Chapter 2: Mad World

The Aspirant begins to recount his story to Dareis Andereos, starting with the way of the world before his intervention.

The Aspirant was granted special permission by the Ordinance to walk about the premises under the provision that he be escorted by myself and a one of the Orders, apparently the same one who opened the door for me.

The Order was an older man, though if it weren't for his skunk marked hair it would be impossible to tell, it was apparent that he was someone who served the Ordinance for some time with many stories to tell, but in the circumstance he was more intent on listening to the Aspirant recount his incredible and terrible tale. 

The Aspirant was shorter than I expected, though I am sure all men of his position are often described historically as being taller than they actually are for appearance's sake. His hazel green eyes started to show in the breaking light of the walkway around the round courtyard. His expression remained solemn even in the presence of such beauty as the Halls of Ordinance. We approached the entrance to the courtyard, he was apparently intent on showing it to me to illustrate some sort of point.

The coartyard was paved in marble, and hosted an astonishing array of flowers I had never seen before. Seeing my amazement, he commented, "This courtyard is a sanctuary for some of the rarest flowers in what once was called North America, now what you call Nordas Americeos in Adgeos. When I was young, before the world was transformed, these flowers were on the razor's edge of nonexistence, but they were not alone. In my time it was extremely common to see such precious and delicate things endangered by violent and inconsiderate men. In my time it was a reality that nature was thought to be in service to the exploitation and destruction of mankind, a thought that could drive me to tears at the mention of it before I had made my preparations to be strong for the revolution that I was to create," he kneeled in front of a flower with a gorgeous violet bulb, "This one is my favorite, the California Jewelflower, if I had not risked the lives of thousands, it might not have made it for much longer before some fool would sign it out of existence for his own worthless fortune. This was how we saw the world back then, as something to consume, as something meaningless and expendible for the sake of our corrupted empires to live for a day longer. 

"Our economy was unsustainable, our government was decaying from within, and our way of life was dissolving with our freedom ceasing to exist as the government mandated that they be taken away. The worst part was, we knew this was happening, but felt that it was impossible to stand against it, the destruction of everything we loved was something we were supposed to tolerate. We protested against it, but beyond that we were powerless against the magnanimous powers that were killing our planet whilst crushing our necks, breaking our hearts, and corrupting our children. We were powerless to stop us from destroying ourselves, and yet we waved a flag of red, white, and blue as a symbol of our freedom. To oppose the forces that controlled the world was to sign oneself out of existence with the flick of a signature. 

"This garden represents something powerful, it is the symbol of our transformation, from a bitter world of synthetic machines controlling heartless people, to a natural world of beautiful land, and beautiful people. This garden lies in the ruins of an ancient meeting hall, a place where the leaders of the world would meet and discuss the future of their extended civilization. The Hall of Ordinance was built over the ruins of this ancient center, to show that justice and nature are at the heart of our civilization as the core principles of Neogaea, meaning New Earth.

"I decided to risk everything in facing this mad world risking the lives of tens of millions of brave souls because if I did not, then every last soul on this planet was going to die. The greatest tragedy was that every death caused by our destructive use of this planet would have been in regret because my generation could not help but walk a path a mass consumption and ecological mass destruction. Our population was approaching its critical point, its carrying capacity of ten billion human lives, and all we could do was sit back and watch it happen. In my outrage of this dark path of death and destruction, I declared war on the way of the world, and made it my every ambition to transform the world into a place where humanity lived beside nature, not in spite of it. 

"I knew how much life was at stake, but that is the cost of revolution, and it was either them or everyone. I am honoring their deaths by sacrificing myself so that the world they died to create could live without any more wars. I hope that my sacrifice is not in vain, and that their sacrifice did not go to a world bound on even more devastation once I am gone. Needless to say, only time will tell if this infrastructure will last, but for now all we can do is pray that the people appointed by the people truly represent the people at large and ultimately wish to create a peaceful world without selfish enterprise like their predecessors."

The Order received a communication from the First of the Ordinance, the message was that the Aspirant needed to be brought back to his cell in preparation for the execution which was scheduled for later that day. Immediately, it had appeared that our session had ended, but I still had so many questions, and he still had answers for me. How in the world did he go about making such a thing happen? Where did he begin in changing the world, and how did he know when the time was right? What I had was hardly a record, and what I did have was hardly what I would have called conclusive.

I spoke out as soon as an opening presented itself, "This is outrageous, I thought I had more time! I had no idea the execution was so soon! My purpose here was to archive the transformation of this world from his perspective, but I cannot do that if he is dead! Why is the House of Ordinance in such a rush to execute this man? The revolution ended almost fifty years ago, why has no one been sent before to do what I am doing now? Wait a minute, something isn't right here, why is this happening now, just before his execution, ANSWER ME!!!"

The Order answered in a less than pleasant tone, one that was more cold than anything I had ever experienced before, much less from an Order, "This execution was arranged fifty years ago, at the end of the revolution so that he could have time to think about what he did to all those people, and now that his time is up, he can choose his words carefully so that such an event never happens to this world again. I still don't think you understand how many people REALLY died in that revolution, 11,586,982 people to be exact died because of this man! We cannot have that happen again, he needed to be silenced up to this point so that the world could be saved from yet another mass revolt. Too many families lost their mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. I lost my father to that revolution, but others lost their loved ones too, and for that I consider myself lucky that it was just my father and not my mother too. My mother kept me out of it, even though I was so determined to get involved, just like the others who slaughtered themselves for THAT man's "better world"! I am glad she succeeded in keeping me out of it so that I could see how terrible a thing it really was!"

