Hiraeth (SallyFace DystopianAU)

Prologue

The city was as it has always been, even before his time. Devoid of warmth and welcome. The streets laid barren, a collection of buildings framing the outskirts and internal layouts of the complex system put in place by the wretched beings dominating the world. Banners hang with slogans to be read by those foolish enough to follow. Their rips and tears only serving as a sign of victory amidst the decaying souls crying out for a savior.
The small crowds and individuals that once walked the street have now dissipated into the air. Dust particles following in their wake. If you look closely, you'll see the curtains in a building draw back to reveal the hollow eyes of another being. A shell of a person once alive before shutting all too soon. As he walked down those damp streets still slick in his mind with the blood of the innocent, he was the only beating heart, the only being of warm blood and flesh. Everyone else around him hidden in the shadows were practically prisoners in their own mind. They had abandoned their plentiful bodies and were now corpses. Fearful of the future and change. Fearful of the presence and all but human things they called their leaders.
The words he spoke fell on deaf ears with no boots at all to hear, save his. No one would tolerate this kind of defiance and if he was found out he surely without a doubt would be stuffed away in the depths of the earth to rot. His screams would be drowned out by the malicious laughter and antagonizing taunts of how he thought he could save them all. He would endure every possible torture known to man and more. Until his own vocal cords snapped and his skin melted from his bones. He would vanish and be forgotten like everyone that came before him.
One eye looked out from beyond his prosthetic to look ahead at the clock tower, forever stuck at half past noon. It was as if God had stopped time, removed everything around him so he could see it for real, see how everything really was. And in that moment all he wished for was another beating heart in this desolate city, another being of warm blood and flesh, one pair of boots to walk next to his.