The Continuing.

This story has a beginning and of course as most things do an end, But in this story you will also find something quite peculiar.. a continuing. It takes place in the city of Manchester, England. In the year 2298.

In 2298 Silver is the rarest and most valuable material on earth. Supplies of Silver began to run low around 2030. by 2080 it was worth more than Gold. by 2110 more than Platinum, Well, what was left of it. In 2298 its impossible to find anything made from silver. Its more likely for a person in this world to come across a meteorite from the other side of the Galaxy. Though a few elite collectors are rumoured to have a ring or trinket made from this once common metal.

Due to automation most people in 2298 are entrepreneurs. Robots and computers govern everything. Except for priests and vicars, even judges are powered by A.I

Catalina croft is a priest in Manchester, England, and her partner Elizabeth Rowe is a collector. They have been happily married for 8 years and 3 days. They live on the outskirts of Manchester in a large white house with a Double garage which is full of Elizabeth's items she has collected over the years And in which she deals. In there you will find Vases from Paris, paintings from Rome, antique furniture covered in cobwebs, and even a vintage hover board from 2210 can be seen under the masses of collectables and antiques.

On a hot summers afternoon, Elizabeth was rummaging through a corner of the double garage looking for a jewellery box she hadn't seen in a while, it belonged to her mother, and it contained her bracelets and necklaces from when she was alive. She had planned on having the jewellery valued and stored. Dragging and sliding bits and pieces to one side, Elizbeth's soft right hand gently brushed against something loose, dangling out the side of a large old metal safe. The safe wasn't particularly expensive, but was filled with old maps and rare documents.

The sparkle caught her eye, she moved the items from on top of the safe, and besides it, dragging it out into an open area of the garage floor. She types in the code and opens the door. The sparkly mysterious item fell to the floor after being wedged in the hinge of the safe for god knows how long. Making a metallic shingle noise as it came to rest in a pile on the cold ground.

Elizabeth slowly picks up the item which she notices is a necklace, with a small heart shaped locket attached. She has hundreds of necklaces but she doesn't recognise this one. So, she decides to takes it to her friend and valuer of 15 years Clarke to help her understand its origins. Excitedly pacing in Clarkes shop as he examines the mystery necklace carefully, looking up every so often with a confused and bewildered expression on his face Elizabeth hopes means its a special and rare item. 'well?'

Finally after 30 minutes and what feels like a lifetime to Elizabeth, who is now sat on and office chair impatiently. Her friend slowly raises his head, rubbing the back of his neck stiff from the examination. staring at Elizabeth with a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead he says 'I...I.. don't understand.. Where did you get this Elizabeth? She replies 'it was wedged in the hinge of a vintage safe in my garage, why??'This is S...Silver.' he says in a low disbelieving voice. 'Silver?' Elizabeth says. 'Hahahahahah' very funny Clarke come on now, what it is?? she continues. He replies ' Elizabeth iv examined it for 30 minutes, its Silver'

Elizabeth takes back the necklace and heart shaped locket and opens the locket up from the clasp. Inside is a set of numbers..51.5138° , 0.0984°

An hour or so later back at Catalina and Elizabeth's house the door slowly opens and Elizabeth walks inside finding Catalina listening to music in the bath. She goes into the steamy bathroom 'Hey Elizabeth good day i hope?' says Catalina. 'uh Cat you are not going to believe this, replies Elizabeth. Dangling the necklace between her fingers in front of Catalina. 'wowwww, that's nice where did you find it?' Catalina asks. Elizabeth replies ' in the garage.. iv just had it checked out and....its....Silver...its priceless. The couple stare at each other in shock through the steam.

After a long conversation between the two baffling and disbelief gets the better of them and they take it to another friend Nathan for a second inspection. After an hour its confirmed, the locket is Silver and the numbers inside seem to be coordinates, leading to St Pauls Cathedral in London.

14 days later, and the scene is outside St Pauls Cathedral. News bots and people hover round the perimeter of the ancient place of worship. Nathan, Elizabeth's 'friend' had leaked the information in hope of a financial gain that a silver locket had been found and it was rumoured it contained coordinates to the Cathedral grounds.

It was chaos, hours turned to days, it was on every news station and had captured the interest of the the whole world. Unfortunately that brought with it the more undesirable groups and in no time plans and plots were made to gain access to the cathedral in hopes of finding whatever is supposedly buried here.

