Bend #17

There are very little things us humans understand about the universe.

We have this habit of believing we are capable of processing the wondrous mysteries of our infinite universe. We merely rely on educated guesses and made-up nomenclatures to explain all those things that draw our attention.

One would think that we’d have a notion of how insignificant we are. Instead, we have evolved to resort to arrogance as a primary instinct for survival.

Insignificant, she walks across what is left of Bend #17.

“Xai, where are you going?” Xet asks.

“Xai please stop!” He screams desperately.

Xai continued walking, quiet and unbothered.

“He’s not there anymore, you’re going insane.” He manages to mutter.

But Xai continued walking, quiet and unbothered, loosing Xet in the distance.

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Xai is a woman, but she doesn’t know that. Her full name is X9145634201, just a number in billions. She never learned anything other than to keep herself alive between four walls. Most of her life, she ate through pills, so she doesn’t remember taste; she only heard commands, so she doesn’t enjoy sound; she has only seen white walls, so she doesn’t know anything else.

She spent most of her life inside her facility. Her only hope of leaving was becoming chosen as subject in a successful experiment and getting transferred to one of the infamous Bends.

That was all until the prosecutions for the Counselor began. Supporters of the Onerist regime started to turn on the Counselor, to the point of ordering his assassination. Civilians destroyed government facilities, interrupting experiments, and setting free all of the subjects. Xai was finally free.

She didn’t remember much about her life before the facility, almost anything other than her brother. She remembered he was very smart, very kind, and her only hope to recover a life of her own.

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Politic outcomes have often in history been influenced by a good speech. Great leaders are considered great due to the changes they inspire. Howbeit, these changes can only be encouraged through a skillful combination of words; the luck of knowing how to transmit an idea. Since we are all human beings, we are all faced with the same feelings, same desires, driven by the same wishes. These similarities allow us to empathize with each other, even in the most wicked ways.

General Xachary Xestening became the first Counselor of the Onerist regime. He had spent years awing the world with his innovative political ideology, and his vision for the future of humankind. As a scientist, General XX proposed that science alone had the answers to every single mystery of the universe. His symbol, the heart-shaped locket, was plastered everywhere across the world, promoting the oneriest propaganda and convincing every country that science was directly related to power.

Some people attributed his success to the most ambitious promise in his campaign. The Counselor claimed that science could even have the answers to prevent death. Once the General became counselor, it was clear that his attempts to find a cure for death were a personal matter, a result of greed and fear that led him to become obsessed.

He believed he could trick death by applying the principles of time dilation. His theory consisted in altering gravity in order to create bends in the space-time fabric causing time to move slower. These bends would become camps where the government would conduct human experiments and determine whether it was possible to trick death. Quickly, the Counselor becomes blinded by his power and infatuated with his goal. The Counselor decrees that all children would become subjects of his experiments; and for years he raises them to become the first generation of immortal human beings.

Civilians began to notice the Counselor’s concerning behavior, and they rise against his rule, ready to continue with his ideologies without him. The counselor has been wanted for years, with international organizations searching for him everywhere. Legend says, General Xachary attempted to create Bends, but accidentally created a wormhole and, in an attempt to survive, jumped into it.

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Xai finds a hidden door on the floor. She opens it and descends into it with the hopes of finding answers.

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Insignificant, Xai emerges from the ground among the remains of Bend #17.