Steel Haven part 1 - Origin of a Great City

The walls of Steel Haven rose high above the land. The humans had achieved great feats with their discovery of steel. The stone castles of kings and lords were impressive but most people could only rely on the protection of wooden homes. The lower class needed to be protected from the harsh world of deadly animals and roaming bandits, and so King Alexander Chalybs decided it was his burden to protect as many people as he could.

King Alexander had a grand vision for a new city surrounded by steel walls as tall as any castle and thicker than a stonewall. The city would be a welcoming place to those friendly to the King and his people but would be a threatening fortress to those who sought to do harm.

The city fortress of Steel Haven did not spring up overnight, it took years of dedication and vision. King Chalybs, who became known as the King of Steel, led his own Kingdom to this goal. Many villagers and lower class left their own kingdoms and traveled for months just for the chance to be allowed access into the city. People were arriving to Steel Haven even before the city was complete.

King Chalybs was inspired by the work and the devotion of the people. He saw the new arrivals as a testament that his vision was pure and good. Any family that wished to live in the city had to contribute in some way. Men and women could choose which profession was best suited for their talents and so, Steel Haven had an enormous labor force of workers, builders, black smiths, metal workers, cooks, hunters, cleaners and any other job that needed to be done.

A giant forge was built first before anything else. The forge was a large source of heat surrounded by every kind of metal working tool available in those times. Everything was housed in an open-air structure and the best metal workers worked tirelessly around this scorching hot forge. The great forge was put to use just as it was finished and from that moment it was considered the heart of Steel Haven. 

Not everything in Steel Haven was made of steel or metal, most of the homes and buildings were built with stone and wood with steel used to reinforce the structures. The great walls of Steel haven were made from steel, as was most of the Steel Haven Keep that the king lived in. The Great forge was almost completely sheltered in steel. 

As time passed and the city grew, the citizens were restricted from going to the forge unless authorized to do so. Six foot high walls were build around the forge and guards were placed at the small gate door in the front. This didn’t seem unreasonable to the citizens of Steel Haven, as they all knew how important the Forge was.

After only a year the city was completed. The wall had not been finished yet but every important building was built as was enough homes for every family who helped in some way. The King left his own castle and moved into Steel Haven Keep. The Kings old castle was converted into a military structure, which housed his best and most loyal soldiers and his top general.

Steel Haven finally had fully built walls by the second year, completely made from steel with battlements atop the walls, walkways, guard towers and every other security measure a castle wall could have. The large gates were well protected by a draw bridge that went over a deep moat, a solid steel gate and a second gate used to trap intruders. Steel forge keep also had a smaller but still formidable wall that separated it from the rest of the city.

This newly finished city of Steel Haven would force to reckon with and the news of its creation spread throughout the land. The more the news spread, the more people wanted to move there. The more people that moved into the city the larger the city grew. After several years the city was twice the size of the original Steel Haven with Steel Haven Keep and the first part of the city known as the “Steel Core” and every new structure and home was built outside of the Core’s walls. Only the citizens and their families that helped with the original construction were allowed to live in the Core of the city behind its sturdy walls. 

Eventually the outer city grew so much that new walls were made to protect that section as well. Any attacker who wished to assault the Steel Keep would have to make their way through the Steel Haven outer wall, through New Steel city, then passed the Core’s giant walls, through Steel Core city, then breach the Steel Keep’s walls and then breach the keep itself. No one ever invaded Steel Haven.

The forested area around Steel Haven was maintained by the city but was greatly thinned. The forest was once dense and filled with wild animals. Wood was needed for the city and much of the woods were clear cut, when the King saw his people clearing the local forest his ordered them to only thin it out but to leave the forest standing as a whole. 

Twenty miles north of Steel haven was the coast, where the King’s men would barter with sea fairing merchants for goods. To the south of Steel Haven was an enormous iron mine, this mine was one of many sources of steel for the Kingdom and each mine was well guarded.

The Kingdom of Chalybs and the fortress city of Steel Haven were the envy of the surrounding Kingdoms and while many of the neighboring lands wanted peace and friendship with King Chalybs, there were those who only wanted Steel Haven for themselves.

Coffee and Pizza rolls

            The room sings as music and bright animation flashes from the computer screen. A steaming cup of coffee sits next to the keyboard. The taste of caramel swirls inside the hot brew. Sugar is a fine flavor by itself but the flavor of caramel means something different than the taste of sugar. We live in an age were any flavor can be turned into a compound and turned into a coffee creamer. The rich flavor of caramel is not only desirable but brings forth memories of candy shops, Autumn, Carmel apples and that one time I filled a grocery bag full of caramel cubes and spent months eating them steadily.

            The grocery bag of caramels was a special memory, the discounted price of caramel cubes felt like a victory. There was a large orange cat in my house who used to steal my caramels, neatly unwrap them and eat them. I could bribe the cat to do tricks if I only offered a half of the sweetly flavored cube.

