Old World Part 1 - Chapter 1: New Sun
Rain poured from the sky. The car slowed to a stop in front of a huge warehouse. Lightning flashed as the five men stepped out of the car. Thunder rolled through the sky. The trunk popped open, revealing the weapons stored inside. Each man chose their weapon and prepared for the battle to come.
"Anthony, you ready yet?" One of them asked.
"Yeah, I'm good now." Anthony replied after loading a clip into his machine gun.
"Alright, you all know the plan," one of them called out, "we go in sweep the area, get what we came for then we're out. We're IPF soldiers, but this isn't a sanctioned mission. All of us are on the line. If it gets out of control, the world border is only 30 miles east of this place. No need to worry about a world pass because if you're caught, you're on your own. Now enough of this crap. Let's get going."
Everyone gathered near the main door, weapons at the ready.
"You ready for this Daniel?" Anthony asked.
"Not really," He said laughing, "I'd rather take my chances at the world gate." Daniel replied.
"I know how you feel."
The reinforced warehouse doors suddenly slid open.
"Got it," Said the security specialist.
They all stormed into the warehouse.
"Shit! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE" Anthony yelled.
"GET OUT OF HERE ANTHONY!" Daniel yelled back, firing his gun.
"Lets go! The world border isn't too far away!"
"What about everyone else?"
"The whole squad is gone. What the fuck were those things?"
"I don't wanna know."
The two men ran as fast as they could towards the front door. Loud screeches were coming from behind them. Screams of men pierced the air. Sounds of flesh being torn apart could be heard in the distance.
"Fuck, the door is closing!" Daniel yelled.
"Damn it!" Anthony replied.
Daniel ran through the door. He spun and gave Anthony some cover fire as he dove through it. The warehouse door slammed shut. Scratching and more screeching came from behind the door. The windows shattered above them. Dark beings could be seen shooting out from them.
"Fuck, here they come." Anthony said, looking up at the creatures.
"This way!" Daniel said as he grabbed Anthony's arm and started running.
Both of the men ran as fast as they could. The border soon came into view. The huge wall was miles away but could be seen as if it was day. Suddenly, the men felt the ground start shaking as if a giant was running on it.
"There can't be that many...there's no way.." Daniel said.
"Split up, you go north I'll go south. Anthony suggested.
"Alright, but how will we get into contact with each other again?"
"I only know of one place in Old World, Kirasagi. We can meet up there."
"Fine, I hope to see you again old friend."
"You will, we won't be dying tonight."
The men split into different directions. Anthony ran as fast as he could, still hearing the creatures behind him. Soon, it became silent. Anthony stopped running. He readied the rifle he picked up during the battle back in the warehouse. The wall was about a mile away from him. Breathing heavily, he walked towards the border. After a few feet, the sound of snapping branches came from behind him.
"Who's there?" Anthony shouted as he spun around.
A low snarl replied.
Anthony unloaded two rounds into the space in front of him. A dark creature jumped out from the cold darkness. It quickly got around Anthony and leaped at him. Anthony grabbed his knife off his leg and jabbed the creature as it took him down. He drove his forearm into the creature's neck and held it back. It started snapping at him, the feeling of pure evil coming from its eyes. Anthony pulled out the knife and slit the creature's throat as it tried to bite him. Blood spewed forth as it gave out a loud screech and fell over dead. Anthony quickly got to his feet, picked up his rifle, and started running towards the wall. Screeches started coming from all around him as he saw them slowly close in on him. He changed the rifle's clip. The empty clang echoed around him as it hit the ground. One of the creatures jumped at him, slashing across his chest with one of its ragged claws. Anthony fell to his knees in pain. Blood gushed from the wound as he fought to stand again. Another creature dashed at him. Anthony sidestepped and shot at it. Rounds flew into their target as the creature fell dead. The rest of the creatures let out lurid screams. They all charged at Anthony.
Anthony shot up, both awake and alert. His entire body was in intense pain. He fell back down, nearly losing consciousness. He looked at his surroundings. The room had wood walls and a thatched roof. He knew where he was immediately. He was in Old World. The pain overtook him again. He started to feel tired. He passed out.
Old World was created soon after the Moon Gate explosion. The Moon Gate was the first form of inter-space travel. It allowed hyper-speed travel between Earth and the colonies in space. After years of use, it suddenly collapsed and destroyed everything it was connected too. The colonies that had been built on the moon had been decimated, but the nuclear reactors used to power the Moon Gate and the colonies became unstable and exploded, in turn causing the moon itself to explode. Many particles from the moon that came into the Earth's atmosphere were unaffected by the immense heat from entry. They crashed into Earth, destroying everything on the surface. The human race was nearly brought to extinction, but 40 people had survived.
