[ WP ] The year is 2170 . The air is no longer safe to breathe , courtesy of hundreds of genetically engineered CRISPR viruses all capable of altering human DNA within seconds . A cult of clean air worshippers decides to venture out into the open and remove all their masks at once

*We've lived underground for centuries upon centuries now, yet whenever disaster clearly strikes us in the face, there are groups that insist that we are being tested by some higher divine power. It's happened in history, it's happened in present day 2170 and it'll probably happen long past my passing. * 
 
 I just landed a new job as an Air Avoidance Agent ( AAA ). Our job is to secure the gates separating our safe underground city from the upper levels, where even the smallest gasp can cause horrors akin to that we've seen during `` World War I'' that was from 1914 to 1918. 
 
 This job is often criticized by the common people as `` Kids who are paid way to much to basically sit around all day.'' and in some ways they are right; everybody learned since they were kids that going to the upper levels will kill us, and `` Ascension'', in which we expose those found guilty and sentenced to death, is one of, if not the most gruesome ways to die. The last time we've seen Ascension actually fulfilled was over a century ago, as those who are sentenced to it often successfully kill themselves the very minute the gavel is slammed down. 
 
 However the reason our jobs as AAA's are so highly valued is that when problems regarding the upper level *do* arise related to the upper level, we must be ready to lay down our lives for the good and safety of the people. In a way we begrudgingly praised. 
 
 Thankfully our days mostly consist of standing watch, occasionally scolding some juveniles who took their games of truth or dare too far and being on the lookout for drug dealers who make small but concentrated doses of `` Assension'' ( the name being a play on `` Ascension'' ), a drug that is hundreds of times stronger than any amphetamines out there. As imagined, it is highly valued in the black market, and those who are dealing often are pawns part of a higher power. 
 
 Still, I would take having to deal with kids, drug dealers and drug-dealing kids *any* time over **them**. Who are they, you may be asking? `` They'' are Zephyr. Zephyr is a long-standing religion that believes that the air in the upper levels are *clean*, and that us, AAA's and police, are sent by the Devil of the Earth Terra to prevent them from `` True Ascension''. 
 
 The higher up AAA detectives have firmly believed for decades that they are responsible for the recent number of Assension dealers being on the rise. However due to the sheer size of Zephyr, clean slate ( albeit shady interactions ) and political standing of the religion, we have nothing really to tag them with. 
 
 I'll never forget that day. 
 
 After working as an AAA for a little over a decade, I was only weeks away from retiring at the crisp age of 31; the benefits were amazing - pension was buffered by the government from my service, only paying 10 % of healthcare costs, a free home in the upper-class section of the city, not to mention discounts during Agents Day on pizza, burgers, etc. 
 
 I had a loving wife and 2 kids, a boy and a girl. My daughter wanted to be an artisan ( and she certainly inherited the talent from her mother ) and my son wanted to be an AAA agent, inspired by my own upbringing. I've never been so confident and happy in life before. 
 
 That day was like any other day; man the third of three gates that separate our city from the upper level and make sure nobody gets in nor out. Due to the first two gates that precede us, days were obviously slow. 
 
 The day was early; 5:30am. Of course everything is empty, as it always is. I was sitting back, assault rifle on my shoulder, phone in hand scrolling through Reddit ( which has recently been deemed one of the oldest and still relevant websites in history next to google ) with a nice cup of coffee. I nearly spill my drink as suddenly the large red lights started flashing. I looked over to my co-worker Dave. 
 
 `` Do n't worry it's probably just another dr-'' 
 
 ***'' ALL AIR AVOIDANCE AGENTS BE ON HIGH ALERT. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ALL AIR AVOIDANCE AGENTS BE ON HIGH ALERT. REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL'' *** over and over and over. 
 
 `` What the hell is going on?!'' Dave asks me, bewildered and nervous, as we have n't heard that siren in nearly 8 years. I'm just as lost as he is. Could we be at war? Domestic terrorists? 
 
 Dave runs off into the other room as I grab my gun and get ready to turn the safety off; if something really is going to attack us, I have to be ready to fight like my life depends on it if I ever want to see my family again. 
 
