Cloud

Chapter 1 - Zero

The city of God, Hull, a place that ran dry with the smell of corpses and blood, as a culture of tolerance slowly settled in among its leadership and citizens. The life expectancy of the average citizen was much higher than the rest of the world, though only in the districts of the elite, as people lent themselves to progress as opposed to tradition. Towering buildings dotted the landscape, lending itself to a picturesque environment that words alone cannot put into picture. Its most prominent districts are found near the coast, for it borders a sea. Its landscape is flat and green, however, in the distance, a prominent peak can be sighted, surrounded by a thick and green forest consisting of towering pines. Thriving markets and city squares can be found as one walked through the city streets. To an outsider, Hull, was comparable to a paradise which the world could not possibly conjure. However, the reality is that Hull has a long and bloody past; its foundation is built on the corpses of those who died to ensure its prominence. In a zone towards the outskirts of this grand city, called Zero, a young boy whose name is Ned lived in an orphanage. His life consisted of food that was never good enough and caregivers who never seemed to care enough. As for education, he received the bare minimum.

Nyro

Nyro, who was a mentor to Ned and the other orphans, whose status is that of a peasant, often took time out of his day to mentor the students of this orphanage. As a veteran of many wars, and an orphan, he was respected by the many orphans who resided in Ned's orphanage. His hair had lost its color and he had a chubby appearance, although his body remained fully capable. On one day in particular, he was speaking to Ned. Ned had been scolded prior to this conversation for venturing too far from the building which the orphanage was hosted in. He and his friends sought to gaze upon what lied beyond the limits of Zero, the outskirt city which he belonged to. "It's bullshit that we can't go over there." Ned exclaimed. Nyro replied simply "It's against the rules, just keep your head down, get out of there when the time comes just like everyone else." "And then what? Live a life devoid of meaning?" "That's not what I told you, what you do with your life after you leave is up to you. Kids running around this place only end up dead, you know this as well as I do." "It's not fair that the adults can run around as they please, but us kids can't do shit." "I'm not the one who made things like this, a lone person like myself can't do much of anything, it wouldn't be like this if I had my way. Just... do what you can and get by, it's the most any of us can do." "I won't live and die like this, I'm gonna continue doing things the way I've always done them, this means nothing. I'm done talking to you, old man." Ned stood up from the edge of the trail which they were sitting on and began walking away. It was late in the afternoon, and curfew would soon be in effect for children at the orphanage. As he was walking away Nyro hollered in his direction "Don't get yourself killed over some foolishness, I've seen the worst of what happens to kids who wander." Ned halfway turned and simply snapped his gums at Nyro, to which Nyro grinned and let out a small chuckle.

Ordinator

On his way back, Ned saw the corpse of an adult woman, she had blood on her torso which appeared in the distorted shape of a straight line. It was clear to Ned that she had been stabbed. Three ordinators, donning heavy plated armor, with mighty shields and wielding spears that appeared to be three-fourths of their massive stature, surrounded her corpse. One of which turned to Ned, and simply stated "Move along, runt." To which Ned ignored and continued walking to the orphanage. Ordinators serve as the guards of Hull, however they are a corps of guards that specialize in the control of riots. Despite this being their main purpose, in recent years, the corps has seen less use, as conditions in higher echeloned districts of Hull have improved and there is less need for riot control. Now, the Ordinator units are tasked in poorer zones, where the chances of a riot are most likely to happen. What this means for the units with these posts, is ordinary guard duty, which consists of daily patrols and handling the nightly drunk.