These 40 survivors split in half. The first half called themselves the Futurists and they believed in rebuilding the world back to how it was before. To make it greater than ever before. The other half that called themselves the Purists believed that this would only cause the same mistake that nearly ended the world. The planet was broken into two sections, New World that was controlled by the Futurists, and Old World controlled by the Purists.
The Purists had found books that were still intact in their land. These books told of Japan's Feudal Age, and the people believed this was the proper way of living. They slowly rebuilt the land into how it had been thousands of years ago. They dressed and behaved as people did in feudal Japan.
The Futurists had nothing but barren and unlivable land. They started to salvage the technology and repair it. Soon, they created a new civilization and had built new technologies and many new tools. They disregarded the Old World completely and shut off all connections to them. They built the World Border between New and Old World.
Old World outlawed all New World technologies and executed anyone who was caught using them or having possession of New World weaponry. The people of Old World had created weapons from feudal Japan. Katana swords and many other bladed weaponry began to get mass-produced. 20 years after the construction of the World Border, people started becoming able to channel their energies into a new form of weaponry, Magic. Only chosen people could become able to use magic themselves. Yet, those who couldn't honed their skills with blades and other weapons. They soon became the most skilled and feared soldiers on the planet. Their abilities extended to the point of being able to deflect bullets.
With magic and these soldiers, Old World became the greater of the two worlds. Tension has been increasing between the two worlds, although neither is willing to compromise, they do not want to resort to war.
Anthony slowly opened his eyes. It was nighttime and raining outside. He looked at his body. His was wrapped up tight in bandages. He then looked around the room again. There was a set of folded clothes lying on the floor near his bed. He slowly stood and picked them up. They were traditional Japanese dressings. His old clothes were nowhere to be found. He put them on and found them to be the perfect size.
Anthony walked out onto the porch area as the rain stopped. The sky had cleared. Sunlight covered everything. He looked up to the sky. Clouds danced through the blue. The sun showing through them. He felt warm and at home.
"I have to get to Kirasagi," he said to himself.
"What was that?" Asked a girl's voice from behind him.
Anthony spun around quickly, igniting the pain that had been assuaged by his resting. He fell to his knees. The girl ran to him and held him up. He looked up and laid his eyes on her. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had brown, shoulder-length hair along with hazel eyes. She gave him a smile as she helped him back up and laid him back in the bed. She slid her hand over the bandages on his body, watching him wince in pain. She pulled her hand back and looked into his eyes.
"You shouldn't be out of bed yet. You're still badly wounded." She told him.
Anthony gave a small laugh, "I've been through worst"
"You're lucky I found you there in the desert, and that I risked my life to get you over to our side. I could be killed if the magistrate find out you're from New World."
"Don't worry, I can keep a secret."
She smiled warmly at Anthony, "Good. I have some rice made if you would like some."
"I would really appreciate that, thank you."
She brought in the warm rice after a few minutes. Anthony took the bowl and quickly ate all of it. She laughed and got him another bowl.
"Wow, this is really good." Anthony said in-between a mouthful of rice.
Anthony fumbled around with the chopsticks in his hand, confused on how to use them properly. The girl smiled at him and took his hand with the chopsticks.
"This is how you hold them." She said after she arranged them in his hand.
Anthony smiled at her and started eating again. She sat next to him on the bed watching him eat bowl after bowl of rice.
"You sure can eat a lot, can't you?" She asked.
Anthony smiled again, "Yeah, I've never had food this good before."
"You don't have rice in New World?"
"Well, yeah, but between you and me, it sucks."
The girl laughed, "What's it like in New World?"
"Nothing special really. We got automobiles, tall skyscrapers, and super fast travel between cities. Just as before the Moon Gate incident."
"Oh, I see. I always wanted to see New World."
"If you like, I'll take you there one day."
"Really? I'd love that!" She gave Anthony a big smile.
"What's your name?"
"Stephanie."
"That's a nice name." Anthony smiled at Stephanie.
"What's yours?"
"I'm Anthony."
"It's nice to meet you Anthony."
"It's nice to meet you too Stephanie." He smiled at her again.
"Why do you need to go to Kirasagi?"
"I...have business there."
"Oh, I see. Well, when you heal fully, you can go. Til' then you're not to leave this bed."
"There's one problem with that though."
"Hmmm?"
"I don't know how to get there."
"I can take you. I used to live there when I was little."
Anthony smiled at Stephanie again, "I really do owe you a lot."
"It's no problem at all."
Stephanie picked up the bowls and left the room. Anthony laid back as his stomach growled. He smiled and let himself drift off and sleep.
