CLA.001 woke up from its deep slumber. He arose from his position and stood up, back erect. In front of CLA.001, were many others standing before him. By observing the others, he did the same. Straight ahead of CLA.001 was a strip of white elevated land. Upon the white elevated land, was a man with a long silver beard. He stands before the masses, with both arms behind him. His face was unreadable and emotionless as the blank color around them. For a moment, the entire population stared back into the master’s gaze. Without warning, the old man brought his hand to face the audience. All eyes, including CLA.001, paid a vigilant eye on the hand. Still, his face remained frozen in place. All was quiet until the master broke the silence.
“I am Elitia. The overseer and creator of this world. Please, repeat after me,” these first few words triggered a program within the central nucleus of every individual. “Right is right and wrong is wrong!” Simultaneously, every individual chanted the command back at him. “Wrong is wrong and right is right!” His emotionless face grew harder; he clenched his hand into a fist. Likewise, the crowd echoed the words like a nostalgic tune. “My word is law. I am the law.” The old man gave his orders and motioned every single individual to line up. One by one he gave them a label and their identities, and then sent them to off to live their lives. Finally, CLA.001, met the man face to face. CLA.001 remained immobile awaiting an order.
“CLA.001, please to meet you.” He caressed his beard. “I sense a great but terrifying future for you, CLA.001.” The old man awkwardly turned around and moved towards a box that was on the far corner of the ledge. He slowly picked up the gray, rusted metallic box and brought it over to the creature. He presented the box to CLA.001, secretly beckoning him to touch it. Now, the old man wanted to see if CLA.001 would keep staring at him, for this was a test of character. And like other subjects, they were expected to always look the creator in the eye.
” This is my most prized possession. I would die if opened.” said the man. But he began to notice CLA.001 eyes study the box. He understood that this one was different.
“You desire things that are beyond your reach and because of this you will suffer in life,” he scolded CLA.001. CLA.001 quickly averted his eyes off the box and back to the old mans.
“Hmm, you probably have a defect in your system!” he roughly poked the solar plexus of the creature. “You, CLA.001, will be labeled as an outcast because of your curious nature,” the old man tucked the box under his arm, “And your children will be known as such.” With the old man’s curse, he made all aware of the mark of CLA.001.
Several years later…
To think this all started with a few words. “Right is wrong and wrong is right.” These words were so simple yet compelling at the same time. I have always questioned what was right and wrong but not like this. While I patiently wait for my fleet to break the final barrier, I begin to reflect on my past feats. I wasn’t always the number one enemy on every authority’s hit list. No, in fact my life of crime started off small. At first, it was just venting out all my frustration on vandalizing government funded organizations. Then I started mouthing off to authority either with my mouth or fist. Finally, I came to the realization that there is no absolute truth! Of course coming to the conclusion that all things good and all things evil are irrelevant did not occur over night. The final straw was those simple words that I mention before. Yes, but how wrong they sounded. How wrong indeed.
I remember being near the Citadel, the fortress of the city. Normally, this is where I wandered off to sit around the water fountain recollecting my thoughts. I began to think about my parents and their incompetence in parenting— let alone caring. Thoughts of college, people and life in general raced in my head. I began to burn with rage. I imagined the worst possible fate befalling each and every person who wronged me. Out of frustration, I swiftly scooped up one pebble near the fountain. For a long while, I stared at the pebble, studying the surface. My hand clutched tightly to the pebble enveloping all of my anger into this one object. I had an impulse to throw the pebble into the Citadel’s two sided window, but fear crept up on me as I considered the consequences of my potential act. Quickly I discouraged any act of mischief and loosened my grip on the pebble, letting it fall to the ground. “Do it.” The startling disembodied voice seems to emerge from thin air. I nervously turned around to face the voice. A man, who could either pass for twenty or older, had his eyes fixed on me. The first thing I noticed about the boy was his confident grin, a look that said “I know all the answers.” Again, the guy insisted that I ‘do it’ cocking his head to the left. The stranger was most likely referring to the act of throwing the pebble. Yet, I was still confused by the stranger’s odd request.
“Do what, exactly?” I inquired, pretending I didn’t know what he was saying. He crouched down and snatched the pebble off the ground. Carefully, the stranger spotted his target and prepared himself to launch the rock. And like a skilled pitcher, he flung the pebble towards the window shattering it. The sound of glass hitting the ground was very audible.