Its to this day not clear who made the move first, but a large tactical group are said to have gained entry and control over the grounds during one night ..several guard and news bots were destroyed, and 4 people were killed in the process. What was dug up was the largest collection of priceless silver bars, as well as several documents which have still not been seen by anyone but the criminal group who dug them up.

Over the next few months word had gotten out what had happened, it was all over the news and chaos had spread globally. People and law enforcement hunting the group who had taken the treasure and rival groups all wanted the silver which would make them the richest most powerful people on Earth.

No-one new where the group came from or where they went. But small confrontations turned into large scale riots and the riots turned into a global war. Each country accusing the other until eventually the world was a battleground. The war went on for 7 terrifying years and when it was over, and the dust settled, the silver remained unfound, and the planet was changed, into an unrecognisable dystopia with less than a quarter of the human population left.

Those who had survived found refuge in make shift towns put together with sheets of galvanised steel hammered to make shelters and bunkers, others stayed together in ruined buildings with walls and floors crumbling around them.

It was unknown whatever happened to the silver or the documents. People were just trying to survive, without any order, without any guidance.. this is the continuing.

The Continuing.

There are groups or 'gangs' ran by bullies who claim to have a silver necklace, but its known that they are made from steel or gold painted silver. Its martial law at best, people rummaging through old military camps and supermarkets to find food, Gang warfare is the main authority in the traumatised world. The once buzzing Cathedral in London is now a pile of rubble, the remaining walls covered in graffiti reading ' bring back hope in place of silver ' The once vibrant land is now a desolate dystopian graveyard. Destruction and broken objects everywhere a reminder of the the 7 year long war. Those who are left are subject to a new kind of natural selection. Thrown into a new melting pot. Here if you are strong, and determined enough to gather food, fend off thugs and wild animals, then you might just make it. If not, well there isn't a working telephone never mind any police force on the other end to answer you distress calls.

A elderly couple talking in an abandoned office building in Northern Manchester, discuss how much food they have left and the possibilities of moving to another area to build some kind of home. They are joined by two other couples. They spend the evening sharing food rations and sitting around a camp fire singing, looking at crumpled and torn photographs and remembering the world before the 'war'

The first lady, notices another, younger couple outside the building talking to each other, in a nervous kind of a way. Eventually, the nervous couple come over. They are welcomed to the group, 'pull up a seat' the first lady say's warmly, they're given food and a place to sleep, and as the hours pass the young couple share the story of their journey that brought them to this point.

They had been about 18 miles East in a make shift village that had become infested by power hungry thugs, on Motorcycles. They had been fairly safe and sheltered, until the biker's rode into town. They were torturing the villages, taking there food, having their way with the women and using the males as punching bags. The young couple had managed to grab a saddle bag from the back of the leaders motorcycle and had gotten away. scared for their lives they ran for what must have been 2 miles, until they felt relatively safe enough to slow down, They had walked for two days and finally ended up here.

The others offered sympathetic ears and tried to comfort the couple with food and water. Then the young traumatised couple looked at each other as if to check if they both felt safe enough.

They grabbed their backpack, took out the saddle bag which they had taken from the bikers read mud guard. Opened it with their now trusted new group of friends. Inside was a scroll.. they opened the scroll and revealed writing in French and Arabic. The others looked intensely at them and then the scrolls, as they rolled out flat..

The French - Si vous avez trouvé ce parchemin, alors vous avez trouvé mon argent, j'espère qu'il vous trouvera bien.

The Arabic - لا تذهب بسهولة لأن السهولة لا تجلب الأمل ، أي شيء يستحق القيام به هو صعب. قم ببناء عالم جديد عندما يختار الناس الطريقة الأكثر صعوبة ولكن الأكثر ثراءً وتكون الأفعال قائمة على الحب.

la tadhhab bisuhulat li'ana alsuhulat la tajlib al'amal , 'aya shay' yastahiqu alqiam bih hu saeba. qum bibina' ealam jadid eindama yakhtar alnaas altariqat al'akthar sueubat walakina al'akthar thra'an watakun al'afeal qayimatan ealaa alhab

Translation -

If you have found this scroll then you have found my Silver, I hope it finds you well.

do not go easy as ease brings no hope, anything that is worth doing is hard. Build a new world were people choose the more difficult but richer way and actions are based on love.

The End