Introduction: Empire Rising

Fans I have a treat for you! This is the unedited version of my introduction, well one of them... This is a fantastic way to attain a sneak peak into my world for chances are that by the time I release HUS this will look entirely different. I hope you enjoy!

1

Historical records of the day seem to have been rather inconspicuous by most standards, no one could have possibly foreseen the horrors soon to be commenced. The exact date remains to be unknown, yet it is believed to have taken place sometime during the late twenty first century. That is just a historical estimate, in all honesty the exact date is overall irrelevant. Doomsday, Apocalypse, Armageddon; Annihilation… the names are but the same. Their impact just as pivotal, for today was to be to be anything but innocent. It was to be the day the world came to an end.

Fire struck the sky, an inferno of hell's wrath, the bombs of man had brought the world to her knees. The curse of god was swift, and just… a firm hand of fury which quickly swept across the Americas.

There is a story amongst my kind about this day of death and despair; I feel inclined to insert that of my own history, into the depths of this already lengthy text, but I shall do so anyways if only so for comparison. Myth has taken on several forms; the first says that it was upon this day that the innocence of the world came to an end, stolen from her womb, her life and all her beauty then so shriveled up wilting with sadness, and inevitable the world of man came to an end. Then there are others who see Earth and her death from the phoenix point of view. Meaning that death to her was that of the beginning of a new existence a transformation upon that of a global scale breathing new life. Last, there are those who say that Earth in her dying moments gave up her innocence and did so willingly, giving not into death but embracing the change and all its entirety. Self-sacrifice for that of the greater good. I choose to believe the latter…

These are but legends, with no truth held within their solidarity, myths passed by generations to follow. History shall see them as such, and no one will know the what truly happened upon that faithful day.

History has concluded within its records within its records that darkness soon followed. Cast forth by a cloud of shadows. A veil of toxic smog now hovered over her body, smothering the light from sight. Sunshine, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness all soon vanished... Shadows now loomed over the Earth, and her entirety, so it remained for a total of five years. When the cloud finally withdrew, the damage was astronomical. The exact identities of those whose lives had been taken by that of the great umbra, their faces, and souls remain but a mystery. Erased; buried in the ashes of the fallen world. Records of the time are scarce yet from what I could find, they calculate that the total death toll was approximately three billion thirteen thousand eight hundred and fifty-two; give or take a few hundred or so. Humanity was now an endangered species, leaving those who survived to wish death upon that of themselves.

Once upon a time, there lived a blue planet the sky full of plentiful air and her womb full of life. That was a lifetime ago and such now her world had turned toxic, the air all but scarce, life but a dream... Poison had taken claim to the Mother Earth and such her surface was no longer habitable. After years of proclaiming his dominance, she could endure his oppression no more; no longer afraid of her abuser Earth had finally cast humanity adrift.

Abandoned, her children were forced to flee their world of lost empires. Relinquishing their claim upon their home. Taking a final glance at the sky above, humanity hung his head in remorse. It was time for the child to leave home. Claiming what was left of his technological empire, and retreating to safety. Humanity took not to the sky, yet down, deep into the underworld they went. Dwelling into the soil, buried but not forgotten. Creating caverns of sanction, and it was there they hid.

Darkness was to bring forth a new era of light…

Adaption is the key to survival. That is a well-known fact, such is that the human spirit dies not easily. He does not crumble and crack under pressure. Instead mankind blossomed; blooming with life, and for well over a century humanity thrived in the pit of darkness. Their forces recovering, their spirit flourishing for their caverns brought forth a new civilization one built upon unity and solidarity. Humanity had been reborn. The regime of mankind would rise once again…

According to my research approximately, 150 years ago was the time in which humanity began to regain his strength. Revived from the dead, no longer week nor was he feeble. Mankind had grown to be a strong and formidable people. It was during this time of progress that the Under City of humanity could no longer sustain that of his people. Time had not been their ally and such overpopulation had become quite an issue.

Options were limited, to return to the surface was but to invite death upon one’s self, yet it was a cause that the new found elected leader (Empress Freyia) deemed all but necessary. Such she sent a small party, handpicked by the Empress herself; drafting an excavation into the unknown, they were to be the first to set foot into the new frontier. Their names and faces have been long since lost and forgotten, such was the mark of an adventurer, yet their mission was to go down in history.

Straying into the new age of science and exploration, it was safe to say that they knew not what to expect yet nothing could have prepared them for what was yet to come; for not soon upon arriving upon the surface did they realized that they were very much not alone... In the absence of humanity life had managed to thrive; and such resided a new dominant species. Evolution had taken hold casting forth from the pit of hell a race of surface dwellers. Human in appearance their size gargantuan in the presence of mankind. These were the true survivors of the apocalypse.

Marked by mankind; simply as mutants...

Earth had been resurrected, her air breathable once again; such nature flourished. Trees long since grounded, roots taking hold transforming a once barren landscape of sand, dust, and ash, into a sea of green, and prosperity. Life had taken hold once again... Mother Earth lived! Animals thought to have been extinct now roamed freely no longer under the threat of man. Rivers of cracked soil had been purified now flowing a vivacious blue; streaming across the ashes of humanity's lost civilization. It was the work of a miracle, or perhaps the will of magic…

Beauty had a way of corroding beneath the heavy foot of man. The planet was doomed to that of his tirade from the moment her child had awoken from his slumber. The return of her child was far from welcomed in the watchful eyes of the Earth. She pleaded and wept in remorse tears streaking down from the sky for she begged him to change that of his venomous ways. Sadly, the cries of Mother Earth fell upon deaf ears for the ways of her child was too deeply driven into the heart of instinctual nature. The cycle was doomed to reset, and such the inevitable was concluded.

War had taken the planet by force, casting Earth once again into the realm of shadows. Humanity had been under siege for well over a decade for it appeared that mankind had found a species as stubborn to face death as that of himself. The war between mankind and mutant had begun. Many, years of bloodshed soon came to follow; casualties on both.

Blood stained the dawning of the new civilization. Mankind had suffered a great loss; death seemed to be the curse of its species, and such the death toll to its people had reached to the unfathomable level…

I went over the calculations twice to make sure that my data was not flawed, much to my dismay the records for that era are all the accurate. Over twenty million perished during the war… there was to be no burial, their bodies left to rot upon the soil, for which they fought to proclaim.

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