            The outer world affects my mind in this way, as a cup of coffee can bring me back to my teenage years. I am amused by my own mind as I find that the deepest and purest memories are of nature and outdoors. When you travel to the deepest part of yourself, where the words fall away and there is only feeling and image, these parts of me are that of rainstorms with no lighting, sunny forest walks with my dad and numerous cats all trying to cuddle me at once. 

            There are equally dark parts that hold only negative emotions and terrifying images, awful things that your mind makes you forget so that you can continue living life unhindered by dread. These are images best left for another day.

            The world is inversed inside my mind as the nature of the outside is the deepest in me but the inside world of computers and shelter are more on my surface. I love video games and my internet connection, I like the aesthetic of big cities and would be stranded without my car but these are not the things that speak to my deepest self. I do have a cityscape in my deepest self but it is not the beauty of a bustling metropolis, it is the grime of a ghetto street that no one ever leaves and this is no somewhere I wish to visit.

            I muse on coffee and caramel, inner and outer self when I hear my toaster over ding. My pizza rolls have finished cooking. Some company took the idea of pizza, made these tiny pockets and put pizza flavored ingredients in them, froze them and shipped them to markets across the country. I bought a bag of these frozen pizza inventions and put them in my toaster oven. Now I have food ready to eat and it took little to no work. This is a sign of the times and often amazes. Besides getting food from a “drive thru” window, heating up frozen food is one of the quickest and easiest ways to eat. This is the era where we sacrifice health for time saving and it is amazing the things we humans come up with.

            While I could go on about my own introspection until next age of progress, I am going to leave with a thought and a question. “What does the inner part of your self look like?”

This isn’t a quiz question to be answered and turned in but something to ponder on.

Watching the rain

The rain trickled down like steady beats on a drum. Joe stared out through the window, sipping a cup of coffee. The coffee mug was old, blue and had the words “Bee Gr8 today” on it with a cartoon bee flying by. The tan walls of his apartment were mostly bare save a decorative wall tapestry that he bought from china town last time he was in the city.

            Joe grimaced as he struggled through with a headache, he hoped watching the rain would help him relax. Next to the window was Joe’s work desk, a simple wooden desk with a laptop, a mess of papers and several empty cans of soda and beer. Next to the laptop was a picture of Joe’s girlfriend, Mercy, she had raven black hair, and dark eyes. She was the light of his life but on that day, it was raining.

            Joe hadn’t heard from Mercy in weeks, the anxiety and stress of life was rolled all up into a bundle with the worry he had for Mercy and that bundle nestled itself in the base of his skull in the form of a headache. After all the phone calls were made, email checked and alcohol consumed, the only thing left to do was to watch the rain and hope for the best.

            There weren’t any books with instructions on how to deal with worry and potential loss, Joe never learned anything about his situation from school, his parents never told him how to behave in times of crisis and stress. Joe had to improvise and travel unprepared at the trouble ahead. Like a traveler with no shoes, Joe was exposed and unprepared for a loved one to go missing. The possible outcome and scenarios would play over and over in his head. What if she was dead, lost, kidnapped or what if she just left him for another man and moved to a different city without telling anyone?

            To hear her voice again would be a mercy, a reprieve from the psychological torture that Joe put himself through. Joe would jump when he heard his phone ring and at every noise that sounded like the doorbell. He would see Mercy’s face in the faces of strangers as he walked through town and every time he smelled her perfume he felt a sting in his heart.

            The rain slowed to a stop the sun wasn’t out but the rain had stopped. Joe set his coffee cup down and let out an exhausted sigh. The doorbell rang and Joe’s heart skipped a beat. He looked up to at the door and waited. He had been tricked by the sound of the doorbell before and didn’t want to get his hopes up. The doorbell rang again. Joe wasn’t expecting anyone and while he felt silly for holding out hope, he hoped the person at the door was Mercy returning to him.

            Joe walked quickly to the door, his heart racing. He was so excited to answer the door and see Mercy standing there waiting for him. Then he remembered all the times he answered the door and it wasn’t her and so he tried to temper his excitement.

            Joe gripped the doorknob and turned it. He opened the door. “Mercy!”

March to October

The room is cold with only a small wood furnace to warm the house. Snow drifts down from the sky and collects in white piles on the hard, frozen ground. I sit hunched in my chair, the aches of the day settle over my body and the worries of life settle in my mind. To me, the cold of winter is not enjoyable, yet I love and cherish the chill of Fall and early Spring. Winter is cold air and people huddled around fire, Fall is warm houses and a refreshing breeze.

I stare outside at a tree, bare and snow spattered. The sun shines down on the snow, but the frozen water refuses to melt. The persistence of Winter is equal to an old man refusing to get out of your chair. Old man winter has settled into your seat and no matter how many times you prod him, he wont budge. I do not make a habit of prodding old men in chairs, but if there was only one chair in the world and an old sleeping man was in it, I might prod him.

As I let my eyes stare unfocused at the scenery outside, the world through my window flickered. It was the quickest kind of flicker that I would have missed if I had blinked. Then the world in front of my eyes flickered again, but this time the alternate image stayed. The space outside my window was no longer winter but late Autumn.