 `` Hey, look at this!'' Dave calls out to me. I set up the automated turret configuration on the wall to attack anything that is n't wearing AAA authorized personnel uniforms and head over to the control room; a small area with a couch, desks with computers, coffee machine and a flat screen TV that the higher ups contact us on to give us the rundown on what's going on, what's to be done, etc. 
 
 `` Commissioner, what's going on?'' I ask him. 
 
 `` A group of cultists broke into the upper level through the second barrier at 5:15am and sealed off their exit. Several gas masks were found stolen from our inventory as well.'' 
 
 `` Cultists?! Just what in the hell are you talking about Richard?!'' Dave asks, his voice shaky and unsure. `` Was n't that just a rumor?'' 
 
 `` It's Commissioner... and we thought it was. They are a fanatical, delusional sect of Zephyr called the'Firmamentals' who have distorted Zephyr's teachings and have been actively brainwashing people into believing that they must become'one with the sky'.'' 
 
 `` This is just crazy. Alright, even if that was the case, how come our motion sensors did n't catch them if they made it past the first gate?'' 
 
 `` That's also why we're on alert; we believe that someone - or a group of people - from the first or second sector might either have been active or sleeper agents, which is why they also knew where to get our military grade upper level masks.'' 
 
 `` Jesus Christ. Alright, what do you want us to do, Commissioner? They sealed off the walls already themselves.'' 
 
 `` The media no doubt will be on top of this. However if they find out not only about a cult within Zephyr and that this was an inside job, it will hurt our PR and make tensions even worse. We want you and all Sector 3 Agents to work with the detectives and find out who's working with them.'' 
 
 `` How do you propose we do that? We're not mind readers you know.'' 
 
 `` Just figure it out! We have enough on our plATe already aS It iS oVER HEre.'' it seemed as though his connection was failing. How could that have been? Our connection is secured by the damn government, after all. 
 
 Suddenly the screen goes black for what feels like ages. Next thing we know on the screen is a large, open field with green grass, a blue sky, brown trees and even white clouds, just like how the textbooks of older times described them. It was surreal. 
 
 We then see somebody wearing one of our masks staring directly at the screen. This person was wearing large, crimson robes with a weird symbol on their chest. It looked like a cloud from the background with a pair of wings that Zephyr had, only upside down. 
 
 In the background of the red clothed figure was at least 10 people behind him, all wearing similar masks and robes, only black with the same insignias. They all stood next to one another in such a precise and eerily fashion that it even shook Dave a little. 
 
 Suddenly the person began talking. 
 
 ***'' I hope you heathens are having a wonderful day today. My name is Julian of the Firmamentals. For eons we as Zephyr's glorious children were oppressed and restricted from becoming one with the sky, but even worse, even led to believe that being in the outside walls are a punishment akin to death! Oh how corrupt the government, the Air Avoidance Agency and the military have all made us so. `` *** 
 
 ***'' Alas I am ashamed to say I have watched for decades Zephyr become to dissolve with corruption to the point where their leaders believe we the people ought to oblige by the governments meager sense of power and security that dictates our very lives. To this I say NO MORE! BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE SKY, PLEASE REMOVE YOUR MASKS SO WE MAY ONCE AGAIN REJOIN EARTHS EMBRACE! But before so, you ( he says as he points to the person on the far left ) take off your mask so these pathetic infidels may witness our true power. `` *** 
 
 And so he does. 
 
 He deeply inhales through his nostrils. As he breathes out, Dave and I are in disbelief that he is ok. Suddenly he starts coughing violently. He begs his fellow members for help, but they stay staring at the screen, unfazed aside from the seldom glance of their heads. 
 
 As he keeps coughing, eventually blood comes out. His coughing goes on for what seems like ages until suddenly it stops and he is on his hands and knees looking down at the ground. Suddenly a grotesque retching noise is heard, and we watch his own large intestine begin to fall out of his mouth. He falls over and goes limp. 
 
 Dave, too mortified, runs over to the garbage can and begins vomiting profusely. The smell is nauseating, but it's justified. Suddenly the limp figure begins twitching. At first it was minor twitches of his fingers and feet but they gradually begin intensifying into full on convulsions. Eventually he is lying on his back and once again stops. 
 
 It's what happened next that is one of the few things we'll never un-see.
