The Mindless Man's Paradise

Prologue

  We didn’t have names. None of us did.

  Actually, nothing had its own name. No countries, no cities, no races, religions, or even cultures. There was just the mass of people living on a single continent that we called ‘The Land’.

  We were told that those types of things divided us. They created war, essentially.

  This was what HQ didn’t want. This is what they’d do anything to eliminate.

  Creativity was only allowed to a certain extent; I suppose it might have given us ideas.

  We all wore necklaces, there, though. They seemed to be the only things that distinguished us from one another. Even the clothes were standard issue.

   Each necklace had a single charm. The charms were all uniquely distinct from any other person’s in existence. Except one.

   There was always one.

   That person was your Soul Mate, and on the eve of your fifteenth birthday, you would depart upon on a journey to find that person. The charms were supposed to get hotter and colder depending on how close you were to your Soul Mate. And once you were close enough, the charms got so hot that they branded that shape into your chest, and then melted off, leaving you forever bound to that one person.

   And now, a few hours away from departure, I was starting to have my doubts.

   What if I didn’t like my Soul Mate?

   My parents seemed happy enough, yet, what if I wasn’t like my parents? What if I couldn’t stand him?

 What if I died on my Journey?

  It’d happened before.  Plenty of times, actually.

  My mother had been helping me pack. In reality, she’d done all of it. But I still sat on my bed, staring at the floor, trying to mentally prepare myself for whatever was next. Yet I knew there was nothing I could do.

  Surely there would be hunger, dehydration, fatigue and pain. It would not be easy, that was what I did know.

  The catch was; I wasn’t allowed into the Society until I found him.

  Perhaps that’s what scared me the most. What if I didn’t find him, and I couldn’t join the Society?

  I didn’t know where the Society was, or what you did there, but I knew it must be a beautiful place. My parents wouldn’t tell me about it, my older brother wouldn’t tell me either, but it was just something that I knew.

  It wasn’t like I hardly saw my family anyways. Only at the trimester marking periods in each year, aside from the times when I used to live with them. And then there was that day; the day of my journey.

  My necklace would be activated at midnight, and that would be my time of departure.

  Three hours.

  180 minutes between myself and the open road to a vague future.

  My pack held a small tent, some food, water bottles, and most importantly, weapons. Weapons I didn’t know how to use, but ones that my life would depend on.

  My mother told me I’d most likely have to hunt for my food. I’d have to find my water, and be able to look for the tell-tale signs that it was near. I’d have to look out for wildlife, and be careful what plants I ingested.

  I grew more frightened with each word she said, and I couldn’t help but want to hide forever.

  Maybe the Society wasn’t worth this.

  But I knew it was.

  The Society was everyone’s dream.

  The Land was very big, though. My journey could take days, months, or even years.

  I found myself sinking into the largeness of my bed and enveloping myself in covers.

  Mother entered and said, “Daughter, you should sleep. Much is ahead of you. I will continue to prepare your bags while you rest.”

  I nodded my head, put at ease for the first time in days.

  “Sleep well, Daughter.”

  “I will, Mother.”

  And so I slept.