Chapter I
Divisions
The divisions started a long time ago. No one could recall exactly when. Some younger, more naive people said that they started when the Zone Walls went up, but the older folks—the ones who had been around long enough—knew better. They knew that the Zone Walls were just a reflection of the prejudice beneath. They also knew that the divisions had started a millennia before. Exactly how long ago was unclear; perhaps they had begun when the first primates climbed down from their trees; perhaps they had begun when the third World War had ravaged the European nations. However they began, the platinum-haired noble-girl didn't care as she gazed out the dark palace window. All she knew was that the walls were ugly, and the prejudice, uglier. She found her mind wandering back to her first trip outside of Zone 1's comfy border wall into the depths of the poorest part of the country.
The scene that had displayed itself before her had been sickening: people sleeping in the streets, garbage, run-down houses and pollution, disease. She remembered vividly how her had stomach lurched at the sight of a man whose leg was torn and bleeding and covered in open sores. Her heart ached for her people, but her peers, her father—the king—and her servants showed no such pity. She remembered with deep sadness the cold expressions on their faces and she closed her eyes. The memory almost brought tears to her eyes when a familiar voice brought her back from her reminiscing.
"Elsa,"
"Yes, father?"
"Are you listening?"
Elsa looked him in the face attempting to decipher the meaning of his words. Suddenly, she remembered where she was and she blushed, "I apologize, I was lost in thought."
She thought he looked annoyed, but he continued unfazed,
"Once the border wall for Zone 44 has been finished, we'll be completely protected from our African enemies to the south."
Elsa internally rolled her eyes. She suffered through her father's prejudice littered ranting and finally found an opportunity to slip away when his royal advisers stole him. She successfully made it to her bedroom without talking to people and shut her door behind her. The princess felt what little energy she had left drain from her body as she sank to the ground. Spending the entire day meeting new people and listening to her father's racist rhetoric had drained her of what little energy her raging insomnia had spared her. She had intended to go to bed, but sleep overtook her.