Linéaire : The lost Kingdom

Chapter 1

I am.... no one in fact!

In this world where only the rulers have power and we, the common people, have no say.

So imagine a 17 year old living in... squalor with the rest of her large family. Faced with all the nobles of the country, less than 10% of the population of our beloved country, who have everything at their fingertips. The year is 2544. Following the third world war, a nuclear war, the world has been reshaped. None of the countries of today exist anymore. No one won that war, and we, the people of those countries, are the survivors. The rich people didn't fight, they didn't lose their relatives to the war, like our great grandparents. They just hid in their bunkers and waited for things to happen and decimate half the world's population. Then they went out and "rebuilt the world", creating new countries under the rule of rulers seeking ever more power.

We are in a country called Endalya. It is quite large but the population is mostly concentrated in the capital, Jakena, where I currently live with my seven siblings and our parents. I am the third sibling and considered the intellectual of this house. I am as much in charge of teaching the younger members of the family as I am of hunting and gathering in the forest not far from our home. I am in charge of the family accounts and also of shopping, as I am the only one who has taken courses.

There is also THE big moment, when the prince, aged 20, must get married. A sort of great lottery is organised, selecting twenty girls from the country, always rich, or if a common girl is chosen she does not succeed for long in remaining among the prince's favourites, she finds herself eliminated even before having spent one term out of the whole year in the palace.

Everyone is looking forward to this event, even the people, as a summary of life in the palace is broadcast every week. Everyone is invited to see this event without having to pay. With, perhaps, the tiny chance of being among the selected girls.

I don't like it. I hope with all my heart that I will never be selected for this. For with all the bad luck I have, the prince has just turned twenty and I am exactly in the age range selected. From sixteen to twenty we can be selected! I am the only one in the family who is concerned. Max and Paul of 22 and 21 are my two older brothers and therefore directly eliminated. Then comes me, Lynn, 17, followed by Melanie and Louis, only 12, then Eliott 10 and finally Adrian 6. All too young. And if I am taken, what will my family do? I am the only one able to manage our savings and the lessons for the last four. I managed to teach my mother the basics of mathematics but it's not enough for them to live properly.

I was lucky enough to get a few years of education. I was taken in by an old lady who couldn't have children and who thought I was too cute to leave me like that. So she put me through the equivalent of the pre-war "première littéraire" and she died two years ago, so I had to stop. I also learned violin and piano there; she was nice but I hardly ever saw her. I would just come to her manor to take my lessons and leave as soon as they were over.

- Lynn, come to me!" my mother calls.

I do as she says, letting go of the accounts and go to what is my parents' room. In front of me, on a hanger, is a sublime burgundy red lace dress. It must be mid-thigh and has three quarter length sleeves. It is sublime....

- So what do you think, love?

- It's beautiful, Mum, but it must have cost a fortune.

- You take it, it's non-negotiable. It's your gift! For once I can make you happy. You'll need it tomorrow for the selection.

- Mum...

- Do me a favour!

I grumble but accept. I could always sell it andsave money.