The Beginning......

"Grandma, can you tell me one last story before bedtime?" She looks at her grandson and smiles. "Of course, but you have to promise you won't get scared, okay?" He smiles with joy. "Yes, yes, Grandma, I promise!" They sit down together in a big comfy chair in front of a blazing fire in the fireplace. "When I was a little girl, very little, even younger than you!" She lightly presses her finger on her grandson's chest; he giggles. "That must have been a very long time ago!" he continues to giggle. "Yes, yes, it was quite some time ago; it was only a few years after the world had changed in front of everyone's eyes." "What was the world like before it changed? Do you remember Grandma?" her grandson interrupted "well you see I was so young the only things I really remember is going to school" "school? what is that?" her grandson interrupted again, "back in those times school was where every kid had to go to learn a variety of different subjects, like history class that was one of my favourites, it was where everyone went to learn the known history of our world, similar to how Mother Ul-Mary teachs you and the other kids about everything you need to know to survive and thrive in the world today but back then there were hundreds if not thousands of kids in every school across what used to be Canada" her grandsons eyes grew large

with wonder. "Wow, thousands of kids all in one place? I bet that was amazing!" "Well, it was amazing for some; for me it was overwhelming, and I felt out of place there. Many kids were causing problems by spreading rumours and making me and others feel extra out of place, but I also met some really amazing people, so it wasn't all bad there." "But at least you could make lots of friends! I know all the kids in the village, but I only really have 2 friends, Austin-atos and Tyler-tosa. They really are my best friends, but sometimes I wish I could meet more people and see new things." his smile turns to a frown, his grandma can see a tear swelling up in his eye "oh honey its okay, I'm old enough now to say I have met all those I can meet and have seen all I need to, to know that I ended up in the right place with the right people, you just have to give it time, once you are older you will be able to go and do whatever you set your mind to." She smiles down at her grandson, he looks up and smiles back "alright grandma can we get back to the story now?" she laughs "yes of course, I got sidetracked" she takes a deep breath " I remember the days leading up to the disaster, my parents were panicked and decided to pack everything they could fit in our

minivan, we ended up staying at motels across several provinces, I remember seeing mountains for the first time and seeing new cities along the way but there was no time each day to explore it was always getting in the vehicle as soon as we woke up and driving until my parents could not stay awake anymore, we had ended up on the border of what used to be called Saskatchewan, a prairie province in Canada, That morning we woke up to the scariest news that could be on Television, the CRK had launched a full scale nuclear Attack on the world and it would be a matter of minutes before every large population center would be hit with the biggest nukes the world had ever seen, I remember my parents screaming as we ran to the vehicle to get out into the wilderness of the prairies, away from any city going to be hit, unfortunately many others had the same idea, there were so many cars on the roads that my parents decided to gun it into some fields outside of the city we were staying in, we travelled for an hour before outside our vehicles windows was a bright light, as bright as the sun, I still remember it to this day how bright that light was and the plume of smoke that rose out of it, my parents had stopped the vehicle for a moment and I remember at the time thinking they must have been having car troubles or something but in

reality they were processing the fact that the city we had just been in had just been nuked, millions of people wiped out in a flash of light, after a few minutes my parents carried on driving through the fields of Saskatchewan for at least a few hours before our vehicle ended up out of gas and too badly damaged to continue, so we packed any food and water we had and set out on our way by foot further in the wild prairies, we walked for a very long time, felt like possibly days had gone by and I remember feeling so tired I could sleep for a week, but late one day as we were walking out into a clearing when we saw a campervan with a tent setup near a tree, I remember feeling nervous to meet new people because I was so young but my parents reassured me I would be able to rest and eat soon, so we approached the group of people Elizah, Julie, Christien, Bella and Julies little boy Sean who was about the same age I was at the time, we spent the next 10 years building a settlement to live in as the group of us began to grow into a small village, after 10 years we had a little over 200 people living there and I was in my teens, the village had huts for everyone and each family, we even had some really smart people show up early on too like

Colton and Howard who brought with them some solar panels and batteries so that we could have a limited amount of power, another guy named Tony brought with him an old long-range radio that he proceeded to spend the next 10 years doing shifts with a few others listening in on the radio and trying to reach out to anybody we could, I remember one day in particular when I was walking passed the radio hut and I hurt a lot of excitement from inside, I decided to get a little closer and eavesdrop even though I wasn't supposed to be in there, I heard voices but there was only one RadioMen assigned to the radio at any given time and that's when I heard the second voice, a much deeper, grueling voice that almost had a cowboy, southerner, way of talking, the voice asked what the location of our settlement was and how many women and children we have, looking back at it now it is obvious to say that answering truthfully is probably a bad idea but at that time we had never been attacked, nobody ever came to our settlement to hurt us and nobody in the settlement would hurt each other so whether is was naivety or ignorance, our RadioMen answered the mysterious voices question but that voice went silent, that was when I had a bad gut feeling so I ran back to my parents shelter to let them know what I had heard, when I got there I

remembered they had gone out hunting and foraging today and would be back later so i fought my urge to tell anyone I had been eavesdropping and decided to wait for my parents to get home.

