Concept art for The Citadel of Humanity [https://i.imgur.com/ZoIgqx0.png]
Concept art for The Citadel of Humanity.
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Zac opened his eyes for the first time in his life.
The sky above was filled with connecting blue transparent hexagons, through which he saw the glitter and glow of the vast universe. The rays of a nearby red dwarf shined down, basking him in warm infrared.
A slight breeze and rustle brought Zac's attention back to his current situation. He slowly sat up, grimacing as stiff muscles and joints cracked from non-use. Looking around, Zac found himself on an expansive manicured lawn, landscaped with interspersed islands of trees and encircled by perennials and other flowering shrubs. The whole lawn itself was walled by high rise buildings in a quadrangle, save 2 large circular walkways on opposite ends.
Other people lay beside him, unmoving. Zac rotated onto his knees and elbows and reached out to the closest person and lightly pushed their shoulder. No response. A shove. Then a vigorous shake. Still no signs of a stirring. Only the slow rise and fall of their chest betrayed their vitality.
Zac looked around. There were hundreds of people, thousands possibly, all lying unconscious on the lawn. What is going on here? He thought to himself.
His eyes were alerted to motion in his peripheries. In the distance there were two people entering through one of the circular archways. They were miniscule compared to the size of the circular structure, which itself was much smaller than the height of skyscrapers around him. The scale of his surroundings became very apparent to Zac. If the walkway was tens of metres high compared to their tiny figures, then this field must be hundreds of metres long and those buildings- Zac counted the vertical windows of one of the buildings, giving up when he reached triple figures and not yet reached halfway.
Looking back down, Zac could see the two saunter to the middle of the field, briefly surveying the unconscious where they passed. Zac made out one man and one woman garbed in military dress uniform. The woman walked one step behind the man, hands in her pockets with a gait lacking the proper decorum of her rank. As they walked by, Zac thought the woman gave a passing glance in his direction before she smiled.
Their destination was the centre of the field where the man walked up onto a podium while the woman opened a console on the ground. They both put on large headphones before a soft bass drum began to emit across the whole quadrangle.
What began as a soft rumble quickly escalated in intensity and pitch until it reached a piercing screech. Zac fell back on the ground, clawing at his face and twisting his body in agony. Covering his ears did nothing to stop the pain. The sound seemed to have found the natural resonance of his body, vibrating his bones until his own teeth chattered in his head and became a source of sound and pain.
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An unknown length later, the sound decreased in intensity and then stopped. With the reprieve, Zac collapsed on the grass. But the silence was fleeting. A boom boom boom of a finger tapping a microphone echoed across the lawn. Zac flinched, his ears still very sensitive to the previous torturing.
A deep breath in. Silence. Then a long and controlled exhale. "Ahh. What a wonderful time to be alive". The words had a strange sibilance accompanying them. The man on the podium chuckled.
Zac was still on the ground, curled up in a foetal position, cradling his head in pain from the sound. Every sss-sibilance was piercing his brain like needles.
"If you are awake, please ssstand".
"I repeat, if you are awake, please ssstand".
Silence.
"If you are awake, please ssstand".
"I repeat, if you are awake, please ssstand".
The same audio track seemed to play on repeat every few seconds.
"Just make it stop. Please". Zac slowly stood up wincing from a throbbing headache.
Around him others also gingerly stood up, similarly struggling from aching muscles and bleeding ears.
The sound was coming from speakers on the peripheries of the lawn. Zac found that if he stumbled towards the podium, the sound lessened in intensity until finally when he reached right in front of the podium, it was bearable.
Time allowed Zac and the others to catch their bearings. Zac was still concussed from the sonic blast and his ears were ringing. He surveyed the scene as best he could and watched others stagger over. It was slow, but a crowd began to form as more and more people figured out the same concept and bunched together in front of the podium.
The military man on the podium seemed to be happy. At some point, he paused the audio message and stepped back up to the microphone.
"Welcome new recruits. To The Citadel of Humanity". Oddly his words were now smooth like a calming balm to Zac’s tinnitus and painful ears.
"You have all been given an opportunity by the great Goddess herself to join us in our glorious purpose".
"Humanity is at war with a demonic alien race. We call them Riftwalkers. They challenge our sanctity and deny us our future".
"We fight to protect our ways. Our freedom. The chance for a better life for the next generation. For our great Goddess."
"Having been summoned for this righteous cause, I give you 2 choices."
"Choice number one. Join us in our plight. You will be conscripted into our army for 3 years, be paid appropriately for your sacrifice, and for those of you who are discharged honourably, will obtain citizenship and enjoy all the benefits of a citizen of the citadel."
"Choice number two. You choose not to join the army and not to fight. You may go on your own life and make of it how you wish. We give you our blessing, 5 days of food, and enough copper to buy clothes and essentials for a month."
"For those who wish to join the army, come find me, Captain Sunderland at the south exit."
"For those who wish to leave, find Drill Sergeant Penelope at the north exit".
The captain didn’t skirt around. He gained their attention, said his piece, and following that he stepped down from the podium and marched across the grass back towards one of the circular walkways. The drill sergeant also walked in the opposite direction towards the other circular walkway.