Red Leaves and the Living Token - By Benjamin David Burrell Page 0,31

can't be compromised. Others must step back to let the others survive. However unpleasant or unpopular, the facts cannot be changed. We must set our emotions aside and let our reason dictate. It'll be horribly unfair. It'll be the most awful thing we've ever had to do. But in the end we will pass through this, and we will survive.

“Or, if we do nothing we will all die.”

The room dropped into silence. “We simply no longer have enough for everyone.” Valance said quietly.

He scanned their faces for their reaction. One outburst triggered an explosion of yelling and screaming.

“This is your solution?” Someone shouted from the first row.

“Kill half the population to save the other half?” Another yelled nearby.

“…Unacceptable! You're insane! Dangerous!” Came shouts from the back.

The Lord Speaker stood and pounded his gavel. After a moment, the roar calmed enough for him to speak.

“And who, Lord Valance, would you propose head this committee? You? Is that what this about?” The Lord Speaker asked.

Valance turned and answered, “I offer my experience with the production and distribution of Manae as well as with managing consumption rates. I have a plan where in I can reduce the overall national consumption to fit within the limits of supply until we’re able to provide an alternative. If that is of use to the Senate, I will serve.”

Again, the room erupted in an explosion of shouts from the body of senators. The Lord Speaker stood up and pounded his gavel. This time to no effect. The senators refused to quiet themselves.

Lord Valance turned back to the general assembly, surveying the angry mob shouting at him from behind their desks. Each trying to be heard over the angry cries of the others. He shook his head in frustration. He was afraid the time had come. He knew what he had to do, yet, his hand stayed motionless at his side. Something deep still nagged at him not to do this. But what other choice did he have? They wouldn’t listen to logical argument. And even then, he could see they agreed to the need for action and the problem with inaction. Yet they mocked and scorned his solution. Simply because they disliked the one presenting it? He simply couldn’t allow this.

He moved his hand to the hilt of his sword. With the touch of his open palm on the engraved metal, a cool mist shot out from him, hitting the ground then swelling up and out over the crowd. As the mist expanded, he could feel the minds of the senators. He could feel their intense anger, their bitterness, their fear. He could see their distrust of him.

He focused on that fear and pushed. If he could suppress it long enough for a vote. Perhaps they could move forward. He pushed harder, with the absolute concentration that his years of experience with these tools had given him.

But their minds did not react. The mist that he had pushed out over them started to lose cohesion. And then it was gone.

His mind snapped back to the confines of his own thoughts, his own body. His hand was still on the hilt of his sword. How was this possible? He hadn’t broken connection with the sword. Yet… He lifted his palm. The insignia, etched into the skin of his palm that had once glowed brightly any time he’d used the weapon, was now dark.

His tool of last resort had failed.

He dropped down off the of the desk, turned his back to the senators and walked towards the exit door of the chamber.

“Where are you going?” The Lord Speaker demanded. “The general body has not excused you? Do you hear me?”

-

Valance’s mind reeled in confusion as he tried to process what had just happened. He tried to assess where he stood and what his next action should be. But nothing seemed to be clear. His worst fear had just been realized. The weapons were now completely useless. Of course, he’d been aware of the decline in their effectiveness over the years. He started phasing out their use years ago for that reason, hoping to save them for when they were absolutely necessary. It’d been over a decade now since he’d last had to use them. And so he imagined it’d be years to come before their potency was entirely lost. And by that time, he imagined they’d have found the Token. Today, they should have been effective.

Could they really have diminished sitting in his dark storage as much as they