Babylon

[Deleted member 38]

And... as Babylon fell​

Cecilia's stomach sank. All she could do was stare at the sky, brows fighting against dried blood splattered across her face; blood that wasn't even hers.

From the ashes of barbarism humanity arose; reinvigorated, emancipated from its own hubris.
To those Babylonians, the word revolution was freedom.
​

The silence that surrounded her was more deafening than the gunfire and explosions she'd been rattled with for days on end; both here, and in Ukraine.
Like her, those around her had frozen in place.
All they could do was listen.

But as Alexander the Great laid waste to the Persians, revolution was, that is to say had always been … cataclysm.
And in time, revolution claimed all he too had built, and his empire shattered, like fine glass in the hands of a child.
​

Cecilia was too young to ever know this man's voice like the others around her had.
She had never witnessed the Seven Hours.

You have, to a man, endured the worst that the false promise humanity names 'revolution' has to offer.
In the face of mankind's self inflicted return to its most barbaric and irrational, you have chosen to defy this endless cycle of decay.
You have, and at no insignificant personal cost, risen above the base urges of fear - of savagery.
​

Those words pounded into her chest; every single one.
The fear coursing through her was so unfathomably intense she could barely breathe.

And the time is long past due that you see what your fight...

Well.

What it's all been for.​

To her, it was as though the voice of God were resonating through her.
To her, this was nothing like the stories she had been told of the Seven Hours.
This wasn't even comparable.
This was Hell.

Now is the time to take heart in all you have accomplished.
The loss of this city to those unable to appreciate all that it stands for is, if I might be candid, a disappointment.
​

Cecilia went pale when the words 'those unable' were uttered.
It was as though the Devil himself had uttered her name.

Even so, your dedication has allowed for the restoration of our citadel - to which you have been chosen to relocate, in light of your recent struggles ...

and your recent successes.
​

It was surreal, almost, to hear the enemy so directly addressed.
Unlike most, she had never spoken to them.
She had never met them face to face.
She had never lived to hear them addressed like this.
She could only imagine how their hearts must have sunken.

You have served, and you have served well.
And so, to the dedicated members of the Overwatch, I can only offer my heartfelt congratulations, despite your failure to secure what remains of City 24.
​

'Overwatch'. A word more alien to her than any other.
To her, they've gone by many different names; some said out of hatred, some out of reverence, some out of fear.
.. but never 'Overwatch'.
And it was uttered from the lips of a God.

You have made the right choice.

. . .

In every revolution, there is the paradoxical presence of circulation. Repetition, reflection, and regression.
Noble conquests become vicious and apocalyptic with each turn of the wheel.
Therefore only one possible option - one possible 'right choice' remains...
​

The hairs on the back of Cecilia's neck stood.
Every instinct in her body told her 'run'.
But she couldn't. She was frozen.
It was as though the Earth's own gravity had doubled.

... to break the cycle.​

The sky itself tore asunder.
For all those around her, they were witnessing a sight they had all seen once before.
For Cecilia...

This...
... is how it ends.​

... she was witnessing it all for the first time.

 

[Deleted member 38]

'to break the cycle' was missing

fuck you xenforo

fixed it

 

[Numbers]

that was such a beautiful read, outdid yourself