Tenebrosity //TordEdd & ToMatt (cancelled)

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My name is Tom Ridgell. I am the lead hunter of my colony. I'm 21, male and only still here to help the others. Humanity is going to die and we can't help that. My only purpose is to let the other people be happy and spend their last moments joyously. My mum and dad left me when I was young so I could be evacuated here, in England. America was a bad place for fighting due to it being one of the main countries involved in the war. It did me good anyway. I learnt how to fight and how to survive on my own. It's been 13 years since the war started so I turned out fine.

I don't entirely like the new world, though. Getting cancer is very likely at any moment due to all the radioactive waste everywhere. Luckily, my colony's head doctor found a temporary cure for it. The cure only lasts for about 6 years but it's better than nothing. I've heard it'll sell for a high price though, so we're getting travelers come and go, bidding their money high for treatment.  I say we're extremely lucky. Only the people here get it for free, sorta. Our labour towards keeping this place running is like our payment.

The main thing about our lives is the sun. It went out a year ago and we've lived like this ever since. We completely black out our tents to stop waste light affecting our sleep -- waste light is the stored light in the toxic waste that always glows. It is horrible to sleep with due to it's daylight sense of properties. Our brains think it's daytime even though we believe it to be 9.00pm. Children as young as 3 have to live in these horrifying conditions everyday, which I feel sorry for. They don't receive enough love since we're always doing important jobs. We're trying to make sure no one has kids so we can direct more of our attention on survival. I want the sun to come back.

Even if it may sound strange, a tower almost appeared out of nowhere on the maps. Our seekers have heard of a huge tower in where the Pennines were. On the tallest mountain is this phenomenom that reaches up so high you can not see the top. I want to explore there, but it'll be unsafe. I have a duty to fulfill as a hunter which is to help the people I care for. I swear my best friend went that way, but I was too drunk to save them from the terrible fate awaiting them.

I drank a lot one night, resulting in me not knowing anything. I had always told him not to go exploring since his job was to help me hunt. He didn't listen. Matt (his name) decided to escape under my nose when I couldn't fetch him along with a girl called Elizabeth. We've never heard or seen of them since. I feel stupid and irresponsible for letting him go which is why I'm dedicated to staying here and just believing in Matt's timely demise. Elizabeth was most probably his lover and they eloped. I swore on my heart to never let anything happen to anyone else ever again.

Out there, there is someone or something that is key to our survival. I've heard of the inventor: Tord Larkson. And, apparently, there is his assisant of a thief who is very good at taking valuable things from people. We believe they were the person who took one of our cancer treatments some time ago. They are fabled to exist, since they have only been seen once by a different colony we have met before. It could all be a hoax but it is very credible that they exist. I hope our scavengers spot them someday.

           《•••》

Yesterday, our priest told me something strange. A calling from the Gods had directed him to me. The tower is apparently real, and I'm their saviour. I don't believe this, mainly due to the sun going out. That event changed me as I no longer think the Gods care for us anymore. Either way, a lot of the others are highly religious and are pressing me onwards to go. I have a duty to fulfill here and I don't want to fail them when they finally believe I was right. Either way, I have to set out into the savannah to fulfill my 'destiny', and who knows? I could find Tord and his apprentice or Matt and Elizabeth's dead bodies. Only time will tell. I don't want to be here at all honestly. Going alone, as the Gods 'instructed'. I hate myself for actually agreeing in the end. I'm going to place my final goodbyes tomorrow and set off.

//Words: 801.