Location: Elusyia

Year: SL 1755

The air warped with the heat of flames. Screams, man and Alvare alike rendered the sky and pierced through the battlefield.

Beams of energy arched through the orange sky and landed on another building, vaporising the metal instantly. All that remained was a cloud of acrid smoke.

Amid the chaos of the battlefield, a girl ran, barely dodging, as a human threw a talisman – one that killed.

"For Humanity!"

The girl ran harder, her slit pupils widening as she ran into the forest. Plunged in darkness, the small Alvare hid, listening to the stumbles and the curses of the human warrior. She looked back, seeing the bright white flames shining through the trees. She covered her ears, but the screams still reached her. Now, she understood, she understood why her kind desperately tried to oppress them.

Humans were dangerous, and her kind, the Alvarian Wayfarers were stranded in this universe, their ancient technology lost to the ages. The four species of humans must never work together.

However, somehow, they did – which resulted in this mess.

The Third Technological Revolution.

The girl squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to block out the images of her dying servants. As the future queen, they sacrificed themselves for her to survive. They allowed themselves to be cleaved in half, all to buy time for her to escape.

The stench of their blood still lingered around her.

The girl stood up and took on her Empowered form, one that humans call a dragon. Roaring at the sky, she called the remaining survivors and retreated to the Forest of Nightmares. She, and a few thousand survivors, flew towards the Silver Boundary.

The Alvare would gather their strength and fool the humans. Then, when the time was right, they would escape this universe. The small, white Alvare looked on. Even if it took millennia, they would recreate their ancestor's technology, study the laws of Magical Science, and survive.

They would leave this Chaos ridden place.

...

Location: Earth

Year: 2406

"And this year, the bill has passed. We, the Party of Progress, will finally be able to solve the problem of the accumulating trash!"

The announcement rang through the city. People stopped, staring at the Major Holoscreens. Teleportation transportation stopped, resulting in a growing crowd in front of each Major Holoscreen on the side of the long, gleaming skyscrapers.

"From tomorrow, we will start reorganising each Living Square. Those who are not needed are encouraged to reallocate to the Cleaner's Quarters. For every piece of trash collected, we will pay everyone five cents."

Murmurs broke out among the crowd. Some stared at the screens with trepidation, others with excitement.

Perhaps finally, the Trash plague would disappear, perhaps, clean, fresh air would replace the pervading odour of waste.

Yet, a sense of uneasiness remained. Though the promise of clean-tasting water and clear blue skies excited the people, a hum of tension vibrated through the city and beyond.

A few minutes later, business went as usual, but a question remained on everybody's minds. From the workers in the high-rise buildings to the people running a small business, everyone wondered.

Was it even possible to clean up twelve billion people's worth of trash?