Zero Degrees, by Rie

Earth died. The world that once was, one of growth, peace, and prosperity, vanished into darkness, and a new "thing" appeared to replace it. This place is no longer a world, it is a madhouse.

The year as of two minutes ago is 2590. It is a new year, and everyone says that things will get better. Yet nothing has changed. The streets are filled with the homeless, the poor, and the forsaken, with their brethren's bodies laid at their feet. Red water runs throughout the cracks in the pavement. Ash shades the sky an ominous grey. The world recently entered its 6th official World War, with the actual total being 9, so far. The enemy is known to all as Zephania, a country built by religion alone over the shattered remains of WUN, and infamous for its attempts to consolidate and expand.

Cities lay in ruins. Not just in the American continents, but all around the world. Since the beginning of the Zephanist expansion, lovingly dubbed "Terror Wave," several major population centers across the map were targeted. Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas, Africa, and even the Antarctic settlement were subject to a sudden awakening of sleeper cells and underground organizations, all under Zephanist influence.

In response, both the strong and the weak huddled together to combat the fierce new threats, both internal and external. ZION, the Asian Alliances, Disk, and all the others are examples of such. And everyone managed to succeed. Except the Americas. Already weakened from the last global conflict (World War V) and broken into the loose city-states of WUN, most of the area fell quickly to the Zephanist incursion. Only a few small coastal areas staved off the enemy offensive with heavy support from all allied organizations, and several reclamation attempts have begun over the past decades. None have succeeded yet.

Terrified and awed, some ran in panic, for there was nothing left for them in this world. Others stood perfectly still, for their bodies would not move. And others died. Many others. The innocent, the guilty, the soldiers, the civilians, the men, the women, the boys, the girls, and everyone else. The ruins of their lives now engulfed in flames dye the sky red, and the blood of all those sacrificed tint it red.

But they were not the only ones who suffered. They are not the only ones who are suffering. Funds from all vital institutions in the new world were drained in order to sustain and prevent the violence. People lost their houses, their belongings, their livelihoods, and their lives in the sake of global peace.

And yet, some people do not know of this at all and continue to live richly, abusing the luxury and privilage they take for granted. As far as I am aware, I am one of the only girls aware of the actual affects of this war within the school other than some adults. Not like the others. They do not know nor care to know where all their boyfriends went, where there money goes, why the shops closed, and what they really should care about. And I'm not sure if even the 150 that remain do not know of what they will soon be joining! It's...simply unforgivable how they do not act.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't blame them for their ignorance. They pay attention to the celebrities, the latest fads, the newest gear, and the hottest items that are plastered all over the media. The newspapers, magazines, television, radio, the networks, not one of them mentions the atrocities throughout the world. Not at first. Only when they are pushed and shoved and strained does the media speak of the war, and just barely. The lines are threadbare, and the only reporter to have ever ventured an in-depth examination vanished off the radar five years ago. That man was the pioneer in search of a story no one would touch.

In the name of that man, I became a junior reporter in his stead and set out on the road that he walked. I have pushed buttons and pulled strings to find out what exactly happened. Robert Trymal and his scoop would not be lost to the sands of time. Not if I can help it. He is my father, you know.

Dry Summer Sauce, Part II

As Eriko approached the east gate, she took notice of the various noises coming from the area. Loud clashes of metal against metal, with low but long lines of staccatos of more metal, pounding of tools on wood. But most of all, yelling. And lots of it, too. It sounded like construction, heavy work. What could be going on here? she thought. I'm pretty sure the school didn't need to renovate anything except the science labs, which are nowhere near here. Besides, like there's anyone to do the work anyways. Everyone could is already up north, probably dead. However, when Eriko reached the gate, she slid to a stop. She had seen something that shouldn't be here. Something that hasn't been here for years.

