Silentium

The Before

Chapter One

A large black screen lay in front of a group of children, lighting with a disturbing image.

A mixture of fire and darkness filled the sky in a dance of chaos as if it was d-day. The wrath of the Gods began raining down from the heavens in the forms of nukes and bombs, causing large bursts of lights of red, white, and a swirl of ash. A voice boomed through the speakers embedded in the walls, shaking the floor beneath the children:

"The year was 2047 and our world was a disastrous war zone for the greediest men and women. Our homes demolished by warfare, our friends and families decimated to dust, and our population knocked down to a dwindling few hundred. The world as we knew it was ending all around us, left in horrid condition; rubbish surrounded the wasteland that we used to call Earth." The voice silenced as quickly as it came and the image began to morph into a more peaceful scene with mountains of rubble piled up, every tower, every man made skyscraper torn by the claws of destruction and turned into rocks beneath the bloodied feet of what was left of the human race.

"But, the only thing that the cataclysms upon our world did for us, is made us realize that our world wasn't totally gone; we still had each other. So, we began to rebuild a place for every survivor to start anew." The voice filled with a reproduction of excitement and was soon drowned out by the chatter of working bodies, the horrendous scraping of metal against the rocky soil underneath their feet and the loud commands of flaggers.

The time-lapse began to speed up and soon the vision of a city began to fill the barren wastelands, filled with steam powered contraptions that looked similar to what used to be cars, trucks and motorcycles that used to roam the ground and blimps that filled the sky.

The joyous and proud voice slithered through the speakers once more, weaving it's devious injustice into the minds of the youth:

"We built this for our future children and grandchildren so they can start a new world; that future is you." The screen went white for just a moment then flickered to a rusting metal background with a short, stubby man standing with his fat fingers intertwined as he gave a plastered smile to the children through the screen.

"Hello, my name is Terry Time and I'm the founder of Silentium. I welcome you to the higher ranks of our community. Let me explain what will be happening within the next few days," he began, walking to the left and raising his hand to the window, "you will be tested on your skills and by the end of this testing period, you will be placed into occupation training that suits your set of skills."

The man glanced out the window before turning his grey eyes to the children, the corners of his eyes crinkling as his plastered smile broadened. "Those of you with very little skills will be discarded to the Recorrection Bay for.." the man placed a finger on his bottom lip and tapped twice before chortling, "for Recorrection, of course!"

"And remember, Ave ad tempus Silens." With a wave, the man walked out of the camera's view and the rusty background retreated back into the darkness.

The children gave the salute and repeated the motto, "Ave ad tempus Silens" and waited for further instruction.

"Please stand up and line up at the door to get escorted by the Time Guard's back to your rooms, please." A woman's monotone voice came over the speaker and the children got up, lining up near the doors.

The large rusted doors opened as if on cue, a mechanical clicking and clanking of metal against metal as large automatons moved in to escort the children.

These machine-driven beings were around 7 feet tall and a sparkling metallic bronze with a large ticking clock in the middle of their caved in chests. Their beady glowing orbs were enough to set an atmosphere of discomfort for the children.

With their long electrocuting staffs, they surrounded the children and began marching them out the door towards the Housing Bay.