Peridot City, a collected History
Note: Image associated is from Ironage.media, specifically their prompt, 'The Pit'
Peridot City, The Imperial Jewel.
If you are old enough or too well-read, Tartarus. The Pit. Hell itself.
The prison planet of our Empire, The Empire of One. One rule, One ruler, One people. The Jewel is her finest achievement, the beating heart of the Empire these days when we were the forgotten planet only a handful of decades ago. A population ranging from hardened criminals, political rivals, and even just people who made a single poor decision in their lives. All alike in one regard. We broke the One rule.
Now we exist where the Pit is deepest, the air barely breathable for the sulphur suffusing it. Indeed, the stars themselves, once our only light, have abandoned us to the growing dark down here. As the proud imperial citizens live in our refurbished homes, even as we power every aspect of their lives, all because of one man, our Devil Himself.
No one knows why he was sent here. We know he broke the One, but the how is unclear even to the smartest amongst us. Scientist he was, according to them, a man not only of letters but numbers and stranger symbols besides. He brought the One's attention upon us when he found that glowing rock. Claimed it was our hope for a tomorrow we didn't have to scratch out by hand in the unforgiving rock. I can still remember the poison that seemed to us to be ambrosia he would tell of. The glory we felt as we stopped struggling to survive and began to thrive in our little planet. The pain of its brilliance sharpens the drudgery the Empire has placed upon us once more.
Apparently, the power we took from that rock could be seen by the Empire, and only a few months after we'd become something more than gangs competing against each other for every spare pebble, they landed. The Purgers, we call them. Rumour says they're not much different from the men who'd led the gangs, save they could be commanded by the One, and our bosses couldn't, or wouldn't be. The fighting didn't last more than a few hours. We were outnumbered, outgunned, and at the disadvantage of makeshift defences, and the desire to stay alive was potent, far more than our will to fight. Their orders didn't care to keep us alive, either. After our surrender, even with a battalion's value added to the Pit, our population had shrunk almost unsustainably. Our only leverage was that we knew how to work everything, and they didn't. And so we became slaves.
Busy slaves we've been, and though our freedom is a distant thing, lost to memory on the tongues who had tasted it, it has remained our guiding light in the abyss down here. As has our Devil. Our minders have been lulled into complacency, believing themselves unassailable. They think we are but the help, tending their most precious Jewel. No. We are the Serpent, clutching the Jewel and biding our time to strike. And that time is near. As our Devil says, "Power can create and destroy. It's only a matter of magnitude and direction."
I can't say I rightly understand what he means, but I gather he still thinks we will win our fight, and it involves that rock again. I worry, though. We may defeat the Purgers still here, may even sway a few to our ways, but how can we hope to hold our own against the One? What does he mean by "his ace in the hole"? Is this but more poison in our ears that will be worse than being an ignored star in the sky? Will what we do now better or worsen the fates of my children?
I daren't falter now, though. I've already agreed to the fight, already bled our enemy long ago. The Jewel is ours, and they can trade for it as equals if they need it. Tomorrow's the day of our reckoning against the One.
- Final entry in the Journal of Cadhoiarn Kale, Martyr of Peridot City, Planet K-12468, Formerly of the Empire of One.