She moved with absolute precision, every motion of her body in perfect time with the world around her. Were it not impossible he might have assumed her to be inhuman, moved on strings just as the merged themselves, though that clearly couldn't have been the case. Whatever helped to give this woman her assurance, it couldn't have been spawned by the dreads.

Following her example, they were led through the tunnels in silence walking behind the woman and keeping in time with her step. Looking at the ten links on her chain, Eli felt, for certain, that those had not been accumulated by accident .

This main tunnel seemed to be the primary thoroughfare of the city, with people passing on both the right and the left.

As they entered the main crowd, they suddenly became part of the clockwork precision of the city, walking in step with the others like soldiers in a marching army. Hats came off, gloves were put on, and the men and the women alternated one after the other in their movements.

As the woman passed through the crowd, with them at her heels, she occasionally flashed the small silver tree to others walking in the opposite direction, with them obliging with the same signal.

The presence of that silver symbol did not grant Eli any of the comfort he was sure it was originally designed for. If nothing else, the presence of that little silver symbol peaked his skepticism and anxiety.

After all, he had no doubt at this point that his father's disappearance was linked.

The woman turned sharply, cutting into a doorway just to their right giving Eli and Peter little warning, forcing them to jog to catch up to her unusually long strides.

Open doorways passed them on all sides revealing telling glimpses into the lives of the people who Lived in Kurshing. All around them metal clattered, and sparks leapt inside the archways of open caves as Kurshing citizens worked to mold the reality of their greatest export.

Metals.

Metals, and metal products.

Solid lumps of Iron and steel were formed into bars and sent on dangerous trade pathways up through the stalk. Blades shoe buckles and eyeglass components.

On many occasions, Eli's face was lit with the warm glow of molten metal and dancing flame as a cherry red blade was pulled from the forge and doused in oil summoning momentary eruptions of blazing red flame before passing out of his vision, behind thick walls of stone.

Ahead of them, the woman paused checking left, and then right at the next intersection. He inched forward and she held up a hand to stop him, leaving him to stare past her arm and into the next cavern inward.

Though his vision was partially obscured, what he saw inside was....

Disquieting.

The central axis of the room was dominated by a massive metal forge spewing fire and smoke from holes in its upper rim. Metal cluttered and clanked as a set of Merged worked the bellows that stoked the massive fire. Even from here, he could feel the roaring heat as the bellows worked whooshing in time with the lungs of Kurshing city.

Peter grabbed his arm as the two of them stared at the massive structure, watching as Merged, not only worked the bellows, but wove glowing red metal into chains and links, thousands upon thousands of links tossed into massive, rusted metal bins to be carted away into unknown depths by other merged.

They worked relentlessly, never stopping, and never falling out of time with the beat of their work, a beat that was accented by their slow and mournful humming, as mindless as the buzzing of worker bees.

Ahead of them, the woman motioned them forward, and they quickly followed her through the next doorway over, leaving the spectacle of chains behind them as they made their way up the tunnel.

They turned down another hallway eventually taking a sharp left stopping in the entryway of another cavern. It sounded smaller than the main cavern had been. An older woman met them at the doorway, and to his shock Eli recognized her as the woman in chains they had seen struggling against the crowd earlier that day. It seemed, she was having a little more success standing, energy renewed despite the crushing weight of the chains that were snapped around her neck.

The woman before them reached up and tipped her hat to the old woman, "Margot, I am glad to see you returned safely."

The old woman, Margot, Smiled toothlessly. "I see you brought us visitors."

Their escort turned and held a hand out totem, "They were looking for Ivan."

Margot paused, "Ivan.... And did they find him?"

"They did, but with his throat cut." Their escort said harshly.

Margot frowned, but chose to address a different matter, "And haven't even bothered to ask their names yet, shame on you." She turned to them and motioned with a hand, "please come in and make yourselves comfortable." The two of them made a hesitant approach.

"What are your names?"

"I'm Peter, and this is Eli."

Eli shot Peter a look, though the young man did not seem to notice.

The old woman smiled and then graciously hugged them both catching Eli by surprise and getting Peter grinning as they were ushered into the room. The entrance cut hard to the left and they stepped inside a mid-sized cavern, which managed to be surprisingly homey.

