Dipping in the deepest shade of the forest by day, looking to set camp in a remote part of Setforth Woods, we delved in its chaotic natural architecture, climbing over houses' ruins besieged by Nature and decaying trunks, slaloming among traitorous branches. After hours of exploration, searching for the ideal location that may allow us to pack up and move out quickly in the case of an ambush attack, or an emergency, we found refuge in the spacious cabin of an abandoned boat, immersed in wild vegetation.
In its lifetime, it had been put through the wringer by the rage of the elements, though it retained some decent shape, protected from looters inside the darkest entrails of Setforth Woods. Springing roots wrapped its imposing mast, topped by a watchtower, to keep it from falling apart, merging with the surrounding trunks. Its form and equipment suggested it belonged to a crew of sailors among the wealthiest people who travelled the seas to reach the Idyllic Coast. With stunning longevity, it survived the test of time, though it called for heavy repairs. As a reminiscence of its brighter days, Sinking Beauty caught, showing through the leaves, dusk's light. What's more, still standing, its mast challenged the skies' heights beyond the trees' crown.
Jumping over broken glass and rotten planks, we advanced inside the crew's quarters, on guard, until we stepped inside the wheelhouse; there, we stopped to a halt, stupefied. Looking at its intact equipment, we caught a glimpse of the pre-Gathering times when living on the boats condemned mankind to an endless journey to faraway lands only existing in sailors' legends. Having survived the test of time, this ship's former standing suggested that it belonged to one of the seven shepherd families who earned their influence in these times by leading mankind's escape across the world's seas, forming together the government of the Ark. To answer the crowds' fear of never reaching land, the Ark, compounded of forward thinkers and vanguard intellectuals, came to power in order to contain the masses' anguish, following the catastrophe that caused millions of people to abandon their homelands, boarding ships to the unknown beyond Earth's bluest waters.
But, in the end, members of the Ark, came down in history as the stargazers of an unforgiving era, as the promise of reaching land seemed so far away from reach, decried by the grumbling masses. This piece of history, testified for the Party's constant attempts to make light of the Ark's influence on survivors' minds, lighting up the will for change of many, wishing to build a better Earth for all, in spite of the Ark's discredit.
Our stomachs craved for edible food; this ship's entrails, however well-kept from erosion, had gone through a grievous wreckage; encased by the surrounding vegetation, containing nothing but junk and rubble, raided by the raging ocean. What kept this colossus from sinking was its massive, armoured hull, crafted to resist the most savage storms, I thought to myself, looking over its edges, covered with thorny twines.
Despite how lucky we were to find refuge inside this marvel of the past, we were condemned to retreat by a lack of edible victuals, if we couldn't find anything to eat anytime soon. Moreover, none of us had Senku's stealth skills, untrained to survive in the woods by ourselves, even Eagle and Gwendoline who groped for their bearings too, confronted with Setforth Woods' foreign environment. In their desperate escape to the far wild, they had to run away for their lives from the Party's ravens at all costs; « Fitting to say, we're on the same boat... » I noted. However, without weapons to defend ourselves and victuals to eat, we faced a critical situation in which our survival was compromised; in this instant, I regretted that nothing else mattered to Gwendoline than guaranteeing Eagle's safety, though admitting they were forced into an emergency retreat, as must have been the rest of the Hummingbirds, for the Rebellion's spirit to live on.
To my question about recent goings-on within Lost Island, Eagle responded that the Black Police had been raiding Lost Island to and fro, leaving no stone unturned to search for anyone who trespassed on the Ministry's database. State-classified info about 'Inferno' had been circulating on the Dark Web lately, which caused the conflict to spin out of the Party's control.
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When the birds stopped chirping
Science FictionA promised land meant to self-destruction in a glimpse, a brainwashed society led by a corrupted government: this is what, thirty years after the Exodus, Heavensgate has become in the eyes of its citizens. They long wished to obtain prosperity after...
