"Article 9-10: All children born with one or more limbs and/or a different hair and eye colour such as pink, blue, white..., shall be subject to programmed death before the age of thirty and after the age of eighteen.
Article 9-11: All children over the age of eighteen, whoever they may be, shall be informed of the truth about programmed death. Article: 11-04: Killing any person who is a "cursed child" before the age of eighteen is punishable by death."
Laws on programmed death, Part I
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Ahes, human world, 30th year of the reign of Emperor Alpheus of Alh II
It was a morning like any other. The sun was shining high in the sky that day, and the city, which had just woken up, was looking like a bright day. However, despite this early morning bustle, in a small house with metallic grey walls, a man with his head bowed stared at the ground without a word. Only the vengeful gleam in his eyes betrayed his outward calm. Deep in thought, he replayed all the good and bad memories that reminded him of one of the most important people in his world. The clearest reminders that Aki had of his friend were the most beautiful and yet the most horrific were the ones that haunted his dreams the most.
One of the most vivid tragic memories that came to mind was that of a bright day. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining gently on the great city of Ahes. Unfortunately the day, which was supposed to be successful to say the least, turned out to be just as rotten from the inside as the capital and its inhabitants.
At that moment, Aki, a little boy with curly hair, was heading, as he did almost every morning, towards the beautiful gardens of his brother's family. He was happily imagining what he could do with this one, when cries of distress were heard disturbing the inner peace of the park. Ada, his mother who had been following him from the beginning, rushed after her son towards the screams.
The scene that greeted them froze them in horror. A woman, her hair untied, was pressing forcefully on a small brown head, the child was struggling fiercely but his childish strength was beginning to wear off. Ada, who was not to be outdone, had rushed towards the woman and had tried as best she could to make her let go.
to get her to let go.
Seeing that this did not work, Ada, since she knew Caleb and his parents, pushed the woman back with unsuspected strength and she fell backwards, due to her kneeling position. She managed to pull the unconscious body up on the shore. In the meantime Aki had returned with the doctor that her mother had ordered to be brought in urgently. This incident was the first of many. It was not the last time Aki had seen his friend with the complexion of a corpse and covered with scars. Indeed, five years later when the two friends were thirteen, Caleb's mother attempted to murder her son for the seventh time. This time the madwoman broke into Caleb's room while he was sleeping and threw a highly corrosive substance at him, leaving him with a horrible stigma. Unfortunately, or fortunately for Caleb, the liquid had only touched a tiny part of his skin. And once again it was Ada who was drawn by the screams and saved him from the monster.
As they grew, the wounds became fewer and fewer but the harassment continued. And when they were both eighteen, finally of age, they knew what was happening to all those called cursed children. Indeed, under Caleb's father's orders, his mother had stopped caring for him and the news of her death ten years later had filled him with an immense sense of accomplishment.
It was a horrible shock for Aki. Less so for Caleb, who had already prepared for it since he had overheard yet another argument between his parents, shortly after the second attack by his crazy mother, as he liked to sarcastically make fun of her. Thanks to Ada, his nanny and mother at heart, he had been able to postpone his death for a few years. On condition that Caleb left this huge house of which he had only terrible memories. Ten years had passed in the blink of an eye between joys and discomforts. Then, when Caleb was finally twenty-eight, he left without a word for the grey tower, the research building that was to give him his death.
Aki, who had not expected his dear brother and friend to leave him so suddenly, shut himself away to mourn. During his isolation, Aki remembered one of the unintelligible sentences of his bitter and withdrawn Caleb. Accepting the end of his beloved partner had taken up much of his time and energy. It was only two years after his loss that Aki finally came out of the silence in which he found himself. The sadness he felt had gradually turned into a fierce animosity against the ruling power and this abominable constitution.
Another memory came back to him a lot. It was, it seemed to him, a rainy day, and he and Caleb had stayed locked up in the flat they were renting. His friend, affected by the bad weather and thoughts of which Aki had no idea at the time, had fallen for a moment into a state of gloom.
And in a roundabout way that only the two companions could understand, Caleb had told her that he had joined the Aÿad. Unfortunately, when Aki had wanted to know more, he had come up against a stone wall. This vivid memory had come back to him during the period of his mourning.
"Aÿad" had become for him a word of hope, an almost magical formula. Only one unanswered question remained. What was its meaning? The last sentence of his precious Caleb came back to him. I don't know when, I don't know where, THEY will come to you, he had said to her with his mysterious look. This same sentence became her most precious memento.
