This is actually a prequel to another story that I wrote called, The New Age.
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I grew up only knowing fear. To whomever finds this journal, know this. We are born and raised in hell. This was a time where humans were at the bottom of the food chain and they were the top. If they said the word, you were killed on spot. Sure it's a cruel life, but it is mine. Or at least, it was mine.
A long time ago, this land was called Europe, more specifically, Italy. It used to be home to millions of people. Now we are about as scarce as the food here. The entire population is starving, it is a miracle we have survived this long. Most humans died out years ago, leaving only a few of us to scavenge for ourselves. Some say it was a revolution that killed the people, others believe that the government created a disease so deadly it wiped out 70% of the earth in a matter of weeks. Sadly, we learned that both of these were true. Now, there is only 1% of the old population left throughout the world. The few of us that are left live in villages, completely covered in dust, garbage and remains from an old forgotten civilization.
My home at the moment was a small, 3 bedroom shack, with a tiny kitchen and sleeping area. the floors were dirt and it was rare to find good wooden furniture. Most of the time we used scraps and built chairs and tables ourselves. The outside was nothing but piles of garbage. Sheets of metal littered the ground, along with shards of glass and splinters of wood. The smell outside was overwhelming with human filth. This was the worst possible to environment to raise a child. We called this part of the city The Devil's Playground. There was a nicer part of the city with actual houses, plumbing, and air conditioning, but you had to be born into wealth in order to live there.
You might question, what would force us all to live in such terrible conditions? What you need to understand, is that my world was run by someone... special. Someone who isn't entirely human. They were called countries, because to us, that was who they were. Whatever happened to them, seemed to happen to everything around us. For instance, when our country grew ill with the disease, so did the people. The worse off he got, the more people started to die. The governments eventually fell, and the countries died. Every single one of them passed away within a few year span. I know for a human that sounds like a long time, but those people, those things, had been around for thousands of years before all of this, that was a blink of an eye. As long as the nation was still in tact, so was the country, and ours were gone.
Without countries around, the world plummeted into an era of darkness. The death toll grew to catastrophic levels. Then, after hope had been completely lost, they came. The replacements. New countries. Each one, born of sickness and hatred. They were twisted and evil reincarnations of the old countries. I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting quite a few of them. Each one had the same mindset of a mental patient... except for one. He was hard to describe. Like a puzzle piece that didn't quite fit in with the others. I guess I should explain myself. Ordinary humans don't usually leave their homes, yet I met most of the known world. I was a rare case. "A jewel", he called me.
I was born ordinary and under ordinary circumstances. What made me so special? I don't know. Luck I suppose, but even that is pushing the boundaries. The new countries were young in comparison to the old countries. They hadn't been around for more then a couple decades, when they decided they had begun to grow lonely. They began to seek companionship with humans. Normally, this companionship was in the form of one night of love making with anyone who happens to be near them, however, that didn't seem to satisfy whatever they were seeking. They decided that every 50 years, a woman in her prime was chosen for their desires. She would serve her duties for those 50 years until she died, then a new woman was chosen. They called this bond "marriage". Humans can no longer get married in this new world, as there is no law to bind them together, but you can still hold the ceremony for symbolical purposes.
I was going to get married once. When I was 18 I had fallen madly in love with a man who lived near me. I would see him every day when I would go out to do the laundry. We would smile and flirt with each other for a few minutes, then would have to separate. One day, he asked me, from seemingly out of nowhere, to be his wife, for he could never love another like he loved me. I said yes of course, and was happily engaged.
The day that changed my life started out completely ordinary. I woke up that morning and had a small ration of chicken for breakfast and then went out for a small walk around The Devil's Playground. A few people were outside their shacks, sewing or just watching another dull day roll by. I knew almost all of my neighbors and would stop to chat with them regularly. It was a calm, sweet little life. There wasn't much too it, but I didn't need excitement to make life worth living. I wish it could have stayed that way, but without warning, large trucks drove through the streets. They announced a ceremony and demanded all citizens to attend. The military escorted the entire city onto buses, that then drove us to the Colosseum. I had never been this far from home, so seeing all of these strange and wonderful things was both exciting, and distracting.
