Capital is the city where life is running constantly. It is a huge place full of metal, cold human souls and dirt. Somebody’s blood is always spilt in here. Regular executions, murders, punishments are common to this place. Fear, hatred, envy, spite and blood thirst persistently accompanies the Capital. These sensations saturate this city to such a great extent that if it wasn’t for them, the city itself wouldn’t probably exist at all. Each inhabitant of this cursed place hated, envied or killed someone at least for once. Doesn’t matter if it was a human or an animal. Everything went rotten in this city. However, for an unknown reason it still remained in its place and wasn’t going to collapse. It is probably because of the fact that it underwent continuous renovation. Pretty much the entire continent worked for the city – the Capital.
Iron, construction materials, food supplies and many other goods are delivered to the Capital from every corner of the continent. The city itself doesn’t produce anything in great quantities except for beggars and outcasts. It only consumes something. It consumes people depriving them of everything, even their soul. It swallows supplies throwing unwanted waste outside its borders. It consumes metal not only for renewing itself but also for defending from the monsters that aren’t against feasting upon the inhabitants who went astray.
The Capital devours everyone who has displayed even the slightest weakness of their soul. It doesn’t give a second chance. If you didn’t succeed at once, you could forget about your desires and place in society. Perhaps, this is why only the best of the best managed to assimilate with the city. This was the city where the entire elite had been accumulated. This city was the judge over the rest. No matter the attitude the city received, be it hate or love, it remained in its place and only grew further. It slowly spread, absorbing more and more territories and human destinies.
This is the only place where everything is possible and the only place where one cannot change anything.
The city is inhabited by a vast multitude of citizens – from the mutants who lost their point in existence to wealthy and prominent pure-blood humans. The latter are recognized in the city the most. If you descended from the upper levels and, more than that, were pure-blooded – you can consider yourself to have already succeeded. You were always surrounded by light and adoration in the society. You could become the master of the world if only you wished. The pure-bloods are the descendants of the humans who survived the nuclear disaster in safe shelters. However, there was a small number of those left on the continent. Just a few families, three of which lived in the Capital. The first family was the Kurokawas. The progeny of the last surviving Asians. The family consisted of two elder brothers each having three wives. All of the women gave birth to children. The wives also had blood relations – whether a brother or a sister. The family was relatively big, unlike the second family – the Gerbens. The head of the family was Father who had two sons, all of whom had wives, yet only the elder brother had a daughter. The third family was the descendants of the Slavs – the Yasnas. The head of the family was named Victor. He had a wife, the elder son and the younger daughter. Victor once had the younger sister, but she has disappeared under strange circumstances. No matter how he tried to find his sister, it was all in vain.
A long time ago, or not that long, the numbers of pure-blood families were greater, yet with time the majority of them were simply extinct.
More than a century has passed since the moment of the catastrophe, which devastated their former way of life. It was such an unexpected event that nobody could even realize what exactly had happened. Suddenly everything around became different – the air, the ground, the water. Then, in a blink of an eye, everything changed, and it resulted in enormous casualties of human beings on the planet.
Unfortunately, the world has changed not on the surface but also from the inside. The planet weakened and ceased to protect its inhabitants from danger. Therefore, there were many of those who were unable to defend themselves from the collective insanity. Gradually every living being was filled with fear of something mysterious that has finally released itself. What exactly it was no one knew. After the collapse of the civilization, humans started to reestablish communities since it was the only chance for survival in struggle with this unknown. Communities transformed into villages, villages to towns, towns to states, and the states began to form alliances. As a result, the alliance comprising of all the survivors grew into a big city, which received its name – the Capital.
This Capital was surrounded by lesser cities which bore numbers rather than names. City Number One, Two, etc. And the world around continued to go crazy. Animals turned into monsters ready to attack and devour you without batting an eye. The beasts changed not only their psychology but also the appearance. No one could tell what exactly happened, and what caused radiation level on the planet to rise, but with time it saturated the planet and altered its nature. Animals developed into smarter and more agile creatures, while flora became even more dangerous. Some of the plants became so much carnivorous that they not only preyed upon the flesh of living or deceased, but also learned to move great distances. Their movement could be compared to the way a slow turtle crawls, and still it was enough.
The practice of living among humans also transformed: it became harsher than it used to be. The upper level entirely controlled the lower. Outcasts were neglected. They were nothing more than meat for the animals outside the city. At the same time, everyone seemed to be forgetting that even the outcasts had emotions and dignity. Many people were simply indifferent.
The higher you climbed the social ladder separating you from, the lower levels, the haughtier and rougher you could become. This world didn’t tolerate the weak. “Weakness is for the outcasts!” – the upper levels tended to repeat. All of them hid their “little weakness” in closets. For the upper classes, everything that in the slightest way was connected to a level below was not worth paying attention to. At times, the lower you went, the more humane people you could come across, the ones ready to show empathy and assist you in any way. This empathy was foreign to the upper levels. Still, exceptions to this fact could be found.
