It is the year 2095, in the aftermath of World War Three: a catastrophic event that made most of the world completely uninhabitable due to destructive nuclear warfare. The only place left that has adequate living conditions is Megapolis, and the cou...
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ZAYDE laughed softly to himself as he saw the red-haired girl walk hurriedly past him. He found it amusing that his presence alone was enough to unsettle and frighten her. The fear and uncertainty she exuded was almost palpable, and, when she felt trapped by his stare, she met his gaze defiantly, the ruby flecks in the depths of her green eyes burning and flashing like a warning sign. Flashing like fire, like newly spilled, crimson blood. He glanced at himself in the mirror in passing, his silver eyes glittering as he blinked. Silver and red. Ice and fire.But what is fire compared to ice? I am cold and unfeeling,like shards of ice that rip, pierce and kill. I will freeze everything and everyone in my path –give them hearts of ice and stone, make them as lifeless as I am, smother the flames that burn within them. It is only a matter of time. But the predator must wait until the opportune moment to attack.
For a while he wandered aimlessly through different corridors; they seemed to go on forever, each passage leading into another like a maze, a maze that wanted to swallow him into its depths and never let him go. He did not care that the further he went, the darker it got, or that the flickering lights seemed to cast strange shadows on the decaying, dust smeared wall paper. I do not remember my way back, but that matters little. No one shall find me here. No one can be close to me here.
Eventually, he turned a corner and saw a door in front of him. The door handle was loose and hanging uselessly from the screws it had been attached to. Zayde gave the door a rough kick, and it swung open, hitting the wall behind it with a loud bang that caused dust to fly. The silence that hung over the room afterwards was uneasy, as if something within it was angry at the violent disruption of the eerie quiet that weighed heavily in the air. At first, Zayde could sense it keenly and felt uneasy, but he quickly brushed it off.
The room had one window within it, with the top of a tree directly outside it. The sun shone on the tree, and the dappled green light shone through the dusty window, filling the room with pale, green light. Zayde walked towards it, opening it with surprising ease. He clambered out with great agility, and sat on the window sill, his legs dangling in the air, completely at ease. He began to whistle, mimicking the soft, musical calls of birds.
In no time, a sparrow had landed in his hands, cautiously observing him with its bright, black dew drop eyes. He noticed that it was extending one of its wings, which looked crooked - it was hurt. It chirped at Zayde, who began to stroke its feathers softly and croon words of comfort, staring at the bird with an expression that was hard to define.
