Soon after their success in escaping from Earth, Gareth and Marcus married. Years later, they decided they wanted to have a child. They named this child Daniel, and he grew up to be a fine human. However, Gareth and Marcus had let loose one of the most dangerous crime lords anyone could ever hope not to meet. Brathen. Brathen was quite possibly the most evil human in the entire universe. All the other species out there decided to put a stop to him, and all of mankind. Everyone knew about Brathen’s distaste for any species that wasn’t human, and so humans were hunted down and killed until he was found. Of course, most of the humans were innocent, and this started a war in which the humans lost. In order to suppress any future uprisings, mankind was completely and utterly distinguished. Or that’s how it was meant to go. Few humans survived, scattered among different planets, different galaxies. These humans were left alone, as they were usually too far away from each other to ‘breed’. Any married couples though; they were most certainly not left alone.

August 19, 2053

London Reborn

Werius IV

0800 hours

Daniel grinned from his perch on the stall’s roof. He was in the busy markets of London Reborn, practicing his ‘parkour skills’. He leaped gracefully and landed on a metal crate, only to launch off that to land on another. Soon he was well on the way back home, jumping and sprinting the whole way. He jogged quickly up the long driveway that leads to his parent’s modest house. At the age of fifteen, he was not old enough to leave. His smile disappeared as he gazed at smouldering ruins. A small notice on the letter box informed him that his childhood home had been ‘quarantined due to excessive numbers of humans’. A culling. He fell to his knees and sobbed. The war was over; they were supposed to leave humans alone, weren’t they? A navy blue car pulled up to him. Despite what humans had believed, hover cars had not been invented. They consumed too much fuel, were too small, and overall just plain impractical. So this car still used the old wheel, but a more advanced kind, made from a sturdier kind of rubber that almost never went flat. It had a sleek, aerodynamic design and black tinted windows. On the side was printed a picture of handcuffs, the universal sign of the Authorities. The man who stepped out was of a broad build, humanoid in shape. However, he was covered in thick brown fur and had floppy ears that barely held his spectacles.

“You must be Daniel,” he growled. Daniel glared at him. “Now now, let us explain everything.” He motioned for Daniel to get in the car. Daniel’s curiosity overtook him and he climbed in. There wasn’t much else he could do anyway. He soon found himself at an Authority station, sitting at a desk waiting for the great bear of a man to return, and return he did, with a data-pad. “Here you go son,” he said as he handed Daniel the small device. He read the information that consumed the screen and couldn’t believe his eyes. He felt so... betrayed. His parents had been criminals? They had escaped from Earth? No wonder they had been culled. Daniel’s anger overwhelmed his guilt and sorrow. He suddenly hated his parents. What else had they lied about? He could be adopted for all he knew. He settled for that. He wasn’t related to them, he couldn’t be.

“I was adopted, wasn’t I?” Daniel asked, looking up at the Authority officer. Of course, Authority was a completely different organisation to the old counterpart, the police force. The Authority’s job was to protect its citizens, and would go so far as to eradicate an entire species. Therefore, they had no problem in telling a confused little boy a confusing little lie.

“Yes.” Daniel almost growled at this. He was mad beyond words. His ‘parents’ had put his life in danger. They could have gotten him killed!

“What now?” he inquired finally.

“You will be placed under Authority care until you’re old enough to look after yourself.” Daniel nodded. Fair enough.