Time taught humans, even from the upper class, that many objects should be treated with care so that they can last longer. But of course, this referred to furniture, household appliances and other households helpful stuff in daily routine. New goods were expensive, while financial income wasn’t that easy to get.
All in all, humans in the new world had quite many rules for conventional lifestyle. Not always, and not all of them followed the rules, and still, the bigger part tried to do so, as these rules helped survive in this violent reality.
The upper class has always been alluring for the lower one. Only sharp wits and inventiveness possibly opened the doors to this society. Only a few managed to escape from the lower levels. Fortunately, at least they existed. Some were rejected by the upper class and ended up at the bottom. This happened to a famous scientist who invented the weapon to fight the “dogs”. Such a name was given to mutated doglike creatures – wolves and jackals that enjoyed prowling about the lover levels of the city and often attacked the smaller towns in packs. If it were not for the fact that these cities supplied the Capital, no one would have approved the scientist’s ideas.
Thus, everything was decided. For a long time this scientist had everything he could dream of – money, power, position in the society. Even though he was a lunatic, he was very worthy. And then, after someone else invented a different, more convenient and effective way to fight the “dogs”, the scientist’s position started to gradually shake. Soon he found himself on the lowest levels of the society. No longer was he worshiped and loved, he had no power and no money. However, despite all the deprivations, he carried on creating. He continued to invent and was a true genius.
The scientist had a daughter whom he loved dearly and thus didn’t want the upper society to spoil her. Destroy the purity of her soul. For a long time she had been living outside the capital, and when she grew older she returned to her father who already lost his wealth but kept his mystical muse. One evening, while strolling about the old house where they lived, she came across an unusual metal door. First she didn’t want to open it, but the natural curiosity took advantage. The girl opened the metal door by entering the pass code – her mother’s birthday date. Behind the door was a miniature laboratory. Tables with chaotic disorder on them, shelves with different books and a huge container – that’s all what could be seen in this lab. The girl looked around and wanted to approach the container to see what’s inside, as someone pulled her back by the hand.
“Miriana, what are you doing in here?” the scientist asked her.
“I… simply… Ehm…”, Miriana didn’t know what to reply because her father appeared so unexpectedly.
The scientist looked over his daughter, turned around to close the door to the lab and walked towards the container. On his way he started a monologue full of emotions and gesticulation, while Miriana was standing timidly aside observing her father. Never before did he let her in his laboratory, and probably his current mood was on the rise.
“It’s been a while since I started to realize that my days in the upper society are numbered. Therefore, I decided to build my own lab on the lower levels of the Capital so that nobody could find my creation. I remember the day I found her body ten years ago. Oh! She was unusual! She couldn’t be distinguished from the pure-blood human! Only the eyes gave her away – the irises were simply incredible. It was constantly changing colour! Her body, even almost dead, kept on living. I could never have imagined something like this was possible! I recall helping her avoid the claws of death. Yes, it was back then when we concluded this agreement. She gives me her body, and I help her forget her past. I don’t know what exactly was in her past that made her want to erase it from memory so desperately, but I accomplished my promise. I sealed her memory!
For many years I had been studying her body. It possesses unbelievable abilities. If she is released, she can conquer the Capital with her talents. I don’t know how, but she can control the surrounding organic world. She can penetrate living tissue and affect it! She is just amazing. I will show her to you, daughter, but I beg you – protect her, don’t allow her talents to be used by anyone. – The scientist stopped as if choosing the right words. He was clearly talking to an invisible opponent. Finishing his inner dialogue, the scientist continued. – These vermin can use her power for their nasty goals, and I don’t want this to happen. She possesses the soul, even though she doesn’t have a memory anymore. But I left a single fragment in her head – the one in which I appear. The moment when I find her tormented in the junkyard.”
“Daddy, what were you doing in the junkyard?” Miriana asked in surprise.
“I was searching for research material, and I found it,” the scientist gently petted on the container. “Sometimes people throw away valuable material without noticing it. Miriana, let me introduce you to someone. This is Lilith.”
The scientist pressed a button on the panel at the container, and its walls started to slide down. Behind the glass was a girl with light-brown hair. She was entirely wrapped in wires connected to her arms, legs and torso. She tranquilly floated in the aquarium filled with a yellowish liquid which seemed to serve simultaneously as a blanket, home and the best friend. Lilith seemed so peaceful that one could think she was in a coma or simply sleeping when she suddenly opened her eyes and looked at Miriana.
“She liked you,” said the scientist smiling.
Miriana didn’t share his confidence. She was afraid of Lilith. Miriana didn’t know Lilith, and it frightened her the most. After inspecting Miriana, Lilith slowly closed her eyes and drowned herself to sleep again. Miriana’s father pressed the same button, and the walls started to go up until it completely hid Lilith from view.
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