Men. Supposedly they had all left to fight in a war years ago. The heads at Sector 0 and (Sector 4) would take anyone. Volunteers were welcome, but not enough. In its place, a mass draft enlisted anyone who could hold a gun. Even children. And those who had just finished college were shipped off straight to the front lines the moment the graduated, no questions asked. And they never returned.

It was decided that not everyone could be drafted, so a code was emplaced that allowed a maximum of 150 young males under 24 be exempt from the draft. Starting from the youngest up, they picked out every boy under the limits and took the rest away. And all those 150 attended Siren Academy, the last stronghold of the north that hadn't fallen. Eriko would know, for she herself was evacuated moments before the fall of Derych 5 years ago, which was followed by a flurry of refugees fleeing the oncoming "Terror Wave."

But what she had seen there paled in comparison to the scene that unveiled before her eyes. She was right, it was construction work, but there were at least 300-400 strong, healthy males working the machinery. Impossible, they're not supposed to be here. I'm just seeing things. Nevertheless, she could not convince herself to believe what she was experiencing was nothing less than reality.

Something is wrong here. No one else has noticed it, but there is definitely something wrong here. It's my job as a reporter to find out what the hell is going on. Eriko ran inside the gate, slightly skidding on the path as she did so. The rain was falling even harder, as if the school was the center of the storm. Luckily, not one of the workers noticed her as she made her way down the path, until she brought herself to a short, frail-looking man standing on a slightly raised platform. He was getting orders from a strange handheld device and then barking them at the workers. A foreman, apparently. It doesn't look like he could do any of the work he guided.

"What is going on here!?" Eriko screamed to the foreman.
"What the? Who let you in here? No one's supposed to be here!" yelled the foreman.
"You are," she answered. Frustrated, the man awkwardly made his way down the platform and went directly to Eriko. At that moment, she was happy. He was noticeably shorter than her, and she barely cleared 5-foot 3.
"Listen here, miss. I'm in the middle of something extremely important right now. It'd be a great help if you would just waltz yourself right back out that gate and forget everything you saw today."
"Like hell I would! Do you think I would pass this story up? I want to know what exactly is going on, and you're going to tell me." As Eriko said this, she lifted the man by his collar and raised her fist threateningly.
"Wha- wait, hold on. I can't hear anything you're saying." The man was speaking into his little handheld, and glancing pleadingly to the school's highest rooftop, 6 floors above him and 500m away. There was someone there, and he was looking right at her.
"Oh, so there's where your boss is, then? I guess I'll go have a little chat with him, then." Eriko dropped the man, who crumpled onto the wet concrete. She began running towards the school entrance, planning to shoot straight up the stairs and pulling the veil off this mystery. I WILL have this story.

However, a strong force flew in at that moment and swept her off her feet. Slipping and falling on the soaked path, Eriko landed on her back. Hard. The impact made her head jerk backward, slamming it on the concrete. She blacked out for a moment, and was only slightly aware of her surroundings as she regained consciousness. Only her head would move, and she knew that she would black out again soon, so Eriko took a moment to study her environment. From what she could feel, it was still raining, but there was no wind. What was that force then? She angled her head towards the roof and saw that the figure was gone. She was about to search elsewhere until a shadow loomed over her paralyzed body.

Eriko couldn't make out much of the presence before her. Whatever it was, it stood only slightly taller than her and it looked human. The only clear things she could see were two eyes. They were grey. They cast a glare on her, and she could feel it. It was not cold, but suprisingly warm.
As she lost grasp and began to slip back into unconsciousness, she weakly spoke her thoughts.
Who are you?
The figure answered back gently. She could not hear it, but the voice was warm.
Then everything went black.

Eriko shot up. She was at her house, in her bedroom. She was on her bed and in her nightgown, with her soaking white dress and other clothes hanging contently on a line outside her window. The storm had ended. As she tried to remember what had just occurred, she found that she could not. Eriko made her way to the window ahd took down her clothes. They were dry, meaning that the storm had ended some time ago, and she had arrived home anytime after but long enough to dry her things. She gazed out onto the streets, which were also dry but still dark under the cover of the clouds but slowly being pierced by the sunset. Before Eriko went back to bed, she wondered what tomorrow would be like.