“Run, you dolt!” he tugged at my shirt. A man reared out of the wall holding a baton in his hand. I gasped and ran after the stranger. We ran for what felt like an eternity. All I can remember was the surge of adrenaline flow in my blood. I’m not going to lie; it felt good, really good. We finally stopped for breath at the park; laughter wanted to escape my exhausted lungs. I wiped off the sweat on my forehead, still heaving heavily under the beating sun. Later we exchanged names and funny comments about the situation. Hours passed by and pretty soon the sun was beginning to set.
“I better go, Gil,” I informed my new friend.
“Why?” Gil’s wry smile caught my attention.
“Because… I have to go home,” my eyebrow raised at his weird question.
” I got school tomorrow, bro.”
“How old are you, Louis? Six years old? Only babies follow curfews. You’re a man!”
I was probably stupid for following his orders like a slave but I sat back down anyway. The moons soft, ambient glow clothed the park with white. The shadow casted off the moon’s light darkening our faces. We had a light discussion, nothing too heavy. Funny thing is, the conversation was about absolutely nothing, yet, we talked for hours. I have never had a conversation like this with anyone before. Soon our trivial little conversation steered off course. We began speaking about the law and authority and how it would be like to be Elita, the creator. Although I did agree with most of his opinions, I grew uncomfortable with the topic. Such topics are highly encouraged to be avoided and often lead to trouble if voiced out loudly. He still consisted on talking about the topic becoming more passionate in his speech.
“Calm down, man. Let’s go for a walk or some—“Gil interrupted me.
“No, I’m not going to be calm. I’ll never be silenced!” Gil got up and stood on the bench we were sitting on.
Great, I befriended a psychopath. I consciously thought to myself. I was about to leave but a string of words that he blurted out of his mouth took control of me.
“Right is wrong and wrong is right!” he punched the invisible air. My mind felt like it was short circuiting while thousands of words flashed before me. Again and again he regurgitated the words like water rapidly gushing off a cliff. Why is this happening? I thought. Am I having a seizure? My body felt incredibly rigid and constrained like I was in a stray jacket. My jaw kept closing and opening jittering like chattering teeth bitten by the cold winter’s grip. I wanted to, tried to speak but instead it came out choppy, incomplete and incomprehensible.
“Wh—wha— is—hap—to—me?!” Tears were beginning to well up in my eyes.
“You’re being reprogrammed, my friend,” Gil’s face soon turned blurry.
I woke up that day a different man. Gil was nowhere to be seen but I didn’t care. All I knew is that I was angry, furious even and I wanted to hit something or someone! And so began my life of deceit, cruelty and just about every sinful thing you can think of. I ended up influencing others like me. At first, a few tagged along disregarding the consequences. Shortly, many others became curious and attempted to adapt my philosophy of “Right is wrong and wrong is right.” Soon or later thousands practiced my philosophy, obeyed my every command and became my adopted children. Things were going smooth. We got what we want, when wanted it, not concerning ourselves with others, the law—nobody! Despite all of our progress there was still one more being who stood in our way. Elita, the creator of our world, created this cyber world used to deceive us. So that is why my men are breaking down the walls of these barriers. That is why we are attacking the citadel. To find the box that has been said to kill the creator. The creator Elita will die today!
Finally, after much toil, the barrier collapsed. Once the wall fell, all the rebels scurried over to the other side attacking every guard that came their way. Blood sprayed in every direction as swords slashed through necks and veins. The constant sound of bullets whirling through the air was enough to bring a cold chill down your spine. Agonizing cries of pain surfaced through the battlefield, their blood soaking the ground. I ordered my men to charge into the field while I prepared my most trusted and trained elites. My men and I were going ahead to search for Elita ourselves.
We hastily scampered to the citadel with heavy, plate armor and guns attached to our hips. One of my men placed a bomb on the steel door and set it off. After he finished, we hid far away waiting for the bomb to ignite. BOOM! A blanket of thick, gray smoke conceal the entrance while blazing, red fire engulfed the door. The impact of the explosion caused several of the guards to fly off like paper being slammed into trees. I love the sight of it all.
