Mirror Sky. Part 1 - Blissful Nemesis

08 - April Fools'

Gost was back to his usual self - pretending to be someone else. Today, he was an old guy with a hunched back. He quietly sat on a bench in the city of Libra, watching the people and the city lights. He glanced at his old mechanical watch. 3:39a.m.

He thought of all the clocks and watches throughout the City of Libra that counted the night's hours, minutes, and seconds. Millions of arrows and numbers moved and changed in perfect sync and controlled the speed of people's lives: when they had to run and push through the crowd, or when they could sit down, like him, and take the life in.

Every twenty-four hours had precisely sixteen waking and eight sleeping hours. There was also all this mess with miles, feet, ounces, and pounds. People in Libra often joked that Gods, in their infinite wisdom, should have come up with a more straightforward and unified measurement system when they created the world. Ironic, considering that Gost had nothing to do with the world's creation nor the measurement system. On occasion, he was annoyed with feet and ounces himself.

Of course, Librans dared not to change the units to something more coherent. They were a superstitious bunch. They were careful not to offend Libra, the Holy Trinity, and the Twelve Gods, even though only two of this diverse array of characters existed, only one, him, presently had the power to punish them, and none had any desire to do so.

Still, it was hard to blame the Librans for those superstitions. The Bible, or the Church rather, taught them that humanity rejected the Gods' teaching thousands of years ago. The consequences were dire, as they usually are when you deal with dramatic deities. The universe was consumed by Nought. The Sun and stars extinguished. Earth now sailed through the void of prehistoric non-existence. Humanity survived by the thread and was given a second chance under the protection of Mirror Sky and the Walls of this city.

A whole lot of nonsense. However, it was better than knowing the truth.

The clocks remained a heartbeat of the dead paradise, Gost's last tangible connection to the better times of the past. Every alarm going off was a beautiful ghost of the forgotten sunrise. It was as close as he would get to feeling the Sun on his face. It gave him hope for a brighter future.

Gost heard a sharp echo of cheers of thousands of people from one place in Libra that never bothered with the measurements – Lux District, engulfed by the infamous Eternal Party. The Party demanded that there be no hours, minutes, and especially ounces, fluid or otherwise. It was always as long as you could stand upright and as much as you could handle, nothing less and nothing more. The sounds of dancing, fighting, drinking, drugs, sex, music, and fun, as well as things shattered, broken, and set on fire echoed throughout the rest of the city. Gost was a regular there. It was perhaps the most enjoyable place left under the Sky.

Everyone would go through Lux one day, escaping the pressure of living under Mirror Sky. Some would prefer to die on the bottom of the bottle or at the end of the coke line to not feel the weight of the Sky again. He knew how it felt. He followed those people, if only briefly, and experienced the momentary release of death before inevitably coming back to life anew. This ride was reserved for Gost's worst days, which were numerous.

However, Librans were made of stronger stuff. They partied to blow off steam once in a while but mostly preferred sleeping before tomorrow's workday. Thus, the other eleven districts in Libra were quiet and serene.

Radnik was one such place. It stretched from the Cathedral of Libra in the middle of the city to Vida Wall, where it came to a sharp point. Most of the buildings there were apartments and factories, anywhere between half a mile to a mile tall, some precisely leveled with the city's mile-tall Wall.

The district was named after the made-up God of Labor Radnik and was populated with factory workers and workaholics on a strict schedule. They produced various microelectronics, from massive server computers and router stations to Work-Life Meters and behind-the-ear devices called neurals. Gost liked the people there. They took pride in their work, had tight communities, and had many stories to tell. They lived the simplest and therefore the happiest lives.