I sat bruised, bloody and beaten amid my enemies, their predatory grins dug into my pride as I knew that they only waited for a single word to tear into me. Luckily, the one to give the order wasn't present and I only suffered a periodic smack to the back of my head.My jailors were kind enough to let me have access to a television, more for their entertainment and less of mine, of course, but it gave me all the information I needed and even more."Just last night, the Volstovian government finally confirms that it is under attack from a neighbouring country.""Yeah, I don't think there's any need at this point for confirmation, we've got clear footage of the battlefield a full aerial and ground view too.""Ah, yes George, let's have the clip played," she pauses to look to the camera, "Viewers, please be warned, what you are about to witness can only be described as deeply disturbing."The station slides over to play the clip and it is truly disturbing. A screech pierces through the r

My back was greeted by my painfully comfortable bed. I died again.Ha!Actually no, I hadn’t. Though I was brave enough to steal a bit of Luciano’s hair with that bullet, I knew I couldn’t control the military without his support. I needed him gone, yes, but not only for my satisfaction. If I got rid of him without mapping and buying out the loyalties of those who would replace him then, I’d only be creating more problems for myself.Currently he held the highest ranking position in all facets of the military. That would need to be broken down. I preferred to have options to choose from. If I had three military advisors and members of my ruling council, then I had a better chance of dividing their forces when I smell a coup.A few well-placed promises and threats and I’ve got a stable hold on the Military, no one willing to move against each other, much less myself. The problem arose in how to rip his power away from him and divide it among those I wish.“So far the reports show no si

I didn’t know what exactly to think of the article I’d just read. I held my phone closer to my face, squinting my eyes as I skimmed over the article once again. Much of what was written here was written with a strong and confident tone, like the ‘facts’ and ‘evidence’ presented couldn’t be refuted. But it was the arrogance that angered me.“She really believes in what she has written doesn’t she,” I comment.“Quite outrageous notions, Mister President.” The man in my company agreed wholeheartedly, even as his voice shook and his hands trembled.I look to him and smiled. I couldn’t exactly call him cowardly just because he was scared of what a nineteen-year-old like myself would do to him. I’ve got to give him credit, he hasn’t pissed himself despite the two machine guns placed on either side of his head.The president of Peak View Media (PVM); a privately owned media house that distributed news in all available forms and even made a few TV shows. He was a rich man by all standards but

I walked into my office early in the morning, a pile of work awaited me and I could already feel my sleep schedule shifting. It was unsettling not being able to sleep in as often as I used to.I hung my jacket over my chair and prepared to go over a ton of work. A lot of immediate changes had to be made to government expenditures, notably issuing subsidies for the growing population invested in media. The media was one of the few sectors in the country that was mostly privatized legally anyway. It was important to leave the media majorly in the hands of the private citizens, they knew what entertained best and what entertains provides the most efficient distractions.But it was even more important to privatize more of the industry as power has been passed on for the first time in the country. A bad image would cause unwanted destabilization. And how do you avoid that? Provide government subsides they become dependent on. The threat of it being withdraw is surprisingly more effective f

I’d been knocked out cold by what felt like a brutal hit to the head. I looked about me and found nothing. There was literally nothing in the space aside from myself. The feeling was disorientating. It constantly felt like I was falling but there was no end and then it felt like my feet were planted on solid ground, I couldn’t keep up.It took a few backflips and pivots to get my body righted in the direction-whatever direction there was- I wanted. The beings guide through voice most likely threw me in here. So where was it?Not that I was especially looking forward to the psychedelic feeling the beings very presence exerted on me, I just wanted to get out of…. space. Now that I think about it, how am I seeing myself? There was darkness all around me and this wasn’t truly space as far as I knew, there were no stars, no moon, no planets in the distance and certainly no big orange ball of flame.I studied myself a bit more and came to the conclusion that this was weird. This was all ver