Chapter 1
The Slave Camp
Long ago, on the world known as Life, there existed six gods. These six gods each used a different element, which made them unique. The first was the God of Fire, Blaze, bravest of all of the gods. Aqua arrived next, the God of Water, the most intelligent. Then arrived the gods Twister, God of Wind, and Bolt, God of Lightning. Then Blizzard, God of Ice, and Boulder, God of Earth. Together, they made land, water, and air. Then life came. They each made animals to live in their own territories. Each god created a territory for their creations. Blaze made Pyro, with beautiful grass-lands, and the feared volcano. Twister made the Slash-Lands, a complete desert, with many mountains. Blizzard made two attempts on his territory. The first was a failure, which was a dark wasteland. Then he created the Arctic territory. Aqua made several tropical islands known as the Islands of Paradise. Bolt made the rainforest, known as the Spark-Lands. And Boulder made the land of the mountains. He made Gaia. The six gods eventually decided to make an intelligent race, humans.
When humans couldn't survive anywhere, the gods gave each one a different element. Then, the humans had to move to that god's territory, where they could never leave. War erupted on borders, and the gods decided to make one supreme god to rule Life. They attempted to make Destiny. They chose a human to make Destiny. But, someone interfered. Two supreme gods were made, Destiny and Fate. Destiny was the God of Light, and made his territory unknown. Fate, the God of Darkness, chose the dark wasteland. These two gods were all-powerful, but they were not immortal. The second generation of these gods decided to make eight towers. These eight towers would be placed in every territory, as a communication spot to the gods. They also housed the god's weapons. One thousand and four years ago, Fate started a war with Destiny, and defeated him. Fate ruled the world, and Blizzard, too. They opened Slave Camps, and then destroyed everything else. That is, until the boy known as Flame, arrived.
The Slave Camp was dark. It was right next to the Tower of Darkness. The Skull Soldiers were doing their rounds. The slaves were afraid that they would be the next to die. Flame, a sixteen-year-old boy, lay quietly in his bed. He had been trying to plot his escape since he woke up one day, and had amnesia. He was alone, and had somehow, been taught in the art of swordplay. He knew that he would escape soon.
"Was there another attack?" Flame heard a voice.
"Yeah, it's those rebels in Pyro. Blaze's barrier won't allow us to cross over it," another voice said.
"It's a pain, but Lord Ice will soon do something about it," the first voice said again.
The voices left. Flame sat up. The Rebels were all that stood in Fate's journey to conquer all of Life. The Rebels had defeated all of Fate's servants. Then the Rebels stood together to defeat Blizzard. But Fate still had control of all of Blizzard's humans. He chose one of them to try to become the next Fate. His name was General Ice. He stayed at the top of the Tower of Darkness, with Fate's altar. If General Ice passed his test, Fate would stay to rule the world for another generation. Flame sat back down and tried to get some sleep. It would be another long day.
General Ice woke up. Fate was calling him, telling him to defeat the Rebels. He was to send Blizzard's men into Pyro and destroy the Rebellion Castle. He obeyed, and started to gather his troops. Several gods were disappearing. The people were becoming worried. First, Blizzard was 'defeated' by mere soldiers, and now Twister and Boulder. How long would it be before Fate left? Ice decided that he would become the next Fate and stay with his people.
"General!" a Skull yelled.
"What is it?" Ice muttered grumpily.
"General! There is a disturbance among the slaves! There are rebelling! They are following a man, identification number 0-372!" the Skull replied.
"Send down all available Skulls! Get them under control. Kill them if you have to!" Ice ordered.
"But, but, general! Some know how to use magic!" the Skull persisted.
"I don't care! Get them under control!" Ice yelled.
The Skull left, and sent down a whole division of Skull Soldiers to take care of the slaves. They were allowed to kill, if necessary.
Flame wasn't among the rebels. He was, in fact, trying to escape. He made it under the large barrier, and was on his way to freedom. The dark wastelands in front of him stretched on forever, but they would lead him to Pyro. Flame ran in the darkness, and didn't notice that one Skull Soldier had spotted him. Suddenly, a huge ball of fire hit the Slave Camp's gate. Skull Soldiers were appearing everywhere, as many Rebels appeared on the horizon.
"Rebels are coming! Defend the Tower of Darkness!" a Skull commanded.
Flame hid in a bush that was next to him. Slaves were running out to freedom, but some were killed before they could leave. The Skulls killed as many as they could before retreating to the Tower of Darkness. More fire balls appeared, as did lightning and water. These rebels had strong mages with them! More slaves ran towards the Rebel group, only to stop dead in their tracks. A gigantic Skull appeared, and it was at least twenty feet tall! It wielded twin blades that were almost as big as the tower itself. Flame just about gave up, but was determined that he would be free, so he continued to run to the Rebels.
General Skye, one of the Rebellion leaders, stared at the giant Skull. It was almost certain death for any of his troops. Not even his mages could take on such a thing. Skye was renowned for his heroic tactics on the battlefield, and knew now, that he had to flee. His blue hair waved in his face, and he sounded the alarm to retreat. He knew that he would have to return to the Rebellion Castle with more bad news, but he had learned something. The slaves were learning to revolt. This meant that if he could get an inside source, he could learn everything. He needed someone young, willing to fight, and had a strong heart. He would return to the castle and consult his partner.
Flame stood in the Slave Camp, trapped once more. The battle had ended, and Fate had won, once more. The Skulls were all outside, on heavy guard to all who dared to cross their paths. It was almost morning, and then more news rolled in through a Skull Soldier.
"Blizzard is gone!"
Skulls started to pour in around this one. They asked it questions, many questions. Flame managed to put together some information. He kept it in his head, and repeated it over. Blizzard was only injured, not gone, but now he has disappeared. The land became warmer, and weather increased a lot. More rain, darkness, light, wind, and heat were all side effects. It seemed that whenever a god disappeared, their element was gone from the world, and the others were stronger.
Did this mean that the world would end, as foretold by the prophets in Pyro? Flame lay back, and started to realize that dawn was earlier. Was this another effect? The Skulls woke up the slaves, and made them work more than they ever had in a week that day.
Flame was so tired. He was moving a boulder twice his weight and size, and was starting to struggle. A Skull caught Flame slacking off, and decided to whip him.
"Back to work, maggot!" it yelled.
Flame summoned his remaining strength to look up at this Skull, and launch a fireball at him. The Skull went down, and disappeared. Flame didn't know what happened. Were they weak to magic? Could he tell the rest of the slaves? Flame continued to work, and then summoned the other slaves to his tent.
"What is it, Flame?"
Flame looked at the weary group. They seemed so tired, and looked as if they could die any day now.
"I think I know how we can get out of here, alive," Flame said.
