it hardly upset him.

"Whatcha doin, hun?"
"Oh, hi Mom, Kliff and I are learning about the galaxies. They are HUGE!"
"That sounds like so fun! Is Kliff a good learner?"
"Pretty much. If he doesn't get a question right, I show him what's in, and then he gets it right for sure the next time!"

Rachel felt nauseated. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Showing someone what's in was Baron's code phrase for using his fists to get a point across.

"Paul, what do you mean?"
"Oh, you know, mom. Like this!"

Paul then threw the bear against the wall as hard as he could, ran over to it and preceded to punch the bear's face. She couldn't bear staying to watch and retreated to the library. She broke down in tears. He had finally gotten her boy. The one thing that would save her was now his. There was no way for her to go on. She got down and curled up on the floor not in physical pain, but in resign. Her eyes were blurred by tears but she could see a stray book under the couch. She grabbed for it. It was titled: The Amulet.

She remembered this story from grade school. A woman had been given an amulet by her mother. It wasn't considered valuable for it was made of wood rather than any precious metal. Many enemies would mistreat her and stomp on her amulet or throw it away from her in an attempt to insult her. No matter where she would go someone would treat her with great disrespect. Finally one day it had been thrown and had been shattered against the brick walls of the town. She ran over to find within the remains a priceless diamond which had been hidden within. Apparently it was an allegory for the girl's value, but it seemed too sappy at the time. Now, it seemed like the sharpest truth she had ever encountered. Her son had not been lost, the amulet had been shattered, and it was time to protect the treasure. She suddenly heard a shattering noise.

She ran to the kitchen hoping Baron had not gotten started again. Baron was there looking confused at the window. She didn't say anything because she wanted to avoid another dance with the devil for the evening. He turned to her.

"I don't understand what happened. I was standing here, and the wind just pushed against the window in a gust, and it shattered. This window has been installed in this house for more than 100 years. I guess it just finally had enough."

She smiled at him, that winning smile. "I guess so. We can have someone come by in the morning to fix or replace it"

Rachel then went to Paul's room.

"Hey bud, we are going on a big adventure in the city. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Paul's eyes lit up with excitement. She got Paul and herself dressed and went to the car. Paul and Kliff the Friendly Bear were buckled in in the back of the SUV and then Rachel drove off without a word or sound to Baron. He had gone to shower which left the house open to escape from. She had all the financial resources to begin a new life for them. She left the rich suburbs of the east of Knightley City and checked them into the Grand Circle Hotel in the center of downtown. This would be their center of operations until she could find a new house. She had grabbed her Bible and the copy of The Amulet with her to remind her of what matters most in life. There was a paper in the back fold of the book with a written note on it.

"Knightley is a city that looks out for the people within her borders that need her most. Whether you are in danger or at wits end the city is here for you and will lead you down her great boulevards to something better. The Amulet is a national treasure not because the author was Knightleyan, but because each of us are the diamond in the amulet, and Knightley knew that all along even when each of us did not."

 

[Wonderess]

Cafford Canon Reformatory
​

It had been twelve years since Simon had been free in Knightley society. He could still remember that night of his crime vividly along with the ongoing trial. Everyone in the nation knew what he ha done. Everyone had forgotten him for it as well. Tomorrow would bring to an end this dark period of life. He had grown up all of his life in Lyla, and now in some weird way he had prided himself on serving the city in Caff Reformatory. The Order of the Mount had shown him what life could be without the constant anger and frustration that plagued him in his life before he entered his service here. He didn't have to be afraid of who he was. That's what destroyed him before, but now there was a strength he never knew before, and it took some years to realize it. Simon sat in the Roseridge study. He was finally able to join the Roseridge chapter after seven years of good behavior. He can honestly say it was the happiest day of his life. He was just nineteen years when he entered the Reformatory, and some could still consider him young now at thirty one. He put down the daily newspaper he was reading and crossed the study to the mirror where he looked at the sort of man he now was. There were still moments where he flashed back to that night of the crime. What a fool he was.