Will it rain again?

Dry Summer Sauce, Part I

The sky didn't seem to like Eriko. Every day she went out, the wind blew hard, it rained, or it was cloudy. And today, they proceeded to show no mercy again. Everyone decided to play together, and they invited a new friend, lightning, to the game. No matter, Eriko wasn't going to entertain them today.


Nevertheless, she had better things to do than worry about the weather. She had just come back from Quincy's house after delivering the pictures for the school paper. Tomorrow was the due date, and those photos were a must. Now that she was finished, Eriko had to go back home and prepare dinner. Her mother would most likely not be home yet until two in the morning, so there was no one to watch over her. With that, her soaking clothes could wait for a few minutes.


Eriko reached some cover under a bus stop not too far from Siren Academy, the school she has attended for some four or five years after her move. She had moved out from Derych up north only moments before its invasion, and it was not a matter she would discuss with anyone. Eriko felt as if she was forgetting something then, but she shook her head at the thought. Surely she had brought everything she needed, right?



There was a pool of rainwater gathering at her feet, and Eriko decided to have a look. She wanted to see how drenched she was, and it's not like she carried a mirror in her pocket. After Eriko had taken out some little twigs from the pool, she looked down.


What she saw was not all that different from when she looked at herself after taking a shower, the only difference was that she was wearing clothes; this was expected. Eriko was more interested in her face. She had always wondered what others saw her as. Was she pretty, or not so much? Was her perpetually straight black hair a strength, or a problem? What about her face? Sure, she had long eyelashes and didn't wear too much make-up. She also had a small nose, thin lips, and vividly green eyes, which were said to be her strong points by Sei and them. But what did the others, the strangers and the boys, think?


After some five or so minutes, Eriko decided that looking at herself was not going to tell her the answer and continued on home. Since Quincy lived on the opposite side of the academy, she was running down the street next to one of its long border walls, and she was thinking about exactly what kind of school she went to.


Siren campus, as a whole, was massive. Containing the classrooms, the gymnasium, the library complex, auditorium, the outdoor auditorium, two fields, three fields, the "haunted" science/technology labs, the offices, the GCF (Global Communications Facility), a dorm for female live-in students and a separate dorm for all boys attending, and much more, the area required to house all of these and then surround it with a 7-foot high brick wall easily occupied a square mile.


Not just that, the potential education level that could be achieved was ranked as the highest in all of Sector 4, second place in all of ZION (lost to Sector 2), and eleventh worldwide. All the teachers and staff are skilled, with the oldest ones rumored to be international experts on their subject matter. The list of classes available was extremely diverse, with everything from atoms to ZION history covered. The most miraculous fact was that most of the costs for maintaining and upgrading the facilities were paid directly by Sectors 0 and 9. The only thing required was a relatively low starter price of 5000 ZEN a year. How could the homeland afford this, or even allow this? The question was not for her to answer, and she knew it. Let ZION deal with it.


However, there were sounds and smoke coming from the campus. It seemed that something peculiar was happening at the eastern entrance. Strange, no one should be here because of the rain and because it's summer, Eriko thought to herself. She decided to go check it out. Hell, she could spare a few minutes. Her mother wouldn't notice and couldn't care less if she did. Without another thought, she hurried towards Siren's eastern gate.

The Alliances

Throughout the story, a variety of different alliances will appear. These are their acronyms and a little overview. PS these are English titles, other names for them will appear later.

