Minder: Secrets of Mind

Prologue

The wind hums slowly over the Watching Wall of Humanitas; it has surrounded and sheltered the city for centuries. Its perfect white coat of paint kept refreshed, and the emblems of the UHR adorn flags the size of medium-sized skyscrapers hanging every few hundred feet, letting all see the city even in the darkest of nights and letting them know who it belongs to. The emblem is unmistakable, two black hands pushing up a glowing globe. A proclamation statement, Earth belongs to Humans, and it will shine only in their hands. Soldiers along the top floors of the Watching Wall pace in boredom despite the attack by the soldiers of Atlas less than a decade ago on the city, where a hole was blown into the wall's eastern face, still fresh on the minds of the cities residents.

But they had reason to be bored, the city was scarred in a way never before that day, but that event didn't put a damper on their game of power. Evidence but the silent vessel cutting through the still air and passing over an under walked path in the wall's defenses, not even a turret system turns to open fire with its sharp cutting explosive minutes. The vessel's outer paneling is pure black, not reflecting an ounce of light or possessing a single designation that might give away who is inside. It is of sleek design, a rarity in aircraft typically seen flying around the city. No matter how wealthy the engineers designed them, most crafts required large engine spaces with openings for ventilation and to house energy channeling pipes that fueled the engines. These large engine compartments made aircraft look bulky wherever the engine was, and the smaller the craft, the larger the engine.

But this craft was different; the engineers of the various former Howling factories now run by a multitude of families were trying to race to the pinnacle of technological advantage. Doing their best to make engines for these crafts smaller and smaller, but such technology and the resources necessary to make such machines are become rarer by the day. It was one of a kind and had been used by Ghost on provision from the First Human, and its computer system ensured it was always coded as a personal vessel of the First Human himself. The engine had enough power to go for only three hours, but its speed of nearly three-hundred-ten mph allowed it to keep up with fighters, and yet its quiet engine would never let you know it was doing such speeds.

Ghost leaned the craft down to just above the water after passing over the wall and lowered the craft's speed. The waters of the Great Human River and Sapien harbor during the night were well lit the closer one got to the central island and the large platform emerging from its southern tip, the Place of Ascension, headquarters to the three buildings containing the three branches of government. The most important shined over the entire city and surrounding area, reaching into the sky like a beacon for all to see within a few dozen miles. The Spire. Standing one-hundred-fifty stories tall with windowed floors every four floors, the top fifteen floors were the personal home and offices of the First Human, and from there, three massive flags hung from the building. Leaving only one side clear towards the mainland, so the lights of the building could shine out onto those who were under the First Human's protective purpose.

Each flag contained a specific purpose in regards to the position; the one facing the ocean beyond the wall showed the emblem of the family who currently held the office. In this case, the black backdrop almost sunk into the night, but the Yellow Phoenix popped at the center of the flag between the fifty-fifth and ninetieth floors. The next flag was the UHR emblem, proudly lit by premier lights from the many courtyards and gardens of the platform below against a light welcoming white backdrop. The third flag was turned out to the east and had a multitude of emblems upon it, containing the various groups and divisions of government that answered to the office of the First Human. Only the military emblem graced this flag in the early days, but the number of symbols grew over time, and with Gregory's rise to power, the flag became awash in these emblems.

Next to the Spire was the massive fifty-story home of the Church, the Cathedral. Its walls are covered in gold and layers atop an even more golden paint. Opulence was the nature of the religion claiming to offer humans a chance at a 'pure' afterlife, one of a golden Eden called the Pure Lands. The Church of Humanitas had been and still was, to many, the bedrock of the United Human Republics, and from the Cathedral, it could turn the fate of any human claiming themselves to be pure servants in an instant. Inside its halls was everything from libraries to administrative offices, to Purity Chambers, Confession Halls, and different matters a theocratic state would need to maintain order even in the face of chaos. The Cathedral was defended with more vigor than any other location in the whole city when the Soldiers of Atlas attacked, with the High Priest able to go through the entire event completely unscathed. However, a heart attack did him in shortly after the battle.