That day, the sky split open.

The streaks of missile smoke preceded the blinding flashes of nuclear explosions.

It had been long anticipated that the tensions were reaching a breaking point, yet no one was prepared for the destruction.

Alliances and nations, driven by radiation poisoning and starvation, coalesced into two massive supercities, protected by walls, separated by an entire continent, and waged a war of attrition that lasted decades.

They fought and fought. Even though they were very much the same, they still fought.

Maybe their values were just too different, maybe they were just stubborn. Nonetheless, they fought.

It was a war that would end all wars, a war that would settle things once and for all.

Long ago, when the war had just started, before the phasing out of jet aircraft, there were people who wanted to leave—to escape, to run away from everything. So they boarded a plane, and in the dark of night, with hopes and dreams for a brighter future, flew towards the horizon, towards the place where there might be peace.

Both cities scrambled fighters to intercept them, for fear they could be a hostile fleet. But when the fighters realized their true intentions, many decided to join the great escape.

They flew further and further. Further and further away from the fighting. Closer and closer to harmony.

And by the first light of dawn, they were far away enough to see the vast, unbound blue of the ocean at the edge of the horizon.

But the interceptors had caught up, and before they could cross over the boundary of the blue waters, the first missile had torn apart one of the transports.

The defected fighters tried their best to defend the escapees, but the interceptors soon overwhelmed them.

One by one, they fell, in smoldering pieces of twisted metal. The burning remains floated down, through the clouds and into the thick forest below, carrying with them the hopes and dreams for a brighter future.

Of course, no one except the governing bodies of the two cities knew about this little incident. No one would care that a few planes were shot down over some desolate land far, far away.

Just like that, with stricter laws, more censorship, and tighter regulations, the war went on as always.

Day after day. Month after month. Year after year.