He found the room to be some sort of mix between a tavern and a chapel. The back of the room was cluttered with a large assortment of circular tables set about in a haphazard sort of way from each other, surrounded by eight chairs to each. There people sat holding small children in their laps and playing some sort of strange game on the table in between them while attempting to keep the pieces out of their children's hands.

At the front of the room, there was a large open space where many people were sitting cross legged on the floor in small groups, most of them old men and old women, plenty of young children, and a small but respectable amount of young adults here and there about the room. Eli took all of this in as he looked around the room walking slowly behind the woman as she led them to the far end.

From the corner of his eye, he noted the presence of the silver tree on almost every person, likely forged from the same silver used to make chains, but existing instead on pocket watches, broaches, hat pins, cufflinks, and belt buckles. The symbol had proliferated the room and these people so subtly that if he had not been looking for its presence, he would not have noticed.

They stopped before one of the seated groups containing both men, women and children, all surrounding a single man: tall and holding a child on his lap as he spoke. The man was old with chrome silver hair to match his loosely trimmed beard. When he smiled, it was the smile of a most pleasant kind of person.

Eli immediately didn't trust him.

As soon as his conversation was concluded, the man gently set the child back into the circle before standing and dusting off his coat.

He turned to look at the woman with a wide smile on his face.

She bowed her head, "Bishop."

The man's smile did not waver, "Arlene, I See You have bright friends."

Arlene nodded curtly and stepped to the side as the man reached a hand forward to take theirs . It was just then that someone at the front of the room suddenly stood, "We have a visitor." Their voice wasn't loud, but the response was instantaneous as one half of the room took to their feet. The woman, Arlene, stepped forward to an open spot on the floor where she could be easily seen by the rest of the room and quickly pulled off her jacket.

The room matched her, as did Peter and Eli.

All around them, the people and their behavior changed dramatically, upright and well put together as they spoke in hushed voices, not too loud and not too quiet. Peter and Eli trend to face each other, Peter with the back to the front of the room and Eli looking over his shoulder. They did their best to look nonchalant, speaking about nothing in particular as the merged entered the room.

This one had a very thick filament attached to the top of its head, and its eyes had been completely coerced by the fleshy folds. It looked around rather hungrily at the room prowling from one end to the other though Eli noticed the woman, Arlene conspicuously standing in such a way that the room could see her, and ever so subtly many of the elderly and the younger people were turned in her direction.

Across the room, he could see a few others standing similarly, including the man called 'bishop', who had his hand resting, ever so slightly, on the arm of an old man who was a little slow to understand the instructions.

The merged prowled around the room for many long minutes before, seeming to grow bored and walk back out. Eli expected the people to fall back into their routine, but they all turned to the front of the room where the old woman from earlier was standing. She did not move for a very long time, and as she waited, the merged peered back into the room as if expecting to catch someone slacking as soon as it left. The creature did this two or three more times before the old woman waved a hand at them, and the room lapsed back into its original state of relaxation.

Eli and Peter dropped their guard and turned back to Bishop who approached from where he had been standing, "My apologies for the interruption."

Eli eyed the lapel of his jacket, upon which the silver tree symbol was proudly pinned.

Peter shook his head, "No need to apologize.... This is some system that you have in place. Does it always work so well?"

The man nodded, "Most of the time it does, but that is only when we can all be together in one large group. We try to keep the elderly and the children together as much as possible, so they will be safe, but sometimes things don't work out the way we had planned."

"Either way It is impressive, thank you." Peter glanced over at the tall woman, "And thank Arlene for us when you have the chance, she saved us from a couple links or worse."

The man smiled, "The congregation is proud of the work she and others like her do."

Eli raised an eyebrow unable to contain his suspicion, "And what sort of work is that?"

Bishop paused, glancing around the room before taking the two of them by the shoulders and pushing them closer towards the tapestry hanging on the wall at the back of the room, "The work of hope, hope and charity as the two tenets of our.... Well I suppose you could call it a religion though I daresay it isn't quite so formal as that." He stopped them at the back of the room so they could see the intricate details of the tree more closely.

"Under the eye of the dreads, it is easy to fold to one's fears. Easy to become bitter and intertwined with one's own worries, sadnesses and bitterness." he held out his arms to either side, "But here, in this palace we strive for something better...." he leaned in close taking a conspiratorial glance over his shoulder, "You could say that every day we strive for an act of small rebellion against fear."

Peter leaned in, seeming to be caught up by the words the man spoke.

