Fantasy Kaizoic: Wild Eden

[Da Doofus]

War and ruin.

These two things are what humanity had come to know too well in the past century. What began as a sudden resurgence of ancient creatures awoken from primal slumber became a global disaster when the continents began a mass shift, disturbing even more beasts from hibernation.

The year is now 2326 and the last hope the United Global Republic had left for mankind’s survival was the Noah Project; a repurposing of a space exploration project that was no longer viable when the First Emergence occurred. Ten ships, each one the size of a small city, built to house and preserve thousands of selected citizens to orbit the planet in safety until the remaining military forces successfully secured a location for recolonization.
At this point the war against monsters was lost. The right to rule the world was now being fought among the beasts deemed nearly un-killable by what arsenal the Republic had left. These three Apexes were now on a collision course with each other further South where Noah 6 was readying launch.

You however, were selected on Noah 9 in what was left of Anchorage, Alaska. Where there should have been only snow was instead a mix of snow, mud, and ash from the remaining battles between Republic forces and the Northern Apex who had carved a path of destruction southward toward its territorial rivals.

Unfortunately, the route for your passenger transport was not safe in its absence. A massive swarm of Hypodraconis, dragon-like predators that had been scorching Republic lands since the First Emergence, were on their way. Possibly led by their Alpha, one of the Apexes, to follow the Northern rival over the territory.

The ship was on the horizon, and the beasts were drawing closer from the East.

 

[Pandasquish]

I shifted on the stiff bench between two people praying. To my right a woman passed her rosary through her hands, to my left a man who leaned forward, head on his fists, his mouth moving to the same short phrase over and over. They could've been screaming their prayers and I wouldn't have heard what either said. The transport was filled with people, more than probably should've been on it I guessed. Those not praying were trying to drown out the tension of the race toward Anchorage any way they could. Singing, talking loudly, a few screamers.

It all fell to a din below the rush of blood in my ears. The windows weren't exactly at eye level, but I could see a patch of sky out the slim, high windows on the other side. I kept waiting for it to be covered by shadow. I wasn't exactly in a rush to start a new life in space, but I would take it over being eaten today. Or crushed. Or sent hurtling through the air to land on the sharp rubble left in the wake.

A pain in my hand brought me back from the path my mind had wandered down. In my anxiety I had punctured my lower palm with a nail. There was only a drop of blood, but I pulled a out cloth and a sealed straw with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide inside and cleaned it before putting a band-aid on. The man beside me had stopped praying and was looking sideways at my palm. I shifted my bag to the other side of me and kept one hand on it.

 

[Da Doofus]

The transport flew over the ash coated wreckages of what was once a grand international railway built by the Republic in a time before the First Emergence. Before any human alive today was born, there was hope of rebuilding a world ravaged by international wars. No fear of rising beasts destroying cities as the planet’s surface itself was swiftly reshaping itself.

Silhouetted against a clouded dusk sky was the Noah. The salvation of thousands lay ahead in the distance.

A child coated in soot stood to gawk at the sight with awe.

 

[Pandasquish]

A shadow appeared from the hazed sky towards the front and my heart stopped. It took a moment for me to realize the shadow wasn't moving towards us, we were moving towards it. I relaxed into the bench for the first time since boarding. We were in sight, though it was clearly still a ways to go. I pulled my bag on my lap, and held it tight as I watched it grow on the horizon.

I could feel more than see more eyes in the transport turn towards the window to watch with me. There were a few more screams, I assumed people thinking we were seeing one of the beasts on the horizon, but slowly the interior grew as quiet as it'd been during the whole trip. We all were holding our breath, watching it grow, hoping we'd make it.

 

[Da Doofus]

A few more minutes passed and occasionally the distant echoed of a man speaking over an intercom could be heard from the launch site.
Despite the ruins around the area, there was this faint hint of serenity in the air.
It was not to be short lived as an alarm went off, and a growl rolled over the land like a clap pf thunder.

 

[Pandasquish]

There was a faint wail of an alarm outside the transport before one started within. The temporary peace brought by seeing the Noah was shattered. Screaming and crying took it's place. Few were praying now, but the woman next to me stayed among them. The rosary passed through her hands faster and faster, her lips a blur.

I gripped my bag tighter against me, scanning the windows once again. The Noah was still the only shadow I could see, but this close there was only one reason to throw the alarm like that.

 

[Da Doofus]

A flash of light like a fiery blast bloomed from the black clouds above, and the smoky sky swelled above the Noah.
As though the sky were a black sea, a titanic breach burst from above and two snarling beasts the size of buildings were falling to the Earth.
As smoke and dust cleared in their fall they were distinguishable as Hypodraconis. One was a dark grey with a yellow underbelly and the other a fiery orange with dark stripes. Both had the black wings and ‘crown’ of quadruple horns that signified them as Alpha males. Over the past few years the Alphas of the Hypo swarms had been fighting with each other as often as the mechanical constructs of the Republic over supremacy. Now only these two remained to rule a territory yet to be entirely claimed.

