It was the moment that happens only during deep night, when the entire sleeping world is suspended in the peaceful and quiet fog of dreams.

Above the ground, the city of Medok was shining slightly, its white marble buildings reflecting the bright moonlight. Although the waking world was resting to prepare for the difficult day ahead, the nocturnal world was buzzing with activity. Night owls flew through the air, searching for rats and lizards in the tall green grasses; foxes crept into chicken coops to steal the eggs of innocent farmers; bats glided through the forests, hunting for insects; fireflies twinkled in the tall grass.

Below the earth, deep under where Medok stood, there were no owls or moths. Night under the earth was peaceful and unchanging. The city of Sovok reflected this. Bottomless darkness enveloped the streets, and the only sounds which echoed through the long tunnels were the whirring of machinery and the hum of electricity. Lights after nightfall were not allowed outside on most floors, which made it easy to catch criminals.

Karl’s room, one of many millions, had remained in the same state for several hours. He had moved here two years ago, when he had turned sixteen and his school had given him the opportunity to live alone in its dormitory. He sometimes missed his old home at the orphanage, but that was just nostalgia. Now there weren’t any annoying requirements, such as showering once a week, and the time it took to get to the Lyceum was much shorter.

Deep breathing sounds came from the bed and a small brightly glowing alarm clock filled the room with rhythmic ticking. The clock cast the entire room in calm shadows, its light outlining the furniture and the small mechanical creations lying on Karl’s desk. The gentle glow also uncovered the chaotic beauty, or, let us not lie, hellish mess, that adorned the floor, which made it impossible to walk without losing some sanity.

The carpeted floor was covered in a thick layer of dust and littered with candy wrappers, empty instant porridge packets, bread crumbs, screws, nails and other dangerous objects; dirty clothes were scattered everywhere in chaotic arrangements, emitting unique odors.

The area around the desk was filled with crumpled balls of paper – the product of everyday human misery. Anyone looking at these papers would shed a tear of pity or two: it is truly sad how such innocent things as school and science competitions can force a person to exchange his happy and play-filled childhood for bleak and endless studying.

Any person with even a slight sense of cleanliness would just have rolled up this nightmarish carpet together and thrown it away, but, as we know, there are many types of people in this world...

Many hours passed in this stillness.

At exactly seven thirty, the clock started buzzing and emitting annoying noises, and the figure on the bed started its daily routine of burrowing into the covers to defend itself from the auditory attack.

Finally, stumbling and almost tripping on some of the litter, Karl picked up some of the less-smelly clothes from the floor, shook them, releasing clouds of dust, and put them on, his face slightly wincing with disgust.

His eyes still half closed, he had a quick breakfast of instant porridge, which increased the amount of empty porridge packets on the floor by one. Then he stumbled into the dormitory corridor, and locked the door behind himself. Stealing was a common occurrence in the building, and it wasn’t safe to keep the doors open.

Dragging his feet, he entered the floor’s communal bathroom where several other students were also getting ready for the day. Still half asleep, he staggered to a free sink, and, on instinct, attempted to kill the cockroach which was sitting on the spoon stuck in the jar with toothpaste powder. La cucaracha, used to the dangers of the world around it, quickly scurried away into a dark corner, avoiding Karl’s hand.

Karl, giving the corner an angry look, finally took out his toothbrush, scooped up some of the powder and, looking at his reflection in the dusty mirror, started carefully brushing his teeth. He was scared of visiting dentists, their treatments were notoriously painful.

After brushing his teeth, he quickly returned to his room and approached his worship corner. The sacred corner’s marvelous decorations were bathed in shadows. Karl reached for his pocket and found his lighter exactly where it should be. He took it out and lit the oil lamp hanging from a hook in the wall. As the flickering flame illuminated the corner, details usually obscured by inadequate lighting were revealed.

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A corner-shelf held intricately inscribed metallic frames that contained complicated blueprints of Karl’s favorite machines. Right in front of this display was a strange device, with a single large wheel.

The boy poured a small amount of purified water into a metallic cup engraved with hieroglyphs from the Jrulan. He then placed the cup above the lamp’s flames and started muttering verses, praying to God for a productive day.

After a few minutes had passed, the water began to boil. Karl poured it into the strange device on the shelf, and soon the wheel on it started spinning. The machine was a simple example of a heat-steam engine, developed a few hundred years ago by one of the fathers of hot air engines, thanks to a divine revelation from Ru.