It was an oddly cool night for March. There was a wave of anger that had overtaken him then. There near the center of Lyla was the Noreaster Club, the well known gay bar at the center of Cafford. Many days he had passed that place and felt the jarring emotions of hatred, confusion, hostility, disgust, but they were all masking what was really at the bottom: shame. He had done everything he could to mask that shame even if it meant setting fire to the Noreaster as if it would also burn away his own insecurities. No one died that night, but the crime of arson and the crime of hate were still stamped in his file and now here he was living out the sentence that pays for the stamp ink to dry. There were so many stages that he had gone through in the Reformatory throughout the years. In his pride he had continued to justify his actions, that the gay people with their gaudy culture deserved to be opposed. Those who call it "hatred" couldn't see the honest truth that he was the good guy not them. There was that shame again. It screamed deep down to be recognized and he had to scream louder, become more extreme to drown it out. The Order of the Mount finally broke through after two years.

Every prison system in Knightley was run by an "order" that is a group of people who dedicated their lives to the rehabilitation of those who did wrong. Cafford Reformatory did so through the analogy of the mountain peak. They used to say when he first arrived there that the mountain made of rock is strong and unyielding. It would eventually break through any gates or boundaries he tried to put up, and they were right. Thank God. His weak sense of self crashed to the ground so that he could then begin to climb his mountain. Everyone had their mountain to climb, they used to say, and one day we all find a peak just in time to see a taller mountain to climb. His first peak came when he was finally able to be honest with his counselor Member Brower. It too all the courage for him to say the words that he hid away for so long from the world and himself. "Member Brower, I think I'm a gay man." He was so kind and understanding to Simon. There were no ugly looks, or signs of fear, just understanding and respect. What relief there was then. All this pain that had been killing him and eating away at him was finally let out. He wasn't alone anymore. Someone now knew his secret, and he knew it was safe with Brower.

So marched the journey of growth. He was a man in denial through anger, then a man with a secret to share, until finally he was a man that did not let his orientation control him. So what if they knew he liked other men, they did not get to shame him for something beyond his control, he had already done it to himself for too long. His brothers in the Roseridge Chapter of the Reformatory worked with him in the gardens, sang with him, ate with him, and painted with him despite knowing that part of who he was. He thought that his attractions would be the only thing that defined him, but that wasn't the truth. He was Simon, someone more complex and of greater depth then his orientation and his brother there always appreciated him as that.

His life was changed in such a profound way, but now he got to decide if he wanted to return to the world or continue his work. Each Reformatory had a collection of chapters for those who wished to continue their communal life after serving their sentence. Every man and woman got to choose if they wanted to return to life out there in the wider world or continue their current way of life but in freedom. Simon read the newspaper, he watched Viedéo videos, and he could read the comments on those videos. The world was loud, chaotic, confusing, and hectic. It was simplicity and the pursuit of greatness that had transformed him. He liked the quiet of Caff's halls. He liked the love and support of the community that grows day by day. Living out there would just ruin all of that. He didn't need a family or a nine to five job to be happy, he needed the work of the community he loved, the meditation on that soaring peak in the mural of the refectory.

The next day came, and Simon was led into the grand lobby of the Reformatory. Before him in the ceremony were two choices. There was the main door that led to the world and next to it was good member Brower smiling at him. He held a white sash, the mark of those who served the Order as a member of the free. Without hesitation Simon grabbed the sash and all present applauded. He was renamed Miles, umbrial for soldier. The Order leadership had decided to send him to Johanine Canon where he could work in the shelter under the jurisdiction of the Order of the Mound. He was a free man, a man who was gay and unashamed, a man who was understood, and a man who knew he had found his life purpose. Many peaks he had climbed, and now there was another to climb. Tears came to Miles's eyes as he held his sash of the free. This was love.