Sigma District had been built along a mountainside, its buildings arranged in staggered tiers.
The entire district resembled a city frozen at some point in the previous century, neither modern nor dilapidated, and perfectly preserved.
Its layout was divided in two: half stood on the flat ground at the foot of the mountain, while the other half extended up the slope in successive tiers.
The neighborhoods at the foot of the mountain were relatively spacious. The main roads were wide and straight, lined with old-fashioned red-brick buildings, most no taller than six stories.
Iron railings, exposed water pipes and electrical wires, and clothes hung out to dry on balconies all carried a sense of the era before the apocalypse.
All kinds of shops lined both sides of the roads, with wooden signs, retro neon lights, and sliding glass doors. Street vendors called out their wares, and the air was thick with the bustle of everyday life. Streetlights suspended from the protective glass overhead cast a soft glow over the surroundings.
As the many roads wound up the mountain, the architectural style gradually changed. The houses here followed the mountain's contours, with many built directly into its side.
The higher the elevation, the fewer stories the buildings had. Some rooftops were even level with the slope itself. The streets wound along the mountainside, nothing like the carefully planned, straight roads below. On either side, alleys rose and fell with the terrain, their walls hung with old-fashioned kerosene lamps or dim wall lights.
There were no lights on the protective glass above the mountain neighborhoods. The entire area remained in perpetual night.
At first glance, the lives of those on the mountain compared to those below like the lives of the poor compared to the petty bourgeoisie.
But on closer inspection...
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