Era of Madness

Ulysseus 2

Life kept going on for Ulysseus. He kept participating in his parents' conferences. Eventually, thanks to all the pressure they had managed to put on sector V's direction with their opposition movement, the motion on material money didn't pass. And everyone gained hope thanks to this 'victory'.

But Ulysseus knew better, he knew that they chose themselves to tie a rope around their own neck.

Denial looked like such a pitiful thing when one could observe it from an exterior viewpoint... even as a child - or rather, a teen now - he could feel that. He also thought that the fact they didn't even realize that they dig their own grave was... pretty scary. If one day, he ended u being in the same situation, would he fail to notice it too?
... Yes, probably.

Focusing back on the present situation, Ulysseus looked at his mother. Most of all, he feared what would happen to her if one day, her illusions broke and she didn't manage to look away from his father's actions anymore. He also was afraid of what she would do.

Another year passed without any problem, and he thought that this whole thing was finally over. One day, when his parents were arguing with another couple, he used this opportunity to sneak away and explore the city. As always, the air was rancid, everything looked grim and he even heard a few fighting noises here and there. But at least, he could wander around without being refrained.

'Uh... now I just need to make sure not to get groomed' he thought;

It wasn't paranoia, it was simply being aware of the dangers lying in being a lone child in sector V. When he decided he had wandered around enough, he hurried back to where his parents were discussing. Happily, it seemed like they were still talking with the other couple, even though their discussion had bviously become more tense.

"Hello, are you the son of those two discussing with my parents?" a voice asked beside him.

Ulysseus turned his head, and saw a girl around his age with mid-long blond hair waving at him. He found her pretty cute, but beyond that he was simply happy he could talk to another child his age:

"Yes, I am" he replied as he got closer. "Happy to meet you, my name is Ulysseus, and you?"

"My name is Alicia, happy to meet you too!" she replied, excited. "Hey, do you want to play tag?"

"Uh... I never really played that... what are the rules?"

"Really, you never played? Then-"

She gave him a tap on the top of the head and started running in the other direction.

"Tag, you're on it! Try to catch me!" she said.

Ulysseus took a few seconds to understand, then he laughed and came after her.

A few minutes later, their parents ended their conversation, and the two teens were separated as they had to accompany their parents. The latters didn't leave without exchanging one last poisonous glance.

"Ulysseus, I don't want you to talk to those rude bastards daughter anymore" his mother said. "They dared to say that all our efforts fr the past years to prevent the motion on material money, everything we went through to give people a better life, it was only so we could extort money out of them. Can you believe it?"

Ulysseus sighed mentally, but he didn't want to hurt his his mom... nor to get his face hurt by a slap.

"Don't worry mom, in the end, good always wins" he replied fakely. "Eventually, they'll understand that everything you're doing is for the greater good"

Saying that, he threw a slight glance at his dad. The latter wasn't saying anything, and his fists were clenched. For some reason, Tyler felt wary.

However, this feeling disappeared when his mother patted his head: