Prologue: Rebirth

We live in a time of stories and legends.  Most recently, there has been much hype about the end of the world in December as predicted by the Mayans, but in recent years there has also been a lot of public interest in Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and Atlantis- all have had their theories that their creators or inhabitants were highly advanced civilisations, some even say magical.  This forms one of the fundamental principals of my fantasy world- set in the distant future, where the legends are about one ancient civilisation in particular, and how they fell from power in an instant.  This story is told from the perspective of one of the characters from this distant future, and appears early on in my novel- I intend for this blog to feature almost entirely original work that isn't featured in my novel, but it's always good to have a bit of exposition about the world.

Many thousands of years ago, at a time only remembered by words on a page, humans populated the entire planet.  All other animals were ignored, hunted for food, domesticated as pets, or forced to extinction by the human need for more land and more exotic materials.  As for the elves, and other races common to the present world, these were merely the story of myth.  ‘Fairy Tales’, if you will- by definition, a story involving such far-fetched creatures as fairies, another of the races we take for granted today.  Alas, I am getting ahead of myself- where was I?

  Oh, yes, humans dominated the world.  Barely a scrap of land was kept in its natural state, and the land that appeared natural was merely artificially created as such by the small percentage of humans that saw how selfish they as a species had become.  The rest of the land had been turned into vast cities of metal, and not content with spreading far and wide they spread far and high too, towering into the sky.

  During their world colonisation, they had begun to forsake their Gods- many religions had come and gone, and even their most popular Gods were being neglected in favour of the humans wants and needs, justified in the name of their chosen deity- if the Gods themselves could have seen the atrocious actions being carried out in their names, no doubt they would have been horrified.

  Unknown to all but the most devout- or, indeed, insane- humans, they were in fact being watched by the Gods.  Who knows if it was the same God they worshipped, or if it was one of the older Gods from as far back in their history as this story is in ours?  Nevertheless, they were being watched, and something happened that could not have been predicted by anyone- not even the people who had been saying it would happen believed it actually would.  The Gods manifested themselves.

  First came a bearded man, the most widely worshipped image of the deities in the majority of the most popular religions, who simultaneously revealed his image in many places- from reflections in lakes and mirrors, to burned images in food, and even in lights on the sky-kisser buildings.  He said nothing, just gazing sternly outwards.  The humans paid no attention, thinking it an elaborate hoax or coincidence, despite the lack of scientific explanation as to how it could be done.  Some panicked, but within a couple of weeks life continued as usual.

  Convinced they truly had been forsaken by the lack of reaction to this miracle, the Gods tried a different approach.  In every region of the planet, Gods manifested- new and old Gods, every deity that had been worshipped at some point in the planet’s history made themselves known.  It is unknown whether this is proof that all these Gods did indeed exist, or if it was a small pantheon altering their images, or even if it was just one singular deity changing form all over the world.  Regardless, spirits came from the forests, animal headed gods appeared over the deserts, drunken gods appeared over the ancient temples in the hills, grotesque warriors soaked in blood appeared in the jungle, and the sun and moon themselves changed to fit the myths from the lands they were being viewed from.

  Truly, it must have been a both marvellous and horrifying spectacle to witness, and the gods surely believed this would make the humans believe in them once more.  But, alas.  Again, the humans refused to believe the evidence of their senses, and highly paid scientists described the sightings as a mass hallucination induced by a chemical that a terrorist group must have somehow put in the water supplies around the world.  Even the devout religious leaders denounced the sightings, refusing to believe they had dedicated their lives to the ‘wrong’ religion.

  The gods were irate.  Twice they had proven beyond doubt that they existed, and twice they had been completely ignored.  It is believed by the mortals of the time, that the evil gods- those that in myth had been locked away, banished, or even killed (of course, a divine death does not necessarily mean they are gone for good), were approached for the solution, as none could believe that the wise and benevolent heroes they had worshipped would have come up with an idea so fiendish.

  It is said that the first signs of danger were the animals behaving strangely- farm animals stopped producing, wild animals increased attacks a hundredfold, domesticated animals ran away from home.

