The Games of Fate, James Thomas [best large ereader .TXT] 📗

The memories of my early childhood continually haunt me like some unseen evil spirit, yet I cannot go back, nor would I if given the opportunity. I was born in the year 5736, to Joshua and Amaya Ishtar, during the eleventh month of our year – a month known simply as Simha. My family lived in the Second Sector, just one of many in our nation. My birth was said to have been somewhat of a black cloud on the family name, as I was born not more than two weeks after the wedding of my parents, both of whom I was told to have been married at a very young age, my mother more so than my father.

   My mother died in labor, and Jeshian felt that he was being punished by the gods, or whoever was watching us, for a crime that he committed from when he was a young man. The pain he felt gradually built over time, and to try and distract himself, my father turned to his work, and spent more time in his work than he did caring for me. This hurt, but at the time I thought that it was needed, as we lived under the rule of a very powerful man named Septimius Decius, who was in charge of the sectors that made up our nation. However, after five years, the pain became far too much for one person to handle, and my father hung himself, the grief of having lost his wife over coming any decision and desire to live. So, on the anniversary of his wife’s death, my father tied a rope around his neck, and jumped, leaving me alone in the world.

  From early on in my life, I was curious about the history of our nation, and the events that had caused us to become the way we were today. Sure, they taught us in school from the text books what happened to us, but I always felt the stories were incomplete. As a result, I would spend as much time as I could in our Sector Library, pouring over the history of the once-great nation I now called my home.

   According to the historical records, there had been a third world war fought in the year 2736. As all of the other smaller countries were being bombed into oblivion, a young man named Aleksandr Kananaios and his army of over a million rose up and overthrew the democratic government of what used to be called The United States. However, Kananaios feared that an attack might come from his neighbors and made a treaty with the nation to the South, Meksyk, and the country to the North, Kanado. This took place so that there might be peace between the three countries. Under the terms of this treaty, Kananaios would leave both the North and the South alone, and in return, they wouldn’t enter his country.

   Kananaios then named the newly conquered land after himself, calling it Kananai, and formed it into a great nation, and it became an even greater nation than it had been when it was originally settled in the late sixteen, early seventeen hundreds, well over four thousand years ago. For the next two thousand years, Kananai would grow to become a very powerful and wealthy nation, governed as a monarchy, and ruled by the Kananaios family and their descendants. However, all that came to a screeching halt in the year 5000, at the height of the nation’s glory, for Kananai was over thrown by a man named Arced Yeshiva. He and his wife then set up their rule in place of the Kananai dynasty. Dark days lay ahead for the nation, as the Kananaios bloodline was then slowly stamped out by barbaric forces. Matters only grew worse, with the murder of Arced’s wife.

  The new leader, Arced, firmly set up his rule in the nation, which he renamed Arcadian, after himself, a name which has stuck to this day. I thought it was an act of pride, but apparently no one else agrees with me.

  Yeshiva became a very powerful warlord, and he required total and absolute submission from all of the people in Arcadian. Those willing to meet his demands were spared, but anyone who offered even the slightest of resistance were immediately tracked down and killed on sight, under the pretense of rebellion. This went on for three centuries, until someone snuck in and decided to assassinate the son of Yeshiva, who also happened to be the heir to the throne, and the last of Yeshiva’s descendants. A sense of relief swept over the people, and they turned their thoughts to rebuilding the nation. Many leaders came forth over the next couple centuries, each one terrible in their own right, but none attempting to fix the situation.

  Finally, in the year 5715, a stranger from the north came forward to claim the head of Arcadian. Since the nation was in ruins, and no one was attempting to step in and help, this man was voted in with little to no competition. In fact, whatever competition the stranger had ended up dying under mysterious circumstances. The man’s name was Decius Juvenal, and he was exactly the kind of savior the people were longing for…or so they thought.

  The first thing that Decius did was split the existing nation of Arcadian into 12 divisions, and declared that each division would be responsible for providing materials to the Capitol, and from there things would be evenly distributed among the divisions – provided they obey his rule to the letter. This made sense at the time, so Decius was unanimously elected as the newest leader of a much-torn Arcadian. Decius did away with the Democratic government that had lasted up until the rule of Arced. Instead of a Democratic government, Decius led the people in what would only become appropriately called a horrifying reign.

   However, I am jumping ahead of myself.

   It wasn’t until after Decius’ reign that his true colors began to bleed through to the rest of the divisions. In a fashion much similar to the reign of Yeshiva, Decius ruled Arcadian with an iron fist. He did not hesitate to wipe out anyone who posed as a threat to his rule. As a matter of fact, all who followed his wishes were spared, but whoever decided to rebel against his rule was tracked down and executed on site. Though Decius chose to call himself President, his rule was literally nothing less than just a glorified dictatorship, and in just a matter of weeks, all of Arcadian was under Decius’ heel.

  However, that all changed the day that an intriguing young girl stepped into the Capitol and into my life. My name is Renner Cote and this is my story.

Text: James Thomas
Images: James Thomas
Editing: Danielle Anderson
Publication Date: 03-08-2017

All Rights Reserved