It's been 30 years since the Genesis. I hadn't been born yet, but I remember my father telling me the stories every night before bed. "We must never forget. We will most assuredly reap what we sow", I can still hear his voice now, "The Earth sprang open and spewed forth the Prognatus Terra, 'born from the land', monstrous beasts, nature's fury and cunning incarnate. Then the sky ripped open and the Prognatus Caelum, 'born of the sky', fell like a rain that would never end." This was the Genesis. The Earth and Sky had cascaded their army of champions to retake what was rightfully theirs. Mankind had become too greedy, we were given the Earth, and we ruined it. So we took to the skies, yet again leaving a wake of destruction in our quest to sate our unquenchable thirst for conquest. Heedlessly pushing onward, at the expense of the Earth we so ungratefully had received. Our conquest would soon come to an end, nature had not sent advocates to plead its case...it had sent its executioners, there would be no pleading. Nearly eighty percent of the world's population was mercilessly and relentlessly decimated in the span of one week. This was the Reaping. We had paid our price, the death that had been sown was undoubtedly reaped. My father was absolutely right...we must never forget.
I hear the tales of the great cities of the" time before". Chicago, New York, Los Angeles; I vowed to myself that one day I would travel there. All I had ever known was New Aguilar. I was born 16 years after the Genesis, during what was called the "Second Sowing". The creatures, or "archons" as they would come to be called, had done their job, but the few survivors that somehow found haven from the beasts' eradication of mankind banded together. The siege of New Aguilar was another bedtime story from my childhood. A group of survivors, starved by weeks of being lost in the mountains to the west, united together successfully killing the archons occupying a small abandoned town. New Aguilar, as it would later be known as, was the only known settlement within 500 miles. Father said the great cities were the first to fall, mankind turned on itself like a snake eating its own tail. Those that were left in the wake of the beasts' destruction fled, not hesitating to look back. Some fled inland, some out to sea, even some took to the sky...but none could outrun the archons.
I have never even been allowed to leave the city walls...my father deemed the surrounding area an "unnecessary risk" . I knew he was right, but to listen to his tales of the world from the time before...how could I not at least see if anything remained? What if, in other parts of the world, the archons had been defeated? My father held his ground, not allowing my curiosity to get the better of me...until the day the messenger came.
A young scrawny boy, probably only a few years older than me, stood at the gates one morning. His gasps for air interrupting some message he seemed hell-bent on delivering. I stood in awe...someone from the outside...so there were other survivors! He had been sent to find help. The boy stayed for a few days while our leaders discussed what course of action should be taken. I tried to spend my every waking moment around him. The boy talked of Paradise, a settlement far to the west, over the mountains. From his description, there could not have been a worse misnomer. I did not even know anything existed beyond the mountains. The boy had been traveling for nearly two weeks, his city had fallen under siege and he had been sent out, under the cover of night, to find help. He said he had nearly given up when he found us. He brought tales that stretched my imagination, stories of archons we had never even seen the likes of; beasts standing as tall as buildings. archons that had shed their legs, grown tails and leapt into the sea.
The stories I enjoyed the most were of Domari, the "one who mounted nature's fury". The tale goes that he had been a soldier in the time before, maybe even a commander. The military had tried to remain strong in humanity's defense, but they were no match. Those who did not die on the battlefield, instead fled for safety, the strength of the world's armies dashed across the rocks of the archons' onslaught. During an assault on a archon pack, his troops were completely obliterated. They refused to go down without a fight, managing to take down two of the three archons in the pack. Domari, left alone with the beast, armed only with a combat knife, stood his ground. After three days of exhausting, unceasing combat, the archon collapsed to the ground in exhaustion . And in a moment of extreme mercy, Domari could not bring himself to kill such a worthy competitor. The beast, realizing the act of mercy and gratitude it had been shown, allowed Domari to climb atop its back, becoming his mount and companion as payment for the sparing of its own life. Rumors of the invincible warrior charging into battle on the back of a archon had spread like fire. I wasn't sure if any of it was true, but father had once told me that "hope is the spark that will relight the flame that is humanity". Even if it wasn't true, what could it hurt by believing?
After three days, our leaders came to a decision. We would send out a small task force charged with assessing the situation, good or bad, that had befallen Paradise. If the task force could aid the civilians with minimal risks to themselves they would do so, but anything more and their orders were to retreat. I don't know how...but I am going with them. I couldn't let anything get in the way. I had to know what was out there. Let nature send her titans, I will be waiting.
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