Twenty-First Century Mankind

The Great City was bathed in concrete and isolation, with its inhabitants seemingly oblivious to one another. There were buildings as trees and sidewalks for supple grass. It was thought that the great city was born from a being called Oneman, who had muscles that could build such trees and a mind that knew no boundaries. Each day he gained a new piece of intelligence and used it to invent assets that would make his life easier. But he yearned so much to know all that he became crazy with the lust to become the conqueror of all things living and non-living. He even set out to conquer natural law. Each day his city grew bigger and stronger with the new inhabitants who looked upon their master with awe. They said to themselves, "Oneman is great; we will listen to him and not question his authority. We will go about our daily lives, walk his sidewalks, and strive to be like him." And so, they went about life seeing time as Oneman had. It was of the utmost importance to all; schedules dominated free time like a tyrannical ruler. Oneman decided that everything was great and took pride in his work.

It went like this for a long time, but times were changing, and Oneman felt it burn within him. Age came upon him and took its toll. He did not show his weakness of doubt and concern, for his ego kept his conscious at bay. His power must take a new form, but he loved himself so much that kin would not do. Therefore, he thought, "I am great and seemingly omniscient, why don’t I create myself again?" And so he took it upon himself to learn how to clone. Learning from everything natural Oneman tried his best to use the resources at hand. His first creation, the first abomination, could not speak, walk or even reason. Oneman vomited at the sight of this "thing" and decided to kill it out of anger with himself. As his muscular hands constricted the creature’s pulsing neck, it stared into Oneman’s eyes with the look of years of wisdom. When it met his soul, it half pitied it and half despised it. The being died in silence and it’s crimson blood spilled upon Oneman’s hands. For seven days he created these monsters and each day another set of eyes peered into his soul. Silence. Blood. Failure. Silence. Blood. Failure. This was the schedule that haunted him. On the eighth day Oneman learned from his "mistakes" and created Conqueror, who was like Oneman in every way, except one: he lacked pride. However, Oneman did not know this.

Growing up, Conqueror learned from the great creations of Oneman. He was diligent in his studies, stalwart in his muscles and clear in his mind. He could not see Oneman’s faults because trust in authority had been ingrained in him. And so the years passed.

Conqueror awoke one morning to the sight of snow, for it was the first day of winter. Ever since he was young Conqueror had liked the sight of the first snow. He slipped out of his covers, walked past where Oneman was studying, opened the door and breathed in. He did not invite Oneman to come outside because he always thought snow impeded his work; it was against him. He put out his muscular hand and a snowflake drifted upon it. The crystal shape did not melt and Conqueror became entranced by it.