Powerless (Book 1): Powerless (7 page)

Philip
paused
again,
allowing the boys a moment to take it all in and considering the weight of the information himself. He thought over
what
was
being
said
to
the
boys
and
thought that his views were a reflection of the idolisation of his own father, considering
how he
was
moulded
by
the
war
and
the
things
he
had
seen
and
how
in
turn
that
affected
Philip’s
own
development;
making
him
seemingly
distant
from
outward
emotion.
Composing
himself,
he tried
to
stick
to
the
black
and
white
of
what
happened;
at
least
his
own
interpretation
of
it.

“It
is
hard
for
anyone
to
remember
who
fired
the
first
shot
in
the
war,
but
both
sides
knew
that
the
conflict
itself
was
inevitable.
The
war
started
as
many
do;
a
war
of
economy.

The
United
New
World
first
imposed
sanctions
upon
the
countries
that
aligned
themselves
with
The
Old
World
Alliance.
They
would
trade
only
with
themselves
and
neutral
countries.

It
was
strongly
favoured
that
neutral
countries
only
trade
with
the
United
New
World,
to
which
most
did
as
they
saw
The
Old
World
Alliance
to
be
too
authoritarian
and
brutal
towards
its
own
people.
These
sanctions
allowed
the
United
New
World
to
grow
in
prosperity
and
become
the
predominant
world
power.

Smaller
members
of
the
Old
World
Alliance
saw
prosperity
in
the
polices
that
were
being
adopted
in
neighbouring
countries,
allowing
for
better
infrastructure,
health
care,
education
and
economic
growth.

These
smaller
members
did
not
see
why
they
were
handing
over
their
nation’s
resources
to
be
dictatorially
ruled.
Some
of
these
countries
reached
out
to
The
United
New
World
to
ask
to
help
to
break
the
chains
of
tyranny
imposed
by
the
Old
World
Alliance.

The
United
New
World
had
a
policy
of
helping
smaller
countries
to
move
away
from
the
Old
World
Alliance’s
control and
to
align
them
with
their
own
viewpoint.
However,
these
policies
would
only
be
fully
enacted
if
the
country
that
wanted
to
realign
itself
had
large,
if
not
substantial,
natural
resources
that
could
then
be
traded
to
the
United
New
World
as
a
dowry
for
freeing
them.

As
countries
began
to
move
away,
The
Old
World
Alliance
tightened
control
on
smaller
member
states
and
engaged
in
mass
propaganda
to
maintain
power.
Events
escalated
and
eventually
the
economic
war
evolved
into
all-out
war.

This
was
a
war
that
neither
side
could
win,
nor
could
afford
to
lose.
War
raged
for
an
age;
each
side
cancelled
out
the
other,
as
the
abilities
of
one
side
was
countered.
After
fourteen
years
of
fighting
and
destruction,
a
truce
was
drawn
up,
and
from
that
time
to
this,
the
world
has
known
only
peace.

As
the
next
generation
of
children
grew
up,
it
became
clear
that
they
all
would
benefit
from
the
leap
in
evolution
and
that
all
the
kids
had
developed
an
ability
of
some
sort.
This
generation
also
grew
up
knowing
only
war
and
it
was
this
knowledge
that
led
to
the
signing
of
the
peace
treaty.

The
treaty
forced
The
Old
World
alliance
to
improve
their
human
rights
policies
and
discontinue
any
desecration
of
the
human
form
in
the
name
of
advancing
the
human
race.
The
treaty
also
enacted
policies
by
which
the
United
New
World
would
trade
openly
with
the
Old
World
Alliance
to
increase
the
balance
of
economic
wealth
and
prosperity.
Both
sides
opened
their
borders
and
allowed
relatively
free
movement
between
the
two
governments’s
controlled
areas.
The
treaty
held
the
balance
of
power
between
governments
and
the
power
that
they
shared
was
finite,
to
say
the
very
least.
This
balance
of
peace
would
hold
true
over
the
next
two
generations,
right
up
to
the
current
day.”

Philip
stopped
there,
feeling
that
maybe
all
this
information
thrown
at
the
two
young
boys
might
have
been
lost
on
them.
He let out a sigh, releasing the pressure that had built up as he delivered this information and told
them
to
go
outside
and
play,
which
they
were
both
happy
to
do.

Throughout the conversation Philip thought that to
some
extent
Tom
was
unable
to
absorb
that
quantity
of
information, as his attention shifted from his father to gazing out of the window.
Lee,
on
the
other
hand,
absorbed
it
like
a
sponge, hanging on his every word as if searching for answers to questions he was asking himself about his own shortcomings.