Oblivion (on hold)

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

---

"Mom, I'm home!" I called out as I entered the house.

"I'm upstairs, honey," said a voice overhead. I wandered upstairs to find my parents' bedroom door open. I was concerned as well as surprised to see Dad lying on the bed with a compress on his head, and Mum in a chair next to him.

"Dad, what's wrong?" I hurriedly asked.

It was Mom who replied with a heavy sigh. "Your father here has a fever. I told him not to pick up the heavy boxes in the attic, but did he listen? I already called the doctor, so there's no need to worry."

Inferius never get sick, but sometimes the machinery inside our body heats up and we get a 'fever'. It usually happens when we do something exhausting. Our doctors are actually Superius that are trained and sent to live on Mancipium, because only the Superius can know how our bodies work.

"Derek's out again?" I asked. The house was quiet.

"What did you expect?" Mum replied.

I stayed for some time with Mom and Dad in their room, and then left. Mrs. Smith, our Umbra Chronicles teacher, had instructed us to write another essay of at least seven pages on the Riots, or she would deduct five marks from our finals, which were only three months away. I, along with everyone else who studies Chronicles, have no doubt that it's her favourite subject. She manages to squeeze it in at least once during every lesson.

The Riots were a series of fights that the humans and the first batch of Inferius led against the Superius. The Inferius, being the first generation, were just like humans. They could still feel, but they're appearances were very strange and their features were distorted and lopsided. Their figures didn't seem like those of a human's at all. Some say that their ancestors had seen them, and they said that they were alarming and intimidating. They had all sorts of problems with them, mental as well as physical. Since they could feel, they were angry at the Superius, and so were the humans because they had already started killing some of them. They couldn't get access to any weapons, so they started to break down the homes of the Superius who lived on Caelestis. However, the humans and the Inferius lived on different islands, so it didn't exactly work as they wanted it to. It was just a series of disorganized rebellions throughout Pravus and Mancipium.

After that, the Superius took severe measures to protect themselves and the power the held over everyone and everything. To punish us, they limit our choices in this world and strip us of all the luxuries we once had. They're also slaughtering humans at a rapid rate. In their opinion, Inferius wouldn't have rebelled if they didn't exist. The day of the riots, 21st May, is celebrated as a holiday. Speeches are carried out all across Umbra by the Superius, as well as videos demonstrating what happened that day: people breaking down houses, people attacking the deep violet and silver-clothed Superius guards, people dying, babies wailing. Every year, people as young as newborns, or as aged as elderly, frail women have to sit through hours of murders and destruction. I have a theory that it plants the seeds in the minds of the children about obeying the Superius, no matter what. It makes them used to seeing all that death and ruin. The Superius execute us if we don't watch it. It's our punishment for the Riots, even though those who participated in them have been dead for a long time. I suppose it's a reminder, a reprimand, to not do anything else like that, ever again. 

The first time I watched the videos and fully understood what was happening, I burst into tears and vowed never to kill anyone unless they would kill me if I didn't. I said I hated the Superius for making all that happen. All the blood went from my father's face, his eyes widened, and he exchanged looks with my mother. Mum slapped me and firmly reprimanded me to never say something like that ever again. I cried because I didn't understand why she had done that, but now I do, and I'm thankful that she did. Things like this are better kept to oneself.