A World Divided

Chapter II

  You forgot this book existed, didn't you. Not surprising.

As Calvin sat in the passenger seat of his mom's work car he looked out the window for anything. Nothing special was happening today; the same propaganda against mages appeared on a billboard with the message "If you see anything suspicious, report it to your nearest local authority." The last mage to have been caught in Zyton was 50 years ago and he was thrown into the outlands, a place barron of all life, that's filled with creatures from your worst nightmares. Calvin shuddered at the thought. Luckily his thoughts changed as his mother pulled into the pharmacy. "It'll take about an hour before we get your medicine." Calvin's mother began. "Would you like to wait inside or look around in the city?" Calvin's mom knew that her son always followed the rules so she would have nothing to worry about. "I'd rather not wait inside a pharmacy." Said Calvin. His mom handed him 25 zyts, the currency of Zyton. "Get into any trouble and you'll lose your holoplayer." She said it with that same stern tone from earlier in the morning. "Now go have fun." With that Garett took off.

Whenever Calvin wandered through Zyton he always went to his favorite store, Maldwin's bot shop. He loved to look at the different robots in the shop. Even the owner of the store was a robot; he was designed with a retro look from the 1950's, antenna and bright round eyes included. "Why if it isn't my most loyal customer, what can I do for you today Calvin?" Maldwin asked with a "smile" (all that really happened was the corner of his lips went up a little). "I just came to check out the bots and see if there were any new ones available." Calvin replied in a modest tone. "Sorry there buddy but we don't get anything new till next month." Before Calvin replied he saw a surge of people rush outside the shop, curious of what was going on he left the shop.

   Calvin pushed through the crowd of people to get to the front, disturbed by what he saw. In front of him was an armed Defender, decked out in grey armor with a full head helmet, beating on what appeared to be a homeless man. "Your kind needs to be wiped off the face of the earth like the scum you are." Said the Defender before he picked up the homeless man and brought him into an alley. A flyer dropped off the old man before the gunshot rang out from the alley. Filled with curiosity, Calvin picked it up and read it's contents. "3:33 am 3/3/33 abandoned lot on emperor street, make sure you're unfollowed. If discovered by a Zyton citizen or Defender burn note." Calvin checked his watch for the date which read 2:30 pm 3/3/33. He then pocketed the note before walking back to the pharmacy, putting aside his thoughts of who that man really was and what the note was for.