PARALLEL - Part 1

“Parallel…Parallel…the absolute form of conformity…Parallel…”
That’s what he repeated to himself as he strode through the slums that made up over three fourths of his city, which was itself nestled into its own little fold in the fabric of reality.
“I just wish that the people around here would be a little more parallel with the law…”
He ran a white gloved hand through thick, strawberry-blonde hair, which was accented at the tips with silvery gray highlights and was styled to look just so, even under his black-and-white cap, which was never removed, save for showings of deep respect when it was necessary to do so. This cap, along with his ornate uniform, signified his duty and his purpose. From conception, he had his entire life set out before him.
He was still a young man, still bright, still innocent, and still adventurous. Even so, he wasn’t as bright, as innocent, or as adventurous as most his age, but he was certainly much more mature. His city was a cesspool of crime, having a ludicrously high crime rate and he was always kept on his toes. This was Reverse City and it was diligently run and protected by her vigilant chief of police, Parellus Lefawn.
“It’s my duty to protect these people. They need me.”
Parellus kept a quick pace and his feet stomped a steady rhythm on the hard-packed dirt. It was quite a large city, but there were no cars and, as such, no asphalt-paved roads, especially not in the slums. The city was a cesspool of crime for sure, but there was always a case or two that was worse than the rest, specifically the one presented to the young police chief on that particular day: someone had breached the barrier to the outside.
Reverse City was more commonly referred to as the Reverse World because it was the only part of an entire world. This world in itself was a concealed part of an entire dimension known as IL. Even so, it acted as if it was an entire alternate dimension, as it housed opposite identities, known as reverses, for every person in what those in the Reverse World referred to as the “overworld”. Every reverse had a corresponding “overworlder”, which was the opposite of himself. Some reverses had strong desires to someday meet their overworlders, but those dreams were smashed due to the impenetrable barrier, or “sky”, that surrounded the city, preventing any and all escape. It didn't look like a normal sky, though, as it was a deep crimson with a constant dark purple aurora which crackled in bolts of green and yellow and always bathed the city in a foreboding blood-red glow. No one really thought anything of it, though, as they'd been living with it all their lives.
Even with this “sky”, though, there was still a way out of the Reverse World. There was a small tear in the barrier that served as a sort of portal to the overworld. Parellus hadn't been chief for long—not even a full month, at that—but he didn't need to even be an officer to know that the portal was constantly guarded by only the most vigilant officers of the police force. The worst offense a reverse could commit was to breach the barrier and do anything harmful in the overworld afterward. The last breach in the barrier had happened just a little over six months ago, but the former chief was never able to find the escaped reverse, Nyla Langston. Parellus hoped the same thing wouldn't happen this time.
A harsh shriek suddenly tore through Parellus' thoughts, echoing through the congested pathways of the slum long after it subsided. Parellus turned his attention down a nearby alleyway to see a young, brown-haired woman being viciously beaten by an older-looking man. Parellus sighed. Since reverses were incapable of dying, assault was not a punishable offense. Even if a reverse came out badly mutilated, assault happened so often in the Reverse World that it was impossible to bring every offender to justice.
Parellus cringed at seeing the woman in pain and started to rub his own bruises hidden under his uniform. He had gotten in an intense brawl the other day and was lucky to escape with only a few bruises and a couple of gashes. The man who had engaged him, though, had not been as lucky. In order to defend himself, Parellus had to knock the man unconscious, possibly giving the man a serious concussion in the process. In the Reverse World, survival of the fittest was the law of the land. The only punishable offenses were barrier-breaching, assault on or infiltration of the police headquarters, and jailbreak, which would usually only come as a result of the previous offenses. Things like assault or theft could be reported and, afterward, recorded, but it was only for the sake of knowing which reverse was more dangerous than another. As a result of the constant fighting in the city, most everyone was always covered in bruises and scrapes of some sort, if not worse. The only way a reverse could ever die, though, was if their overworlder did, which no reverse had control over; at least not from the Reverse World. That was why breaching the barrier was such a terrible crime and why a reverse's penalty could increase if an overworlder became involved.
The fifteen-year-old police chief came to a sudden stop. He had arrived at the portal to the overworld. Both guards bowed in respect upon his arrival before one of them stepped forward to present a brief case report. There was a picture of the escaped reverse paperclipped to the front of the manilla folder. He looked to be just as old as Parellus with his hair the same shade of strawberry-blonde. His eyes were a piercing golden color and there was a smug, toothy smirk plastered onto his face. The picture itself, unlike most reverses who managed to escape, was nothing more than just a casual photo as opposed to a shot captured by an active officer of a reverse in the middle of a crime. There was a rap sheet included in the folder which listed multiple instances of petty theft. Even so, there were no listed instances of assault, which calmed the young officer a little. What made the teen stand out in Parellus' mind, though, was that he had seen him before. It was just after Nyla Langston's escape all that time ago. The boy, Dnias Speed, had approached Parellus about the matter and had seemed truly concerned about the state of the girl in question.
Parellus snapped the case file folder shut  and handed it back to the guard, who bowed before taking it.
“Send an alert to the other officers,” Parellus ordered the guard, “I want them ready in case I need them.”
The guard saluted in reply and started off toward the police HQ.