Two kings fighting for dominance.

The fire breathing titans bit at each others necks and horns while their clawed wings hooked themselves to one another. Fire and smoke bellowed from their blackened mouths and their small arms raked at armored chests with car-sized talons.

 

[Pandasquish]

The flashes of color coming through the windows were enough to tell what had burst through the clouds. The screaming got worse, people standing and pointing, the interior of the transport becoming a sea of moving bodies reacting to the sight of the Alphas. The man next to me grabbed my arm, eyes wide, looking like he was about to scream something himself, but I shook him off and stood, pushing myself through the mass with my bag held in front of me.

No information was being given beyond the alarm, and I figured there had to be someone who knew what we were going to be doing near the exits. The fight to move in the transport was like trying to swim up river. By some miracle I was doing it, but it was slow going.

 

[Da Doofus]

Throughout the growing panic of the 60 foot ship, the Republic guards kept it from blowing up into a full riot.
The pilot began taking an alternate route to avoid flying too close to the battle.

Already the thunderous booms of weapons rocked the transport interior. On the turn, a porthole near a particular passenger gave visibility to the two Hypo Alphas wrestling in the midst of the Noah launch site. They snarled and shot fiery breath at each other as scaffolding and transmitter towers crumbled under their weight.
The weapons being fired belonged to the 30 foot tall JAKAL piloted mechs that could be seen maneuvering around the two. Their munitions couldn’t pierce their scaly hides so despite the noble intent, they could do nothing to halt this battle.

 

[Pandasquish]

I never made it to the front to ask one of the guards what was going to happen with our flight. The movement of the ship and the mass wave of people moving threw me against a man sitting in front of a porthole. I caught myself with a hand on the glass, and the man put an arm around me to steady me. We both looked up in time to see the Alphas crashing through the site of the Noah and the unsuccessful attempts to stop them.

"We're not going to make it off the planet," the words slipped out before I could stop them.

"No, we're not," the man holding me said. Neither of us could look away as we flew around the unfolding destruction.

 

[Da Doofus]

The battle continued with the Noah towering over them. Undoubtedly with the passengers already aboard looking on in terror as danger roared and burned so close.
A Jakal mech had now found a vantage point atop a still standing building and fired a triage of missiles at the grey and yellow Hypo. The explosions bloomed on the sides of his neck, and clearly did enough to catch his attention.
A whip-like tail barbed with bony spines lashed out and broke the piloted robot in half. The legs were thrown somewhere in the facility while the torso (and unfortunate pilot) flew through the air.

And toward the transport.

“EVERYBODY HOLD ON!” One of the guards shouted as the sounds of metal crashing on metal came with extreme turbulence. People screamed and fell over each other as the ship spiraled out of control. The stimulation of so many screams and cries coupled with the dying bellows of one of the ship’s engines distracted from the reality that the ground was fast approaching. The fall came suddenly and with a wave of people thrust forward and against walls. Many of the restraints that were meant to be used were not given the swiftness of how the situation escalated. All became darkness for the passengers that survived.
************************

One person in particular awoke to crying and wailing among a crashed ship. Survivors were assisting others from the wreckage via the remaining emergency hatch. Still, sounds of bestial war thundered outside.
The man from the porthole was shaking you awake with blood on his face and his right eye swollen shut.

“Hey . . . Hey wake up. Can you hear me?” He said with a weak voice.

 

[Pandasquish]

I don't remember much of the crash. The transport tried to swerve, I fell against the glass and the man sitting there. It was loud. You get used to screaming, but the sound of metal on metal gets so big, so unnatural...

What I do remember is feeling like those moments lasted forever. Knowing that a lot of those faces would be silent very, very soon. Believing I wouldn't make it out.

And then just black.

I must've hit my head, a throbbing worked its way through my temples when I woke up. It took a moment for me to focus on the man shaking me, or trying to. His hand kept slipping in the blood on my arm. It was like working my way through fog to answer him.

"Yeah, I can...I can hear you." I eased myself into a sitting position and held my head for a moment. "What's going on?"

 

[Da Doofus]

The man assisted you to your feet.
“One of the mechs hit us. We crashed.” He began helping you outside the ship.

Once atop the wreckage, you saw dozens of survivors tending wounds and mourning the losses. Beyond, fire blazed at the launch facility, and the two Alphas dueled atop the Noah itself.
The grey Hypo had the orange one pinned and it appeared he would soon be the victor. His neck glowed and began to swell as fire formed in a bio-chemical reaction. The orange contender thrust one of his wings upward, and the spiked knuckle pierced his rival’s eye.
Blood spattered and the titan screamed as fire choked out in spurts from his mouth and into the air. The sound of the pained shrieks cut through the crackling of the mass inferno and alarms like a wrenching blade.