Karl placed the cup with the remaining water on the shelf, right in front of the machine. He dropped down to his knees and stared at the vapor in the cup expectantly. The quickly spinning wheel of the Stirling engine filled the room with a low whir and created a small air current which scattered Karl’s hair.

After some minutes, the white vapor from the cup suddenly turned pitch black and rushed towards Karl, blasting his face with darkness. The boy’s eyes momentary rolled up, his irises briefly disappearing. The black vapor then rushed towards the oil lamp, snuffing it out, and slowly floated down, dispersing on the room’s floor and becoming inert.

Laughing from joy, Karl wiped off the small black droplets that the vapor had left. His face clean and his mood light, he poured the remains of the purified water back, consequently finishing his morning routine.

He was almost late to school! Soon, he was out of the dormitory, running towards the bus stop. A few other boarders were also hurrying along, and Karl greeted some familiar faces. He got on the bus in the nick of time, almost missing it. Religion took strong dedication!

Sovok was the oldest city of the Free Union. It started out as a system of catacombs under Medok, the religious capital of Ven, where Ru practitioners took refuge after being persecuted for their religious beliefs and ‘barbaric’ culture.

The catacombs were the best choice for the ancient Ru practitioners, as most were miners, well-acquainted with the underground. All other choices were extremely unattractive. Where would they go? The entire civilized world was against them, full of Okawaru fanatics. All of them would never let them practice their religion in peace, as, to them, Ru was evil itself, always in opposition to their Light god. Fleeing away from civilization was also impossible. Everything was colonized.

As the technological advancements of the Ru people progressed, their temporary dwelling became a settlement. Years passed, but they never let go of their hate for everything to do with the Upper world, confined as they were underneath, yearning for the sunlight. Digging deeper and deeper into the earth, they soon started branching out, connecting to other underground cities formed by other banished Ru followers.

Karl lived on the tenth floor from the top, dug three to four hundred years ago, where his Lyceum, the well-known X, was located. This floor was much less miserable than the fifteenth, where Karl used to live. In the mornings, the lines for powdered foods were shorter, there was less trash, less crumbling buildings, and the air was cleaner.

The architecture of the tenth floor was an interesting mix of old buildings, distinguished by tasteful embellishments, usually various carvings or sculptures, and newer, uglier buildings. The newer buildings were almost identical, made of either blocks of concrete, or blocks of glass.

The stark contrast between the two styles accentuated the unattractiveness of the newer structures, evoking fleeting responses of repulsion in even the most casual onlooker.

Staring out of the window and calmly contemplating these buildings, Karl thought about his future.

He was in his last year of high school, graduating in just a few months. He had gotten prize spots on the Y competition in physics, earning himself entrance without exams into the physics specialization at the best university in the Empire, Z. He planned to go there, so his future was set.

He hadn’t won any reputable math competition, and because of that wasn’t that popular in his elitist class. Unlike Karl, around two thirds of his class had better results than him on math competitions. In fact, most had free entrance without any exams into the same university, to the math department.

To no surprise, Karl’s class was specially picked out from the pool of applicants to be the class with superior math abilities. Their teachers put a special emphasis upon succeeding in math competitions.

Karl sighed. He disliked his class. Sure, he went to the events some of his more sociable classmates organized, regularly played board games and got drunk with some, but he felt no need to stretch out these relationships to university. Of course, his class was intelligent. They did their part in honoring Ru; after all, many were planning to dedicate their entire lives to science, but they weren’t the people Karl wanted as friends. He wasn’t sure why… A few years ago he was on good terms with almost everyone, but as time passed, most of his friendships dissolved. Presently, he maintained contact with only one or two individuals.

Was it because he found it hard to find topics to speak about? What was there to discuss? Math Olympiads? Everyone’s results were common knowledge. The latest technological innovations? All the news channels were filled with information about them to the point of nausea. Teachers and homework? He was against it, as complaining about receiving knowledge was disrespectful to Ru. He himself didn’t have anything unique in him, so he couldn’t think of anything else to discuss. All he did except studying was occasionally build mechanical toys, mostly trains, and pray. He had almost no hobbies, most of them had been drained out of him because of overwork on his studies and competitions.

Graduation was soon, and there were almost no competitions for university students... According to rumors, university students would have a freer life with less studying. What would he even spend the extra free time on?

Shaking his head, tearing his eyes from the window and freeing his mind from depressing thoughts, he opened up his schoolbag and took out the Free Union’s Language textbook. He had a mock exam in around twenty minutes. He started slowly reading and attempting to memorize the endless grammar and spelling rules.