Some hours later my parents came back and they were in surprisingly positive spirits as the day of hunting and foraging went very well and that we would be having some deer tonight, that is, until I told them about what I heard between the RadioMen and the voice on the radio, I explained everything as I had heard it and my parents began to panic “We have to gather the council to talk about this, they need to know that we may be in danger” My dad said quietly to my mom standing next to him, My parents took my hand and brought me with them as they went around quietly gathering the council, one by one the councillors were gathered into the meeting hall, “How can you know that this voice will lead an attack?” The Eldest Member of the Council, a frail but knowledgeable man, stated first, “Exactly, maybe they are just another wandering group in need of some help?” Another Councillor said as she quietly lowered her head away the glaring look from my parents, “Everyone should stay calm, news like this could benefit us with new equipment or they may wish to join us here, we are a peaceful group and we live simple lives here, it may be exactly what they are looking for, For now we must share this news with the others and we will decide how to proceed” The Eldest Councillor stated firmly, “That concludes this meeting” he stated and 

Everyone began to clear out. My mom put her hand on my shoulder and looked at my father as she stated “We should put her in the hatch that goes beneath our shack” My father nodded his head and lead us back home, it was a quick but nerve wracking walk back and when we got home we quickly went to their bedroom where underneath a rug there was a hatch with a small enclosed space beneath our home, it was originally put there as an additional storage hatch but it was big enough for me to huddle into while there was potential danger, my mother and my father both gave me a long emotional hug and as they were wiping tears from their eyes they both said “We Love you honey, always and forever” I asked them “Will you guys be back to let me out or when should I come out?” My father replied, “Honey, if it goes quiet out here and we don’t come back to let you out, only come out when it is quiet and seems safe to do so. There is a pillow and some water with snacks in a bag next to you. I love you, honey,” as stated, I could see more tears coming down his eyes as my parents closed the hatch and it all went dark. I had only been in the hatch for less than an hour when I heard people begin gathering outside for the meeting from the councillor, As I heard the eldest councillor begin announcing that someone had made contact and that they asked very specific questions that could just be a miscommunication but some here feel that a threat is coming, tonight I want a Group at the front on patrol and another group around the back of the village to guard the livestock, If anyone sees or hears anything throughout the night I want you to blow the horn and alert everyone else, there is potentially no threat here so I don’t want anyone having an itchy trigger finger, let’s stay calm and get through night tonight. Thank you, everyone.” As I heard the crowd reacting, I realized my parents 

weren’t the only ones that feel we are in danger tonight, I decided to put the pillow behind my head and rest while I waited for morning.

I awoke hours later to the feeling of a vibration making the ground tremble, as I sat up and listened closer the vibration was getting louder and stronger every minute, to the point the ground was trembling and that is when I heard what was making the sound, Horses, many many horses, I could hear some faint yelling in the distance, possibly from one our tower guards but whatever he said was too quiet to hear over the stampeding horses and then I heard the screams begin, There was gunshots, women screaming and men yelling for only a few minutes before I heard the horses begin to get further away, as fast as they showed up it seems it was just as fast that they left, I was shaking from not knowing what happened to everyone I knew.

I climbed through the hatch that I had initially climbed through, the door was wide open and I could see the glow of fires outside, I slowly walked to the door and that is when I saw the destruction of the village and the carnage done to everyone I knew, it didn’t feel real at first but as I walked through the camp and listened to the groans and crying of the survivors it became ever more real when I saw my mom slumped up against the wall of the camp, my father lay in front of her and it was obvious he tried to protect her but it wasn’t enough, I slouched there and put a hand on each of my parents bodies, I whispered to them and made a promise” I was interrupted in the midst of the story by my grandsons first question in a while “What did you promise to them Grandma?” He asked with wide eyes “I promised them that I would do whatever I had to do to keep my family safe, no matter what” I said with a gentle smile before I continued “I came across a horse that was unharmed and had no rider, when I walked up to I saw the corpse of it’s former rider, Dressed head to toe in black armor, almost like a knight of medieval times, I took what little he had on him except his helmet and gloves, I gently got onto the horse and coaxed it leave on the West Trader Trail, I looked back one last time at my burning village to see some survivors began to follow the same trail and so for the last time we left my home village on the trail west in hopes of finding somewhere to call home once again.

