When Jorlan Vek stood on the makeshift stage, his voice was thunder, his words lightning. The people of Varkund cheered, their fists pumping the air. They had suffered enough—twenty-hour blackouts in the dead of winter, while the elites in Eshdari basked under chandeliers. The government had promised power, but all they got was darkness. So they did what the desperate do: they took to the streets.
Hundreds of them blocked the main highway connecting Varkund to the wealthy southern cities. No trucks passed, no trade flowed. Merchants cursed, officials fumed, but the people stood their ground. “No light, no passage!” they chanted, voices raw with hunger and fury. The blockade stretched for days, cutting off the lifeline that connected the trade routes to the kingdom of Hasmir.
The government sent envoys, first with warnings, then with threats. Jorlan, flanked by his closest allies—Rehan Sorr, Kalya Mer, and the fierce-eyed Darok Ul—stood firm. They were the voice of the people, the shield against corruption. Or so they thought.
Then came the whispers. The unseen hands. The quiet meetings behind closed doors.
One night, Jorlan and his inner circle disappeared for a private negotiation. They returned with good news. “Victory!” Jorlan declared, standing before the crowd. “The government has heard us. They have given us land! Our own land to build, to farm, to generate our own power!”
The people roared with joy. The blockade lifted. The highway flowed once more. The ministers in Eshdari sighed in relief, the traders wiped their brows, and the citizens of Varkund prepared for a brighter future.
But brightness never came.
The land they received—a vast stretch of earth at the edge of the province—was not theirs to claim. It was already contested, mired in an ancient dispute between the clans of Nordul and the wealthy barons of Dreska. The moment the first brick was laid, the true owners arrived, armed and furious.
The people of Varkund, who had fought for light, now stood in the shadow of betrayal.
Jorlan Vek and his allies? Nowhere to be found.
The government? Silent.
And the darkness? It remained, just as before.
