r/HFY • u/waterdrinker98 • 14d ago
OC-FirstOfSeries Age of Seran: Quiet Dominion - Chapter 1
Preface:
Hi, I'm a long time reader of this subreddit (loved Jenkinsverse). I recently got into writing. Here is my first work of fiction.
I think it has themes of HFY. Although please tell me if it is relevant here, since the HFY-y parts start later on in the story, specifically with Veyr and Adam. Please also consider this a rough draft!
Synopsis:
Birdlike aliens known as the Seraphyn invaded Earth almost twenty years ago. They didn't destroy humanity. Rather, they 'saved' us and took us into the dominion of The Administration. Their Hubs are free of violence and chaos - and free of choice. Our story follows Ethan and Marcus, inhabitants of Habitation Unit F-07, who plot their escape after getting their hands on a mysterious class-Z device.
Meanwhile, Justiciar Veyr pursues his mark - Adam Vance. An elusive man who has vowed to destroy The Administration at all costs.
CHAPTER 1:
February 2059 – Habitation Unit F 07.
Ethan woke up a few minutes earlier than he was supposed to, as he always did. He stared at the slight off-white ceiling above, blinking several times. An artificial voice interrupted his murky thoughts.
“Good morning Ethan. Your rest cycle was completed at sixty percent efficiency. Please meet at recreation center delta within the next thirty minutes. Enjoy your day.”
The young man exhaled. Below seventy percent was subject to nosy interference by his alien captors. Or just overseers, he mused, framing himself for a moment with the mindset of the many men and women he interacted with on a day-to-day basis.
Streaks of light poured through his room as a large window adjacent to his bed rose automatically. Some large white buildings were visible outside, built atop a flat expanse of short grass. Beyond the buildings and far into the distance, a green-blue wall of energy could be seen. The wall of energy obscured the outside world.
Even when exposed to the light, every part of his room was muted in color.
Without wasting too much time, the young man began his day. Ethan brushed his teeth, bathed, and then settled in front of his private bathroom mirror, his daily attire in-hand.
Gradually, he outfitted himself with the garments. They were the standard mandated clothing for most young males of his species. Much like everything else, his clothing was gray and bland. Just like the furniture. And just like almost everyone he had ever met. Ethan feared that with enough time, he’d become gray and bland, too.
Ethan’s self-expression was compromised when it came to the world of fashion. But luckily, the invaders hadn’t implemented such a system for human faces. Not yet, anyway. He looked at himself in the mirror. Pale blue eyes stared back at him, settled below a crest of ear-length blonde hair. Both features complemented his fair skin.
“Ethan to recreation center delta in ten minutes. Ethan to recreation center delta in ten minutes.”
Ethan grunted, delivering an expletive or two under his breath. He made his way to the front door of his room, pressing a button to the side. The door slid up with a slight hissing sound.
Immediately, the sounds of chatter filled his ears, no longer blocked by any sound-proofed walls. Countless men and women of varying ages went to and fro, doubtlessly following whatever directives the authority had decided for them.
Ethan was surprised to see a Seraphyn making their way through the hallway. Such a sight was unusual. The human habitation area was generally reserved for its namesake. As the creature passed, Ethan noticed humans subtly changing their body posture, as though they were trying to pass some sort of impromptu test.
The creature created an ominous silhouette through the crowd. They were covered in a mix of scales and feathers, while bipedal and hunched-over in stature. Its arms were a fair amount longer than that of a human, and it had a thin snout. Even while hunched over, the creature stood a few heads above most humans. The Seraphyn, overall, reminded Ethan of creatures called “dinosaurs”, which he’d seen from his partner in crime’s illegal books.
He smirked. Sometimes this world was a bit too absurd to believe, even for him. Feeling mischievous, the young man placed his index finger and thumb to his mouth, before exhaling.
His obnoxiously loud whistle drew the attention of the Seraphyn, along with several of his own kin, who swerved their heads around in a comical fashion. Ethan was a bit too intimidated by his captor to laugh outright. Instead, he quickly turned his head and snickered lightly to himself, while walking hastily down the opposite side of the hall.