Eli was a little more cautious, and taking a surreptitious glance down towards his bag, so was wink.

"How does one do it, rebel against the dreads, I mean." Peter asked, his voice filled with a sort of eagerness that Eli could have only hoped to possess.

"Well it's easy enough, pure and simple acts of kindness can go a long way. Helping others, without expectations or reward is the first step to feeling joy and hope, the antithesis of fear itself. And by doing acts of kindness for others, we hope to bring others into the fold where they will have the help of other like minded individuals. In this way we hope to spread the good word against fear one person at a time." He beamed at them, taking the two of them again by the shoulders.

Eli shrugged away from his touch but Peter remained smiling, "I like it, so.... Simple."

"A pity hope couldn't do much for Ivan." Eli interjected and the two turned to look at him, Peter frowning.

Bishop's smile fell slightly, "An unfortunate occurrence, Ivan was a good friend."

Eli shifted forward reaching up to adjust his glasses, "Then you know the sort of work he did?"

Bishop nodded, "Yes, I was aware of his work, mostly as a researcher, but he also sold information on the rare occasion. He was a.... Beloved member of the congregation."

Eli tried to suppress the tingle of fear and anger that trailed up his spine, "So he was an information broker/"

Bishop shook his head, "Not to that extent, but he did work closely with an information broker at one time, though I daresay that was some time ago. Adrian hasn't been back here in years almost a decade if I am remembering correctly.

Eli went quiet again, and Peter took up the conversation from earlier.

Bishop was speaking again, "I believe that all of us have some part to play, and that if we do it right we can make a difference." He glanced over at Peter, "Some of us are going to have larger parts to play than others, and some of us are just going to have to rely on hope and kindness to get us through." He looked back at Eli sensing the skepticism on his face, "Our kindness did save you from a link or two, and I believe in the long run that is worth it."

The man did have a point though Eli still considered his view on hope and charity to be, while honorable, a little foolish.

"So you are, information brokers?" Bishop asked reaching up a hand to touch the pin at his collar"

"We are." Eli said, keeping his responses short in fear of what he might say out of suspicion or anger for this man. If he did have something to do with the disappearance of Eli's father, Eli doubted he would ever admit to it.

Bishop nodded and took a seat on a small stool next to one of the small, circular tables, "I would be glad to provide you with whatever information you would like free of charge. I doubt there is any information from you I might want." he sighed deeply, "I do not leave the city much these days, and nor do many of the congregation..... Though there is one thing that you might do for us."

Eli raised an eyebrow and Peter nodded vigorously.

"If I give you information, could you help to spread the word about us, and what we do here." he held up a hand hen Eli went to speak, "I am not expecting you to convert anyone, but maybe one or two acts of kindness might be enough to help someone past our borders."

Eli again opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Peter, "Of course, it shouldn't be a problem at all. His eyes glittered as blue jewels in the lantern light bright with anticipation. Eli cleared his throat in mild annoyance. This is hardly the sort of thing he wanted Peter putting his efforts into.

After all, these people might be the reason his father had vanished.

He did his best to change the subject, "What do you know about the dreads, how the work, or more specifically how Kurshing works, any information that you can give us would be helpful."

Bishop nodded his head, "Of course, whatever you need." He motioned for the two of them to sit, and Peter did as requested, crossing his legs and sitting at the feet of this man like one of the children he had been entertaining before. Eli refused, and instead chose to stand and listen as the man continued.

"Kurshing city, as you probably well know, has to do with the fear of being trapped, restricted or constrained. Of course this comes in many forms of the word, that of being physically restricted, but also that of being controlled. That is why there are so many rules and regulations. Everything you see here is designed to control and restrict the people that live here. The chains are the final nail in that coffin. They build up slowly over the years to the point where one is physically restricted by the very rules that were meant to socially and psychologically restrict them before. Once that is done the restricted bodies are dragged away to the servitorium." He shifted in his seat suddenly standing, and they followed his lead as another one of the Merged came into the room.

Their conversation was cut for a long moment as they wanted for the creature to leave, though it didn't stay as long as it's earlier counterpart had, wandering into the room and then out like the meandering of a leaf being blown by the wind.

Bishop adjusted his shirt, "Where was I?"

"Something about the Servitorium." Peter prompted

The man nodded, "Oh yes, of course. Once they enter the servitorium, it is only a matter of time before they give up their control-"

Eli cut the man off holding up a hand, "What do you mean by giving up control. At this point what control do they have?'