The Aspirant looked to him in horror, "I never meant for you to lose your father, you must understand that. If you protect this world from corruption there will be no need for a second revolution; no amount of secrecy and trickery will stop a revolution from happening, it starts in the hearts of the people risking their lives for a better world---"

"SHUT UP ABOUT A BETTER WORLD!!!" the Order was hysterical, "Enough of that garbage! Your words got us here, isn't that enough! You already had more than eleven and a half million people march to their deaths, what are you looking to break a hundred million, or maybe even a billion! Was that your solution to overpopulation!? Just march all those innocent people on like cattle to the slaughter filled with hope of a "better world" and let them kill themselves down to reasonable limits to be made martyrs in the name of your selfish dream!"

The Aspirant looked down in shame, there was a devastation in him that was heartbreaking, "I never wanted anyone to die, many of those revolutionaries were my friends, and if not then they were my friends in spirit, they died because of my vision because they believed it was possible, because they believed in me they made the utlimate sacrifice so that you could enjoy a peaceful life on this renewed world free of their suffering and pain, a world free of tragedy and war. Don't you see what your father died for?"

The Order withdrew a dagger from his belt, "I know as an Order I am not permitted to carry this, but if there is one thing I know, it is that this is a dangerous world, and that sometimes it is necessary to break the rules to defend myself from insane people like you! Dareis, get away from that madman! Can't you see he is trying to corrupt you!? He wants you to accept mass murder! Have you heard of the legends of the First Clan? My mother told me about a group that was in personal service of the Aspirant, one that assured his global presence around the world, don't you see he wants to convert you to his murderous ways!?" 

What on Earth had gotten into this man? I had asked myself that question before I made my reply which I forged from my heart in the clearest words I could draw from my tongue, "I am not backing away from him because there is no reason for me to do so. You have broken your own code, and in doing so you no longer have the authority of the Ordinance behind you. It is clear to me that you have lost your senses, and furthermore lost your mind, and I will not listen to this nonsense. There are no records of this "First Clan" and even if there was, it would come from the account from this man that your rash inconsideration of truth has prevented from being told. I cannot believe that even after a revolution to make the world a wondrous place where peace and sanity were the way of the people, that the people responsible for protecting this world could still be so violent and spiteful!"

"We are what me must be Dareis! We, the Orders, are the protectors of the establishment of this world, protectors of the peace and sanity of this world, Neogaea, that is our code, that is our way, and we will make sure at all costs that that code is upheld at all times. This man stands against all peace and sanity, and so he is being made an example before all of the peoples of Neogaea so that no one ever threatens the balance of this world again!"

"This man designed this world, as well as your Ordinance, and yet you would speak of what he did as a crime? Did you not hear what he said before? He stood against the Old World because it was tearing the planet apart! Thanks to him you have a home, and not a pile of rubble! Thanks to him, there is life on Neogaea! Without him there would be only death across the globe!"

I looked to the Aspirant in my moment of passion, and found only a despairing man watching a scholar turn into a follower. He looked to me, and in somber words, gave his response to my ranting, "Dareis, you need not defend me, I deserve every insult, every cry, and every sentence for my heinous crime against humanity. I cannot condone you doing this to yourself in my defense, you are only ruining your namesake in doing so." 

The Order forced him to his knees with a kick to the shins, as he hollered and hissed, "Do you remember Russia! Do you remember my people? My mother and I were forced to move to America because of the revolution you started, where I had to say goodbye to my father! I would later find that he was dead! You killed him! You killed my father! You killed Russia! You destroyed my family! You destroyed everything! Now, in the name of the Ordinance of Neogaea, in the name of peace of sanity for all of time, in defense of my Order, and all order, I hereby declare your execution!" He thrusted his dagger into the Aspirant's back, aimed from behind at the faded revolutionary's heart.

The Aspirant looked me straight in the eyes as the blade penetrated, "This is the way it has always been, this is the end of every revolutionary. To every brave soul with the power to change the world, there will always be a rash man with the will to destroy him, and that man shall succeed in sealing his fate. I am grateful that I could see this world, how beautiful it is! I just had hoped that I changed something before my death, but it is clear that while the energy has been renewed, the government restored, and the society enlightened, the way of humanity cannot be changed."

It was after saying those words that he died from the bleeding caused by the foolish Order's forbidden dagger. I hardly knew the man, but I had felt somewhere within me like I had known all my life, and in a way I did, I knew him since the day I was born because the very fact that I was born would not have been possible if it had not been for him. Through his design, I have lived out my entire life. Everytime I went to school, I saw him between every line in every book; everytime I walked through the gardens of my community, I saw him in every flower that became every fruit that would feed me and my people upon each harvest. 

The Aspirant died so that the world could be made sane again, but in would appear as though he had failed; Neogaea was created to a peaceful world, but as the Aspirant's death had proved, Neogaea was still a mad world.

Reviews

[Jas_I_M]

Too good ! Awesome work :)