FLASH FICTION CONTEST#2

STAGE ONE: UNDERGROUND

Somewhere there is a chamber in which the Underground is…

From files under the label of worldwidefiles.intel.underground.classified-

The Underground: A worldwide group of trained telepathic assassins, with bases in the USA, Russia, China, and Brazil. Masters of the streets and very dangerous. Avoid at all costs. Right now, as you read this, the Underground are deciding who to kill next.

Precisely 200 cloaked figures enter the chamber. They sit in a perfect circle, completely silent and still, connecting their minds so that everyone’s thoughts are intertwined. If they didn’t do this, the noise would surely alert the civilians above on the street - 200 people speaking could be heard through a layer of concrete. Then one of them speaks in a rough voice.

“The Alchemist.”

THE ALCHEMIST IS AN OUTLANDISH MAGICAL SORCERER, the Underground’s minds scream, amplified by each other's' mind-voices. The noise almost overwhelms the leader’s mind. This verdict is what they had been trained to believe, through dreams and messages from the government - they were simply channels for this information. The leader considers their thoughts, listening to every mind carefully and precisely. They nod.

“The Butcher.”

There is no clear decision in the Underground’s minds, only disorganized mumbling and muttering. The leader listens to each one, then exhales.

They broadcast to the Underground’s minds: The Alchemist. At that moment, it is decided - their next victim will be the Alchemist.

He’ll be dead within a day.

STAGE TWO: DUTY

Two hours later, the Underground enters the Alchemist’s dilapidated home through the chimney, the windows, the doors. They move silently and make short work of him, a clean and precise kill. They do not enjoy this, nor carelessly slaughter, instead do their duty with utmost respect. They leave as quickly as they came, soft footsteps fleeing the scene.

They report back to the Underground leader: It is done. The leader grunts in respect. Yes, they reply. The Alchemist is dead, and his death will have an effect on this community.

STAGE THREE: WITHER

Somewhere there is a family who only survives because of the Alchemist. Now the Underground has ripped their family from its roots and tossed it to the seas. They struggle to survive over the next few weeks, each day growing paler and weaker - on the edge of death. Without the lifesaving magical cure, they begin to wither and die.

Each member of the family has to leave a loved one: The daughter is forced to say goodbye to her lover, the parents forced to bid farewell to the prospect of this family continuing. Once they come to peace with the fact that they will die, there is nothing left to live for.

STAGE FOUR: SORROW

Somewhere the daughter’s lover weeps, her form frail and weak. In this community, you never know who is next, so the lover has prepared for this moment. But little can prepare you for this. Grief is heavier than a thousand tons, heavier than the heaviest weight on your chest. She will carry it with her until she accepts it, until she lets it go free. Only then will she be released from the weight.

STAGE FIVE: CIRCLE

The girl never knew the Alchemist, yet she had been affected by his death. By the family dying, then the lover, her neighbor, struggling with grief, she had seen two things: That the ripples of his death would go on to affect everyone in the community, whether they knew him or not. Such was the power of the Underground: they could, with a single targeted death, affect everyone. This was why they were so dangerous - what they decided to do could shape the fate of every person even remotely connected to them.

The other thing she knew was the importance of a better-managed Underground, where deaths were not simply arranged, but planned-out months in advance. She decided that she would become the next leader of the Underground.

STAGE SIX: OVERTAKING

Somewhere, there was a girl that wanted to become the next leader of the Underground…

The girl joined the Underground and quickly rose through the ranks until she was ready to challenge the current leader. To become the leader of the Underground, you had to kill the current leader with nothing but your bare hands. She did this dutifully and immediately renamed the Underground to the Aboveground.

She gave the members of the Underground an ultimatum, threatening to imprison them if they disagreed with her proposition of joining her in bettering the world. Some escaped, but most either joined the Aboveground or were put behind bars.

She also funded schools, orphanages, and other public services that had been in decline or even disappeared when the Underground took over. She taxed the citizens and hosted fundraisers. She fully devoted her life to bettering the world through the vast powers of the Aboveground. Even though almost eighty percent of the country was still battered and flea-ridden with gangs, the Aboveground’s base was mostly free of those groups. She would have to keep fighting, but if she did, she was sure that the Aboveground would prevail.

FIVE YEARS LATER

The girl’s granddaughter was now the triumphant leader of the Aboveground. It was a worldwide peace organization devoted to everyone in the area. The girl’s (and her predecessors’) success was crucial to the economy - what was a struggling, alley-cat, half-dead, abandoned country was now a sprawling metropolis full of citizens. When you are devoted to making a change, the change happens.

You may be wondering who this girl is. Her name has long since been lost to the winds, slipping into the endless river of time and never resurfacing. But, even 2,000 years after the founding of the Aboveground, in 7084, we remember the effect that the line of Aboveground leaders had on this world.