The same routine continued as we scaled up countless stairs taking on one solider after another. Shot after shot, varying from the face to stomach, heart to limb. I shot one man in the ear, a bloody piece blasted off; I finished him off with a strike to the head. Coming to the last floor, I wanted to be sure that this mission went off with a bang. My comrade set a time bomb for two minutes; hopefully we will be out by that time.
At last, we arrived at the last floor. There he was, Elita, sitting on his throne appearing disgustingly calm. I approached him with anticipation, holding the gun close to my chest. Still he remained the same, tranquil and relaxed. I knew shooting him will not kill him but threatening to kill everyone else would convince him otherwise.
“Don’t bother threatening me. I already know what you want.” He placed his hand up to stop me from coming any closer. I gestured my gun at Elita to retrieve the box. Elita obeyed and fetched the box. He came back momentarily holding the gray, rusted box. I snatched it out of his hands; I was completely ecstatic.
“Come on, Boss! We got one minute!” exclaimed one of my men. I told him to shut up.
“Why are you doing this?” asked the old man. He didn’t seem terrified at all.
“Why? Because I felt like it!” the annoyance in my voice was evident.
“Do you actually believe a world without rules will stand forever?” Elita harshly added. My anger began to rise; I hated being lectured.
“Survival of the fittest, baby,” I brought the box up to his face mockingly. “Now, you die, Tyrant!” I took off the box lid and watched as he deteriorate atom by atom, vanishing into air. My wicked grin was spread ear to ear. Suddenly, a voice came from nowhere.
“So you think you can get rid of me, Louis!” Frantically, I pivoted around dropping the box to the floor, a hard thud emitted from the contact.
“I’m here Louis and always will be. How can the creation kill the creator?” The others glanced at each other in confusion.
“Louis, thirty mo—.” I barked at my comrade to shut up, cursing out loudly.
”So you want to live in a world without rules? So be it. Survival of the fittest? Be my guest, I’m not needed here anymore.” I kept searching for the source of the voice, calling him a coward.
“Boss, we need to leave now!” as soon as my men said that, I shot a bullet near his foot. He jumped at the shot, staring at me in disbelief. As I continued searching for the voice, my men left the vicinity.
Eventually, the weight of the armor wearied out my strength. I flopped down on all fours, shock stricken. I looked out the window; the fires’ burning luminescent light was strong. All around me was destruction, chaos and anarchy. Then there was the bomb and a bright light. Boom!
K.V M
“I am Elitia. The overseer and creator of this world. Please, repeat after me,” these first few words triggered a program within the central nucleus of every individual. “Right is right and wrong is wrong!” Simultaneously, every individual chanted the command back at him. “Wrong is wrong and right is right!” His emotionless face grew harder; he clenched his hand into a fist. Likewise, the crowd echoed the words like a nostalgic tune. “My word is law. I am the law.” The old man gave his orders and motioned every single individual to line up. One by one he gave them a label and their identities, and then sent them to off to live their lives. Finally, CLA.001, met the man face to face. CLA.001 remained immobile awaiting an order.
“CLA.001, please to meet you.” He caressed his beard. “I sense a great but terrifying future for you, CLA.001.” The old man awkwardly turned around and moved towards a box that was on the far corner of the ledge. He slowly picked up the gray, rusted metallic box and brought it over to the creature. He presented the box to CLA.001, secretly beckoning him to touch it. Now, the old man wanted to see if CLA.001 would keep staring at him, for this was a test of character. And like other subjects, they were expected to always look the creator in the eye.
” This is my most prized possession. I would die if opened.” said the man. But he began to notice CLA.001 eyes study the box. He understood that this one was different.
“You desire things that are beyond your reach and because of this you will suffer in life,” he scolded CLA.001. CLA.001 quickly averted his eyes off the box and back to the old mans.
“Hmm, you probably have a defect in your system!” he roughly poked the solar plexus of the creature. “You, CLA.001, will be labeled as an outcast because of your curious nature,” the old man tucked the box under his arm, “And your children will be known as such.” With the old man’s curse, he made all aware of the mark of CLA.001.
