James enjoyed his church. The pastor had known him since he was a young boy. James remembered fondly all of the times that he and the other teenagers gathered in the pastor's lounge and with cups of hot drinks on their laps. They spent the evenings arguing about things like predestination and the necessity of divine propitionary atonement. James had felt as though those were the sessions where he got to decide the man that he would become.

So much time had passed since those days, yet it all seemed to flow naturally because of that time. The pastor, who back then, had been the epitome of cool in certain circles, now was a middle-aged man with teenage children of his own and they only half listened to their father.

James paused as he thought of the changing perspectives that aging brings to people. James still had the utmost respect for the man, but he wondered if he would have admired him as much if he had only met him at this age rather than as a teenager meeting a young adult.

The service started and James felt a familiar buzz of nerves. He knew that this was the audience that was the least likely to judge him, yet somehow this was the crowd that he always had wanted to please.

Alicia was sitting in the third row. Her beaming face never once straying from his face, just like in the olden days. The woman didn't know how to hide her pride.

"Thank you, John" James said into the microphone, "It is such an honour to stand before you and speak to you. I know that many of you, worry about the message that our young people receive from the media. I worry about it too, but I can assure you that as long as there people like Pastor John to come alongside them and teach them how to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we don't need to worry about the flames that the enemy will shoot at us."

"I strive to write stories that are amusing and entertaining. But more than that I also want to write that which is wholesome and builds the viewer up. I couldn't have even attempted to do this, without the support of the community that comes alongside me and shows me what it is to be the creature that God created me to be, when there are so many that would have us otherwise."

"Pray for me - I thank God for giving me the opportunity to speak to so many people, it is not a platform that many people get, but also pray for me that I don't forget my roots or what is the most important thing on the earth."

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The screen suddenly became ablaze, fire shot across the screen as Phoenix jumped in a motorcycle across a ravine. On the side of his bike there was a picture of a flame.

The camera then showed the Lesser Lord George standing in front of a throne. In his left hand, he held a walking stick as the symbol of his authority. In his right hand, he held a diary that was filled with the many tasks that he had set himself to do.

Some thought that the Lesser Lord George was evil incarnate. Many believed that he never had had a childhood but instead had come to the island of Zilby as a fully formed adult. He was rumoured to never laugh and seldom smile. He used Gantt charts and other weapons against the populace.

The Lesser Lord George was officially the most powerful person on the islands of Zilby. He was a member of the Mamlish tribe. The Mamlish were a cruel people who had two core pillars that held up their society. The first was an unquestioning commitment to politeness and decorum. Due process was said to be the cure to all of society's problems. If all the boxes were discussed and then all ticked, nobody would have any reason to feel as though they are hard done by. The second was a commitment to hierarchy. Every person had a clearly defined sphere in which they would operate.

The Mamlish believed that people could be divided into three classes. First were the producers or the Greater Lords who owned vast tracks of land that had the resources to make many goods. Then there were the consumers, often called the shepherdless, whose existence's purpose, the Mamlish reasoned was to make sure that the Greater Lords did not produce in vain. They had to buy whatever the Greater Lords produced and consume it.

Finally, there were the Lesser Lords and the Lowly Ladies. These were people whose existence was to serve the rest of the society. They helped the producers produce. They ensured that the goods were available for the consumers to consume.

None of them were theoretically free to serve their own interests. They had a Greater Lord that they needed to answer to. All of them had to keep careful account of what work they had done in the weeks that they were away from their Greater Lords. All of them had carefully thought out aims and goals.

There were studies that showed that humanity flourished under this system. Structure is good. It allows for creativity and freedom. All the peer reviewed articles agreed. Any that didn't, didn't pass the peer review.

Perfectionism and tidiness are hard to argue against, and the Lesser Lord George was the type of person who made sure that no fault could be found against him. Some said that he didn't dream and never innovated. He took this as the highest compliment. He inherited a system, that worked, and he made sure that it continued working in the same fashion as it always had.

Phoenix hated the Mamlish with a passion. Hatred was an acceptable emotion for Phoenix to feel and he was not shy about it. He swore whenever he spoke of them, he clenched his fists whenever he told people what he was going to do. He believed in violence.

Violence was frowned upon by the Mamlish. They said that violence did not bring long term solutions to problems. It created an environment of fear where people were not free to engage in commerce peacefully.

However, the Mamlish were not opposed to torture. Which they saw as a just deterrent for negative behaviour. When the rules and the consequences where laid out, one could only assume that people wanted the consequences, or they wouldn't have broken the rules. Actually, the Mamlish were doing them a favour by punishing them.

The Lesser Lord George was always careful about the manner that he dressed in. He made sure that every fold in his clothing was clear and distinct and that there was not a crease that was not supposed to be there. The Lesser Lord George was always clean. There was never a speck of dust on his skin. He always tried to wash away any sweat that formed on his body as soon as it appeared. The Lesser Lord George brushed his teeth a minimum of three times a day. If he were required by the rigours of the day to eat afternoon tea, he would brush his teeth a fourth time.

The Lesser Lord George loved parallel lines, he had an eye for them and he would get very cross when he thought that two lines might intersect at anything other than 90° if extended by sufficiently long distance into an adjoining room.

The Lesser Lord George hated prime numbers, but he made exceptions for the numbers 2,3, and 5. He was quite found of those numbers.

Phoenix didn't think about whether numbers were prime or not. If he knew how much the Lesser Lord George thought about prime numbers, he would have spray painted the number eleven all over the city.