Post by >>Venus<< on Jun 8, 2008 14:02:16 GMT -5
The Plot
Place: Earth
Year: 3013
Humans have somehow avoided completely killing the planet, and are working on repairing it. However, a man named Mr. Whitman - there were rumors that he was a truly mad scientist - got this idea a hundred and fifty years back and started working on it. The project was called the Caverns of Time, and it's a place where people can go to take a look at the past, to see how things used to be - actions, thoughts, emotions, ideas, you could see it all. The deeper you went the farther back the years went. It was in a vast system of caverns deep within the earth, and it was quite a perilous thing to undergo. It used anti-time and other things that, if unleashed, could mean the total destruction of the earth, so it was a carefully monitored project. At first there were some reports of things solidifying and attacking the workers, though this was taken care of quickly.
So, while most people worked on saving the planet from annihilation, a rather large minority started working on these Caverns of Time. The Caverns have been finished for fifty years, and people can go back however far they want to go to take a look at what happened and what things were like.
However, the inconceivable happened one midsummer night. Those working on the Caverns' upkeep had warned the population nearby that the Caverns have been quite instable lately, and no one but authorized individuals were to be allowed passage into them. Spontaneously, without warning, the Caverns exploded. Because anti-time was used in some parts of the Caverns along with a huge amount of energy, the explosion wreaked havoc upon the entire earth, and the land was completely reshaped. The areas closest to the Caverns were hit the hardest. In some spots, things of the past started coming up in random places - dinosaurs, massive insects, and even the bubbling pits in which life originated.
This time of mayhem lasted for a few years, or so they say. There's no way to really know how long it lasted, as anti-time was everywhere on Earth, and that probably wreaked havoc upon the space-time continuum. Since only shards of cities existed, the human race had to rebuild their cities and their numbers. During this time, they also tried to figure out how to get the ecosystem - not to mention the earth and time itself - back where it should be. Since the years of mayhem took so many lives, all the humans that could find each other, which was almost all the human race, banded together into one city.
Soon, rumors of odd sightings started popping up everywhere - Bigfoot and Loch Ness Monster, which had been proven nonexistent almost a thousand years ago, cavemen, dinosaurs, ten-foot long centipedes, and even dragons. Also, it seemed as if some peoples' pets were acting oddly intelligent and as if they were trying to hide something.
As people started repopulating their city, they had to expand it. While trying to expand their city, what would normally be considered freak accidents started happening regularly, such as animals eating workers (their robots had all been destroyed), construction ladders falling down when people are on the top of them, and other such things. One afternoon, when workers were coming back from lunch break, they found something completely unexpected - wolves, wildcats, and other such wildlife, some even with wings, had lined up in front of the construction ladders, and struck out if the workers tried to get near them. For a few moments, a dominant-seeming wolf met the eyes of one of the workers. After a moment, it opened its mouth and formed it into what seemed like a snarl. However, instead of a ferocious growl, human words were formed on the wolf's lips. It said, "We will not let you drive us out of our homes only to have nowhere to go again. We would like to speak with your leader."
The men screamed and ran back into the city. For a few weeks, the animals blocked the construction ladders, never more than a few leaving to hunt or get a drink at a time. Eventually, the President was forced to see the Alpha of the pack. It did not go well. They argued terribly, making threats to one another, until the Alpha lost his temper and lunged for the President. The President was wounded to the neck, and the Alpha was shot and killed. The animals that were once ruled by this Alpha were in a terrible rage at this, and thus began the War of Men and Beasts.
Though the humans had superior weaponry, the beasts had something never seen in real life before - magic. The humans came up with a theory as to why these things such as dragons, extreme animal intelligence, and wings on animals had existed: when the Caverns of Time exploded, not only physical things of the past became real once again, but also the ideas that people had. The war was long and bitter, and some of the pets that had acted oddly intelligent before became traitors and switched to the side of the Beasts. Eventually, the two sides came to an agreement, knowing that if this war continued for much longer, the losses of both sides would grow too heavy to bear. In their agreement, the men would not do as they had done before of taking up an enormous amount of territory. There would be lands of men, lands of beasts, and neutral territories. The two sides lived in something like peace - as long as human and animal instincts collided, there would never be true peace. Rather, there were fluctuations in how peaceful things were.
Eventually, the planet subsided into a stage that would become the new "normal" - it would never be the same again, no matter what the humans or the beasts tried. The flora and fauna of the present day overpopulated those of the past, though those of the past still existed. Most animals were as intelligent as any humans, though there were still some "average" animals. Thus came the years of AC: After-Caverns.
However, this normal was shattered once again one day. The year was 048 AC, a more peaceful year between the men and beasts. A few humans had gone over to the side of the animals, and they had even begun something like trade. However, one early December morning, a wolf pack was lurking in the shadows of the city. They were black with red markings like tattoos all over them, no two wolves having the same markings. Suddenly, they all ran at the city, somehow all jumping the walls in one bound. Those with wings didn't need to use them to scale the wall.
Anyone who was around screamed and fled for any nearby buildings to flee into. However, these wolves were unearthly fast, and caught many humans before they made it. They seemed to kill just because they could, and even when humans were inside, some of them took down doors and stormed the buildings that the doors hid. As soon as they were there, they were gone, doing nothing with the bodies of those they had brutally and thoughtlessly killed.
At the same time, the Kingdom of Beasts suffered their own casualties. Those who went out alone or with groups of three or smaller simply disappeared, never to be seen again. The Alpha thought the Kingdom of Men was responsible for this.
The two demanded to meet with each other, both thinking that the other was the cause of what had happened. The President demanded to know why the Alpha of the Kingdom of Beasts had sent for this slaughter. However, the Alpha reported he had no idea what the President was talking about, and that he was suffering his own damage from what he thought was the humans. The President accused him of lying on both accounts. The Alpha replied icily, "To lie is human." They argued heatedly, and the argument once again resulted in war.
During the first battle of the war, however, the pack came back - bigger this time, and not just with wolves. The majority of them were black - those that weren't were darker in color - and they all had unique red markings. However, most shocking about this was that many of the pack members could be recognized as those of the Kingdom of Beasts who had disappeared. They came, reduced the size of both armies to half of what they had been before, and were gone in a flash. Both leaders stood in silence for a moment, then apologized to each other for accusing each other for what this mysterious pack had done. They also signed a treaty, vowing to be allies in this war against the tyrannical pack.
The treaty has been broken since then, though the Kingdoms of Men and Beasts can't afford to fight amongst themselves too much - they have a pack to fight. They named the pack The Cursed Ones, as many joined against their will, forced to serve the evil will of the pack's alpha.
Will you side with the Men, Beasts, or the Cursed? Or will you be neutral with no side? It's your choice.
Welcome to Year 100 AC.