Several years later…
To think this all started with a few words. “Right is wrong and wrong is right.” These words were so simple yet compelling at the same time. I have always questioned what was right and wrong but not like this. While I patiently wait for my fleet to break the final barrier, I begin to reflect on my past feats. I wasn’t always the number one enemy on every authority’s hit list. No, in fact my life of crime started off small. At first, it was just venting out all my frustration on vandalizing government funded organizations. Then I started mouthing off to authority either with my mouth or fist. Finally, I came to the realization that there is no absolute truth! Of course coming to the conclusion that all things good and all things evil are irrelevant did not occur over night. The final straw was those simple words that I mention before. Yes, but how wrong they sounded. How wrong indeed.
I remember being near the Citadel, the fortress of the city. Normally, this is where I wandered off to sit around the water fountain recollecting my thoughts. I began to think about my parents and their incompetence in parenting— let alone caring. Thoughts of college, people and life in general raced in my head. I began to burn with rage. I imagined the worst possible fate befalling each and every person who wronged me. Out of frustration, I swiftly scooped up one pebble near the fountain. For a long while, I stared at the pebble, studying the surface. My hand clutched tightly to the pebble enveloping all of my anger into this one object. I had an impulse to throw the pebble into the Citadel’s two sided window, but fear crept up on me as I considered the consequences of my potential act. Quickly I discouraged any act of mischief and loosened my grip on the pebble, letting it fall to the ground. “Do it.” The startling disembodied voice seems to emerge from thin air. I nervously turned around to face the voice. A man, who could either pass for twenty or older, had his eyes fixed on me. The first thing I noticed about the boy was his confident grin, a look that said “I know all the answers.” Again, the guy insisted that I ‘do it’ cocking his head to the left. The stranger was most likely referring to the act of throwing the pebble. Yet, I was still confused by the stranger’s odd request.
“Do what, exactly?” I inquired, pretending I didn’t know what he was saying. He crouched down and snatched the pebble off the ground. Carefully, the stranger spotted his target and prepared himself to launch the rock. And like a skilled pitcher, he flung the pebble towards the window shattering it. The sound of glass hitting the ground was very audible.
“Run, you dolt!” he tugged at my shirt. A man reared out of the wall holding a baton in his hand. I gasped and ran after the stranger. We ran for what felt like an eternity. All I can remember was the surge of adrenaline flow in my blood. I’m not going to lie; it felt good, really good. We finally stopped for breath at the park; laughter wanted to escape my exhausted lungs. I wiped off the sweat on my forehead, still heaving heavily under the beating sun. Later we exchanged names and funny comments about the situation. Hours passed by and pretty soon the sun was beginning to set.
“I better go, Gil,” I informed my new friend.
“Why?” Gil’s wry smile caught my attention.
“Because… I have to go home,” my eyebrow raised at his weird question.
” I got school tomorrow, bro.”
“How old are you, Louis? Six years old? Only babies follow curfews. You’re a man!”
I was probably stupid for following his orders like a slave but I sat back down anyway. The moons soft, ambient glow clothed the park with white. The shadow casted off the moon’s light darkening our faces. We had a light discussion, nothing too heavy. Funny thing is, the conversation was about absolutely nothing, yet, we talked for hours. I have never had a conversation like this with anyone before. Soon our trivial little conversation steered off course. We began speaking about the law and authority and how it would be like to be Elita, the creator. Although I did agree with most of his opinions, I grew uncomfortable with the topic. Such topics are highly encouraged to be avoided and often lead to trouble if voiced out loudly. He still consisted on talking about the topic becoming more passionate in his speech.
“Calm down, man. Let’s go for a walk or some—“Gil interrupted me.
“No, I’m not going to be calm. I’ll never be silenced!” Gil got up and stood on the bench we were sitting on.
Great, I befriended a psychopath. I consciously thought to myself. I was about to leave but a string of words that he blurted out of his mouth took control of me.
“Right is wrong and wrong is right!” he punched the invisible air. My mind felt like it was short circuiting while thousands of words flashed before me. Again and again he regurgitated the words like water rapidly gushing off a cliff. Why is this happening? I thought. Am I having a seizure? My body felt incredibly rigid and constrained like I was in a stray jacket. My jaw kept closing and opening jittering like chattering teeth bitten by the cold winter’s grip. I wanted to, tried to speak but instead it came out choppy, incomplete and incomprehensible.
