It was a dark night at the beginning of November. Merely uttering a word was enough to make one's ghost wander like fog from the mouth’s caven. The clock struck nine in the evening, and the screens emitted a whistle that tore through the senses of the willingly blind with an artificial glow.

 

People hurried back to their homes precisely at nine, their demeanor exuding a sense of dignity, although their bodies trembled with fear of being late for their rendezvous with the house, assuming that surveillance aircraft could hear whispers and monitor shadows. One could not guess tranquility; speculation only demolished their precautions, and surveillance aircraft would claim their lives.

 

The world resembled a painting of wonders, and if it's accurate to say, my city, "Harsh," had become the world. My world was built and adorned with towering buildings touching the sky, reflecting enchanting lights amid a constant veil of smoke. In the morning, the roads buzzed like beehives, resounding with the sounds of self-driving vehicles moving in harmony towards workplaces. A world denoted its elements with numbers; the vehicle had a number, the building had a number, and the job had a number. We, humans, were no different! We didn't deal with names, for that would extinguish the stamp of individuality on our thinking. Names distinguished us from others, and we were all the same!

 

"What was your number?"

 

"420, the non-existent."

 

"What did you do after work...?"

 

I couldn't remember any activities specifically outside of work. Vehicles took you to designated dining halls where we ate in silence, then everything became dull. There were long periods of fog with no attributed events until bedtime. Walking in the deserted streets at night, the paths were devoid of passersby, and the twilight was filled with the hum of a radio that filled the horizon. An echo urged citizens to obey the law and adopt the virtues of compliance. However, behind the lively facade that seemed to promise a brighter future, it concealed a darkness that loomed like a heavy blanket, silently covering the essence of the city.

 

But it wasn't always like this. For fifty autumns, life oscillated between black and white, with the breath of souls treading on a gray hill, longing for virtues. Where wealth neighbored poverty, and beauty met ugliness, and kindness struggled with malice, in this vast mix, human truth manifested all its contradictions. Seasons converged and intertwined, bearing their fruits and leaving, and one had to strive to survive... But as this beautiful state persisted, the stifling winter wind of "Nemex Protocol" arrived.

 

The end justifies the means.

 

The end justifies the means.

 

The end justifies the means.

 

...

 

At the peak of power, breaths were just a playground for the elite and the wealthy, a chessboard where they moved without limits, driven by greed and deceit. Behind closed doors, in opulent halls adorned with paintings that bought life, echoes reverberated from those who cared not for the masses. Their insatiable hunger for control and wealth drove them to relentlessly pursue dominance, sacrificing humanity as a piece in the pursuit of their eternal desires.

 

Bodies didn't turn their backs to each other, for they knew their hardships. Standing in reverence at the top of the world but being struck with the arrow of greed in your back would leave you wounded. But they were smarter than that; they built shields of gold coins to protect themselves from each other. Amid their discussions, the glow of resource scarcity cast shadows of fear, and their wealth grew on the breaths. The more working heads beneath their feet increased, the more their fortunes grew. But it was the heads that ate and drank and exhausted fuel to and from their beds; was this not the cycle of life?

 

The glow of resource scarcity cast shadows of fear, giving rise to a determination to ensure their survival at the expense of the many lives that inhabited the earth. In their view, the concept of scarcity was not a tragic warning but an opportunity to enhance their grip on power, using the pretext of necessary sacrifice to justify their heinous deeds. The idea of purifying the world of its inhabitants, stripping the unwanted to pave the way for the chosen few, danced in their minds as a solution to an impending crisis, an act they deemed necessary for the continuity of their luxurious lifestyles and insatiable desires!

 

One of them said, "But... who will remain?" The mocking laughter resounded in the court of fate. They were well aware of who would be eliminated from humanity, anyone with insight and depth of thought was considered a stain on their judgment, and any mouth that spoke of freedom would spawn factions pleading for rebellion. It was on a night like this that "Nemex Protocol" was born.

 

Governments began harnessing new technological forces for effective control over the fate of humanity. Deadly nanobots were released into public water supplies, stealthily infiltrating the bodies of civilians without explanation or prior notice. Initially, people felt an unexplained increase in early deaths and mysterious illnesses, but the bitter truth

 

 only became apparent when the nanobots began altering DNA to ensure an inevitable, unstoppable deterioration leading to death. However, a specific class of the elite was provided with special purification tubes containing a high concentration of anti-nanobot substances, allowing them to stay out of the deadly danger faced by the masses. While the ordinary people suffered the destructive effects of this fabricated technological spark, hopes for a bright future faded under a cloud of betrayal and harsh technological control.

 

Within a few weeks, the pandemic spread unprecedentedly, turning the world into a scene of destruction and death, where billions perished because of it. The plan to exterminate humanity was an extreme act, sparing no single race except for the appearance of the Nemex vaccine, which was provided to the people of Harsh in agreement with their state leaders. They remained under the protection of Nemex, unaware of what had happened, as the protocol had obscured them for a whole year. Entry or exit from their state was prohibited, and they lost contact with the outside world, only receiving what was broadcast to them.

 

"This is terrifying... more than agony and death! You spilled the blood of billions, how many of you remain in the flames!"

 

"According to digital data, there were a million people in Harsh, nameless, addressless, without a past and without external records to trace back to reclaim your origin."

 

In the heart of Harsh, propaganda fluttered like papers in the fierce wind, as they began to feel the weakness of the spirit and the fading of identity. The giant screens and repeated advertisements began to wash their brains and shape their beliefs, turning them into easily controlled and led creatures. Their spirits sighed, restrained by unforgiving shackles tightening like a noose around their thoughts. Loyalty to the rule meant the absence of freedom of thought! And what is freedom? The concept of freedom had been distorted to the extent that it became synonymous with crime... where ideas and personal aspirations merged under the hammer of strict discipline and unjust legislation. Nevertheless... there remained a glimmer of resistance echoing deep within the suppressed souls, a glimmer that refused suffocation and pursued freedom by all possible means.

 

Whispers of opposition emerged from the depths of social stagnation, calling for liberation and change. And in the darkness of power corridors, the stage was set for an epic clash - a clash that transcended human understanding and redefined the essence of freedom. The dawn of the free was inevitable, ushering in a new chapter in the book of human struggles for the pursuit of freedom and the continuous quest for a future shaped by the principles of unity and liberation against the oppressive judicial class.

 

"How did you know all this?"

 

...

 

...

 

"I was part of the ruling class."

 

Original is in the application