The Riddle Of The Future

The Palace

When I woke up in the morning, Will was already up busy in our joint kitchen making breakfast. Lucy was still asleep.

This is my chance! I thought excitedly hoping that my hair didn't look to crazy and that I didn't have morning breath. I walked in and he greeted me warmly.

"Good morning. I trust you slept well," he said.

"Yeah I did actually. I haven't slept that well in a long time," there was a long awkward silence.

"Could you pass me the knives please?" he asked politely.

"Sure," I said passing them over. As I did, his skin brushed my hand and I felt a warm tingle run up my spine. He pulled back quickly and wouldn't look at me. I sighed quietly and Lucy came in the room rubbing her eyes. Her hair look like a rat had nested in it. I tried not to laugh, knowing that I probably didn’t look any better.

"Good morning," she yawned. "I slept really well,” she sniffed. “What's for breakfast? It smells really good" Her stomach growled.

"Well, I was making bacon and eggs," Will said dishing the crispy bacon up.

"Oh wow!" I exclaimed suddenly feeling ravenous. I ate my portion up quickly and wandered when we would be leaving to The Palace.

"We will be leaving soon," Will said answering my thoughts. "We need to hurry if we want to make it before the traffic," Traffic? From what I’d seen, there weren’t a lot of people, or cars for that matter.

Soon we were off again, but this time I enjoyed the walk as there was much to look at. I soon found out what Will had meant by traffic. People just came rushing out of their homes at once! Nobody drove cars; they all rode on these strange looking bikes. Instead of having two wheels they had 5 and the seat was up extremely high so that they were hunched over the handlebars. There were no pedals just an engine at the back but it was, you could hardly hear anything coming from them. The people were as interesting as their strange ways of travelling. They all spoke in a weird language that I’d never heard of before, and I noticed that their hair was grown so long it was trailing around their feet. But they had braided it and I thought they looked pretty. They were all really tall and their clothing was strange. They all wore these kinds of rags that hung from their bodies. Every single one of them, even the women, was muscly. It was obvious that they worked out and maybe they even fight, seeing as this place has dangerous animals. I really don’t want to know about their criminals. Even though I have never met this, ‘Lord of Destruction’, he still scared the pants of off me. I was dreading the time when we have to meet face to face because he could probably kill me with one look! The people of this city seemed like they were a peaceful kind because they would all stop and laugh and talk, enjoying themselves as they went to work.  Eventually we stopped at massive iron gates and beyond that was something even more magnificent.

The Palace!

It was huge and was entirely made of gold that sparkled in the sun. I quickly counted how many windows I could see and there was twenty going up and twenty going across. Everything that was inside the palace radius was made of gold. The only things that weren't were the people who busily buzzed around, taking orders and doing tasks. In the corner of the front yard was a massive gold stable where you could hear the horses whinnying and grunting. I wandered if they were gold to. I could see a farm boy cleaning out the stables. Standing by the sides of the gate were two guards that was dressed entirely in gold plated armour. They were carrying shields and guns as if they were about to go to war. I was suddenly very nervous.

Will cleared his throat.

"State your name and purpose," the right guard said in a low voice. I didn't even see his mouth move!

"I’m Will and I have come to see The King," he looked at me and nodded. I took a deep breath and repeated what Will said, as did Lucy. Once the guards were satisfied they opened the gates, but we weren't allowed through yet. They stripped us naked so fast I didn't realise what was happening. They were checking us for any hidden weapons I realised. Then my clothes were back on and I hadn't had time to wander whether or not Will had seen me, and we were allowed through. Will strode confidently down the path and straight into The Palace. We followed but not as confidently as him. In fact, it was more like we were shivering like Chihuahuas, and strutting like chickens. I felt like everyone was staring at me and I suddenly felt the weight of our task on my shoulders. I was afraid of failing. Afraid of bringing the whole of mankind down with me. I was only 15! How was I expected to save the whole of mankind?

Little did we know that we were quite possibly crawling to our doom.