Series Recap
Everyone knew the history. Every school child of The City – Derbon – was taught it, whether Over the Hill or Under the Hill.
The Skinned living Over the Hill had ‘designed’ those living Under the Hill to be subservient, not much more than obedient slaves, held behind an imaginary barrier, the Boundary.
Until one day, a Natural birth, Denzin, was taken. In a daring escapade, his designed yet strong friend, Chimma, with his intelligent and perfectly designed twin sister, Kayda, rescued him.
Before he could recover from his ordeal, though, Kayda was taken herself, as were their parents.
The heroes Denzin and Chimma found and rescued his parents, but could only watch as Kayda was forced to board a ship and sailed away.
About this time, a new development, Silver, was used to fix the masks permanently in place. Before long, Silver covered the whole bodies of the enslaved. Nothing could come against the eternal hold of the Silver once it was laid upon its victims.
The heroes rescued a number of others, including Mik Markson, the Story-Teller; Councillor Ban Criche, The City’s longest-serving council-member; Fil King, son of Jamas King, head of The City’s world-famous biology lab; and Fil’s future wife, Tandy. With the help of Jamas King, Denzin and Chimma left The City on foot, beginning an epic journey in search for his sister.
Now silvered, Kayda was turned into a silverer, doomed to inflict on other captives the same torture she endured. These she permanently tethered, turning two individual slaves into a single, inseparable unit. Before long, Kayda and her Source were permanently tethered, as well.
It was in the midst of this ordeal that Mik himself turned up in Kayda’s lab, and she was commanded to find a way to do the impossible – put new Silver over old Silver – in order to once again silence him with a mask. Instead, Kayda bravely defied her slave-master and discovered a different type of impossible – Dissolver, the only compound that could ever dissolve Silver. In her great wisdom, she twisted the commands laid upon her, using this discovery instead to help free the enslaved.
When Denzin and Chimma plucked Kayda, her Source and Mik from the clutches of their Skinned master, along with a student, Brow Tanner, the six of them began their ministry of healing to those they rescued from their slavery to the Skinned.
For Denzin and Chimma were the ‘Designed’ and ‘his Strength’, foretold by Senda through prophecies given in many places over many years. Now that the Designed and his Strength had at last arisen, all it took was a word from his mouth or a touch of her hand and freedom burst forth. And everywhere they travelled, they sowed the seeds of legends through their words and deeds.
Then came that desperate night – the Battle of Cliff Island, the night even lightning fought for the Silvered. The Designed harnessed the very power of that lightning, shooting it from his hand as if he was one with the storm itself.
But once the lightning had done its work and vanished, the Designed was swept up with it to his eternal glory.
Despite their grief, the valiant Strength and the founder of the Lightning Force, Mik the Story-Teller, carried on his mission of unleashing freedom back into the world.
Meanwhile, Kayda and her new partner, Brow, continued to research Silver and the gas, turning them from tools of enslavement to emblems of liberty.
If the Silver Rebellion was sparked from Denzin’s ultimate sacrifice, it was blown into a raging fire by the Lightning Force, empowering the Silvered to at last rise up against the Skinned.
Freedom won and the Skinned were punished, subjugated, made to pay the price of their sins. As was only right.
And yet, in the dark corners of The City, a new prophecy was given. The Ruby and the Redeemer were coming.
