Humanity lost. No one knows when. No one knows how. Those who should have known passed away long ago.
Percepians were gods. The remnants were meant to serve them.
"You are powerless before the almighty. You must sacrifice your soul for the sake of your children. You must pass on your blood. You must not die before we command."
I didn't know what existed outside. I didn't even know if my mother was alive. I was inside Gosuka, waiting for the day I would become their sacrifice. Everyone I had known vanished one by one. They loaded us into rockets. To them, we were nothing more than food.
I heard that a century ago we were free. I heard we were once more than meat. I heard there were once billions of humans. Now maybe ten thousand. That's what happens when you're not allowed to live past twenty-five.
Gosuka was an open space. Small houses, food, toilets—everything provided by them. We were not permitted to live. Neither were we allowed to die. Gosuka was caged, not to protect us, but to make escape impossible. Those who tried to kill themselves were threatened with their children.
This life was worse than hell.
It was evening, and we were all lined up for bread. The line moved slowly. A Percepian stood there distributing food. He was short, red-skinned, with curly hair, and had almost all human features.
Bread and milk. One person took it and left. Another followed. Then another.
Then—no.
A boy took two breads. He looked about my age. He wasn't meant to take an extra one.
Sepion, the Percepian providing the food, held his hand. The boy screamed. When Sepion let go, a burn scar was carved into his skin.
A man stepped out of the crowd. "Forgive him, lord," he said. "He is new here. He doesn't know the rules. I will teach him."
The boy was dragged to a corner. I stepped out of the line and followed. By the time I reached him, he was already on the ground, being beaten.
"You brat," the man shouted. "Do you have no value for your life? Why would you disrespect Lord Sepion?"
He struck him again and again. When the boy could no longer scream, the man finally stopped.
"This should do it," he said, turning away.
That was when I noticed the knife in the boy's hand. We weren't allowed to have knives.
With a broken voice, the boy spoke. "What's the point of living when you're not even allowed to die? Go to hell. Go to hell, damn it."
The man turned back. "What's this? You still have energy?" His eyes fell on the knife. "Where did you get that?"
He didn't get to finish.
The boy drove the knife straight through his throat.
"You don't deserve to live," the boy shouted. "You damned traitors. We are human. We don't obey anyone. We are supreme."
He stood in front of the body, shaking.
I walked toward him. "Hey. You did something courageous."
He looked at me like he wanted to kill me. "Who the hell are you?"
"I saw everything," I said. "You know what happens if they find out. You'll be tortured in public."
The blood was still spreading.
"Do you want to be killed?" he asked.
I punched him. He dodged. I kicked him in the face. He fell, then stood back up.
"Damn you!" He rushed at me with the knife.
"Join me," I said. "We'll kill the Percepians together."
He stopped. "What?"
"Only I can save you," I said. "And I need your help. To kill them all. Every last one of them—we will kill."
He laughed. "You'll kill them? They have godly abilities. You can't surpass them. Never. They say they're gods."
"You joining me?" I asked.
"Huh? Are you serious?"
"Yeah. You joining me?"
He stared at me for a moment. "You seem serious. I don't care about dying anyway."
I kicked the body. "He's dead," I said. "You have pretty good reflexes. We'll do fine as a team."
"I want to kill those aliens," he said. "But also these damned traitors who worship them like gods. I agree—if you don't betray me."
"I won't," I said. "But if I ever have to choose between you and me, I'll choose myself."
He nodded. "That sounds good. Then we're a team."
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Helmut Kempf," he said. "And you?"
"Cael," I replied. "Cael Noland."