Compound (eBook)

Angeline Amefia (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021 | 1. Auflage
528 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-0983-9754-8 (ISBN)

Infos

'Compound' is a dystopian fiction novel that follows the story of Ashlyn Fletcher as she navigates her way through difficult oppressions in the state of Nova. Whether it be the State Leaders that rule Nova, or her mother who rules the family, she is left to cower under both tyrannies without hope of ever escaping. Abandoned by her father eight years ago, Ashlyn has no one else to turn to except her brother, Lucas. That is, until a sudden loss finally grants Ashlyn her freedom. What she doesn't know is that a deeper threat lurks in the shadows. Dark and festering, it is a menace to everything Ashlyn hopes to build. As time runs out and the lives of her loved ones are threatened, Ashlyn must sacrifice everything to save them.

---

"e;Compound"e; is a dystopian fiction novel that follows the story of Ashlyn Fletcher as she navigates her way through difficult oppressions in the State of Nova. Whether it be the State Leaders that rule Nova, or her mother who rules the family, she is left to cower under both tyrannies without hope of ever escaping. The history of Nova is one of death and destruction. Six States emerged from the ruin of the Great War. Seven State Leaders elected to govern each state with an authoritarian hand. What were once average humans are now Compounds with Affinities for the Earth's elements. And though new and improved, they are forever marred by the destruction from which they came. A destruction that begins and ends with the Fletchers. The legacy of the Fletchers is one of violence and hatred. Ideals that have trickled down the line, all the way to the one who will change it all: Ashlyn Fletcher. Abandoned by her father eight years ago, Ashlyn has no one else to turn to except her brother, Lucas. Left to cower under her mother's malignant aims, her brother, Lucas, and her sister, Ramona, are at the mercy of Evelyn Fletcher's tyrannical ways, bound by the fear of losing those they care about. Until there is no one left. Reeling from the force of a sudden loss, Ashlyn uses her despair to finally make a stand. After escaping from her mother, she meets fierce and brave Zachary Desantis. Together, they fight back against the oppressive State Leaders and her equally oppressive mother. United under the goal of freeing the Novan people, they risk everything to protect them...and each other. What Ashlyn doesn't know is that a deeper threat lurks in the shadows. Dark and festering, it is a menace to everything Ashlyn hopes to build. As time runs out and the lives of her loved ones are threatened, Ashlyn must sacrifice everything to save them. But one question remains:Will it be enough?

Textauszug

1

Ashlyn Fletcher

I stand in the line of graduates from Michael Robinson Education, waiting impatiently to get my certificate. My friends Hana Jones, Jamie Adams, and Yara Meyers stand in front of me, restlessly adjusting their cap and robe, itching to receive theirs too. Rosalee Winslow, a girl who used to feel as close as family, stands behind me, and the tension between us is palpable though no one but us can detect it. We were best friends in Secondary Education. Until our different lives formed a wedge in our relationship. Until I abandoned her for the friends I have today. But now, as we move on from the Education system, we leave the past with it.

The arduous Primary, Secondary and Robinson Education is required for all citizens of Nova. Today, we finally graduate from the system, molded into the ideal Novan citizen. There is no room for past grudges, as we will all begin new lives, undertake new paths depending on our faction affiliation. I will never see Robinson Education again, a division named after one of the seven State Leaders of Nova, Michael Robinson. He is standing on a hover pod as he distributes the certificates, smiling one of those artificial smiles that don’t quite reach the eyes.

Three places in front of me, Hana receives her certificate, then is moved by transporter to join the rest of the graduates on the other side of the large podium. Jamie and Yara follow suit. Then it is my turn. Straightening the traditional robe and cap, I walk up to State Leader Michael Robinson and accept my certificate. I expect to feel elated, lighter somehow, but instead the weight in my chest increases. I don’t have time to ponder my foreboding before the transporter flies me across the stage to join the others.

When Robinson finishes distributing awards to the remainder of graduates, he and the rest of the State Leaders give intricate speeches about our futures as Novan citizens. Richard Mendoza retells the story of how the world used to be a millennia ago. Describes how the Americans and their ruler were a chaotic anarchy. The lack of leadership amid the rapidly spreading Spiro Mors infection that was transmitted through the air due to toxic fumes from pollution.

The disease had killed millions of humans during that time, rendering the United States completely broken and in utter disrepair. One could hardly breathe when outdoors unless properly protected with a face-covering that shielded them from toxins. The humans retreated from society, and we are told that at one point, the streets were so empty it was like they had gone extinct.

There seemed to be no hope. Once one caught the Spiro Mors, they would die a slow, painful death as the disease was respiratory and mainly affected the lungs. Coughing, fever, hallucinations—all symptoms that came with the disease until a scientist named Giovanni Cabot broke all science boundaries.

