Prologue
In a future, not far from your own, humans will continue their destruction of the Earth.Gasoline, air planes, deforestation, and the other pollutants that the human race hold so dear will eventually pollute the air beyond breathing. The food beyond eating. The water beyond drinking.But fear not cherished humans, a solution emerges.At the beginning of time man saw how destructive his own species was, thus he created a supergene. The M-Gene.Mythical creatures are born from ordinary humans to restore the Earth in its time of need.However this time, humans are frightened of the strange creatures.A war ensues. The humans, victorious, form a giant city, while the Myths go into hiding.But the humans have another advantage, the barcode.
Chapter One
“Don’t get scanned, don’t get scanned, don’t get scanned.” Sil Mitico kept repeating the words to herself as she ran though the biting cold night air toward the dome-shaped city ahead.She tried to stay emotionless and focus on her task beholding her. The thought was pushed out of her mind as well as the dread from her heart. She had to think of a different thought; a more constructive thought. “I WON’T get scanned.” The reformed words made her smile as the determination returned. She ran even faster, ignoring the protest her lungs gave. Anticipation filled her, yet the fear of the scan was not far from mind. If someone, someone like her, got scanned they would never return.
The destroyed earth around Sil looked even bleaker at night.The trees burnt to the root, smoke rising from craters in the soil, and not a single living thing was to be seen. The Myths were left to live in this hell hole that used to be Earth while the humans got their utopia. That thought filled her with the hot touch of rage. The familiar red heat filled her soul with a burning intensity that made her want to scream. “Good,” she thought. “Anger is good. It distracts from fear.”She must focus on the other emotions, anything but fear. Happiness? No. She was not happy. Exhaustion? Although she had been running for days she had too much adrenalin pumping through her abnormal veins to be tired.Anxiety?Definitely not. That was too close to fear. Sil racked her brain for an honest, yet sensible emotion to focus on. But what? Emotion clouds the mind so one must be sensible. Anger is a given, that she can do easily. But what else? Honored? Yes that was it! “I am honored.” She whispered to herself. She had so much in her life to feel honor for. It was an honor to be picked for this mission in the first place, even more so for her. She was the youngest Myth to ever attempt a mission of this magnitude. In fact she was the youngest Myth currently in existence.She and her twin sister, Minne, were the last born before the First Kill. The death and destruction happened directly after.
The world was utterly demolished during the war. Every living thing in sight was killed in a grotesque and bloodthirsty way. She could still remember scraps of that horrific point in time, although she was a mere infant then. Memories still came in the form of dreams. The stench of decaying flesh still burned her nose when she first awoke every morn like a match to skin. Every night her ears still rang with the cries of children as they watched their parents get skinned alive. She tried to block the recollections daily, though they rarely came to her while conscious. While she slept however the graphic pictures came with such severe clarity that it was difficult to ignore. After the world was nearly dead and rotting the humans were pronounced the official winners. They joined the colony of Market and the few surviving Myths, who weren’t turned into Market Slaves, banded together to merely survive. But not live.She was chosen to change that. Minne could not to be chosen, she was too kind. She had talent on art and music rather than speed and combat such as Sil. She was the chosen one. Sil Mitico was the new start to the revolution. Though, to her shame, she was not the first “new start.”Ten others had been selected for this mission before her.Three had died; a memorial was given in their honor. Six had gotten scanned; they were not to be spoken of. One had survived and failed; he died a year later. The shame and guilt finally got the best of him. He was found face down in his bunk one morning, throat slit. He had a note pinned to his bare bloody chest that merely said “forgive me.”Sil was determined.She would not fail. And, more importantly, she would NOT get scanned; anyone would rather die than become a Market Slave. She had heard things-.Her honored thoughts were interrupted when a sharp pain shot up her leg. As she looked down she saw blood and sighed out of disgust at her own carelessness.
Sil’s reminiscing was interrupted when she tripped over a rotted tree stump. The fall brought her back to reality, not to mention left a bloody gash on her shin. “Walking is such a problem!” she thought to herself as she fished though her sack to find a syringe and needle to fill it with a bright pink liquid. She jabbed it into her thigh and winced, more appalled than ever. She watched the wound slowly heal one centimeter at a time, as if being stitched. This would delay her more time than she could afford! She sat on the stump and waited for the gash to heal, stewing on her intense hatred for walking.If only she could release her wings! But unfortunately the barbaric creatures called humans had sensors and radars designed to detect the M-gene. She had to stay as human as possible.
At last, after what seemed like hours, her leg had healed. The blood was all gone and all that remained of the deep wound was a faint yellow scar. “The first of many.” Sil thought to herself bitterly. She pulled the now drained syringe out of her flesh and threw it on the ground next to the rest of the steaming rubble. For a split second she felt the sharp pang of guilt, after all, legend has it that the M-gene was first created long ago so Myths could protect the Earth.“But this isn’t the Earth,” Sil thought to herself sadly. “This is just hard outer shell of what used to be Earth, like when a snake sheds its skin.” This thought, depressing as it might be, made her feel slightly better about her petty crime. However somewhere in the back of her head she was thinking sadly, “But a snake can grow its skin back.”
She began running again, the freezing night air filling her lungs once more. Her breath came to her more painfully than before. Each gasping spurt of icy air she took in felt like fire to her soft fleshy insides. The exhaustion and fatigue must have been finally reaching her after the many days of constant running. Her head was spinning, twirling faster and faster until she saw the ground moving closer to her face. She felt a soft thump, and then nothing.
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