The Watchers

Over 900 Years passed since the election; for over 900 years the Faction has been in power. The Faction was not a good entity to be in power either. The personal identity of each civilian had been stripped down to nothing and replaced with their assignment.

Not all men strove to survive at all costs in this climate. While most listened to the rules and obeyed, others would rebel. But rebellion does not always come with swords, guns, or votes. No, in this case it would be impossible to revolt that way as the faction had all of the swords, all of the guns, and certainly, all of the "votes." No, when revolting against a totalitarian government, more creativity than bloodshed is required. And, as it were, a little luck.

An underground group of revolutionaries formed in the early years of the Faction’s reign. Some would form plans to make war against the Faction’s forces, while others would dream up ways to establish an underground market. None of the ideas left the drawing room, eventually collapsing the majority of the support for the revolution.

However, a small group of Scientists stayed and toiled. They practically preached their thesis when the room was full — but now they were just ghosts of old crazy men that nobody paid attention to. That is, until a breakthrough was made. 200 years after the Faction took power, the remaining few of the revolution, all scientists, discovered an escape route — through time.

The escape route helped many people run into the past to escape the atrocities of their current time. While the science was sound, the effect was not what the scientists had hoped. Many went in the past to find riches and others to change the future.

Time, it seemed, did not operate as most had envisioned. There was a purpose to time, and to our being alive. Each and every creation across the entirety of the cosmos was in existence for a singular purpose. That purpose was unclear, but what was clear was that they worked together to achieve it.

The Faction eventually found the revolution, capturing two of the three scientists who discovered time travel. Faction forces arrested the scientists and their extended families including all generations.

Their families were sentenced to death by ancient torture methods. First the scientists were loaded into metal cages and lifted high above the main platform. This constrained the scientists and forced them to watch the sentences carried out in front of them.

After the scientists were made ready, the adult men and women were brought out in plain view of the scientists and the crowds that now gathered. Altogether, the adult descendants made up 39 people. All 39 were unceremoniously crucified and set in a circle surrounding the scientists so that no matter which way their cage turned they could see their family writhing in pain.

Next, the children were brought out, 46 in all. The terror could be seen on their faces in direct contrast to the stoic faces of the guards carrying out their orders and loading them into a hollow bull formed out of gold. Once loaded, the door was chained shut and a fire lit underneath it.

It took almost an hour for the last child to stop screaming from the agony of simultaneously cooking and suffocating. The women hanging on their crosses still let out the odd moan or cry reliving the recent memory of their child’s death. As an uneasy silence fell, Faction soldiers lit fires under the crosses of the adults in order to stir up a fresh round of wailing. At this point, much of the energy required to respond to the pain and the fear of death had evaporated. A few cried out for death from the crowd, but most accepted their fate and were thankful it was by fire they finally died and not the anticipated days and nights hanging waiting to suffocate.

After the theatrics were complete, the scientists were sent back in time, with their own devices, to relive the execution over, and over, and over for the rest of eternity. They were known as the watchers — forced to endure the worst day in their collective families’ life forever by watching them perish. This continued for years.

During those years, the third scientist was able to remain hidden and provide a way out for the populace. He was so effective that the Chancellor of the time offered the scientists, or watchers, a way out of their purgatory. They could come and work for the Faction as time police.

The scientists agreed. They traded in their names for numbers, #1-A and #2-A, and formed their police force.

They were "The Watchers."