The sky was a dusky orange as if time was stuck in permanent twilight, the trees stayed bare but the bark of the tree was darker and the bare branches curved down like grasping hands with long slender fingers. I felt excitement and confusion, I couldn’t tell if my vision or my brain malfunctioned or if the world really had changed from Winter to an eerie version of an October landscape.

I leapt from my seat and ran down the wooden stairs. I threw open my door and stood to behold the world in full October glory. This wasn’t the Autumn landscape printed on travel magazines that some writers write about ad nauseam, this was October and the spooky thrill of Halloween.

I began to walk around the backyard, the stubborn snow was removed, old man winter evicted from his chair and the chill of fall replaced the bitter cold of winter. A local stray cat strutted through my yard as if it were the dominant species. It was a dirty orange tabby with a smug expression, short legs and a small chubby frame. This small potato walked with the confidence of a lion. I called the beast, it looked at me and opened its mouth but instead of a meow, it let out an echoing wolf howl. The cat looked very pleased with itself and then walked away.

I smiled at the strange creature, my expression was that of amusement and bewilderment. I gazed at the land before me and spotted the largest full moon I had ever seen. It was bright and seemed to glow. The yellowed white color of the moon added to the warm colors of the dark orange sky.

I walked out to the road and saw the small houses of my neighbors all brightly lit and decorated for the Fall festivals. The people inside were acting normally and if they saw me might think I was the one who was strange. At this moment I realized I was barefoot and still wearing my indoor clothes. I was so used to the winter cold that being outside on a fall day without a coat didn’t bother me and my excitement kept me from going back inside for shoes.

I walked down the street toward the center of town and as I walked I marveled at the fall decorations, the Jack-o-lanterns and the candles put in almost every windows. The I gazed up at the moon again and for a minute it had a face. The moon had a large grinning mouth with rows of teeth, wide eyes and no nose. I was so startled that I gasped and in response to my gasp the moon winked. A moment later the face vanished and I continued walking, my mind trying to work out how to deal with what I just saw.

Once I arrived at the center of town I spotted a black cat, who wore a witches hat  and stood on two legs, conversing with a skeleton, who didn’t wear clothes but had an elegant mustache. I decided not to interrupt the conversation, as it seemed important from the tone and the way the skeleton kept repeating “No! It’s real! Ok!”.

I was enjoying the sights and sounds of this alternate reality so much that I didn’t much care if I ever returned to my wintery, snow blasted reality. I didn’t know how to return even if I wanted to.

The fun ended when two men wearing black robes approached me. “how did you get here? You don’t belong here” The man on the right said. “He must have slipped in somehow” said the man on the left.

I explained what had happened and how I had no idea how I ended up in this world. If I was indeed in another world, I didn’t so much slip in as I fell in. I didn’t choose to come to this place even if I was enjoying. 

The two robed men thought on this and then moved towards me “We don’t know how to send you back, so we need to take you with us until we can figure something out” said the first man. As much as I would have liked to see a Halloween prison, I didn’t want to be trapped in one, so I turned around and took off running back to my house. The men in robes took off after me, their feet disappeared under their cloaks as they levitated off the ground and flew as they gave chase.

I couldn’t out run flying creatures and I didn’t want to be imprisoned for an indefinite amount of time. My mind raced as fast as my feet as both faculties tried to help me escape. Just as the men wear gaining on me, I heard a wolf howl. I turned to look as a road orange cat flew from the darkness and struck the first man. The potato cat struck the floating man with such force that he careened into the man next to him. The two men tumbled to the ground as they fought with a surprisingly fierce runt of a cat.

I eventually reached my home, I was tired, sweating, out of breath and had dirty aching feet. I ran up my stairs, went into my room and sat down. I looked out the window and saw only a Halloween landscape. I stared as hard as I could hoping for another flicker. The door downstairs began to thud and break as intruders came in after me. I stared at the window and continued hoping to return to my old reality. The intruders came up the stairs and barged into my bedroom. I kept staring at the October landscape, hoping, for the first time in my life, that it would turn into a winter landscape. I felt large arms grab me around my torso and pull me back. I struggled as I stared in desperation at the old window. I was slowly dragged from my bedroom and as I was pulled out I saw a flicker outside. I fought even harder to escape and get to my window.

I was hauled downstairs and outside, I was dragged across the yellowish dried grass of late Fall as my hopes of escape began to dwindle. Then in a flash I was outside in the snow.

I had returned to my own reality. The freezing cold was too much and I was under dressed. I stood up and ran back inside. There I saw a black cat and an orange runt of a cat sleeping peacefully on my bed. The orange cat didn’t howl and the black cat didn’t stand on two legs or wear a witch’s hat, but they did expect me to feed them.

I felt a sudden sting on my arm so I rolled up my sleeve and saw a Jack-o-lantern mark with a face and large grinning mouth like the moon had. The mark stung and looked like it had been burned into my skin.

I was safe and in my old reality and even though I wasn’t able to stay in the Halloween land as long as I would have liked, I did get a few souvenirs to remember my time there.