After an all-out war with a nation called the Radish Land, the nations North Deolark and South Emeraldia helped set up the new nation led by Naomi -- the Republic of Shadow Walkers.
With a nuked world around them, the three nations slowly recover in...
If mankind does not end war, war will end mankind. But at these times, war has already ended mankind. It's only that mankind has survived, mankind had the chance to live once again, mankind cheated its end. How far will mankind cheat death? When there is nothing left for mankind? When all the animals, all plants, all living things and decaying matter vanishes? What will happen next? Mankind will end. War takes seconds to be declared, but years to be ended. What happened to mankind? What happened with the coordination? With the teamwork? What happened to the colonies of men they worked hard for, only to be destroyed by war? War does not do any good. War doesn't define who's right, only by who's left.
A sound from far, far away echoed on the sandy mountains. How come they echo when the medium is sand? Large, dry trees with decaying leaves are everywhere the deserted lands of Northern Deolark, stretching to the southern-western borders of the now radioactive land of Navire. Centipedes, rattlingsnakes, lizards, and some eagles pass by the deserted island. You can somehow see some ruins on the deserted land.
Across the deserted lands of North Deolark, there comes the civilization of people from Hami, a scorched town on the northern-eastern part of Deolark. There was a deep well, surrounded by bricks. It was shaded from heat and rainwater by a short pillar of bricks, tall enough for people to peep at the well. There was a wide cloth tied to the brick to shed the well. There was also a wooden bucket with a heavy brick so it will not float on the water, tied to a rope. The rope was connected to a wooden wheel and axle. A thin man in white clothes was getting some water on the well, placing a bucket on the brick wall and using the wheel and axle to get some water from below.
There's a market covered with dark clothes to shield them from the hot heat. They sold high priced bricks and metallic spare parts, food like chicken and pork, and high priced weeds which were sold by gurus, telling their costumers they were magical, and they can heal anything. A hopeless man assisting his blind daughter with rotting flesh, probably from leprosy, asked the gurus how much were the weeds. 50 omegabytes they said. All the man could give were two silver bronze medallions with a stamp of 'Best soldier', but the gurus raised their eyebrows and took the medallions.
"Go back when you have 49 more omegabytes."
The man's eyes widened. "No! Please. My daughter is going to die! She needs the healing!"
Instead, the gurus pushed them back. Hopelessly, the man walked away with a clenched jaw, still assisting his daughter back to their made-up house.
Near the market were hundreds of brick houses. Some have poultries and piggeries where trucks stop by and trades with the owners. One of them stopped by an owner with ripped clothes, revealing ribs, a thin stomach, and his pelvic bones. His left eye has a scar and his right eye has cataract. He also suffered from acute osteoporosis.
Two traders came to his place. They waved at him while he fed his chickens seeds of weeds and dried corn, sometimes even sand. He looked at them and spat, revealing his yellowish upper canine with some dark spots and an empty bottom row of teeth.
"What do you want?" he asked. He walked to them slowly while being assisted by a long stick.
They pointed at his chickens.
"No, they are my family. I will not sell them."
The traders looked at each other, and then they took the chickens who clucked and clucked, but could not escape from their captor. The old man tried to hit them with his stick, but instead he fell down on the scorched sand and cried, for he lost his only family.
West of the houses, some meters away was the Town Hall. Beside it was a blue and gold chopper. Chit-chats were heard inside the Town Hall.
Inside was a long row of chairs and a table made of bricks. There was also a white chart on front where a man stood up and discoursed with five old men and a thin woman. The man was wearing a black polo, white top and a black flannel. He stood up taller with his right foot, and he had a burn scar on his face. He also had two circle like scars on the back of his head where no hair grew.
"What I was saying is, you should tell the people to evacuate," the man said, wanting to prove a point.
The elders raised an eyebrow. One spoke. "But, Prime Minister, where can we evacuate? That is your problem. Evacuating people of Hamil to Central Shinto will cause us some discrimination."
The Prime Minister sighed. "We will not evacuate you to Central Shinto, your people will be evacuated to Raghi island where we already prepared the houses of your people. It's like an instant vacation! Don't you like that?"
The elders looked at each other. "If we decided to go to Raghi, what can we even do?"
One of them answered. "I think this is an opportunity for us to get abundance."
"But we will still be brought back here after the Shadows decides to not raid Deolark," The woman insisted.
"But if the Shadows decided to, at least we're ready," one of the men spoke.
"But still..." the woman continued to insist.
"Make your choice," The Prime Minister said.
The five elders looked at each other, the woman doing a shrug, convincing them to not evacuate. Then the elders looked down, and to the Prime Minister.
"We have made our decision..." one of them said. "We will not evacuate, Mr. Prime Minister."
The Prime Minister looked at them wearily. "But..."
The man sitting at the end finally stood up. "Dark, it's their choice. Let's leave them here."
Prime Minister Dark sighed. What if they die? Well, it's not my fault they didn't evacuate.
The Prime Minister bowed to them. "Thank you for your time."
The elders nodded, and then proceeded back to their work.
The man met Dark. They walked down the Town Hall and proceeded to the chopper. People looked at them curiously, but they continued doing their work. A thin man with white clothes from the well carried his water-filled bucket to the Town Hall, and was met by one of the elders. The daughter of the man died a few hours ago. The old man and his stick had died of heat stroke, still laying in the sand.
The chopper fled. Dark looked down from the chopper, observing the town of Hamil.
"Don't kill them, Naomi, or else I'll make you pay for all of this."
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This chap is written by Leo.
Edited and published by Glitch.
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