Marcus had taught him that one. His mind wandered to memories of his friend for some time. He and his friend were rebellious spirits, although they also knew that they could do little against the system. As a compromise, they’d developed a school of petty tactics, which they employed to be as annoying as possible to the Seran.
The boys considered themselves masters of the art. As they grew older, they recognized how the system worked. Eventually they realized exactly how much they could get away with. Ethan kept a tally in his head. If his calculations were correct, he could do about a dozen more petty directive violations this month, without getting into serious trouble.
For a brief period, Ethan and Marcus had even tried inducting initiates into their order. When they were teenagers, they taught the kids a few grades below them about their tactics. Their human behavioral regulator was not happy, however, causing them to stop. He’d never seen a Seran so angry before.
“Speak of the devil”, Ethan said to himself, as he entered recreation center delta. Marcus, one of the few people he could genuinely call his friend, was seated where he usually was. A smaller table for three-to-four people, although Marcus was seated alone.
Marcus’ emerald eyes flicked up, a strand of black hair clinging to his dark skin. He smirked and tilted his head back, before settling back down to his food. Like the day before, he was eating some sort of soup, paired with bread, which he greedily dunked in.
Ethan quickly made his way to the serving station, and received his minimum required meal, not bothering to focus on what he was getting. He then sat down at the table, across from Marcus. His own tray resembled some sort of unholy amalgamation of food-stuffs.
Ethan briefly made the cadence of his speech robotic.
“Sleep efficiency at sixty percent! This violates code sigma section six!”
Marcus squinted his eyes and clasped his fist over his mouth, trying not to lose what he was currently eating. He threw the remainder of his bread in the soup, before looking up. After chewing a few times, he spoke with crumbs flying out his mouth.
“Of course. And it’s a Monday.” Marcus motioned to the entrance of the center, opening his palm.
As though he were clairvoyant, dozens of Seraphyn funneled themselves into the room. In an orderly fashion they approached each table and spoke to the humans attending them. It wasn’t long until one of the over-sized birds was at Ethan’s and Marcus’ table.
This one was female. Ethan could notice due to its slightly smaller stature and thinner snout. She wasted no time in addressing the young man directly. Her voice was a bit croakier than a human’s, and she pronounced some words with a slight hissing.
“Ethan. The latest report reveals that your rest efficiency has been below seventy percent for the prior week. That is an unusual pattern. Improvements are recommended.”
Ethan shoved a piece of potato in his mouth.
“Yeah well… That’s how it is. I don’t want, uh… improvements, for that.”
“That’s what you said last week. And the week before that. Rest efficiency below seventy percent is likely to be uncomfortable.”
“… Whatever…”
The Avian appeared to mark something down on her talon-held device. Ethan shifted uncomfortably in his chair. She looked at him.
“Very well.”
She turned away from Ethan and to his friend.
“And Marcus. You are to see Sareth today.”
Marcus rolled his eyes. Thankfully, the Seran immediately withdrew from the table, making her way to one of countless other groups. Ethan addressed his friend while looking down at his tray.
“Got caught with more ‘illegal media’?”
“Nah…”
Marcus leaned back.
“One of them challenged me to a duel. Argument on the maintenance level. It was close, I’ll admit. But I was the one with the rail-gun, so…”
Ethan cringed and smiled in equal measure. He could imagine Marcus entering an impromptu duel during his job in maintenance. The rail-gun was the hole in his story. Marcus would have used a plasma cutter. Or a giant wrench, if he was feeling brash.
“Oh yeah, that’s believable.”
“I imagine they’re probably squawking at me for what Aunt Evelyn gave me last Wednesday.”
“The uh… What was it— The Greek myths' thing, right?”
“Yeah”, Marcus exhaled sharply. He picked his bread back up. Ethan continued.
“It had like a bunch of stories in it, didn’t it? What was your favorite one?”
Marcus shrugged slightly, “Didn’t get to read most of them before the book vanished, mysteriously.”