A new sound came to the discordant chorus, and shook the earth; Noah engines roaring to life. The great vessel shook the two Alphas off the domed top and a wave of ignition smoke clouded the facility, fire and all.
It began to ascend in desperation to flee the destruction, and it would appear so despite leaving so many behind.

Perhaps it was misfortune or maybe a cosmic punishment for the one aboard who chose to swiftly launch; but the tumbling Hypos regained balance by digging all of their claws into the metal as they fell to steady their descent.
Both shredded the metal of one rear engine, spewing fuel over themselves and below before spreading their wings to fly away.
The ship was miles above the Earth and the Hypos had clashed once more above the facility when the leaking fuel ignited.

The blast flared like a sun had appeared in the darkness and cracked like an otherworldly storm, leaving the abandoned passengers with pained and ringing ears. The sound had affected the Hypos too, as they fled from their battle. The orange one to the South and the grey one to the East with a bleeding eye socket.
A battle for another day . . .

As burning wreckage fell like a grim meteor shower to the ground, the distant flares of two other Noahs ascending the atmosphere could be seen.
But you would not be fleeing to the skies like them. As cruel as fate would have it . . . You were left behind in the wake of thousands more who had died.

 

[Pandasquish]

We watched the distant flares together, his hand still on my arm, as the ringing in our ears subsided. Anyone who could stand to look was watching with us, seeing the last hope we had then.

"We probably would've died in space." I said, as the light from the two Noahs grew smaller. The man looked around at me, his mouth agape before he began laughing. After a beat I laughed too.

As the metal cleared from the sky, I helped him to sit back on the ground and opened my bag for supplies to tend our wounds.

 

[Da Doofus]

Years passed after that day . . .

These years were a constant struggle for those not selected for the Noah Project and so were left behind. Humankind had been returned to the lower castes of the food chain. Living became a daily battle as the giant predators continued their war for continental territories.
Apparently after the destruction of Noah 9, one of the Alpha Hypos flew to the Noah 6 launch site and fought the Northern and Coastal Apexes. Noah 6 managed to escape however, but the present military force was annihilated.

Within the span of 40 years, the promise of Republic military safety grew more and more fictitious as setback after setback prevented any shelter from lasting. Loss after loss from the Hypos, Apexes, and new monsters never seen before reduced the remaining battalions of mechanized weaponry to scrap.
Humanity was truly witnessing their end.
***********************

The last living member of Noah 9 lay upon a bed in a makeshift shelter built in what was once a subrail station. Age had taken its toll and time had taken its price on their spouse, children, and dozens of lives encountered and befriended in this reforming world.
Only a grandchild remained, and soon . . . She too would have to carry on alone.

 

[Pandasquish]

"Mormor, you should have some water." Marcy held a shallow bowl up to her ailing grandmother. The older woman, only middle aged in a different time, shifted herself to a sitting position and allowed the younger to help her hold the dish to her mouth. Down the tunnel the sound of water dripping grew from a faint sound to a torrent.

"There's a storm outside." The old woman said. "You're not going out today."

"We have enough to supplies to get us through, we'll stay inside until it passes."

"Good, good." With a groan she lay back down, Marcy helping ease the way. "Every storm runs out of rain."

 

[Da Doofus]

Storms these days were a mixed omen. Gone were the days of them being purely natural phenomena. In the wake of the Second Emergence, all storms could potentially be the one that the Coastal Apex leashes to itself in order to come onto dry land. The rain keeps its skin wet like an amphibian and the lightning charges it’s electrical abilities.

Much of Earth’s natural order had been reshaped or in the process of reshaping. Continents continued to shift at a calmer pace, and the icy poles had almost completely melted to bring a massive flood. The old haven cities of the Republic coasts were now flooded ruins.

It had been decades since the Noah Project launched, and hope of salvation grew dimmer and dimmer each year. After the exodus, remaining military forces gathered what survivors they could and rallied to shelters as the fight to secure territory continued.
Things only got worse from there.

The three Apexes had clashed at the Noah 6 launch site and onlookers claimed that the Alpha Hypo was the victor. After the battle, they turned their attentions away from rivalry based feuds and began seeking territories of their own.
The Hypo took his swarm to Europe and burned a charred path across the remnant forces there, so contact with the European shelters had been lost within a couple of years.
The Coastal returned to the seas and terrorized the flooded coastlines and cities which drove survivors inland.
No safety was found there either as the Northern Apex battled Mechs by the dozens and decimated them.

In one such battle, Marcy had just been born in the underground shelter housing her family and hundreds of other refugees. The promise of Republic protection was proven faulty when the North Apex wreaked destruction across the facility in its path of territorial destruction. Her mother, had theorized that it was cleansing its hunting grounds of what it perceived to be an invasive pest.

She would not survive to prove her theory . . . Neither did her husband who had died weeks before from exposure.
Her father had perished years before from an unidentified nocturnal predator on the road.

Now only Marcy and her mother’s mother remained; and as far as it seemed . . .

They were all that remained.