The man turned to look at Eli with a knowing expression and shook his head one more time, "You confuse the real issue, Eli. You seem to labor under the impression that the Dreads have control on us no matter what we do, but I am here to tell you that the Dreads only have control over us so far as we give it to them."

Eli frowned, though he did not argue with the man as he continued. He had to remember that he was here looking for a difference of opinions, and cutting the man off during his speech -- as strange and disagreeable it might be-- was not the way to get information.

The man held his hands wide, "We give them control through our fear and our hatred. Inside the Servitorium, a body might subsist on the life of Kurshing for years in the same state, but it is not until they make the decision to give over their free will to the Bind that they can be made into the Merged. For many it might take years, but for others it might be a matter of hours. Some of those men and women have been hanging in chains for an untold amount of time."

Eli would have liked to say that that all sounded very unlikely, but listening to what the man had to say, he had to admit that it was not any more concerning than anything else he had seen on his travels.

"So let me rephrase my own notes; you claim that we give the dreads control through our fear of them."

The man nodded, "If you can figure out how to stop man's fear, Or at least to reduce it, then you might have a way of stopping them."

Peter was leaning even further forward than before eager but Eli frowned, "I am going to need more than conjecture to work on. I need.... Concrete information. Your theories and your ideas are one thing, but solid proof is another."

Peter looked over at him and scowled.

Eli ignored him.

Bishop tapped a finger against his chin, "if it is solid proof that you are looking for, I think I might have something that can help you."

Eli was a bit skeptical but he was at least willing to listen, "Go on."

"There is a man I am familiar with, by reputation only, who is said to have compiled the most knowledge possible on the Dreads. He traveled much as you do, and his goals were the same. As far as I understood he is supposed to have secreted much of this information in his archive on the border of Twisted's territory. If there is anyone in the world who would know or have information that could help you, it is him." The man bowed his head slightly, "He brought a lot of hope to us, and was an integral part of our founding." he bowed his head almost reverently, "I always had hope that one day he would find the cure."

"That's a lot of faith you put in one man" Peter said, body still leaning forward in focused interest.

Bishop nodded, "A man with as much knowledge as he had is hard to come by."

"Is he supposed to be some sort of prophet?" Eli asked, unable to hide the derision that coated the words. Beside him he could sense peter's annoyance, but he was having trouble containing it. These people couldn't be trusted. He would have bet his life on it. In fact, he was sure his father had bet his life on it and lost.

Bishop shrugged, "Of sorts, though who am I to say

Eli waved a hand, "Where can we find this place?"

Bishop turned to him again, "Do you have a map?"

Eli obliged his request, withdrawing his one remaining map from his pocket. With the Atlas gone, this was all he had left. Bishop leaned over the piece of paper for a long moment before reaching down a hand and tracing a path east and then south from Kurshing. You will have to take this road up through the forest pass on the border of Stalk, and then down into the valley just here. You should find the archive on the edge of twisted hidden inside the ruins there."

Looking over, Eli could see that Peter was hurriedly writing those notes in the small book he kept in his pocket, giving Eli full reign to study and mark the map as he liked. Once they were done he folded the map back up again and slid it into his pocket, "Thank you for your help."

Bishop nodded, "My only hope is that you find what you are looking for. It doesn't matter to me how it ends, just that it does." He looked around the room at his people huddled in clusters, steam twisting and curling from bowls of soup now clasped in wrinkled, aging hands.

Despite their nice clothes, they looked like nothing more than a cluster of vagrants waiting for the chill winter to take them down to the bone.

"For all our sakes," he muttered.

Eli nodded his head slowly.

This was a good start. He reached down and picked his bag from the floor, tossing it over one shoulder, "We thank you for your help."

Peter reached out a hand and grabbed him by the shoulder, "What are you doing?"

"It's time we were on our way, Peter."

The young man shook his head, "But, we could stay here for a bit an-"

"I don't think that would be wise, better to get moving while the trail ahead is fresh."

Bishop smiled sadly and patted Peter on the shoulder, "Perhaps another time then, of course both of you are always welcome here."

"Do you all have a name? For your religion?" Peter wondered. Eli sighed, glancing towards the door.

