Prologue
King of the Ashes

President Augustus Hale

Mr. President, you are live in ten.

They'll call me a tyrant. And maybe I am. But, right now, a tyrant is what they need. The three-year war that tore our great nation apart was due, in equal parts, to the districts' unrest and our own complacency. We can't afford to hand-hold the districts back into submission. They need someone strong to put them in their place. They need someone to remind them just how helpless they would be without us.

Nine.

They'll call me a murderer. And maybe that's fair. But I'm no more a murderer than they are. They initiated this conflict, and now, I must use whatever means are available to me to ensure that it never happens again. What I'm about to do is horrible, unfair, monstrous, but it is no worse that what would happen if I stayed my hand. Another rebellion, if it ever came to that, would mean more bloodshed than a thousand of the Games we're planning to enact. More than ten thousand.

Eight.

They'll say they have suffered enough. And maybe that's true. But, although they remember the rebellion, and its price, clearly, their children may not. And their grandchildren certainly won't. They will need to be reminded. They will need these Games – my Hunger Games – as a constant reminder of the price of defiance.

Seven.

Yes, they need me, these squalling masses that whisper my name in disgust and defiance. Let them whisper. Words are wind. They can be dangerous, to be sure, but not without actions to support them. As long as their dissent remains merely words, Panem has nothing to fear. As long as their threats are empty, we will have peace.

Six.

Yes, we will have peace. But this time it will be a vigilant peace, not the complacency that my predecessors fell into. We cannot afford to become comfortable, assured of our own safety. We cannot afford to sit back and watch our great nation slumber as it did three years ago. We must be watchful. We must be alert.

Five.

Yes, we must be alert for any sign. Any hint of rebellion. And that is the second purpose of the Games. If there are still factions that might pose a threat, what would bring them out of hiding faster than the slaughter of their own children? If anything will bring these rebels crawling to the surface, it will be these Games. And by their own concern, their own objection to the bloodshed that will ensue, we will weed them out.

Four.

For a while, it may be difficult, but we will find them. There is nowhere left for them to hide. District Thirteen has been completely destroyed. Stragglers from the battles who fled to the wilderness between the districts have been captured and either killed or returned to their home districts. For a while, there will be a struggle. There will be conflict as we work to rebuild our great nation.

Three.

For a while, there will be chaos. But chaos is their enemy, not ours. Just as peace is. One would think that chaos and peace are incompatible, but the fact is that the opposite is true. Chaos and silence are incompatible. But silence is not peace. In order to have true peace, there must be an element of chaos, of constant change. Silence, inaction, complacency – these are the true enemy.

Two.

For a while, they will see us as the enemy. They will see the Capitol only as a source of oppression and cruelty. And so we must be seen, for a while, in order to keep the peace. But, eventually, they will realize the truth. Their greatest enemy is each other. Their greatest threat comes not from us, but from within. We are simply an instrument of a greater force, fighting to return things to the way they should be.

One.

No, not return. That's wrong. Things can never, and should never, return to exactly the way they were. We must keep moving forward. We must keep making progress towards our inevitable goal: the glory and prosperity of Panem. We will not return to what we were. We will be better. We will be greater.

And the districts, too, will be greater, better because of the trials they will be forced to endure. The lone Victor who rises from the ashes of this year's Games will be an honour to their district. A source of pride and glory and resolve in the face of terrible odds. This year's Victor, and those who will follow, will serve as symbols of our mercy, our compassion. They will help us to lead our nation forward, and, together … we will have peace.

Zero.

Hello, everyone. As you've probably guessed by now, this is an SYOT of the First Hunger Games! This is a collaboration between myself and a few friends, but, since I'll be doing the majority of the writing, it's going up on my profile. (The others are helping out more with the planning/plotting/decision-making/proofreading aspects, for which I am deeply grateful.)

So, the tribute form and a few rules (nothing outrageous or scary) are up on my profile. Happy submitting, and tell your friends!