Apparition Mask

Chapter One

We are always at war. Whether it be within the innermost demons or against each other, we are at war. This world that I live in is almost a curse of utter and complete chaos. I’m sick of seeing everyone walk around like robots attuning to their daily schedules. I’m sick of all these fluorescent lights. I’m sick of always being talked to by some computer.

Let me tell you a little about my world. There are no stars, suns, or even plant life here. The only place I see them is on my monitor screen or in a book. You would think a world without suns or stars would be dark and damp, but this is not true due to our massive hold of fluorescent lights.

They light everywhere in this metallic blue city. Everyone is busy driving in their hover like cars on highways or taking trains and such. Not only is the environment odd, the people here are very diverse. Any creature you can think of and I bet you their here; all of them, elves, humans, sea nymphs, summoners, spirit talkers, vampires, etc…Thus, why we’re normally always at war, most of the time just in the city.

It’s normal every now and then to hear a bomb go off, or feel a sudden earthquake, or have a power surge. Of coarse, the backup systems just kick in and contain everything, including fire and floods. Everyone here is moving, never stopping, like time. No one ever speaks about what lies outside the city, or even dares to venture out.

There are many in the past couple of years that have had thoughts like mine; thoughts of leaving, thoughts of exploring. Somehow though these people are always found before they act. Like my friend Edgar for example, he and I would secretly talk for hours about plans of leaving and escaping. He was smart too, he even had a map of the whole entire city!

Edgar disappeared not long after that. I heard that he moved to a different quadrant. I still haven’t found him or his mother anywhere. The map that he had left at my house was gone as well.

Lots of other people at my school had had similar disappearances, even some people at businesses and such. I wondered why I never disappeared since Edgar did after all that talk of leaving. But then again, I’m probably just being foolish and being paranoid. I seem to have a knack for that.

School is another thing here. It’s pretty much your life. They school you and teach you until a certain point when your 18 and shift you into their own direction of where they want you to go. It’s almost as if we can never chose or think for ourselves here. Everyone’s so isolated in this city. It’s like a huge bubble.

I never see my parents, except on holidays. But it’s like that for everyone. I never really knew how little I knew about my world. I guess you could say it was a coincidence. I still don’t understand most things going on here even today.

The strange blue-black bird began to follow me ever since I began to try to find out more about Edgar’s disappearing. I had never seen an animal in the city, other than our cat-like creatures and things like that. It wasn’t small but it wasn’t big either. The bird had a long body and a very long neck with a sharp elongated beak.

I’d only see it on my way to and from school, it would cock his head oddly and I’d get distracted. When I looked back up, the bird was gone. Not even a call or a flutter of wings was heard. One day I saw it and remained consistent in watching it, intent on not letting it out of my sight and watch it magically disappear. Unfortunately I never really saw it disappear. I blinked and it was gone.

It’s been a couple weeks now and I haven’t seen the strange bird. The explosions overhead seem to be worse this week with all the flying machines around. I guess the winged creatures are fighting again.

To be continued...