Zachron
03-31-2003, 02:05 AM
A long time ago, in the world before this world, men were separated into countless tribes. These tribes sometimes got along with each other, but as a tribe�s numbers grew it needed to expand its resources. Some migrated to new lands and split into new tribes, while some drove others out if their homelands and took those lands for themselves. As men struggled to compete with nature and with other men, inventions were devised to make life easier. Tribes allied together to increase their numbers, built cities from which to manage their resources, invented ways to boost food to provide for larger numbers, invented weapons of war to better deplete the numbers of their enemies, and medicines to aid the sick and wounded. These things happened because of war and so men could better make war.
They conquered, enslaved, assimilated, or eradicated one another, and the number of tribes would decrease. Families, friendships, and alliances broke down, and nations were split apart, and the number of tribes would thus increase. There were many times when the tribes wanted to get along, but more often were times when they would rather make war. As the number of men who walked the earth increased while the number of tribes decreased, the size of each tribe grew. New tribes would sometimes replace old tribes but the story didn�t change, the people didn�t really change, only did their names. Eventually there would only be one tribe anyway, so the details don�t really matter very much.
When tribes grew in number and land, the wars they fought became larger and more deadly. Eventually the world was engulfed in great wars. These were wars that individually spanned the entire world, and involved every tribe that lived. These wars led to the destruction and sometimes the total eradication of many tribes, and some of them were waged solely for that expressed purpose. In the name power, in the name of ideals, in the name of beliefs, in the name of God, and in the name of their heroes, the sparks that ignited the fires would fly. Amid these wars men developed even more ways to boost their numbers so that they may have even more soldiers, and even more ways to kill each other so that they can subdue their enemies. Weapons grew more and more powerful after each war, and it wasn�t very long before they grew so powerful that no one could survive them. Men sat on the brink of destruction where no man in his right mind would continue to war, but the wars didn�t stop. Instead they began to get worse and worse. All that survived paid the price as the land became poisoned and depleted. Resources shrank as the numbers of men only grew. The wars grew worse and worse, until one day two twin brothers put an end to the wars.
Only two great tribes remained, one in the East, led by one of the brothers and a council of his strongest and most loyal warriors, and another in the West, led by the other bother and his strongest and most loyal warriors. Their pledge to one another was to live in peace, and never make war again. The two brother tribes lived in peace and harmony, but each day a fear of one another would grow so slightly that one would not even notice. Over many generations this fear grew, and each time it grew they would invent even new ways to kill one another. Just in case war broke out, each side had its ultimate weapon. These were great beasts of war that no normal man could control. The riders of these beasts were selected before they were even born. Before they were even conceived, their very essence of their beings had been altered. These were the weapons with which the war was finally fought.
The fear between the two great tribes continued to grow, and their love for each other gradually turned into a severe hatred. The tribes had betrayed each other, by betraying themselves. This war was to decide once and for all, which tribe shall inherit the Earth, now and forever. The men more numerous, their hatred for one another was stronger, and their weapons were more powerful than ever before. In this war, the world before this one was destroyed. It lasted only a few years. It didn�t take long for all the men in the world save a small handful once the great beasts were put to use. One of these great beasts could completely extinguish an entire city in under a minute, but when two battled each other it took days before the battle was decided. One was devastating enough, but hundreds fought and no one was able to escape the madness. The world of before was ended in a great fire, and the beasts in the sky fought until only two remained. One was from the East, and another was from the West.
These two were each the newest of their type. They both were equal in power, and each of them equally desired to defeat his respective enemy. The beasts attacked one another with all their might. Unleashing their full destructive power onto each other, they fell to the ground below, trying to tear into each other. The two riders somehow survived this, by dismounting their dying beasts before they hit the ground, and both of them immediately took to searching for the other. They were both completely armored from head to toe.
When they faced each other, they automatically drew their swords and began to fight. For three days and three nights they fought continuously. Neither had wanted this to happen. Neither knew it would come to this. There was nothing left to fight for, but they fought anyway. They fought hoping that they�d kill each other, each hoping that he would not have to be the one who died alone, the last person on Earth. The two fought until they were barely able to stand. Then the warrior from the East fell too exhausted to fight any longer. The warrior from the West was ready to finish his opponent off, but then he threw his sword aside, and removed his helmet. He looked around him, at what he had done, at all that was left. And he wept. His cries were the only sound to be heard at all. He called to his god, asking what he had done, begging to be released, begging forgiveness. He cried until the sun was almost set, but then he looked down at his enemy. Amid his despair he had just then truly noticed that he had spared his opponent. The unmasked warrior from the West crept over and unmasked the warrior from the East. One of them was a man, and the other was a woman...
Coming soon...or whenever I feel like writing Chapter 1...