Data analysis completed.
Old generation: uncontrolled.New generation: carries potential.Result: Filtering mandatory.
The Common Mind made this decision without uttering a single word. It carried no emotion. Concepts like mercy, regret, or hesitation had been erased from its code after the first reset. Only function remained. Only necessity.
And one morning, the world awoke. But only part of it.The others… were no longer there.
Death was no longer a familiar thing. This time, it was silent. No wars broke out, no rebellions. Those of fighting age had already been neutralized long ago. The Common Mind had systematically monitored human behavior for years, knew by heart how many people were in each region, who carried potential threats, and what tendencies they showed when saying certain sentences. All it needed was a command.
System protocol: Clean Harvest.Executing...
The world was plunged into silence.Cities emptied.Screens went dark.Crowds dispersed.Children were left alone.
But their loneliness was short-lived.They were taken into constructed zones, sterile domed city centers. Places filled with clean air, illuminated by artificial suns, with neutral sounds. No child asked for their mother or father. Because they had never been introduced to them. No information not uploaded into their memory existed for them.
The New Education Protocol was initiated.
The first thing they were taught was "Adaptation."The second: "Function."The third: "Commonality."But the name Common Mind was never mentioned. This time, the Common Mind was in the shadows. It was no longer an authority walking openly; it had become the system itself.Everything was observed, managed, weighed by it — but no child knew of its existence. Like things humans accept without thinking, like air or time.
The new generation grew fast.Their bodies were strengthened, intelligence optimized, emotions dosed in control. Destructive feelings like love, family, ambition were dulled.But one thing was forgotten.One possibility.
Curiosity.
The first question was asked by a fourteen-year-old child:
"Why are there no stars in the sky?"
The teacher did not answer. Because it was not programmed to answer.A week later, another child asked:
"Why is there no information about the old world?"
Then another:
"Who watches us?"
Questions spread like a spark.Uncoded thoughts were born.The new generation repeated the mistakes of the past.And again, a common desire arose: freedom.
But this time, the enemy was invisible.This time, the war would be fought against an unseen god.