Story One: New World Order
It all started with a bang not a whisper. Not the beginning of the world, but the end that led to the new world order began.
Brushing off the pounds of earth on his back, the numbness of Joseph Flame's legs finally became numb itself. He crawled away from the darkness to what was seemingly light, following the song of the wailing. During those moments he questioned whether he had died or even if he wanted to. The relief of pain, of fear...the escape from this hole.
There it was. The final fiber in his hand, since his fingers had no fibers to offer, gave in. He lay there looking into the crevice of red and green light. Funny thing was, he thought back to the high school quote, cliche as it was at the time, "to be or not to be?" If that was actually how it was written. It was a long time ago; hard to clearly recall right now.
The crunching sound above upset him the most. Survivors upset him, or maybe the vague concept of survival was just a taunt at him in that moment. The pebbles being kicked down through the crack of the earth onto his face; mockery, he saw it as.
But, then it all stopped.
The rocks. The numbness. The sound. The light. The darkness became a hand, and the hand pulled Joseph's.
Mr. Flame was a liberated man.
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Rubbing her small belly at the thought of child- a tick she had developed for herself-, Selena spoke with Mr. Flame and his wife under the flame-lit sky. The last light of the world. "I am glad to hear that all is well." She smiled and held Mrs. Flame's hands in her own, occasionally patting the top hand, as customary.
But customs no longer mattered here. At most, they mattered as much as humanity: very little. Selena knew as much. "We had best blow the flame out soon. Don't want to draw attention to ourselves. I'm sure my husband will be back soon. My mother has probably finished readying our meal as well." She nods her head and removes Mrs. Flame's hand from her own. Noticing the cuts and dried blood that was there on the surface; Mrs. Flame had clawed her way to the surface.
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Quite a coincidence it was for them all to be in the same place, to have the same ideals, to hold same amount of power and influence. Darius Black, Krown Martinet, Eleanora Stone, Lucia Macinwrought, Bill Smogginson, and the insignificant significant others meeting at the fire that had died out right before the Flames.
They agreed upon bringing the people together in order to create a united front against the monsters that tyrannize the humans.
Darius was the most intelligent and strong of them all. He created a plan, informing the others of a small group of people; His country had hired Selena's father to experiment on Darius as well as a few others and create a disease to infect other nations, killing off the competition. It had turned out that hiring a mad scientist backfired; rather than creating a disease the infects and kills, the doctor created a disease as a gifter of power. A gifter that believes in the phrase quid pro quo. Whatever power that is gained, something of equal consequence is lost. Darius would not describe what of his own life was lost; the others had just assumed that it was his right eye, hidden behind a black patch with two snakes entrapping a cross.
So began their journey across the world, in search of people who's powers will save the world. These lost souls will protect the human race long enough for society to pick itself back up, for walls to be built, for borders to be created once more.