  Next, the sky darkened to a deep red, and storm clouds gathered.  The seas began to boil.  Plants began to wither and die.  And not a sound could be heard from any wildlife- the animals that could be found were frozen still, as if dead.  Panic hit the human civilisation, and many now saw the folly of their ways.  Churches and temples were flooded with people seeking salvation, and wanting to apologise for not believing the wonderful miracles that had taken place, but now it was their turn to be ignored by the gods.

  The final, and most terrifying, part of the disaster came from an eruption in the ocean.  A huge pillar of land arose in the centre of the sea, and the storm clouds gathered around it.  A hurricane swirled around the island, creating a maelstrom in the water surrounding it, until, at the climax of the cacophony, an immense bolt of lightning hit the land- a bolt larger than any in recorded history- and created a crack that was heard around the world.  If the humans had not heard the crack for any reason, such as the rioting, then all would stop dead for the sound that followed- an almighty animalistic, primal roar that reverberated through the planet, chilling the spine, upsetting the stomach, and causing earthquakes simultaneously all over the world.  Such was the force of this roar from beyond your darkest nightmares, that the quakes caused by it were enough to trigger nearly all of the active volcanoes and fault lines in the surface of the planet.  And yet, it was not over.

  From the pillar of rock, cleaved in two by the lightning, emerged a creature.  From behind, it looked like a great metallic warrior, covered in spikes and dripping in blood.  It is impossible to describe what the front looked like, as few who saw it lived to tell the tale, and those who did could not remember- the memory of the creature’s visage being suppressed deep into their subconscious.

  It is said that The Calamity, as it came to be known, walked the planet for a year, devastating everything human-made in its path, as every animal remained in its frozen state- neither alive nor dead, just dormant, oblivious to the tragedy besetting their human oppressors.  The cities, monuments to the humans’ dominance, crumbled like dust under the gaze of this creature, a personification of the humans’ destructive power and of the hatred of all creatures that had got in the humans’ way.  The only survivors were those that did not run, and did not hide, and did not fight.  Those that recognised the human sin, and genuinely felt sorry for what they as a species had done.  These people were frozen, protected like the mindless animals.  It is estimated that less than five percent of the population of the planet survived.

  Once the year was over, and The Calamity was satisfied with its devastating work, it merely stopped and looked towards the sky, before completely vanishing as if erased from existence.

  For possibly the first time in the planet’s long history, there was complete silence, every surviving organism still dormant.

  From here on, man can merely speculate as to what happened.  It is recorded by several witnesses that they stayed frozen for some time- it could have been minutes, it could have been years- forced to listen to the absolute silence and gaze upon the devastation that lay before them.  All that remained of their homes and cities was rubble and dust, and as they watched, unable to move, plants grew and covered the remains, leaving serene fields and beautiful forests.  It is believed that this was the result of the gods’ attempts to show the survivors of humankind how beautiful the world created for them was, and for them to realise that they had been given a clean canvas to work from, and to respect it for what it was.

  Before the humans were revived, the wild animals were awakened.  Seemingly unaware of the events that had happened moments before, they continued their lives.  Deer grazed in the fields, birds soared through the sky, and wolves resumed their hunts.  Humans were again forced to merely watch, and marvel upon the animals enjoying their simple lives.  Next, the domestic animals awoke- cats continued their daily explorations, and loyal dogs found their owners, still frozen, and either waited patiently or jumped up at them, trying to wake them.

  A couple more minutes passed, and finally the humans were revived.  Immediately they cried out in relief, feeling lucky to be alive.  They fussed over their faithful pets, and hugged each other weeping both in joy at surviving and in sorrow over lost loved ones.  They immediately set to work rebuilding their civilisation, one crude hut at a time.

  Years passed, groups of huts becoming villages and eventually being replaced with brick and stone, though they had learned their lesson and attempted to keep nature looking as natural as possible.  Libraries and schools were built, and books written to keep a record of what had happened, which is how we are able to discuss this today.  Other books were written in an attempt to keep alive the great works of literature that had been destroyed in the chaos- some completely missing the original points from the texts they were reproducing, some arguably better than the originals.


...and that is where this story ends.  To find out why it was cut so abruptly, you'll have to check out my novel when it's released ;) I should point out that this story may make me seem quite pro-religion, though this is far from the truth- and that will be the subject of Friday's post.