The Rejected RealmsBoard

I was walking along the Salvation St. of Izlechensk. Wherever I looked, there was a cancer hospital, but those weren't my goal. My destination was the building of the local Soviet. I walked there, a massive Arctisian Flag flapping behind me. Every single passer-by was saluting it, seemingly out of their own free will. The pole was pressing hard into my shoulder, but the very feeling of holding it was even heavier: me, a proud libertarian, with this piece of fabric? Gladly, that wasn't going to be for long. A single tear rolled down my cheek.

- Comrade, are you alright? - said a bystander, still not forgetting to salute the damn thing.

I look like a staunch commie to others, displaying this literal red flag. Today the Soviet will be deciding some stuff about zombie cure allocation or something, I don't care at all. What matters is that there will be a ton of people to see my act of protest. Some international watchdog organisations declared Russia a country with good political freedoms, and I even read the law "On the National Flag", which clearly does not treat this thing as a holy symbol.

Another rando is saluting me. I raised my head to give him a mean look and realised I was at the famous intersection where that bastard Bunkernyy proclaimed that Russia, then called "Arctic Lands" was leaving RRDI, leaving the world to be torn apart by the wokists. Clearly, why would such a woke guy defend the bastions of freedom and equality against his kin?

Here it is. A tall building of white brick, all adorned in the copies of the same flags that I'm holding. And, as usual, heavily armed militiamen with their stupid armbands, similarly red, but with a hammer and sickle in place of the menacing three rings. More and more people started coming to the meeting, and eventually I ended up in the middle of the intersection, with people making me a nice circle of personal space. I think they'd just stomp over me, had I not shown up with their favourite pattern on a piece of silk. And now they're walking around and still somehow taking time to salute the damn thing! Time to act!

I pulled out a lighter and set the flag on fire. The woke commies might not like it, but the law is on MY side! It is my sacred right to do whatever I want to the things I own, and this might as well be the last place where the commie machine recognises that, albeit implicitly. I'll show them!

The humming crowd suddenly stopped moving and talking. That's it, they saw me! I bet they can't fathom how I could go for such a stunt. Now, they at least know that dissent is real! Today it's me with a burning flag, tomorrow it's an army with a burning passion for freedom!

- Traitor! Reactionary! - I heard from the crowd, but what can this one commie do? The people need freedom, and here they are, standing and silently looking at me. That guy over there is still holding his hand on the temple. He slowly put it down and angrily walked towards me. Next second, I was on the floor and he was extinguishing the fire with his hands. I got up, just to see more of his kind encircling me. The next several seconds were simply pain. Come on, militiamen, where are you? My rights are being violated, protect them!

Finally, gunshots. It looks like there is at least no mob rule here, and the police can deal with angry commies.

- ORDER! ORDER! - demanded a loudspeaker atop an armoured vehicle, and those radicals stepped back.

- GIVE WAY! GIVE WAY! - the voice was getting closer, and, eventually, the car punctured a hole in this physical manifestation of woke echo chamber. Two militiamen got out of it and, having glanced at what was left of the flag, then at me, then at each other, and both smiled. I didn't know what to expect. One of them gave me a hand, which I reluctantly accepted. He led me slightly to the side, smacking me on the shoulder.

- Oh come on, stop twitching! It's not like I'm beating you here, - he gave me a sneaky look, and the crowd started cheering for some reason.

I turned around and saw the other militiaman aiming at me, and then, nothing...