Bound between worlds

6

Liana

After an excellent breakfast and a short nap, I had made myself comfortable on the sofa with one of the countless books from Adrian's collection.

"The First War" was the title and it was actually about the first war between the species humans versus werewolves and vampires.

The trigger was apparently a looming war between the humans themselves. Various powers had apparently developed such terrible weapons that their use would have destroyed all life.

Out of self-perservetion instinct, werewolves and vampires had joined together and in principle seized world domination. Humanity was enslaved and made the vampires' property because they depended on their blood.

The war was not won overnight. There were countless victims on all sides. But in the end, the vampires managed to develop some kind of system. The big cities of the humans were left to the vampires, the small villages fell to the werewolves. Each city was converted into a fortress - or much more a prison - with huge trenches, walls, barbed wire and automatic firing systems.

Humans were apparently such weak beings that nothing more was needed to lock them up.

I wondered where the area of the palace was. There was no big city anywhere, just a small town with ancient looking brick houses. At least that was all I could see from the bedroom window. It was a beautiful panoramic view of a part of the town that lay below the palace, as well as a vast forest that seemed to extend to the horizon. The palace itself was apparently built on a hill or small mountain, but I couldn't really see that much.

Sighing, I devoted myself to the book again.

The picture that was painted of the living conditions of the humans was anything but pleasant. The school system was changed, many professions from the old days were abolished. Teaching subjects that could lead to people gaining too much power were eliminated, such as physics and chemistry. These topics have definitely never been brought closer to me. One learned to read and rudimentary mathematical skills. Apart from that, biology was important for sex education and the subject of housekeeping was taught as well. And, of course, the teaching of supernatural beings. Girls were allowed to attend classes until they were fourteen years old and then had to go to breeding facilities, where they were continuously impregnated to produce more food for the vampires.

At the thought of all the young women who were at the mercy of this fate, my breakfast almost broke free.

The boys were allowed to receive another four years of education. But also had to regularly fulfill their duty in these breeding facilities from the age of sixteen. Apparently, there were detailed studbooks to avoid any form of inbreeding. That would harm the "product".

Overly disgusted, I put the book away. In what incredibly barbaric world did we live in?

In the book it was made very clear that humanity did not deserve any other fate, since it almost accomplished destroying the planet. Vampires and werewolves could have taken over the world thousands of years ago, but it was not until it was inevitable that this step was taken.

I could see that humans could not be allowed to rule. That they had to be reined in, in order not to create more or even worse weapons than those of the old days. Who came up with the crazy thought of wiping themselves out? Nevertheless, I was deeply horrified by the breeding procedure in the cities.

Young men had almost the same options in addition to their "obligations" as hundreds of years ago. They finished school and were allowed or had to pursue a profession, e.g. in agriculture, technology or health care. After all, someone had to make sure that the city buildings did not fall apart, that humanity did not starve to death or was wiped out by an epidemic.