ZION (Zirech International Organization of Nations)
-Most of former Europe and other scattered countries rallied under the Zirech, a political party

LAA (Land-based Asian Alliance)
-Like the title, except for small coastal countries

SAA (Sea-based Asian Alliance)
-Like the title, including small coastal countries

WUN (Western Union of Nations)
-Most of the former states of the dissolved US, some were absorbed by neighbors and others didn't join

NSC (North-South Coalition)
-The Republic of Antarctica, Greenland, the islands north of Russia, and Australia

SEC (Southern Entity of Continents)
-The continents of South America and Africa together

Disk
-An alliance consisting of several nations, territories, and political bodies around the equator
Note: does NOT include all countries along the equator

PEPR (Peace and Prosperity)
-The acronym for the macro-sectors as a country

Oops, Forgot Some

More Random Info
-Sector 6 lies on large beds of compressed oxygen. Combined with the slightly hostile nature of its people and their weapon caches, this sector poses a serious combustibility problem and houses enough firepower to completely eliminate Peace and Prosperity.
-Sector 7 is the home to Highwire HQ. Highwire is the leading producer of pseudo-electromagnetic goods and other electronic devices. This makes Sector 7 the most prosperous sector ever.
-Pseudo-electromagnetism is created through the use of two new elements: aerium and noraon. This new form of energy produces effects like electromagnetism, but it has a completely different spectrum and form, requiring different measurements and standards. In equal amounts, electromagnetism always wins against pseudo-electromagnetism.
-The refugees in Sector 5 refuse to be evacuated for unknown reasons.
-The inhabitants of Sector 0 are very proud to know that they are or are descended from the first settlers in Peace or Prosperity.
-Sectors 2 and 3 have united in several aspects too hard to explain, and have created a bridge connecting the two at all time in addition to the other transportation available.
-Originally, Peace was the title of Sector 0, and Prosperity was the title for Sector 9. The sectors were not numbered until 2585.
-Sector 9 is the only sector known to have active reserves of aerium and noraon.
-These two elements received their names based on the places they were discovered: aerium from Aeolis, and noraon from Norae.
-ZION has yet to publish an official statement concerning the motives for establishing Peace and Prosperity.

Hope you enjoy the excerpts!

Peace and Prosperity

There'll be a lot of problems for readers if I don't say this: all my work is completely made-up and there is no information on it on the web. Just clearing that up, followup below.

The story is set in the future, the far future. Although the continents look generally the same, several man-made islands and other structures have been made to compensate for the growing global population. One of these places is Peace and Prosperity, an exceedingly large set of territories set off by ZION, one of many international alliances established to prevent the absorption of smaller, weaker nations, and settle intercontinental disputes.

Peace and Prosperity is divided up into ten sectors, numbered 0 through 9, and into two macro-sectors. 0 to 4 make up the first macro-sector Peace, and 5 to 9 make the second, Prosperity.
Each have their own respective characteristics, people, and circumstances. Here is a short overview of all ten. BTW all of Prosperity is underground, directly under Peace.

Peace
Sector 0- The first sector established and the head of all international affairs.
Sector 1- The former nation of Soraton, now fallen into a civil war with no known motives.
Sector 2- The school compound, a sector devoted to the education and protection of the pupils.
Sector 3- The aboveground residential extension of Sector 7, now called Renham.
Sector 4- The "Dynasty" Sector, a general sector now feeling the tug of war from Sector 1.

Prosperity
Sector 5- The refugee camp made of escapees from its respective other above.
Sector 6- The "Rebel's" Sector filled with miscellaneous fugitives from other sectors.
Sector 7- The most technologically advanced sector, once a branch of Sector 9.
Sector 8- The medical sector lovingly dubbed "The Ward".
Sector 9- The second sector established and the head of all domestic affairs.

Other Information
-Being an official, recognized sector gives the area and its citizens considerable rights and power.
-Sector 6 contains "Gateway", the fastest transportational system available. Nevertheless, conventional transportation is available to and from all sectors.
-Sector 7 is one of the few producers of pseudo-electromagnetic products.
-Despite its close proximity to Sector 1, Sector 2 remains scot-free of damage.
-The war in Sector 1 is rarely reported because no information ever makes it out.