Bishop shrugged, "There isn't an official name, but the followers here have come to call us the Order of Hope, " He smiled rather sheepishly, "I suppose it makes sense that the people would want to give themselves a name. It feels good to be included in something bigger than yourself."

Eli grunted.

He didn't find the idea of being part of a large group particularly comforting, but he did his best not to appear too judgemental. He supposed whatever worked for some people. He found solace in books, these people found their solace in..... In unfulfilled dreams.

He turned his eyes, again, on Peter frowning again when he noted the other man jotting the name down in his notebook. His eyes were still sparkling with that same strange fervor he had noticed earlier. Best, he decided to remove them from this place before Peter got any more strange ideas into his head.

He grabbed Peter by the arm, "Come on, I think we have overstayed our welcome."

Bishop held up a hand to stop them.

Peter didn't argue with him, though his steps were halting as they walked towards the door, and Eli had to practically drag him away. The people in the room looked up to watch them go, and waved their hands in farewell as they left.

Most of them were smiling.

Peter reached out his hand to touch theirs as he passed, though Eli pulled back away from the hands keeping his head high and his eyes on the door.

He stepped past the old woman guarding the door and exchanged a stiff nod with her as they went to step into the hallway. His foot had barely hit the ground, when he felt someone grip him hard around the arm and drag him back.

Eli's heart began to hammer thinking that, somehow one of the Merged had passed him unnoticed, but when he turned around, he found a hard white hand clamped around his upper arm. The hand emerged from the inside of a cloak like a root from soil, pale and cold with lack of Sun.

"Take this." The Voice was surprisingly strong coming from the cloaked and hunched figure.

Another white hand emerged from the cloak, and when Eli didn't immediately reach out to take the object, Peer stepped in for him. The pale hand opened spidery fingers and allowed a small silver Pendant to slip from the fingers onto Peter's palm.

The outer edge of a silver circle and engraved tree flickered at him before Peter closed his hand around the pendant.

And then the cloaked figure was gone , and the two of them were left standing alone in the hallway where bishop was finally able to catch up with them, "Please, if you must leave, then let us at least help. It is much harder to get out of the city than it is to get in, but Arlene can take you." He motioned the tall woman over, "It will likely take a bribe to remove those collars, but trying to leave through the front gate will attract unwanted attention, best to do it this way."

Eli certainly didn't trust this man to help them, but Peter seemed convinced.

Before he could make an argument Arlene was already on her way, and the two of them were jogging again to keep up with her.

It was with annoyance only that she led them, first, back to the main city market where Eli was obliged to buy provisions through their snowy trek east.

Afterwards, and With confident strides she led them through the darkened city, crawling through caves so small Eli found it a wonder that any of them even fit. The further they went the less people there were until finally, they reached a cavern lit by the dim wan light of a cloudy day. A man was sitting at the entrance smoking a pipe, and as Arlene flashed him the silver badge, he stood and returned the signal, smiling at them as they approached nervously.

He looked at Arlene and she looked at Eli, "Payment."

Eli grumbled as he retrieved his coin purse, but the man seemed satisfied, and stepped forward to examine their collars.

He grunted once, and then with a sharp click, the collars fell open. Into the man's hands, "Better get moving. The merged don't often venture towards an opening, but there is always a chance they might see you leaving."

Eli and Peter needed no second prompting, and hurried out into, what seemed to them, blinding light, which quickly faded to a dim, overcast sky.

Off in the distance there was snow on the mountains and the sky overhead was dark and overcast with coming snow giving the light around them a diffused blue cast. Small flakes were just beginning to flutter from the sky, landing on the side of Kurshing and vaporizing with the heat from the massive creature's body making it stand out from the snow capped mountains to either side of them. Eli popped his collar and pulled his hat lower over his head, part of the provisions he had purchased in the market.

The fur was warm, and he couldn't find enough in his heart to pity the creature that had been killed for it to be made.

Peter's Fur-lined hood was much the same, and together they trudged down the side of the mountain pausing before the field of snow that stood before them stretching out down the mountainside. Large trees grew up around them, bows covered in heavy clots of snow.

"Maybe we should have stayed the night in Kurshing." Peter said glancing back at the mountain now obscured by fog from its warm, moist breath.

Eli shook his head.

"The less time we spend around the Order of Hope, the better."

Peter frowned, and it was only then that Eli noticed the younger man tucking the silver pendant hurriedly into his shirt.