Tales of the Twin Cities

 

Prologue

Beautiful, fluorescent lights, brightly painted nude bodies, women and men walking arm in arm dressed in bright fabrics. Faces smile as the telescreen above depicts the image of a beautiful woman. She flips blue-black hair and smiles alluringly.

“Welcome to Tengan—we hope you enjoy your stay here in Guruta, the Supreme City!”

The Supreme City. The city that revels in undeserved luxuries while the world below rots away in the squalor of a dying planet. And past the Borderlands, Tengan is nothing but desert, debris, and rubble.

It has been this way since the Wars. Desolate, empty, void. Once, it was beautiful, lush, full of vibrant life and cultures and people. But no more. After the Wars—so few of us were left that the remaining humans came together to build the Twin Cities, the last civilization known to Tengan.

The Twin Cities are split horizontally. Guruta is the first of the Twin cities, floating high above Randant on a giant antigravity platform. High walls of limestone are meant to protect it from intruders and immigrants alike, and it is home to the elite of humanity. Luxuries of every kind can be found here, amongst the glittering lights and gleaming glass. It is a modern marvel, a testament to the “best of humanity.” Right. 

Below Guruta live the Radantians, every other person not born into the "Citizenship" of Guruta. Radant is the remnant of a last, crumbling attempt at civilization on the Tengan plains. Now, it is home to nothing more than a sad people living a sadder existence. Hunger and crime are rampant there, food and water luxuries that most could not hope to afford, all while Guruta turns their perfect heads. We are considered scum by the Gurutains and are ignored by Jeta, who thinks us beneath his perfection. 

Jeta knows all that goes on in the Twin Cities. His father’s father commissioned the Twin Cities and ruled over them benevolently and fairly—though, that ended as soon as Jeta took power. He closed Guruta off from Randant, and withdrew all of their technology from us, leaving us below to rot. Constantly surveying his prized city and the dank, crumbling city below, Jeta gives orders to his Reapers to handle any conflict that gets out of hand, or any trouble that gets to close to Guruta.

The Reapers are an elite upper class regimen of soldiers.  Although they are generally referred to as Repears, there are actually several levels of the Reaper hierarchy. Officers, Reapers, and Enforcers. I simply like to call them scum.

Officers are the lower class of Reapers and deal generally with controlling the populace and minor rebellions--police work, if you will. Reapers are higher up, the elite, stronger class of fighters that deal directly with the Division and fight the war with more effectiveness. Enforcers--however--are the strongest and most powerful Reapers in all of Guruta and are not to be trifled with. These Reapers are the enforcers of Tengan, and receive their orders directly from Jeta. 

We Radants hate Guruta, and often try to escape from under its oppressive shell, unfortunately, many get nowhere. The Radants have an alternative means though, an army.

The Division is an underground organization built to counteract the oppressive hand of Guruta--a city of elites that control the entire planet of Tengan. Though small, the Radantian army has been warring with the Gurutian Reapers for decades—each side taking heads with the earliest opportunity. The Division is the head of the Radantian corps, and it considers itself the best of the best, its elite warriors on par with the Reaper's skills.

Yet, the people grow weary of the war, and some are giving their all to find a way to end it...