Half World

Why must some be born into deceit rather than truthfulness?

That was a question that constantly popped into my mind with the way we have to live. The two worlds are divided in the worst way possible. Wherever one is born, they live there forever. Citizens born into the Faithful Land have it all: lavish, money, peace, and happiness. Goddess Fidem takes care of her people well. There are those who also are unlucky. People like us who found themselves at the opposite end of the rainbow have to live in the Swindle Land, where God Dolus loves to make us miserable. Repeatedly working every day non-stop with tricks up his sleeve is no way to live. If Dolus finds us not properly doing our jobs, he will play a trick on us that is physically or mentally scarring. Just recently, my mother was called into Swindle Palace. She was told she was getting sent to Goddess Fidem. As he told her that, he sent her to a secret cave that would take her there. It turned out she was attacked by Guards who were in on his lies and deceit without reason. The memory still pains me to this day. 

“Look, Opus. Dolus is in the sky!” An acquaintance said, pointing to the sky. I looked up and saw nothing. Everyone nearby stared at him. It was not the first time. Rumors had spread like wildfire that he would watch us from the sky, it was believed to be seen by the most insane. Goodness, this leader must be tricking us into thinking these things.

Currently working in the mines, I clutched my pickaxe hard with anger at the misfortune of everyone and my mother. There was something I wanted to do--I had an idea. It was a dangerous idea, one that could possibly get me killed at most. I wanted to escape this land and convince Fidem what terror lies on the other side of her. My plan has a high chance of failing--but as it feels like my duty--I have to do it. The timing would be tonight.

After long hours, the sun finally went down and the dark moon showed up to say hello. At ten o’clock at night, it was required for all citizens of the Swindle Land to sleep for two hours before working again. The Guards of the night watch were quite useless, they would doze off quite often outside of everyone’s home. I would have to use this to my advantage by quietly sneaking out. Sleeping next to my mother who still has bruises all over her back, I was once motivated again to do this for her and the citizens rather than for me.

Slowly crawling out of bed, I ever so quietly opened the window that leads to the backyard of my home. The living conditions were abhorrent, the window kept creaking and nervousness grew inside of me. After what seemed like forever, it was finally opened. Taking one last look at my mother, I jumped out and started running in a straight line in the dark stained grass.

Looking behind me often, no one was chasing me. I had to take a long shortcut to the border between Faith and Swindle. I remembered seeing it before as I have worked many times nearby. The atmosphere felt heavy and so did the moon that was following me. My legs were moving without me knowing and I was ready to speed up, hiding behind trees every time there was any sort of unfamiliar noise.

A few hours have passed and unbelievably, I was not caught yet. These Guards are quite useless. Finally, in the distance, I was able to see the border. The darkness and dark green grass was no match for the lime grass within the beauty of the Faithful Land. It was a tricky situation, almost. If I run straight ahead, I am definitely going to be seen. After a few minutes, I decided to gain momentum and rain straight into the border. Picking up my speed and running out into the open, it got closer like it was greeting me. Finally, I was able to enter the border--

I fell to the ground. Reaching my hands out in front of me, I could not enter. Some sort of barrier was stopping me from entering. As my heart pounded, I banged on the barrier as hard as possible, hoping someone would hear me. Looking around, no one was there. Looking up into the sky, my eyes widened. God Dolus was looking down at me. The rumors. Were they true? He monitors everyone through an orb--he does not hide it. Looking back at the barrier, the Faithful Land was no longer there. It was just more land that belonged to this deceitful world. In a blur of colors, the question came to my mind: could he have possibly played a trick on me by doing this? Standing there in place, I couldn’t say anything. The man in the sky stared back at me. Hearing noises, I shift my head to the right and see Guards coming at me. Picking up my legs and running straight, it was all that came to my mind.

“Stop!” I screamed very loud through my breath. Looking up, Dolus smirked. He could hear me?

Eventually, my legs gave up, falling to the ground. The Guards dragged me away. Closing my eyes, I stared up into the sky. Dolus suddenly looked away and stared in shock. A lady barely entered the sky, she had emerald eyes and blonde hair. She must be apart of the Faithful Land.

“F-Fidem? What are you doing here?” The Swindle Land God said.

“I came by your palace as our censors were picking up that someone was trying to enter our land. It kept going on and off--quite strange honestly. Do you know anything about it?”

Wait, if they could possibly hear me then?

“Fidem, Help!” I screamed to the top of my lungs. She suddenly looked around and stared down at me from the orb.

“What on Earth is this?” She asked, looking at Dolus.

“It’s not what it looks like. He was breaking a rule so I went to monitor him.”

“Is that so?”

“NO! He is lying to you! He’s trying to trick you!” I yelled.

“Why should I believe you?”

“Please...he is not good to us. He loves to play tricks on us. He makes us work long hard hours and--”

“Silence! Stop talking to nothing!” One of the guards said, putting his spear up to my forehead. Closing my eyes and then looking up, the God and Goddess were no longer there. No! It can’t be.

Thrown to the back of my home, the Guards smirked and took out their spears. “We might as well kill you!” One of them said.

 Am I really going to have the same fate as my mother?

***

I woke up to see dried blood all over my body. I was still sitting against the back of my house. The window I escaped out of was broken. As the moon was still out, my body was sore. Trying to get up, I fell right back to my knees. Slightly looking up, I looked up to see a white light blinding me for a moment. Seeing my vision clearing up, a lady with blue eyes and short, blonde hair reached her hand out to me. As the vision within my eyes kept getting fainter, I slowly reached my hand out to her. She was like an angel.

“Opus, come with me.” She said. How does she know my name?

White light kept reaching my eyes but I knew this was it. I am going to the Faithful Land. Finally, our hands reached each other and that was when everything became fully bright. The last thing I could clearly see was Dolus and Fidem.