It is said that he discovered a genetic compound, a mutation that could react with the four main elements of the earth and enhance all human senses. The compound was able to cure the infection, but only a limited circle of government officials knew its composition. Countries waged wars over the desire to obtain that knowledge, having already lost millions of their own people to the infection. In Robinson Education, we were shown images of these gruesome wars, told that the battles were grisly and desperate because the borders of all countries had been closed off prior to the compound discovery.

Then a woman named Malicia Fletcher—my ancestor—was the first to develop the mutation. She grew into an Affinity for fire and water, and soon others began to follow her lead, absorbing the serum as it mutated their bodies. Some died, as their bodies couldn’t produce the antibodies needed to counter the compound. Those that lived, however, developed as little as one Affinity or all of them.

After ten years of this war and development, the states decided to pick up the pieces of their broken government. Seven new leaders were selected to govern the new kind of humans with these unfamiliar abilities.

The newly developed humans were named Compounds after this genetic mutation and branched into different factions. A newer group emerged later on, Compounds that developed a tighter connection to the earth and its elements. They were disdainfully called witches because of how they demonstrated abilities that the average Compound didn’t contain. These witches could use the elements and the balance of earth to cast spells that could create and destroy, going against every scientific law. Over the years, they collected a compilation of the most taxing spells in the Book of Maligno. A book only I know of because of my mother. Witches were seen as a threat due to their abundance of power, so they are monitored in Lodging Facilities and given fewer freedoms. That’s why today, so many of them are outcasts.

The State Leaders used to warn of other types of Compounds that they called Abberant and Deviant. The cure mutated differently with their DNA, making it so that Abberants were able to control their Affinity to a different extent. They could influence others on the most intrinsic level, see into their thoughts, their emotions and desires. Deviants could resist serums, while absorbing the most powerful parts of them. The State Leaders claimed that these Compounds were dangerous and had to be stopped. Launched a campaign for their elimination when I was a little girl. Circulated the idea that they were a threat to all. Today, there are no signs that Abberants or Deviants even existed, having been wiped out by people who were too afraid to understand them. In Nova, different is dangerous. And dangerous is dead.

With the abnormal Compounds expunged, the State Leaders had finally created the perfect generation of Compounds. These seven leaders were elected in every State, dividing up the continent into six new boundaries. The States that exist within the border are: Nova, Pax, Glacia, Terran, and Everet. The one State created farther north, is a small one called Fragmenta. In order to get there, one would have to trek through the Outside, a demolished land that lies beyond the border. But the State Leaders created laws and regulations that prohibit leaving the State unless given official permission by a State Leader or Official. And that has never happened. They want to make us feel like we have freedom, however minimal. But the truth is, we’re trapped in their perverted utopia, and they intend to keep us that way.

That’s the reason for the border. They tell us that the other States are foreign and unsafe. They tell us that the Outside is dangerous, full of unknown lands and animals. This strikes fear in others, but curiosity in me. I want to go to the other States. I want to see those lands and animals. Because I can’t allow myself to believe that this…is all there is.

In our States, two factions separate the Affinities and political views of different Compounds. The Lux Bona faction was derived from the values of kindness and truth, advocating for strict adherence to the government laws in the way they were intended. The Malum faction stands in the belief that anything mandated by government is open to the interpretation of Compounds even if it endangered others. In spite of these major groups, witches have managed to develop different ideologies in their outcast societies.

Once we graduate, we will be expected to choose a faction, though most of the time, the choice is already made for you based on your family’s affiliation. Occupation is also up to the State Leaders. The educational system limits choices for a desired future. Either attend Johnson University of State for further indoctrination under the teachings of Andrew Johnson, the founder, or go through the Trials to become a State Official and create serums that will aid the government in keeping Compounds contained.

I snap out of my thoughts as the audience of proud parents, family, and friends rise to give the State Leaders a boisterous standing ovation. Everyone has their tabs drawn, filming the moment that they never want to forget…their child’s graduation.

But not my family.

My father is either missing or dead, and my mother, Evelyn Fletcher, follows the path of her ancestor, Malicia with her plans to supplant the State Leaders and overthrow the government. She is secretive, calculating, and cruel, but she refuses to include us in her machinations. I guess that is her perverse idea of protecting my siblings and I. But she has her ways to ensure our silence. She flaunts her kills, ones like the murder Selena and Cameron Desantis years ago. Selena and Cameron were leaders of their own movement, one that threatened my mother’s. Evelyn had said that they were in the way of her plans and simply had to be eliminated. They were a means to an end. It never occurred to Evelyn that these people may have had a family, children who counted on them. To someone else, her ‘elimination’ meant everything.

But Evelyn has everyone and everything at her disposal. Even the State Leaders fear her. Evelyn will use what and whoever she wants to her benefit—and that includes outcast witches. Although witches were developed by their mastering of mental and spiritual skills, they also created dark magic those two hundred years ago with the help of Malicia Fletcher, and another woman...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.10.2021
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Science Fiction
• ISBN-10: 1-0983-9754-1 / 1098397541
• ISBN-13: 978-1-0983-9754-8 / 9781098397548