Red Water Dreams

Once, according to legend, humanity was spread across the world. We had control over the planet and we were free to do as we so wished. That is no longer the case. Only a select few know what happened and I am not one of them.

The last bastion of humanity is a city called Requiem, and it is ruled by... someone? Something? called "The Elder", and I will see him burn.

Seven years ago, I was playing in the woods just outside my little community. I was young, somewhere in my early to mid-teens. The woods were atop a hill, overlooking the small set of buildings just off from the main city. Every building conformed to the architecture to the city as well, black boxes of all shapes with spotless roads running between them. The village, if you could call it that, was set in a V-shaped valley, two sets of hills running on either side.

A kilometre or two away, following the valley, was an old dam, from the old world. I visited it once was I was a young boy... I wasn't supposed to but I did. The dam wasn't the largest building I had ever seen, that would be The Elder's palace, but the dam was big. A huge grey wall holding back a river's worth of water.

So, seven years ago, I was playing in the woods atop one of the hills. And seven years ago... a thundering crash followed by a rumbling tore through the air of that quiet day. At first, I ignored it but it got louder and louder until I saw it come down the valley. A huge torrent of water barreling down the valley straight towards my home and family.

I won't say buildings immediately toppled at the sheer impact of the water, no. That didn't happen. Sure, buildings lost walls and most did end up giving way eventually, but nothing fell immediately. The people were not as lucky, many had been caught by the water and swept away, the old and young died on impact with the water. Most of the village died then and there, taken by the waters.

Those who survived climbed to their roofs. I could see them, consoling each other as silhouettes in the distance.

Only a few moments passed until some helicopters appeared overhead, carrying police from the city. They roped down onto the rooftops where people were holding up. Most hoped that they would be saved, a select few already knew what was going to happen.

The police, in their white and blue uniforms, quickly subdued everyone remaining. Then they hoisted those who they had taken onto stakes and... set a match to them. The police quickly left, leaving me to watch as those whom I loved burnt and drowned.

That brings us to now... seven whole years later I find myself sitting on a bench, looking at my uniform, my colleagues milling about around me. "Elias! My office! Now!". That voice belonged to my captain. I sighed and got up, making my way to his office.

Upon entry to the office, I saw the always grumpy looking man. He was tall, 6ft 2 or so, with brown hair and eyes to match. He seemed to have a permanent scowl plastered on his face, especially when talking to me. His name was Killian Mercer, though he liked to be called captain more often than not.

"Right, I'm going to get to the point here. For some reason, the guys up top have wanted to see you. You have an... appointment on the 31st of October. I want you on your regular patrol until then." I nodded and quickly left. I put on my uniform, the blue and white painfully bold.

Soon enough I was out on patrol around Requiem on my motorbike. My route would bring me around some of the more notable locations of the city, though they all blended into the same black colour. The city's streets, despite being extremely wide, always felt cramped, no matter how many people were using it. The black theme of the city's architecture never failed and was only ever punctuated by the bright lights in windows, or the strip lights placed on the huge pyramid buildings placed almost randomly across the city, the largest of which was The Elder's palace.

My route never had much interesting stuff going on, just the occasional petty theft or something, the police were always hard on this area, more so than anywhere else. On my ride, I came across an all too common scene. The residents of a building had been brought outside and placed against a wall, their backs turned and hands on the wall.

The police behind them raised their weapons and waited a moment, their squad leader had seen me, sitting on my bike watching. He gave me the customary wave off in situations like this. I nodded in return as the squad leader ordered his men to open fire, instantly killing everyone lined up on the wall.

I drove off along my route and soon found myself on my favourite spot. A raised road rarely used anymore. It had an amazing view of the city, but it also let me look at everything going on, from a couple on a date to the police breaching another house.

The bike I was riding was parked a few feet away from me, to my left, where I always left it when I was overlooking the city. To my right was a new addition. On the barrier were some A4 posters. They were red, with a black fist raised, coming from the bottom of the page. I'm bold letters the words "We shall dim this bleeding sun" were placed on the top.

The beginnings of a revolution it seems. A detail I may have omitted until now is the current government was called "The Bleeding Sun Regime". They didn't pick the name... they just adopted it after people started giving them the name.

I pocketed the poster and got back on my bike, continuing my patrol. While I was riding through the city I began thinking about what "The guys up top" wanted with me. I had heard rumours of what they do, from execution some form of... alteration to you, or a straight-up promotion to something else other than the police force. Whatever it was... I could wait to see it.