"You sure we should be out here? This late, I mean," Aracelio Martinez's—the eldest of our little group—voice calls out to me and the rest of us. "There was a curfew in place last time I checked."

"Rules are strict, yeah... But when have we ever listened to them?" Šerida reminds us as we continue forward through the darkened shadows of the night time sidewalks.

The streets are dead. No surprise there. I mean, who in their right mind would be out right now? (Other than us, of course.)

It's expected for us. We're just a bunch of dumb kids who don't know any better in the eyes of Daskanalasć's elite—and probably New Kyiv's too for that matter.

"Good point," Aracelio says with a swallow as we continue past the old, rust-covered, metal gates.

Daskanalasć's sort of a shit-hole—-and by that, I mean it in the sense of the people who are in charge—-chiefly, Tsar Joseph Maximoff and his bitch-of-a-wife, Tsarina Fillida.

The Maximoffs have been in charge of this area ever since the big catastrophe—-ever since the world ended. Adavkt Maximoff and his older brother—-Denko—witnessed the world end, or rather what they thought was the end. A large explosion. One big "boom". A flash of orange light that ravaged the sky, all outlining a toxic mushroom cloud. Global catastrophe. In all levels, it was essentially Hell from what I've heard and learned in history classes.

Around the world, biological weapons and atomic warheads were released. A nuclear Armageddon. In the United States, everything fell to anarchy—for them, it was the damn zombie apocalypse thanks to advanced bio-weapons. At first it showed up in Buffalo, but soon enough, it spread from Trenton to Colorado City.

Around the rest of the world, the people who rose from the ashes and remained established new societies and closed themselves off from the rest of the world—-except for the occasional trade offers. In the far east, Paradaisu, Vandaralaind, and Efiriin rose up in the remains of Tokyo, Mumbai, and Ulaanbaatar. In the west—-Europe, exactly—the MQL, New Siberia, Kavyiin, Arcon, Axdrouska, Eeros, Anketri, Kraina-czarow, and many others rose too. In Quebec, the G.H.E.I. formed—the Genetic Human Experimentation Institution; and as the name so perfectly implies, they did take survivors of the whole ordeal in and experiment on them—-though, I heard the whole thing fell through rather quickly.

When it came to the rest of the world, news was more scarce. The further away from us they were and the less power they had in the Old World, the less we heard of them. To this day, I have yet to hear what happened to the place they used to call 'Australia'.

Then there's us—Daskanalasć. Of all of the new societies, we get the most people seeking refuge, despite the fact Daskanalasć's elites seem to be the most close-minded of all.

Adavkt and Denko thought the world ended with a bang, but in all reality... In all truthfulness, the world ended when they let hate win. You see, Adavkt thought what destroyed the world was the hate some had for their fellow man for their basic differences—of which should've been celebrated and not shunned. Denko, on the other hand, believed the differences others had was a so-called 'poison' to the earth and thus founded Daskanalasć and established the horrific reign of the Maximoff dynasty that would last for centuries.

Adavkt and his boyfriend—Kovilas Shirai—tried their hardest to make Denko see that his idea of a 'perfect world'... His idea of 'paradise' was wrong. Of course, as most real stories go, their efforts were all for naught, but regardless of that fact, I still find Adavkt and Kovilas's work admirable; and even now, hundreds of years after those moments took place, I can't help but lie awake in bed some nights and think of how Daskanalasć's history would have gone differently if they had gotten through to him.

But, as people say, there's no point in dwelling on what-ifs.

History played out just shittly and there's no way to change that fact.

In Daskanalasć, there's a very "traditional" air about everything. The guys in charge are bigots. They laugh at those in poverty in sector seven instead of offering a helping hand. Religion is stuck to one system—and those who believe differently (like me) hide that fact.

My family is Jewish and it hurts so much that we have to hide that part of ourselves to avoid repercussions. And it's not just me either. My friends Šerida Fayyaz and Ayza Yusupova are both Muslim and have to hide it from other people.

Another friend of mine, Konstantyn Dziedzic, is a Wiccan.

Another thing Daskanalasć despises is the LGBTQ+ community—so much so that they round all the kids up when they turn sixteen for a ceremony where they assign them a home, a job, and a spouse of the opposite gender. They think they're 'weeding it out', but in all actuality, they're just driving us back into the closet.

Trans people are more easily caught and punished by Daskanalasć's government it seems. (Though, other trans people can remain incognito for a lifetime if they play their cards right.)

My whole group has long since gone through our Ceremony of Sixteens.

Aracelio was paired with a girl named Brizia whom he already has a soon-to-be two-year-old son with named Oko.

Brizia comes from a family that believes in Daskanalasć's "fundamentals" so to speak. Aracelio has made it to where she isn't even aware that he comes and hangs out with us... Nor does she know about his bisexuality.

Šerida is a trans-woman who's still perceived as male to the general public. She wound up paired with Ayza, who was perfectly supportive of her identity. The two have a four-year-old son named Miras.

Konstantyn is the opposite of Šerida though. His parents backed him up when he came out as trans, got some back-up, and sneakily got his files changed so everyone would just assume he was a cisgender man—though others in Daskanalasć aren't so lucky.

Konstantyn was my spouse according to the ceremony's results...and according to Daskanalasć's public records too.

Konstantyn's gay and I totally respect that fact. We keep incognito though by playing it up like we're "hopelessly in love" while in public—but when we're alone or with those we trust, we're just best friends. Matter of fact, we've been best friends since we were five-years-old... That's fourteen full years of friendship for you right there... And one hell of an unbreakable bond.

The general idea with our group is that as long as we stick together, we'll be fine—and so far, for the most part, that's held up pretty well.

"Guys?" Ayza begins to call as Konstantyn leads the way. "I think Miras is getting cold." She bounces Miras a little bit in the blanket she wrapped him up in as Šerida continues to walk side-by-side with her.

Konstantyn snorts. "Really? I thought he would've been fine with how he's suffocating in that blanket. But, I guess not." He pauses. "You have another blanket on you? Another you can give him if he's 'so cold'?"

Ayza's eyes narrow on him. "Another blanket? My bag could barely fit the one."

Konstantyn exhales. "Well, I dunno... Is your bag not bigger on the inside?"

"Why the hell would I have a pocket dimension inside my backpack? I-" Ayza groans and hisses, "Who do you think I am? Doctor Who or something? Do you see a telephone booth nearby?"

He pauses, thinking. "Nah... I was thinking something more along the lines of a milhouse of dangerous, magic artifacts for the occult that goes on forever."

Ayza rolls her eyes. "Unbelievable," she huffs.

"Soooo," Konstantyn begins, dragging out the word. "You really don't have another blanket you can give him so we don't have to hear you complaining for the rest of the walk?"

"Another blanket— I—" Ayza pauses. "Yeah, I'll get another one. I'll totally just pull a blanket out of my ass... Because that's just a normal thing to do. ...it's totally fucking magical and everything."

The edges of Konstantyn's lips quirk up into a grin. "Yeah, because you shit glitter too, right?"

Ayza rolls her eyes again, seemingly not in the mood for his witty banter today.

Šerida says to her, "Hey, it's alright. Stanty's just playing around. Besides, I think this little guy will be just fine with the one blanket. He's tough." She reaches forward, pressing her index finger to the tip of Miras's nose.

Miras lets out a little giggle and assures Ayza, "I'm fine, mama!"

Ayza slowly lets out the air she had been keeping trapped in her throat. "If you're sure..."

We continue along the iron fence for a few more blocks before a chilling voice calls out from behind us, making us stop dead in our tracks. "...and where exactly do you kids think you're going?"