We travelled for weeks or possibly even months as headed west, in the early days of our journey we had other survivors join us from other villages who were attacked by those same knights of black armor and some even began referring to them as “The Shadows Of The Prairies” because they always attacked so quickly and always at night time with black horses and black armor, I didn’t have a better name so The Shadows Of The Prairies seemed rather fitting, the journey west was rugged and tough but there was quite a few small settlements and villages that we passed through, most were friendly and happy to see a new face but some were more reserved and cautious of outsiders, we never stuck around those villages long usually out of safety, but the journey continued until we eventually saw the skylines of what used to be Toronto, Ontario, I had to ask others about what it used to look like as I was too young to know it in its prime but many told me about how big the city was and just how many people used to live there, it was fascinating to learn and when we began entering the skyscraper filled streets of Toronto we met scouts from the New Steel City Militia, they told us we were welcome to meet the leadership council and see if we want to set up our home here, so that is exactly what many of us did and after meeting the leadership council we decided we would call it home, there was the Steelyard Canals where most of the NSC residents lived and made homes, there was also Forest Of Heights which was a rather densely forested hill not far from the Steelyard Canals, they also told us about the crater which was the impact site from when bombs initially hit, it was now filled with water and lead through the steelyard canals, many use the crater for fishing when we are in the warmer season, that is when I made the decision, New Steel City would be my new home and that is exactly what I did.”

“Is that the end of the story grandma?” My grandson asked “Not Quite Honey, Just a little longer” I said with a quick smile “Years after I had decided to call New Steel City my home, the city had  grown to well over twelve thousand people and the Forest Of Heights was mainly for those older in age but I managed to make a claim when we arrived years before they changed how our claiming system works, the Council was making changes consistently as the population grew but they were always fair and our city was always peaceful, the only crime might be the odd thief but that is still minimal as everyone tries to contribute to the city, whether it is making additional buildings or scavenging supplies from the vast skylines around us, eventually everyone contributed enough work together to build a bar inside a fixed up shop, it wasn’t perfect but for many of us that may want a drink now and then for a chance to wind down then it was perfect for them, It was while I was sitting in that bar one day when a woman I had never met before came to town, we sat down and spoke for a while about a bit of our histories, turns out her name was Sam and she grew up in a dome way up north, I had asked her why she had left but she gave a small smile and said there was something else she had to do but if and when she comes back through New Steel City she promised to find me so we can share more stories” I was Interrupted again “Did you see Sam Again After that? What did she have to do?” My grandson said rapidly “Slow down slow down, story isn’t over yet but to answer your questions, I don’t know what she had to do or where she had to go, and I haven’t seen her since but I’m hoping before I go in the future that I get to hear more stories from her, She truly had lived an amazing life that was so different to my own but anyways let me finish the story” I put one finger over my lips to *shush* my grandson before I continued “She left town the morning after we met at that bar, I still believe she is out there and that she will tell me more when she is back, it has been decades but I hope my family gets to meet her too”

“It was only a few years after I met Sam that I met your granddad, the way we met was quite funny because I was struggling to put new windows into my home and he came by with all the tools, after that he was always coming by to help with something so I decided to cook supper each time he did, He asked me to come with him to the very top of the Forest Of Heights and that is where he asked me to marry him, he had made a custom ring out of scavenged metals throughout the city and it wasn’t long after all that, your mom was born and then your uncle was born a year later, life has been peaceful ever since and when your mom grew up she had you and your sister, but you two were twins at birth and I feel grateful to be able to be here with you to this day.” I finished the story with a kiss on my grandsons cheek as he quietly closed his eyes and went to sleep, I went to his sisters room to give her a kiss on the cheek as well when she sleepily looked at me and said “Grandma, Can you tell me a bedtime story tomorrow?” I grinned “Yes honey, but for now get some sleep” she closed her eyes and seemingly went back to sleep instantly, I walked out to the living room by the fire and sat down with a book, happy to have the family I have I smiled and dug into my own story to read before bed. 

Written By   Mikronyx   (Nick Clark)   2026