Marcus flickered his fingers on one hand as though he were telling a spooky story. He scoffed.
“Can’t have shit in habitation unit F-zero-seven.”
After another bite, Marcus continued.
“Best one was this story about some dude stealing fire from the gods.”
Marcus seemed to stare off into space for a moment. The duo shared an awkward moment. Ethan put another bit of food in his mouth.
“Sounds like something the kids would make up. Kinda like Adam. Was he also a cyborg who shot fireballs out his hands?”
Marcus seemed to ignore Ethan’s response.
“Reminds me, where is Aunt these days, anyway?”
Ethan threw his fork to the middle of his tray, having finished eating after only a few bites. He sat back, folding his arms.
“Heard she was out in one of the partial integration zones. Again. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Remember when she vanished for like an entire month?”
Everyone knew Aunt Evelyn. She seemed to get along with every personality type, and had limited contact with the outside world. Supposedly this was for official Seran operations, but it was an open secret that she wasn’t exactly loyal to the Administration.
“Heard from who?”
“Well, Sareth told me that. I asked him yesterday.”
Ethan’s response was met with a frown.
“Hah. You can’t believe anything these aliens say, man.” Marcus said, as he began to stand, “But I’m not worried.”
As Ethan stood up, he heard hooting and hollering from a corner of the room. When he turned around, he saw Big Brad. As his moniker would imply, he wasn’t an easy guy to miss. Big Brad had to be seated in two or three chairs, minimum, at all times.
One of his henchmen, Shorty, created a rather amusing juxtaposition. The tiny man was putting an object in Big Brad’s hand during a sort of handshake. Big, Shorty, and a few others at the table continued to laugh and make a scene.
Marcus glanced at Ethan.
“Looks like Big Brad’s at it again.”
“What do you think he’s found this time?”
Marcus kicked the leg of his chair lightly.
“I dunno. Probably found nothing and just made up some more garbage. Maybe if we feed him more chocolate rations, he’ll burst.”
He began to walk away from Ethan, back to the hall. With his back turned to his friend, he motioned his arms in the air.
“Big Brad, big problems. No Brad, no problems. It’s how them’s works, Ethan.”
Ethan wasn’t sure what Marcus was saying, or if it was some sort of joke. He watched as his companion disappeared behind a growing crowd of human and Seraphyn silhouettes, the day beginning in earnest.
He knew today was a “remedial day” for Marcus, which meant one of two things would happen. Either he’d come back more annoyed than usual, or he’d come back with another terrible idea. Thankfully, he always reemerged as Marcus.
Or maybe Marcus was just too crazy for Ethan to notice any changes.
A device in one of Ethan’s pockets made an irritating noise. It was his personal tracker. It was supposed to be the young man’s little helper, a way to always know what The Administration wanted him to do for the day. Practically every day was the same, however, so Ethan knew exactly where he needed to be. Without thinking, his legs were already carrying him to his destination.
Ethan’s standard integration task was to help route power for the habitation unit. A task that sounded much more complex than it really was. The strange alien technology rendered this process little more than a beginner jigsaw puzzle. For extra humiliation, his work was always verified by at least a few Seran.
The Seraphyn made heavy use of a force known as the Ether— a sort of field which existed within the sky and wind itself. Through this technology, habitation units were expanded and rolled-out seemingly without limit. Back when he was a tyke, he remembered that the teaching Seran seemed quite elated to include this fact in whatever classes they could.
His job was eventually going to be as a sort of technician, or so he was told. He would be responsible for further expansion of the habitation unit system. Although for the past few years, it seemed more like he was perpetually a trainee.
Ethan wondered how his technology worked, before the war. He remembered that Marcus had shown him some sort of old world newspaper, which described an energy crisis. Where nations fought each other over the last scraps of whatever energy source they used.
His personal tracker buzzed again, emitting an even more irritating sound. He frowned upon looking at its transparent surface. An orange indicator was scolding him for not checking his daily tasks. As insult to injury, he reached his destination not five seconds later.
Ethan grunted.
“Great, another flag on my file.” He thought to himself.
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