The Beginning of the End

A century ago, global warming had sucked most of the Earth's life out of it. Russia was the only country to survive it, and everybody was keen on surviving. Yet it wasn't going to be that easy.

CHAPTER ONE

When you get told that you only have so much time left to spend in this world, your body just goes into shock. Your mind can't process the fact no matter how much you try to repeat it in your head.

That's how I felt when I heard the news. Well, see, it's sort of a secret. I have a father who works for the government and was one of the very few people who were informed of the apocalypse.

Many, many years ago before this country was named Imperium, it used to be called Russia The world was in constant war back then, and the countries began to deteriorate. Over the years, global warming worsened and the Earth gradually had its life sucked out of it, like in a black hole.

Within a century, seventy-five percent of Earth's land had sunk in the deep ocean, including bits of Russia. As it wasn't a single event that took place in one day, most of the world had preparation for it, so the most powerful leaders had agreed to migrate people to the largest country by land mass and rebuild whatever they'd lost in the sinking.

Still, to confine nearly seven billion people in one country no matter how big it is isn't a very wise thing to do, so they came up with a way to eliminate huge numbers of people. Everyone was scared out of their wits and their only intent was to keep themselves and their families alive.

The United Nations spoke to the heads of countries and they in turn spoke to their own people in their own languages by means of live television broadcast. The devastating news came as a total shock and only made matters worse.

All airports and ways out of every single country had been blocked, every single passport declared non-existent. There was only one destination to go, and that was Russia. For billions of people, it was a symbol of hope. Everybody thought they were going to be saved.

Thousands of military troops have set up camp in all entrances to Russia to ward off invaders without rights to enter the land. Anyone found without government permits to enter were killed on the spot with machine guns.

All you had to do was pay a sum amounting to five hundred thousand dollars (regardless of the currency), and that would buy you a permit to safety. Naturally, the wealthy and the rich had no second thoughts and they were the first to go even before the news had reached the people's ears.

The announcement had started a world-wide war in a single day. Each country had to litter their streets with their own soldiers and police force, as hundreds of thousands of people had come running to banks and resorted to robbing them out just to get the money.

The rest of the world, those who'd lived through poverty their entire lives, just laid

along the dust-filled streets, the children and their parents weeping for their lives to be spared. But they knew, without a doubt, they were all going to die.

Those who got caught were thrown in prison, and if you had to resist, you would be shot dead. Either way, there was no escape. The United Nations was having a difficult time trying to hold everything in place, and before they knew it, a massive tsunami had struck Asia, drowning half of it and killing millions of people.

There was barely any time to grieve. NASA had predicted the tsunami, yet the government didn't bother letting the people know as probably that would've been a good thing for them. NASA had also been feeding the government bits of information over the years about rise of water levels and which countries were going to be completely erased from the map.

Apparently, Russia was going to get the least belt-lashing from mother nature, although bits of it would sink in the water as well. During the whole migration period, the wars hadn't ceased. The Middle East, after first joining the pact with the United Nations, had decided it was going to be an independent state.

Every outsider had been killed, murdered, or tortured, and the innocent fled to less-guarded parts of their country. They'd even sent war planes to Russia to have the whole thing blown up, but the world against one independent state was a no-match.

Later on, North Korea decided it was time to use the weapons they'd been manufacturing for years on end and backed out of the alliance as well. The country was one of the few remaining ones untouched by the tsunami, and they were more enthusiastic than the Middle East to wipe out the rest of the planet.

Several atomic bombs had been detonated in parts of Europe, North and South America, which also killed millions of people. During that time, the United Nations had fully taken over Russia and was slowly building a new metropolis, not wasting an inch of space as to accommodate the country's fast-growing population.

In the next several years that followed, the war had quieted down a bit after North Korea and the Middle East couldn't quite figure out which of them would give up first. Eventually, North Korea's own dictator had united against him and he ended up in his own grave. The people didn't care about the war anymore, they just wanted to live.

Fifteen years and state-of-the-art technology was all it took for the United Nations to finish setting up a brand new mega-city and for the approximate two and a half billion population to settle down in their new homes.

It was everything they needed �" high rise buildings, shopping centres, exclusive and non-exclusive neighbourhoods, you name it. It was a perfect vision of the future, and the people were satisfied with the government's creation. It wasn't exactly a very pretty sight as the city felt too congested and claustrophobic, but it wasn't like they had any other choice.

They changed Russia's name to Imperium, and then divided it into eight regions. As more than half of the world's population had died along with their presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens, the leaders who remained elected themselves as mayors of their own region. They implemented all sorts of rules and regulations, and the people had to follow them in strict order. There was no longer any war, yet it was worse than anything the world had come to.

Every single soul over sixteen had to have some kind of work, for if they said no, they would be murdered right then and there. The government (who the people started calling The Union), was more keen on decreasing the population to a minimum rather than keeping it at a balance.

It took them several more years to build up the stock market and rebuild the same level of trading to its original state. Everything had jumped from nothing to suddenly criminally expensive, and thus more and more people each day began suffering from hunger and loss of shelter. Even the ones who started rich were struggling to keep daily expenses at a level.

Another century later, at present, Imperium has turned into an even more massive country. It seemed more like several continents compressed into one space. Technology has evolved so largely since the beginning, as people already have means of local transport by flying trains and cars, weird-shaped skyscrapers, and futuristic houses and gadgets.

This is the kind of life I grew up to anyway, so I can only compare it to what I've read from history books in school. I'd always been a fan of Imperium's past, and I always find myself wondering what it could've been like to live in one of those countries. The illustrations and photos show so much culture and depth, heavily contrasting the look of today's modern civilization.

I closed the history book and lightly brushed a bit of dust off the front cover, where it's got my name Iris Periwinkle neatly embossed.

I'd heard my parents whispering in terror this morning over breakfast in the kitchen, and it was something about the Union finding out that the Earth was coming to a final closure very soon. How soon? I'd definitely heard him mention in less than a year, and that got me so scared I couldn't bear to listen to the rest of their conversation.

I ran back to my bedroom, locked the door, and didn't bother going to school. What was there to go to school for, if the world was dying in a few months? And here I am now, going through the same history book I'd read through elementary school.

If what had happened to the planet more than a century ago was only part of the world's illness getting worse, then how bad is the rapture going to be? If everything had changed within the hundred-year span including the Union's technological advancements, then surely they could prevent it from happening?

I slowly slid the book under my desk and covered my face in my hands. It's not that I'm mortally afraid of death, I'm just not ready. I'm not even sixteen yet,so how am I supposed to enjoy at least sixty more years of life condensed into less than twelve months? Only time will tell.