City Walls [Lucent Fortune and Blue Demon]

[Blue Demon]

It was the year 2034. Or it was also known as 0 W.E. (World's end). It was the year the end of the world came to Earth. It started small in a small town in Russia. People got sick then they would fall into a coma and die. It was dubbed the 'Sleeping Death' by the newspapers. Most people didn't worry about it because it was contained, and far away from them. Then it began appearing in Africa, then Europe, then America.

By the year 2037, 3 W.E. people began to panic. No one knew how the disease was spreading, only that it was. People began to isolate themselves in a futile attempt to save themselves. Over the next five years millions died. Society collapsed. The world as we knew it had ended. Then the disease went away. It was the year 8 W.E. People just stopped dying. But the fear remained.

People who had outlasted it by isolation kept their isolation. Some people wandered about, salvaging items to sell. Society had regressed. Only a small handful of communities retained technology and the means to use them. Mainly those places that isolated themselves. They continued to advance themselves and began to build upwards into the sky. Now, in the year 56 W.E. In one city, an event is about to take place.

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The high wall always blotted out the sun except for when it was at its zenith. The walls themselves made up for it by being illuminecent. It was beautiful in Peter's opinion. The walls, not the sun. The sun was also beautiful, but in a different, unrestrained way. It lived outside the walls.

Outside.

Nothing, it was said, was left of mankind outside of the walls. The Sleeping Death had killed everyone who hadn't hidden away inside this city. It was said that the Sleeping Death waited outside the walls, waiting to get in. So no one should ever leave. It was forbidden to go outside. So forbidden it held a death penalty. For if you caught the Sleeping Death and you came back inside with it... The consequences were unimaginable.

But Peter didn't know if he believed that. Sure they were safe inside the walls. But was everyone but them dead? Peter didn't believe this. Surely others had the same idea. Isolation couldn't have just been a singular idea unique to the city. And if no one lived outside anymore, how could the Sleeping Death still be there? He wasn't a doctor, but he had heard enough murmurings to know that it couldn't have survived.

Peter sighed and rolled over in his bed. He looked out the window of his room. His family lived on the tenth floor of housing building 112. Their building was only 27 stories tall. Some of the tallest buildings were over 50 stories tall, but never residential buildings. No, these ones were short enough that the tall city wall was still taller.

Tonight that city wall gleamed and it didn't make Peter feel safe. It didn't remind him of beautiful things. It made him feel trapped. He threw the covers over his head with a moan. Insomnia. It was common for him. How many nights had he laid awake with nothing but his thoughts to occupy him?

[Lucent Fortune]

An array of grey clouds hung in the sky, casting a slight haze over the otherwise warm day. But clouds could not completely cast away the radiant sun that regularly emerged from behind to dapple the land in golden rays, making the desolate land below a little more bearable. Cracked asphalt sprouting small weeds stretched for miles beneath alluring skies. Forming a maze, lined with leftovers of old civilizations and overgrowth. Fauna could still be found, but it was scarce, the epidemic had been harmful to animals as it had to humans, and creatures who lived to near found a tragic fate. Not a sound could be heard the overbearing silence was painful.

A solitary figure roamed along the once grand roads. The figure was a youth, dressed in coatings of tattered clothes and covered in a layer of dust. At his side hung a single bag, containing all of the worldly possessions that he possessed. Albeit young, this man seemed a great deal more world wary than the average one. Dark circles and small wrinkles adorned his face and lack of proper feeding gave way to a slightly weakened look. He walked with leisure, for there was no longer a need to hurry, moving hastily only seized further vigor that was not there to give. However, the steps were also firm as the destination would be reached eventually, so long as movement is to continue. The name of the wanderer was Uriel and he had been walking forsaken highways for an extensive amount of time now.

Uriel traveled with a single motive in mind, while he may have used primitive instinct to survive the field his drive was his desire to find another human. A human whose heart was still moving and whose blood still flowed, for what point would there be in living if redundancy occupied every day? Warm skin and comradeship filled the part of his heart that yearned. But now was not a time for thinking of the elusive beings he could not find, as it had been longer than he cared to remember since his last crumb, hunger became urgent when death lurked so closely around the corner.

[Blue Demon]

Peter tossed and turned. The moon spiraled slowly across the sky. The stars twinkled brightly. The city slept. He remained awake. He sighed and rolled over again and placed his pillow over his head. It didn't work. Peter tossed his pillow across the room and sat up. He ran a hand through his hair with a small groan. Sleep just wont come.

Peter climbed out of his bed. He stood in the middle of his room for a few moments trying to figure out what to do next. The network was shut down at this time of night, so he couldn't even chat with his friends. It wasn't advised to be outside your living quarters at this time of night either. However it would be the first night he had wandered off.

Peter quickly dressed in pants, shirt and a jacket. He grabbed a flashlight and a small blade. Weapons weren’t allowed in the city, but after one night of wandering when he almost got sliced up, he found one and began carrying it. It was only common sense. He tucked it into his back pocket and snuck out of the building. It wasn't hard, but it was time consuming to do it right.

Peter closed the door of the residence building behind him and peered around. With the glowing walls, a flashlight truly wasn't needed, but tonight he felt like he needed it. Peter slipped around a security camera and down the street like a wraith. It took him a good while to get to the wall. He sat down with his back to it. It was a common thing for him to do. It usually calmed him. But not tonight.

Tonight it felt like the wall was bending in to crush him. It was suffocating. Much like how his blankets had been when he had tried to sleep earlier. Peter got back to his feet and looked around. He needed to go further, but there was nowhere else to go. Or was there? His palms began to sweat and his heart was beating fast. Maybe he knew what he was going to do when he left home. The flashlight in his pocket was a testament to that.

Peter looked at the wall and he knew what he was going to do. He licked his lips nervously. Then took a deep breath. Just one look. He told himself. Just once. Where was the harm in that? He knew where an exit was. He walked for a while to a different part of town. An older part, but just as nice looking. He broke into one of the unoccupied buildings and turned on his flashlight. Years ago he had found a tunnel to the outside.

Peter searched as the city began to wake up. He was just about to give up when he found that the floor was unevenly textured in one spot. He crouched down and peeled back the floor with the help of the small blade. There was the hole! He grinned, then sobered. Was he really going to go through with this? He waited then climbed down into the hole.

He walked through the dark tunnel for a few minutes before natural light became visible. The exit. Peter turned off his flashlight and stepped out into freedom.