kanopsia

chapter one
something was wrong with all of them. every single puella that had marched the streets of northern
Libertia that dreaded day had to have been mad. and that madness seeped into the minds of those
that came after them. generation after generation, the mental illness that originated in the mind of
the likes of Margaret Fuller grew more fatal in the souls of every single puella that crawled out of her
mother’s womb. I read and studied doctrines by the late commander fisher, who told stories of the
world they had ruined with feminism. the world they had ruined with what started out as a harmless
plea for equality among the sexes, just like a tumour goes undetected and seemingly harmless when
it first appears. and just like a cancerous tumour, it grew into something much more lethal. it is our
job to restore humanity to what it once was. perhaps, one day my children will enjoy the privilege of
what it means to be a man again. for now, all hail the puella.

- President Marvolia

chapter two

Aya
if it wasn’t for the feeling of chrysalis dulling my senses from all other disturbances, maybe I would
have noticed how abnormal queen mother had been acting.

I would have noticed the little things nobody else would have noticed on their best day. I would have
been aware of the fact that she was holding her wine glass with more pressure than she normally
would have or that under her gown, her left foot was tapping against the hardwood floors in
irritation, each tap being just over a second apart. I would have noticed her uneven breathing and
the dilation in her eyes. nobody knew my grandmother the way that I did and yet I failed to pay
attention to something that would have saved us all in the far future. instead I focused on the fat
drops of water precipitating from the dark grey clouds outside the drawing room window. I loved
the rain but I hated the shape of the clouds when it rained. they were too depressing, too dull, too
heavy with meaning I could never explain. I preferred the cirrus clouds, with their easy lightness.
those were nowhere to be seen. the weather personified the feelings of my grandmother and I failed
to notice until my mother burst through the drawing room doors – which I guess must have drained
her of a significant amount of energy, as those doors are so large an elephant could and has walked
through them with ease - dripping from head to toe and looking the way all deranged puella’s look,
and shouting

“they’ve done it. they’ve found her”

found who? I wasn’t allowed to ask, it would have been rude to butt into a conversation between
her majesty the queen and the queen mother, not to mention the implication that I could have
been…was eavesdropping

“are you sure?”

“positive. of course I’m sure…please may someone fetch me dry clothing” the queen looked around
at the men that stood around the room, waiting for her to snap her finger at them and order them
around. growing up in Cycorea, this was normal for me. now that I look back on it, I’m not sure how I
didn’t feel for them. I simply tell myself that it was what was expected from us. that it was their own
fault for oppressing us for so long. it’s like sticking a lid on a volcano gaining pressure and expecting
it not to burst. they had a good reason for trying to make us smaller than them, of course. us puella
– whom they used to call women – are the better gender. in just 100 years we managed to do what
the men couldn’t do in thousands of years. we cured what they called incurable disease, solved petty
world issues, bettered the ecosystem and fixed systems within governments that seemed unfixable.
all we needed to do was get them out of the way. anything they could do, we could do it better.
eventually we found it extremely insulting that we were named after them and renamed our kind
puella. or rather brought back the Latin name for girl and added it to our permanent everyday
vocabulary. of course when you are so used to privilege, equality seems like oppression to you and
so the men, unhappy with the changes women were making protested. we destroyed them, of
course and decided they didn’t deserve to be on our level. so we said to hell with equality and an
additional 100 years later, the world had become completely female dominant. except for Canada.
They believe in equality. we don’t talk about Canada.

still, I feel like even though we are the superior gender, we shouldn’t have completely limited men to
blue collar jobs. I’m talking like an anti-feminist, which could be a result of being forced to be around
them for hours at a time. regardless, when the guards brought my mother a new set of clothing, and
turned while she dressed, I paid no heed to it and went about my day. not realising that the injustice
in that simple exchange, just like my grandmother’s behaviour, would one day be a cause for our
ruin.

to make a long story short, or rather the beginning to an even longer story, the television was
switched on, and the news told stories that were as common as the sun during that time.

terrorists from the anti-feminine association bomb hospital on the island of Avera.

I didn’t expect the queen or queen mother to react the way they did, but when my mother, speaking
in barely a whisper said “prepare to leave for Avera”

I knew something was wrong. and deep down, I knew it wouldn’t end well for any of us. you can
imagine how wonderful the idea was. all six powers of the new world, the most politically powerful
puella’s in the universe, all under one roof discussing the fate of men.

I would have been shocked if the AFO hadn’t tried to kill us that day.

chapter three
three months ago
Cairo
“for the love of puella, dum spiro spero!”

“I’m being as fast as I can. cursing me out in Latin will do you no favours”
“I bet you the men in northern Libertia have already crossed over to Canada while Syan takes her
sweet time tying her shoes”

Rose scoffed and rolled her eyes for extra measure, “Cairo would kill all of us”

“this is supposed to be a stealth mission” I hissed “we fly in, gather the fugitives quickly and quietly
then fly them to Avera. We can’t keep hovering over them like this. we’re basically a sign that says
‘we’re coming to get you’. so not stealthy’

“relax. we’re above a forest, not the inner city. and they won’t get anywhere” Syan huffed before
tying her final shoe lace and standing up right “team B just sent word, they’re holding them off and
blocking Masino, Vermont and New Libertia”

“what about Novus statas?”

Syan sighed and tapped her earpiece before speaking to team B. much to my annoyance, we were
still in the air and not down there kicking ass

“Team B, what’s your status on Novus statas?”

she went silent for a while, before her eyes widened and she looked at me. If I could, I would have
taken their parachutes and thrown them out of the plane

“we need to go”

“no kidding” I growled before jumping off. I didn’t wait to see if they’d follow. I was too aggravated
with them both. then again, the quarries of lovers are the renewal of love, and my sisters, as
annoying as they are, were my only loves. jumping down from over a forest was such a bad idea. to
say the landing was rough was an understatement. I had leaves in places nobody would want them
in. pulling them out was just straight up embarrassing.

“Syan, Rose. do you copy?”

“yes miss funky pants”

“I think I’ve got an actual stick up my a- “

“okay, you’re fine” I said “signal team A to fly in through the north. and the majority of team B
should come to the N.S gate, that’s where they are”

“how do you know?”

“men are idiots; they take the easy way out”

“fair enough”