In the past, humanity lived on earth alone, with no one but themselves. The entire earth belonged to humanity and the various animals and plants that decorated it. For most of human history, this was the reality that humans knew.
However, in the not-so-distant past, everything changed. At first, it was a phenomenon where the sky changed hues, turning from blue to red all around the world. People were of course scared and wondered what could have happened.
Had a war broken out? Were they being poisoned by some kind of chemical or biological weapon? No one knew the answer to this question.
Of course, this period of uncertainty only lasted a short while. After the uncertainty came the sudden realization of what was happening. The earth had been invaded by foreign substances. Monsters that arrived from another world.
Varying in shapes and sizes, the monsters looked different from the humans that had been present on the earth. Some towered over humans, being the size of skyscrapers, whilst others looked almost similar to humans, with only some smaller differences being present. They all differed in appearance, however, one trait could be found among all of them.
They were all hostile towards the humans. They slaughtered and killed every human they came across without sparing anyone. Not even women nor children were spared. The slaughterers made no difference between races nor sexes.
At first, humans died whilst fighting back. They hadn't been prepared for an invasion from another world and as such, their numbers dropped drastically as they tried all means of fighting back. The first couple of years could truly be called an apocalypse.
No one had been prepared and everyone was scrambling to do whatever they could to survive and drive the invaders back to where they came from.
After years of brutal warfare, the situation had somewhat normalized and humans had found how to battle these invaders. After the arrival of these monsters, for some reason, some females that were below the age of 30 at the time received a gift. An ability of sorts that was entirely unique to them and that no one else in the world possessed. Using these powers, the girls were able to build an entirely new military force of women with powers that used their prowess in the battle against the monsters.
And these powers weren't unique to the females that had been born in a specific period either. After time it was discovered that there were girls that were born after the phenomena occurred, and they as well had been gifted with powers.
However, the only ones that had failed to receive any kind of powers. The ones that had stayed the same as they had been in the past were the men. They received no powers, no special abilities of any kind.
Since that was discovered, the power dynamics in human society shifted and the leadership positions all over the world had been taken over by women, replacing the men. And that's how we got to today.
Humanity lived within walled-off cities, with the tops of the cities covered by hardened glass almost as if living inside a bubble or a glass garden. Males had been demoted to second-class citizens and females with special powers were treated as elites and were raised and trained by the military for the sake of joining the army and eventually joining the fight against the invaders.
Since the invasion occurred, the world had changed entirely, and at present, everyone that could have told stories of what the world had been like before had already long perished, leaving behind only stories of the old and peaceful world.
This is the kind of world that Fried lived in. As a human teenage male, there was nothing but marriage and reproduction awaited from him. Society didn't need or desire him. Higher positions were only limited to women and no matter how hard he strived for them, he could never reach them. Society no longer viewed him as essential, only desiring he leave behind daughters.
"This sucks…" Fried said as he sat in his classroom, surrounded by his friends.
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?" Clive, one of his friends asked.
"My future was already decided at birth. What reason was there to even come to this school? In the end, I'll be forced to work as a laborer or an unimportant position within a company. Wouldn't it have been better to just not send me to school in the first place?!" Fried complained.
"Why are you complaining about that now? You knew the situation three years ago when you entered the school. It won't change anything if you complain now."
"I know, but still…Aren't you frustrated?"
Fried wanted something more. He had aspirations that were bigger than just living an unimportant life. Marrying a girl just to reproduce and produce a girl with special abilities. He didn't only want to be used as breeding stock and given some food to survive.
Fried wanted to achieve bigger things. He wanted to enjoy his life and to live a life he could be proud of. A life of fighting off the invaders, one where he could be useful and respected. He wanted to conquer back his world and reclaim what was once stolen from them.
However, even that was difficult. Males that joined the army were used as cannon fodder and the survival rate of a soldier was below 1 percent after a year. Which was to say that basically no one returned alive and all of them perished, used as human shields or worse.
"There's no use being frustrated. It's not like we can change anything, even if we get angry over it." Clive said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway what about that marriage candidate, how did the meeting go?" he asked.
"…It's today. I'll have to go there right after school ends." Fried said.
Even marriage had been taken under control by the new female lead government. Males were to be married before the age of 20 and produce heirs as quickly as possible.
Marriages since then had become mostly devoid of love and were mostly used as political or societal maneuvering between families. And in these political moves, the males had become sacrificial pawns, forced to marry and create children with the female of the other family, often berated and cheated on by her.
Males had lost all semblance of respect and need in the society and modern girls had begun to treat them accordingly as well. They were often treated as slaves or servants, disrespected and prayed upon by them. Their rights and dignity had been slowly but surely stripped away, until they had ended up where they are today.
CLING CLING
The bells rang, signaling the end of the class and with it, the end of the school day. Fried picked up his bag and was ready to leave.
"I have to go. Who knows what they'll make me do if I end up being late. Bye guys."
Leaving his friends behind, Fried left the classroom and ventured to his home, deep in thought about his life and other subjects related to it.
-Prologue End