Chapter 1

A note from Genville

Recommended reading:

This is a manga script. Each section is a panel with text in one or more speech bubbles. So you can read the story like a manga. Use your imagination! The entire story is about 10,000 manga pages long.

Keep in mind that I only use three stylistic devices to develop a character:
- Body language (facial expressions, movement)
- What someone thinks
- What someone says

There is no psychological background information. It's as if you were meeting the character in real life without having read their biography. However, with the slight advantage that you can read their thoughts.

And do me a big favor: please don't judge the story until you've finished reading it. After all, there's no point in judging a person just by looking at their feet.

If you like Genville, you are welcome to draw a manga and sell it. I do not claim any copyright, so everything you earn from it belongs to you. However, I would be very pleased if you kept the title Genville and the characters. For me, the term Genville is associated with a vision of humanity's survival, which is why it is important that people know the name Genville, as it embodies this vision.

***

Natural City is constantly shrouded in such thick fumes that the city, or parts of it, only ever appear as vague outlines.

Scene Start:

The strong warrior stands watchfully on a rock in the desert landscape. In the background, Natural City can be seen through the haze of fumes. Beneath him is a strange dog with dangerous teeth. The warrior's clothing is torn. He carries many knives of various sizes. He holds a rather long one in his hand.

The warrior pushes off silently.

With his knife raised to strike, he descends.

His feet land on the dog's back, while the long knife, with a powerful swing, severs the head.

He slits the dog open.

He stands there, a dog haunch in his hand and blood smeared around his mouth, looking toward Natural City.

He is on his way through the desert landscape toward Natural City, the dog haunch in his hand.

He comes upon a wide trench that surrounds the entire city. Perhaps ten meters below, a liquid shimmers. On the other side is a strip of no man's land. Then the first, not very inviting, buildings begin.

Taking one last bite of the dog haunch, he thinks: 'I'll swim across.'

He throws the half-gnawed bone into the liquid.

The meat on the bone dissolves with a hiss.

The warrior's face shows astonishment, ...

... then determination, as his gaze searches around ...

... and falls on a fallen, withered tree.

He drags the tree trunk to the trench, ...

... where he sets it upright ...

... and lets it crash down onto the opposite edge of the trench.

With dancer-like ease, the warrior moves across the tree trunk ...

... and toward the dilapidated buildings. There is trash everywhere. Homeless people lie among it.

First homeless person: "Hey, what kind of guy are you?"

Warrior: "A warrior."

Second Homeless Man: "And what are you fighting for?"

Warrior: "For a comfortable life."

Fourth Homeless Man: "Screw life!"

Third Homeless Man: "Idiot, you’ve destroyed the world!"

Fourth Homeless Man: "We should beat him up."

Second Homeless Man: "You want to fight a warrior?"

The fourth homeless man stands up and lunges at the warrior armed with a piece of metal:

"I have nothing to lose."

The warrior dodges the blow.

The warrior’s fist strikes the homeless man’s face with full force, his head thrown so far back that his neck breaks.

Lifeless, the homeless man collapses to the ground.

On the left are the homeless. Between them lies the dead man. On the right stands the warrior.

Second Homeless Man: "Why did you kill him? He didn’t stand a chance."

Warrior: "Only the dead don’t want to kill me anymore."

Second Homeless Man: "Then kill us too."

Warrior: "I only kill enemies. Are you an enemy?"

Second Homeless Man: "Am I crazy? I wouldn’t make a gene-warrior my enemy. The Guards will kill you anyway. You won’t live long in Natural City."

Second Homeless Man: "Come on, let’s throw the body in the trench, or we’ll get into trouble."

The warrior watches as the homeless drag the body to the trench.

The flesh of the corpse hisses as it dissolves in the acid.

The warrior steps into an empty side street.

A helicopter-like armed aircraft with the letters 'SG' (for Security Guard). Inside the cockpit, the pilot points down and says to her companion: "Do you see that tree trunk?"

Companion: "That was those damn bums."

The pilot speaks into the radio: "Hello, headquarters, a few bums have laid a tree trunk over the acid trench. What should we do?"