text: Jeremy woke up, cold in his bed. The sun was not yet up. Ever since the collapse, he always had to be on constant guard. He went out and opened his blinds, peering out of his window. He checked if the fire beacons were lit. They weren’t. A sigh of relief escaped him. The beacons were lit whenever an invading army had been sighted near the town. Since the Great War twelve years ago had destroyed modern civilization, all modern technology had been lost, and groups of towns were ruled by local warlords. There had been rumors of an invading army being nearby the town, but apparently, they were false. He grabbed a candle and walked downstairs. Nobody else was up yet. He checked to see if the fire from last night was still lit. It wasn’t. He’d have to do with just fruit for this morning, he didn’t have the patience to light matches, or the time to prepare something else. He decided on a few apples and picked out a book at random from his shelf. It was the *History of the Collapse* by Jeremy Roberts. Unlike most books nowadays, written in scrawly handwriting, as if the author were anxious to finish the copy, or the older books in plain, emotionless print, this one was written in carefully crafted, italic handwriting. It was a rare artifact, bought at a bargain from a homeless man who had wanted to burn it for firewood. He flipped it open and began reading. *“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones” - Albert Einstein, 1948. The leaders of all the great powers of earth knew that another worldwide conflict would be the last, but that would not, could not stop them. The rampant capitalism of the west had driven the political leaders there to become beholden to* *mega corporations, unable to act autonomously any longer. In 2049,* *the democracy of the twentieth century was less than a façade, it was an act. Nobody* *made an effort* *anymore to hide the corruption from the common citizen, they would do, could do nothing. The eastern nations didn’t have it much better. While the Emperor of China, having dropped any façade of “President” in the 2020s, had* *effectively* *unlimited power in his country with his iron grip on technology, it was not enough for him to stop any of the upcoming changes. For he could only stay in power if his economy continued to grow, which meant continued* *conflict with the western powers. Tensions continued to rise throughout the 2030s, with the Taiwan Incident, the Internet War, and the* *Second Scramble for Africa* *all contributing to the inevitable conflict. But what sparked the war was* *yet another conflict in the middle east.* *In 2043,* *Iran, with a new fascist government in power, had invaded the rich oil fields of Iraq. Although largely depleted, corporations in the States still made enormous profits* *off of* *oil sales, profits they could not afford to lose. They pressured* *the President into declaring war. Initially, Iran’s numerical superiority* *overwhelmed Iraq’s defenses, but-* Jeremy got bored. He flipped to a random page towards the end of the book. *After the battle of Delhi had drained both India’s and China’s last resources, the last stable* *great powers* *in Asia collapsed. Popular rebellions in China, along with* *warlords taking advantage of the relative weakness of the state in India, broke the governments of both nations.* *Russia, perhaps for the best, had already dropped out of the war and was* *in the midst of* *a brutal civil war, but as they had stopped the carnage earlier, they had managed to somewhat avoid total collapse. Europe was a tangle of feudal states, and a few scatted small nations with even a few local democracies left around. After fighting off Russia and the north Africans, the peninsula had broken from the continued strain of the war, although national governments still held token power. America had still never been invaded even during the war, but the complete collapse of unity combined with the decades of hate for the government caused by* *it’s* *total inebriation to corporations* *caused an almost immediate breakdown of federal power just a few years after the start of the war. With the south Americans having long been effective puppets of the States, and the Africans being a blob of mixed loyalties to Europeans and Chinese, neither of them* *were* *stable enough to last long either.* *All major governments* *thus collapsed during the war. The diseases spread during the war as a result of biological warfare were also a contributing factor to the collapse,* *with a major portion of the world population being killed within the weeks following their release, and a steady decline thereafter. The complete destruction of the climate also lowered the total carrying capacity of the planet, and previously unknown feedback loops* *had caused a mass global cooling of the planet, devastating crops. Much modern technology was lost, and an EMP following shortly after the war wiped out any remaining hope of rebuilding to the prior technological level.* *If the governments of the major powers had prepared plans for the collapse that had unfolded, they were lost in the confusion.* Jeremy sat up. He bookmarked his page and closed the book. He wondered how with all the devices the world had had, with all the powers of the governments, they had managed to fall so much to their current state. Growing up in the shadow of the collapse, the technology of the previous world was just a glint in his foggy memories of early childhood, with it always being overshadowed by the struggles of the wars. He was 16. He got up, he was done eating. He walked outside, he was heading to the town. There wasn’t any school anymore, for there wasn’t much to teach. He would be going to buy some new farming tools in exchange of some excess produce, which he had packed. While the older generations pushed for a select group to be taught all the lessons of the old world, most did not learn much at all of what had happened before. All of the incredibly impressive, almost magical devices seemed almost like fantasy to many, and they saw no use for what they considered frivolous when there was work to be done building the foundations for a new society. What use was knowing how a telegraph functioned when they simply didn’t now? Nowadays you’d just ask the local Messenger to carry a message for you, the location they were to deliver it, and the person who should receive it. More confidential information was discussed in person, and urgent news was sent across the fire beacons. He snapped out of his thoughts as he arrived at the edge of town, and to his alarm, saw the tops of the fire beacons alight. He started running.