Illuminating the Dark Kingdom

[Nentsia]

Jarl Steinsson jumped out of the taxi as soon as it had arrived at the bus station. He ran towards a random bus and jumped on it, noticing that just before it closed its doors, another man got in as well. He looked fairly ordinary, carrying a bag with groceries. But the moment he stepped in, his eyes obviously quickly scanned the entire bus. Was he looking for a free seat? When his eyes came across Jarl, they locked. He was looking for Jarl, not a free seat.

The bus drove away and Jarl took a seat next to an old lady. The man with the groceries sat down in the back of the bus. After three stops, Jarl got up and pretended to be preparing to leave at the next stop. The man with the groceries kept seated. At the next stop, Jarl left the bus, and noticed the man with the groceries then quickly got up and went after him. But he hadn't noticed Jarl re-entered the bus again through the door at the rear part - and stared at his follower who was still standing outside as the bus closed its doors and drove away. Another follower shaken off. How many more to go?

Eventually Jarl got off the bus after it arrived in an entirely different district of the city. It was a rather quiet neighbourhood that didn't look too welcoming. Jarl slipped away through a few narrow alleys, in a bid to evade CCTV. After searching for a while, he found himself an entrance to a subway station and descended underground. He bought himself a ticket to the station that was near Wenceslas Road, where he had to be.

Outside Wenceslas Metrostation, Jarl almost suffered a heart attack as two police officers were standing there with guard dogs. But the officers did nothing when he looked one of them straight in the eyes. They weren't there for him. Jarl exited the station and found himself in the middle of Wenceslas Road, which turned out to be an extremely busy street in Blauhavn.

Now Jarl knew what he had to do from his instructions. This was the road where he had to be. He had been told beforehand to look for a white bench. Jarl spent perhaps 20 minutes walking up and down the long road, before he had found a white bench. It was a small, wooden, white bench past the sidewalk. Behind it were a few trees, and a bronze statue of a medieval Nerysian horseman and knight. Jarl got his photocamera out and took a picture with it from the statue. He then dropped the camera, on purpose, but pretended it to be accidental. As he reached for his camera, his eyes quickly scanned the ground. Ah yes, there it was! Right next to the statue, on the ground, someone had dropped an empty box of cigarrettes. Jarl casually reached for it and put it in his pocket along with his camera. He then quickly moved on and walked around the block. It wasn't until he was away for a few hundred meters that he dared to take the cigarrette package out of his pocket. While pretending to reach for a smoke, he read the contents written on the inside of the empty box. ''Goderic Park, look for a Bishop''.

Jarl entered the nearest tourist shop, and bought a map of the city. He calculated that the Goderic Park was within walking distance. Jarl constantly checked around him if he was being followed, constantly describing the people he saw around him in his head so that he would notice if he described someone twice, or thrice. But no one seemed to be following him. Especially in the Goderic Park, he seemed to be alone. The park was dark, as all sunlight was being blocked - for as far as the clouds didn't already do that. The trees were tall and heavy. The roads going through the park were adorned with enormous - yet somewhat creepy statues on the sides. At intervals of 50 meters there were benches on each side of the road. Some had couples on it, or occasionally an old man. Two police officers with guard dogs were on patrol in the park.

After a while it started to dawn on Jarl that he had to follow the statues and look for a ''Bishop'' among them. The problem was... they were all statues of bishops and priests, martyrs and saints. Hundreds of them. Half way down the park, Jarl realized he had come past at least 8 statues of bishops. He stopped to check his map. He was in the right place. ''Sir Goderic's Park''. He looked right over his shoulder. He noticed he was standing next to the statue of a knight. A sign indicated that this was a statue of ''Sir Goderic...'' ''...Bishop''. Goderic's Park was dedicated to this knight: Sir Goderic Bishop. This had to be the Bishop he was looking for.

''Are you looking for a Bishop, sir?'', an old man asked in Lanlanian as he approached Jarl. Jarl nodded. ''Lets go to my car then.'' The man, dressed in a long black coat and wearing a little grey hat showed Jarl where his car was. It was a cheap, old hatchback.

Once they were safely in the car, and driving, the man began to loosen up. ''You may call me Paul. How was your trip?''

''Oh well, as usual. Most of the time is spent waiting. No troubles. I had to lose a few on my way to you.'' Jarl responded. Paul laughed.

''Don't worry about it. The Lanlanian business man on a working visit cover is so old that they don't fall for it anymore. Every Lanlanian 'business man' gets shadowed thanks to us.'' Jarl wasn't sure whether he should feel relieved with that knowledge.

''But tell me, how are things back in Nyland?'' Paul asked.

''Oh you know. Things are getting a bit tense. Far right is stirring up trouble. The usual.'' Jarl responded. He figured that Paul probably hadn't seen his home country for years.

''Son, let me tell you something.'' Paul then said in a more serious manner. There seemed to be some irritation in his voice. ''I'm glad they sent you here to help me, but I gotta say I was expecting a little more... experienced person. No disrespect, but... you have no idea what's going on here. And I can tell you this, its vile. You have entered the madhouse. I hope you can handle that.''

''So why don't you start telling me, what's going on in this country?'' Jarl coldly responded.

Paul took his eyes off the road and looked at him. ''Im sure you have noticed those police officers and their dogs.''

''What about them?''

''Theyre not real.'' Paul responded.

''What do you mean, not real?''

''Theyre fake. Actors. Not real cops. Theyre paid to pretend to be policing the streets.''

''Why would they do that?'' Jarl asked in disbelief.

''Oh theyre here merely to enforce the illusion of surveillance and security. The real cops in this country never look like a cop. This is the country where no one has seen the head of state alive for the past 25 years. The people know there is a King, but at the same time they don't know whether he really exists at all. But no one would even dare to question his existence. They feel his power around them every single day. Those that do question the existence of the King are, sooner or later, declared insane by their environment and taken to the asylum.''

Jarl thought the man was messing with him. As he looked out of the window, he noticed another pair of police officers in the street. Nothing about them betrayed they weren't real. This country was quickly becoming a lot more strange.