Dark ragged clouds ran swiftly across the dusty blue sky. A plaything for aerial currents, they were twined together and torn apart again, thinning into long, transparent streaks, like wet stains trickling down a botched watercolour painting.
The scuds were fleeting so low, they almost seemed to touch the towering spire of a magnificent building that dominated the city square. Of course, the aged structure wasn’t that tall - not even nearly as tall as the more modern behemoths, whose hulking bodies of glass and plastic were vaguely visible in the far background. Rather, this was an illusion caused by its heavenward architecture, clear and austere lines going aloft till they joined together at the tips of its many towers and steeples. The whole layout of the building was a bit reminiscent of a sitting giant who’d settled into a lotus stance and immersed in meditation, even in his dormant trance keeping a straight and proud posture.
Indeed, it was an early, twilight hour, when one’s eye cannot yet decide on seeing hues or shapes, and all things appear to be coloured in shades of grey, teal and glaucous. Somewhere beyond the horizon, the Sun was already sending its glorious rays to illuminate the vast and empty ethereal space, the plain canvas of the sky slowly gaining depth and perspective; but the ground and everything on it were still motionless, locked in a heavy slumber. In sympathy with that, only a few windows in the lower floor of the building were alight, casting thin shiny stripes on the snow-covered parking, while the main body of the structure remained cold and shrouded in shadows.
A low, buzzing sound emerged from one of the avenues that opened into the square. Seconds later, it was followed by a small motorcade which manoeuvred smoothly past the open turnpikes and empty guards posts, coming to a full stop at the entrance portal. Several figures could be seen ascending the stairs easily, then disappearing behind the double doors which momentarily slid open at their approach and shut immediately behind them. Vehicles of the cortège once again were set into motion, scattering around the near-barren parking and freezing at their places.
Suddenly, a window at one of the higher stories lit up, and then an adjacent one, and another, on the same floor. About the same time, red digits smouldering at the facade blinked and shifted, changing to display 8:00. The eastern border of the sky was lightening up already, the day star hurrying to climb it and cast its golden shine upon the awakening earth, announcing the dawn of a new morning. Before it could, however, heavy metallic eyelids on the central tower shook and began to retract with a muffled rattle, letting out yellowish rays of artificial light.
This is how a day was scheduled to begin in a city which for some time already had been called “The Capital”.
As simple as that, just because there were none other left.