Illuminating the Dark Kingdom

[Nentsia]

Blauhavn - Nerysia

It was crowded with people in the big northern harbor of Nerysia, as a passenger ship had just arrived and had begun unloading. Among the passengers was a Lanlanian middle-aged man, named Jarl Steinsson. Steinsson frequently checked his phones for new messages while waiting in the line before the customs service, as every arrived passenger had his visum and identity extensively checked. The arrivals hall was monitored with CCTV cameras everywhere and heavily armed royal military police officers were casually walking arround the waiting people with dogs by their side, sniffing at people and their bags.

Once Jarl had managed to get through all the security, he pulled over a taxi outside to take him to his hotel. ''So what brings you here? Tourist? Family?'' the cab driver asked in broken Lanlanian. Jarl shook his head. ''Work. But I also like the opportunity to get to know the country a little bit.''

The cab driver seemed genuinely honored that the foreigner was taking an interest in his country. Not many people did. ''Thats good to hear. Here in this city, we have lots of things to see. The cathedrals, the squares, the shore. Make sure you taste our fish as well!''

Jarl smiled. ''I will surely explore the city. Anything I have to watch out for?''

The cab driver hesitated for a moment. ''No, here its pretty good. Nothing can happen to you. Just don't take photographs of government buildings. Some tourists got into trouble for that.''

Jarl nodded. He was aware of that odd rule. Once he had arrived at his hotel, a majestic building looking out over the water, he reached for his phone. No new messages, and no missed phonecalls. Jarl entered the grand lobby of the hotel, lavishly decorated with gold and marble, enormous crystal lamps, and of course a giant portrait of a stern-looking monarch in formal uniform. A lady at the reception welcomed Jarl to the hotel. ''You're room is ready. All we require is your passport, which will be kept in a safe. One of our staff is on his way to take you to your room and carry any luggage.''

Once Jarl entered his room and was left alone, he began to relax a bit. He checked the bathroom, the mini-bar, and the bedroom and concluded that he could get used to such luxury. He walked over to the window, looking out over the sea. He then went to the mini-bar to grab a glass and a bottle of Lomarran wine, and turned on the tv for some background noise. Nerysian TV was quite odd. There were roughly 200 channels, all of them Nerysian. They broadcasted documentaries, ballet performances, a tonne of commercials, movies and game shows. The most peculiar tv programs were their so-called news shows and talk shows.

The news was just an endless list of horrible footage from across Siora about wars, crime, and disasters taking place. It was almost with a kind of sadistic pleasure that Nerysian tv reported on the suffering of people elsewhere on the planet. The talk shows were equally odd. They seemed to start with something light-hearted, like a live music performance, after which they would discuss a more serious topic. This ''serious topic'' was handled by two ''guest'' commentators entering a discussion on subjects like abortion, crime or immigration. One guest was labelled an ''activist'', the other branded an ''expert''. The ''activist'' seemed to be something of a carricature, always taking very extreme stances, acting hysterical, and inviting the boo's from the audience. Opposite to that was a moderate ''expert'', calmly reasoning, applying logic and simply taking the stances that were more or less in line with those of the Nerysian government. So Nerysian talk shows looked a rather staged excercise at ridiculing and mocking the views of the political opposition.

After watching tv for a while, one of Jarl's phones pinged. He had a new message:

''WENCESLAS RD. LEAVE PHONE IN HOTEL''

Jarl knew everything he had to know. His heart-rate took a jump. He dismantled his phones, taking out their chip and batteries, locking them in the safe in his hotel room. The glass of wine he drank from disappeared in his briefcase and he checked the sheets on the bed for any hairs he might have left behind. Having made sure he had removed at least all obvious traces of DNA, he quietly left his room, taking the staircase down. As Jarl exited the hotel, he quickly scanned the environment and parking lot to see if there were any figures observing the hotel entrance, or whether any cars were staking out.

Realizing there were simply too many cars, and too many people in the streets to realistically spot any professional observers, Jarl decided to play a little game. He nearly threw himself, in an act of total recklessness, before a taxi to make it stop and quickly jumped in the car. ''To the central bus station please!''

The surprised and somewhat irritated cab driver nodded, and drove off. Jarl checked the mirrors to see if there was any response from someone, and indeed, some young man who was seemingly just having a smoke and a chat with a lady could now be seen aiming his telephone camera at Jarl's taxi. Gotcha!