That day, the sky split open, and the world fell apart.

The streaks of missile trails followed by the blinding flashes of nuclear explosions.

It had been long anticipated that the tensions were reaching a breaking point, yet no one was prepared for the destruction.

Allies and nations, driven by radiation poisoning and starvation, coalesced into two massive supercities, protected by walls, separated by an entire continent. And waged a war of attrition which lasted decades.

They fought and fought. Even though they were very much the same, they still fought.

Maybe their values were just too different, maybe they were just stubborn. But nonetheless, they fought.

It was the war that would end all wars, the war that would settle things once and for all.

Caught in the midst were the soldiers, the young men, even teenagers. Forced to kill and die in a war they knew all too well but couldn’t care less for.

Long ago, when the war had just started, before the phasing out of jet aircraft. There were people who wanted to leave, to escape, to run away from everything. So they boarded a plane, and in the dark of night, with hopes and dreams for a brighter future, flew towards the horizon, towards the place where there might be peace.

Both cities scrambled fighters to intercept them, for fear they could be a hostile bomber. But then the realization came, when many of the pilots decided not to return home, and to fly away together.

They flew further and further. Further and further away from the fighting. Closer and closer to harmony.

And by the first light of dawn, they were far away enough that they could see the vast unbound blue of the ocean at the edge of the horizon.

But there was no where they could go. For there wasn’t a single corner of the globe, except the safe haven within the walls of the two supercities, where there isn’t lethal levels of radiation. Perhaps in another ten or twenty years, some places could be fit for living. But at that moment, they could only fly in circles until the interceptors caught up.

The defected fighters tried their best to defend the escapees, but the interceptors soon overwhelmed them.

One by one they fell, in smoldering pieces of twisted metal. The burning remains floated down through the clouds and into the thick forest below, carrying with them the hopes and dreams for a brighter future.

Of course, no one except the governing bodies of the two cities knew about this little incident. No one would even care that a few planes were shot down over some desolated land far far away even if they knew about it.

And just like that, with stricter laws, more censorship and tighter regulations, the war went on as always.

Day after day. Month after month. Year after year.