State: Khal (Independent States)

Area: Central Market

In a suburban street, there are burnt-worn down small houses and shops everywhere. The fumes from the after-math of whatever transpired here cover the entire area. It's very early in the morning and there is not a single living soul in the distance. Two small mini-carts arrive that seem to be pulled by two 'Rompos' [A Rompo is a furry mammal the size of a grizzly bear with black and brown-fur, it is extremely strong and sound-sensitive with ears like that of a rabbit, it cannot be mounted because of the horns that grow along it's back but they are useful animals because of their strength therefore used for pulling carts and wagons] moving side by side among the smoke covered area. While the two men travelling along use one cart to dump trash and the burnt waste, they use the other cart to dump the dead bodies.

Both the carts keep moving in the same direction till the crossroads appear. The truck carrying the dead bodies then heads right and goes uphill. When it reaches the flat-land on the top, the man escorting the cart spots a body by the trees. He stops the Rompo and goes to the body lying on its front, he flips the body, revealing the corpse to be a middle-aged man with three bullet shots on his torso. He sighs and turns to look at all the other bodies in the trucks which due to the cart being stationary are now being mauled by scavenger birds. The Rompo growls and scares some away but still, most of the birds get into the cart and began to pick on the rotten flesh, flying off with a piece of meat or an eye or a finger. The worker picks up the body and dumps it in the cart.

"What a rotten world we live in."

***

State: Ayana (Independent States)

Town: Shindi

In a huge house designed like an old bungalow, developed partially from cement and metallic alloy. It looks ancient and grand like the house of an Italian Don. On the upper floors of the building, in a room that is un-kept but grand, Sridha is looking at the mirror as she gets dressed. After putting on her scarf she settles her hair and then takes her purse. She picks up a photo from the cabinet next to the mirror; a family photo that she's always treasured. Picking it up, she puts it inside her purse.

On the periphery of the northern part of the town is where a small military outpost is posted. Sridha enters the military out-post the soldiers do not stop her, they let her pass with a nod. She walks straight up to the officer's cabin, who on seeing her immediately greets her. She then takes out the picture and keeps it on the table. The military officer with a worried look states;

"Ma'am we haven't found him yet, you coming here every day to check won't change anything."

"But the prisoners of the last scuffle were supposed to be returned, it's been two years why hasn't my brother come back." Sridha counters.

"We are in constant touch with the Kusokan officials and our contacts in the Rebel faction; all the prisoners have been returned, we've informed the same to Mister Rana as well. So we looked into the casualties section hoping to find him there. But there was no mention of him. We're still searching given the circumstances but there's not much we can do at this point.". The military officer gets up from his seat.

With a look of dejection, Sridha sighs. "Ahh fine... Okay... then I'll come tomorrow again."

"Ma'am this won't change anything. I don't think he'll come back, none of your brothers will." The military official remarks loudly before Sridha leaves the room.

***

Second Paradigm Year-83 (December)

A huge procession stands in front of a poorly constructed stage; thousands and thousands of people have gathered. Their gazes on the one man standing in front of them on the stage, facing them. Standing above them all was Afzal; their leader.

"It's been two years since we started this rebellion, what we wanted was something simple. We wanted to be treated like normal people; we wanted to live our lives peacefully and what did we get in return? We were humiliated, our freedom was taken and when we tried to raise our voice; we were slaughtered."

"We... Kusokans are treated as objects, binding us with this piece of paper (Showing a piece of paper in his hand). They think this piece of paper warrants them to treat us like shit (The crowds buzzes with excitement). We started this rebellion so that no one else would die, but we were naïve. They killed our companions without a shred of hesitance and destroyed every chance we had of some negotiation. (The crowd agrees and shouts out slurs in anger) They curse us and abuse us for our powers but use us to do their dirty work (The crowd agrees and cheers on). But not anymore (Blue electrical sparks appear on the arm holding the paper, causing it to catch fire and start crumbling), we didn't choose this power, this power chose us, we were blessed by the gods! (The crowd hoots and cheers). They are the ones who are thirsty for blood, so let's fill their streets with it. It's not a rebellion anymore, it's a war! (Raises his hand)

The whole crowd screams and cheers, raising their hands in agreement.

***

When the Second Paradigm began after the Lul, the Central Government was given firm authority. The country was declared to be in a state of perpetual emergency and the Central exercised its powers as and when it saw fit. To avoid Human-Kusokan conflict, the 'Kelaromed Laws' were established.

The Kelaromed Law dictated three essential rules that every Kusokan had to follow:

1. A Kusokan cannot use his/her ability without a 'Power License' which was issued by the government to select individuals.

2. No Kusokan can ever harm a human mortally or otherwise under any circumstances. Any act of physical assault will lead to severe punishment.

