The End Continued

by Aria Candence

I still see her ghost in front of me. I imagine chasing her around, her giggling when I refused to realize she was faster than me. Some say that it is impossible for me to have such vivid memories of her if she disappeared when we were both so young. I don't know how it is possible. But it is.

1. Chapter 1

"Our struggle against violence and cruelty is only treating the symptoms of a disease, not curing it. You are the cure.

"In order to keep you safe, we devised a way for you to be separated from us. From our water supply. From our technology. From our societal structure. We have formed your society in a particular way in the hope that you will rediscover the moral sense most of us have lost. Over time, we hope that you will begin to change as most of us cannot. Our society will continue to exist, to develop. The violence and struggle will burn on. But you are our hope, our rebirth of a society.

"The reason I am leaving this footage for you is so that you will know when it's time to help us. You will know that it is time when there are many among you whose minds appear to be more flexible than the others. The name you should give those people is Divergent. Once they become abundant among you, your leaders should give the command for Amity to unlock the gate forever, so that you may emerge from your isolation and we may merge again, hopefully for the better.

And that is what my parents wanted to do: to take what we had learned and use it to help others. Abnegation to the end. "The information in this video is to be restricted to those in government only," Amanda says. "You are to be a clean slate. But do not forget us. The gates of our past, present, and destined future will now be opened wider than ever before. We must strive to help these strange new people, and to let them help us. Divergent and non-divergent alike, we must now bond together to form a stronger new nation.

She smiles a little.

"I am about to join your number," she says. "Like the rest of you, I will voluntarily forget my name, my family, and my home. I will take on a new identity, with false memories and a false history. But so that you know the information I have provided you with is accurate, I will tell you the name I am about to take as my own."

Her smile broadens, and for a moment, I feel that I recognize her.

"My name will be Edith Prior," she says. "And there is much I am happy to forget. To the few, the special, divergent people of our new nation, may the odds be ever in your favor."