“Wh—wha— is—hap—to—me?!” Tears were beginning to well up in my eyes.
“You’re being reprogrammed, my friend,” Gil’s face soon turned blurry.
I woke up that day a different man. Gil was nowhere to be seen but I didn’t care. All I knew is that I was angry, furious even and I wanted to hit something or someone! And so began my life of deceit, cruelty and just about every sinful thing you can think of. I ended up influencing others like me. At first, a few tagged along disregarding the consequences. Shortly, many others became curious and attempted to adapt my philosophy of “Right is wrong and wrong is right.” Soon or later thousands practiced my philosophy, obeyed my every command and became my adopted children. Things were going smooth. We got what we want, when wanted it, not concerning ourselves with others, the law—nobody! Despite all of our progress there was still one more being who stood in our way. Elita, the creator of our world, created this cyber world used to deceive us. So that is why my men are breaking down the walls of these barriers. That is why we are attacking the citadel. To find the box that has been said to kill the creator. The creator Elita will die today!
Finally, after much toil, the barrier collapsed. Once the wall fell, all the rebels scurried over to the other side attacking every guard that came their way. Blood sprayed in every direction as swords slashed through necks and veins. The constant sound of bullets whirling through the air was enough to bring a cold chill down your spine. Agonizing cries of pain surfaced through the battlefield, their blood soaking the ground. I ordered my men to charge into the field while I prepared my most trusted and trained elites. My men and I were going ahead to search for Elita ourselves.
We hastily scampered to the citadel with heavy, plate armor and guns attached to our hips. One of my men placed a bomb on the steel door and set it off. After he finished, we hid far away waiting for the bomb to ignite. BOOM! A blanket of thick, gray smoke conceal the entrance while blazing, red fire engulfed the door. The impact of the explosion caused several of the guards to fly off like paper being slammed into trees. I love the sight of it all.
The same routine continued as we scaled up countless stairs taking on one solider after another. Shot after shot, varying from the face to stomach, heart to limb. I shot one man in the ear, a bloody piece blasted off; I finished him off with a strike to the head. Coming to the last floor, I wanted to be sure that this mission went off with a bang. My comrade set a time bomb for two minutes; hopefully we will be out by that time.
At last, we arrived at the last floor. There he was, Elita, sitting on his throne appearing disgustingly calm. I approached him with anticipation, holding the gun close to my chest. Still he remained the same, tranquil and relaxed. I knew shooting him will not kill him but threatening to kill everyone else would convince him otherwise.
“Don’t bother threatening me. I already know what you want.” He placed his hand up to stop me from coming any closer. I gestured my gun at Elita to retrieve the box. Elita obeyed and fetched the box. He came back momentarily holding the gray, rusted box. I snatched it out of his hands; I was completely ecstatic.
“Come on, Boss! We got one minute!” exclaimed one of my men. I told him to shut up.
“Why are you doing this?” asked the old man. He didn’t seem terrified at all.
“Why? Because I felt like it!” the annoyance in my voice was evident.
“Do you actually believe a world without rules will stand forever?” Elita harshly added. My anger began to rise; I hated being lectured.
“Survival of the fittest, baby,” I brought the box up to his face mockingly. “Now, you die, Tyrant!” I took off the box lid and watched as he deteriorate atom by atom, vanishing into air. My wicked grin was spread ear to ear. Suddenly, a voice came from nowhere.
“So you think you can get rid of me, Louis!” Frantically, I pivoted around dropping the box to the floor, a hard thud emitted from the contact.
“I’m here Louis and always will be. How can the creation kill the creator?” The others glanced at each other in confusion.
“Louis, thirty mo—.” I barked at my comrade to shut up, cursing out loudly.
”So you want to live in a world without rules? So be it. Survival of the fittest? Be my guest, I’m not needed here anymore.” I kept searching for the source of the voice, calling him a coward.
“Boss, we need to leave now!” as soon as my men said that, I shot a bullet near his foot. He jumped at the shot, staring at me in disbelief. As I continued searching for the voice, my men left the vicinity.
Eventually, the weight of the armor wearied out my strength. I flopped down on all fours, shock stricken. I looked out the window; the fires’ burning luminescent light was strong. All around me was destruction, chaos and anarchy. Then there was the bomb and a bright light. Boom!
K.V M
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