3. Any Kusokan opting to work professionally as a non-combatant has to sign the 'Contract of Assurance'

The Kelaromed laws had many loopholes, due to which it was exploited by both humans and kusokans. What changed the narrative was the Contract of Assurance. It was an extremely biased contract that favoured humans heavily. It was intended to be a professional contract but ended up becoming a bond. Kusokans were heavily exploited and mistreated. They had no legal help due to the Kelaromed Laws. What made things worse was the birth of a black market; the likes of which no one had ever seen before. The bonds were used as tools to lead Kusokans into slave trade and bondage labour. The government took no stern actions to resolve these issues, causing this market to only grow. The profits were huge and no human wanted to bring an end to it. The Kusokans in the parliament were happy keeping their pockets full while those in the military were strictly controlled by military rules. The Kusokans living normal lives had no way to fight back, they were against an order that was propagating their exploitation. These circumstances are what led to Afzal's Rebellion which in turn led to the National Civil War.

The National Civil War started in the year eighty-three of the Second Paradigm (New Calendar), what started out as a small rebellion by Afzal ended up becoming a country-wide war. The war was fought between the Central States and the Independent States. Each faction had its own allies and this war divided the entire country into two halves. Afzal died in the Fourteenth year of the war but by that time, this had become every individual's war and there was no stopping it. The war lasted for twenty-two years, both factions realized that they were unable to continue fighting. The Central states desperate to end the war, had no choice but to give in to the demands of the Rebels who led the Independent forces and other faction leaders. The two factions reached an agreement of sorts about the rights of the Kusokans but the conflict was never really resolved.

When the civil war came to an end it was a happy time for all but the Rebel army. The Rebel army which was the fighting force of the Independent States now didn't have a purpose. The leaders of the Independent wanted to establish a pure democracy. An organization that was formed on the principles of a military regime had no place in it. Henceforth the leaders decided to disband the Rebel Army.

Millions had perished in the war. The country had taken a huge hit to the Kusokan and civilian count, almost being reduced to half its original population; that is how destructive this war had been. With its diminished stand in the global forum and its entire population suffering from the backlash of war, the leaders had no option but to give up their stance on keeping the entire republic together under one central rule. That was the only solution they could come up with to avoid internal conflict.

After the war, many states were suffering from internal strife. Kusokan's wanted separate rights for themselves but the states in the fear that it might lead to an uprising among the ordinary civilians were still apprehensive about giving them these rights. Both factions realized that dismantling the country into two would only lead to decreasing its strength even further. Therefore the consensus they reached was that the Central would operate as it is with its loyal states while the opposing states would form the 'Independent states'. Where the state government would have power over the central and the central would never interfere in their proceedings. The entire country's feudal structure was re-defined with the Central and its loyal states collectively referred to as the 'Central States'. They are also called the 'Subservient states' by people of the opposing faction as an insult. The opposing factions all collectively formed the 'Independent States' who even though were a part of the country, ruled on their own accord without any interference from the central government. The Kusokan rebel army was no longer needed and was gradually disbanded. All the Independent states together formed a council whose purpose was to maintain peace and prosperity between the civilian and kusokan population this council was called the 'Concentric' and was the most powerful body in the Independent states.

Both these different groups of states i.e the Independent and the Central had their own set of rules and policies. The Independent states focused on giving the same status to their civilians and Kusokans, they tried to establish an eco-system similar to that of the time before the Kusokans existed.

The Central government on the other hand understood that something like this was practically impossible, so for their Central states, they established new policies to protect the humans and the kusokans. While the Kusokan reproduction program was still a high priority given their decreased count especially in the central. They established policies where the Kusokans were given full civilian rights like any other. There were not bound to anyone in either labour or as an object formulated via contract but as soon as a Kusokan was born in any family he/she was to be handed over to the military when the child turned seven. In the military, they were sent to a special school where they learned to hone their abilities and graduated as top army officers. They were allowed to stay in constant touch with their families and even visit their respective homes whenever they wanted to when off duty. The Kusokans were extremely happy with these new advancements not realizing that by agreeing to live under these terms they were voluntarily giving up their freedom. They were still livestock, they were still weapons and now they did not have a contract to bind them. They were now bound by their will to live and this will took from them their freedom to choose.

There were many Kusokan's who were tired of the war and decided to move to the central states. Somewhere in their hearts they blamed themselves for this despair and destruction and didn't want any part of it anymore. The majority of the Kusokans settled in the independent states believing it to be their newfound freedom.

In the independent states, the lack of a firm central figure gradually gave way to more chaos. There was continuous infighting among the Kusokan loyalist and others who opposed them. Both the concentric and the leader of the states failed to put an end to it, as time passed the Independent fell into deeper chaos. Widespread poverty, Human-Trafficking, Murder became common. With innovation taking a setback most people took up farming as their occupation. The Kusokans were allowed to use their abilities as they wanted; the civilians threatened by this notion took up arms. The states were then further divided by Kusokans and the civilians' into separate villages. Every time a Kusokan was born in a civilian family, the entire family was banished from the community. The concentric did nothing to put the people's minds at ease. They were now a corrupted faction who were only interested in furthering their own personal cause.

Story By: Four Eighty One

(The Story, Characters, and Art are all original pieces of work, kindly refrain from using them without permission)

Chapter 9: A Beginning, releases next Friday