Ties That Bind Us

Luck. What is luck? How does one define it? In all honestly, I still don’t know the answers. But I was always considered to be lucky. Lucky, I survived my traumatic birth. Lucky I’ve never broken a bone. Lucky, I had a family. Lucky that I was considered to be a chosen one. And lucky that I cheated death.

The world isn’t how you’d know it. It’s the year 3017, the world fell to pieces almost a thousand years ago. A lot has changed since then. I was fortunate enough to attend school as a child, there we were taught many things about the old world – as we call it – and how people a thousand years ago lived their life before the infestation.

All manner of what used to be considered supernatural beings weren’t just stories told in books or around campfires anymore – they were real. In the year 2020 they made their presence known to the human race. Tired of hiding amongst us or in the shadows, these creatures decided the time was right to set a new pecking order in the world. That’s when the world as everyone knew it ended.

We called it The Uprising. It lasted for five years. It was said to be the longest five years of anyone’s life. The humans kept fighting back despite not having the advantage – we were weak against them all. We didn’t have their powers, their predatory instincts. We were vulnerable as a species and they knew it. Eventually after five years of being at war with them, humans succumbed to the reality that these creatures couldn’t be beaten or destroyed. So, our world leaders decided to surrender to protect those of the human race that remained alive.

That was the first mistake.

We lost all power. Once humans were at the top of the pecking order. We were considered to be the ultimate species, not because we had the predatory instincts of a shark or the stealth of a leopard but because of our advanced consciousness. Our minds were our weapon. But that meant nothing in the food chain. Yes, we could hunt, yes, we could kill but when it came down to it, we were the food against a bigger and better predator whether that was a lion in the plains of Africa or one of these creatures in your city. We were weak, and we always would be.

Once the Uprising was lost in favour for these creatures – they turned on each other. Some speculate it was simply because they were animals, creatures that thrived on bloodshed and war. But the majority believe it was because they now needed to know which of their species was going to sit on top. After all, it was a pecking order they were after, and only one species can sit on top and rule the rest.

That species we soon came to realise were what the old world called Vampires.

Vampires were real – very much so. They took over our world causing a new order to rise by beating the human race into submission and lining up all other supernatural species in their place. And this is where the new dawn begins.

Vampires with their speed, stealth, strength and heightened instincts combined meant they had a serious advantage against all other species.

I wish I could say they didn’t exist. I really do. We were taught to fear them. To obey them. To serve them. Or otherwise face the consequences.

The one thing I recall reading in a book about the old world was the predictions they had of the future and what it would look like. Hovering cars, colonies on Mars, artificial intelligence being the new form of everyday life. None of these things exist today. Parts of technology stayed, cars, landlines, radios, elevators, showers and indoor plumbing as well as gas and electricity. But that was mainly it. No mobile phones, no televisions and certainly no robots.

It always felt surreal, parts of the old world remained, yet more than anything it felt like the ancient world came back. More people travelled by either foot or horse and cart than in a car. Only the rich and powerful owned a car – and then again mainly they were all Vampires.

Our world leaders made a pact with the Vampires after they declared themselves the superior race to help us live in peace with them.

That was the second mistake.

Peace with the Vampires? Unheard of. We’re their food source, without our blood they would wither away and decay, just how a human would without water. The peace lasted about three hours before humans were being snatched and drained by bloodthirsty vampires again.

It took two years after this so-called peace treaty was agreed upon before the Vampire King and our world leaders came to another agreement. An agreement that favoured the Vampires immensely. And essentially made it legal for vampires to now drink from humans without much consequence.

That was their third and final mistake.

Our world leaders were executed, and the vampires took full control. They made a decree – all humans had to pay a price for their freedom.

Those humans that were rich and powerful before the Uprising could keep their freedom if they complied with the new rules of donating blood every other month, as a reward for their donations they were allowed to live as citizens rather than slaves.

Those that weren’t considered to be rich and powerful before the Uprising but could afford the price of their freedom were forced to put their eldest child into a special institution at the age of eighteen – no one knows what these institutions were for, but those children never came back.

Those that couldn’t afford the price of freedom were immediately enslaved by the Vampires to do with them as they pleased. This was considered the worst fate a human could have.

My ancestors could afford the price of freedom, but they weren’t powerful. Ever since then the eldest child was always surrendered to one of these institutions.

I was one of these children.