The scenery was amazing. I had never left my little town near the mountains, and now we would be traveling to the capital city, Rome. I watched as the trees flew by us. I had never been inside of a truck were going so fast, I couldn't believe it. We would get to the capital in no time. We passed all sorts of fields that were once crops, but were now just messes of wires and trees. It would be amazing if we could grow our own food again. Instead, once a week, a truck like the one we were currently in delivers meals to us.
As I looked out the window, I let my mind drift. What if I could just, run away. I could escape through the mountains and head north. There were rumors of another land with a different culture. I could live out my life, and maybe, with luck, they were better off than us. Me and my soon to be husband could live out our lives in peace, without fear of starving. We might even be able to raise a family. I had always wanted a family of my own. I loved children, unfortunately, most didn't last long in The Devil's Playground. There just wasn't enough food or safe areas for them. They ended up passing on because of starvation and infection.
My daydream was interrupted by a few soldiers pulling us out of the truck. We were surrounded by tall abandoned buildings, all covered in vines and moss. My jaw dropped. The buildings were made of glass. They reflected the bright sunlight off of each other, making the city sparkle like diamonds. I just wanted to stay here and grow old looking at the buildings, but we were once again forced into a truck. This one took us a lot further than the first one. The city we stopped at before was the halfway point. We waited longer in the nice cool truck until we got to an older city with tan walls. It was beautiful. This was the building style of centuries ago. It was nothing though compared to the Colosseum.
Stone pillars rose into the sky. The circular building surrounded a large arena, packed with more people. While looking at the outside, I realized something. There were stories that this building had been around centuries before even the old countries. This monument had survived two countries. It was so fascinating to know that even through the toughest times, this beautiful revolution of architectural technology stood proud over the crumbling city.
We were herded like cattle into the building, where the men were separated from the women. I said goodbye to my love as I walked to the other women my age. Military men filled the building and took posts around the audience. There was as stage set up in the very center, where everyone could see it. Women were talking quietly about why they were here. Not one of us knew what was truly going on. Most of us were scared, others were excited. I just wanted to go back home and live my ordinary life with my soon to be husband, but that would never happen. I tried looking for him in the vast audience, but I couldn't find him. Before I kept on my search, a man walked up to the microphone and made an announcement.
"Citizens of Italia, you may be wondering why you are all here. Today, on this very day, one of your lives will change forever. You have the chance to be bonded in holy matrimony with your beloved country. The name of a woman between the ages of 18 and 29 will be chosen at random, and she will continue her life in leisure and comfort with her new husband. To be chosen is an honor. To serve your country is an honor. Not only will you gain a loving husband and a beautiful home, but also eternal fame. Unfortunately, only one of you will be chosen to go down in history as the first wife of the great nation Italia." He kept on saying his speech, continuing on about how lucky that woman would be and so on and so forth.
Now, just to clear things up, none of us had ever actually seen our own country. He was kept hidden from us in a large mansion outside of Rome. The only humans who had ever seen him were his maids and butlers, then a few high up military officers. No citizen saw the country. He was a mystery to all of us. Some women said that he would be an old man, blinded and crippled from hatred. Others said he would be a small child because of how young he was in comparison to the old countries, but why would they need a wife for a child. I wasn't sure of what he would look like. Nobody remembered what the old countries looked like, so we had nothing to compare them to.
As the man's speech came to a close, trumpets blasted through the air. He was here. There was another long line of soldiers that walked into the Colosseum, followed by a few strange men, finally, him. Our eyes widened as we tried to see our ruler. He was nothing but a blur below us, walking through the dirt. The soldiers filled up the stage, and he walked out in front of them. We still couldn't see him clearly from the distance. Luck was on our side though. There was a camera ready and as soon as it turned on, the image of our country filled up screens placed around the entire Colosseum. He was nothing like I ever imagined him to be.