Prologue
The Invunche dreamed erratically, tossing and mumbling in its sleep. Perhaps it had slept since the world began, and the dreams were all that remained of its memories. Perhaps it died long ago. If asked, it would not be able to say. It would stare as its mouth wailed on its eyeless face, gnashing its rotting teeth, cursing and snarling. It was man-shaped beneath its bindings, but no one in their right mind would class the creature like a human.
Not even human at all.
As it swung in the darkness, chains creaking, it dreamt of distant thunder. A storm was coming, somewhere on Earth. It remembered storms - the flash and roar and icy pelt of rain on its face. It remembered riding the energy, laughing for joy and destruction, power crackling along its body. But this storm brought no relief, no rain, no joy.
The Flood was coming.
It was getting closer, making the creature sway in agitation, naked over the bottomless pit. Thunder rumbled, reverberating throughout the stone of the prison, louder and louder. Dust fell, setting the chains to jangling. The creature moaned, unsure at the latest turn of events. Its dreams had been the same for so long, but this, the newest, was disrupting the pattern, breaking the infinite cycle.
Lightning struck, alerting the Invunche. It shrieked at the unfamiliarity, a memory inexplicably comes alive. Something rushed in, caressing him intimately, biting every patch of skin with a thousand tiny teeth.
It took a moment for it to understand. The sensation was fresh air, blown in through the jagged hole where the light was now pouring in, piercing the dark like the spears of dawn cavalry.
Feelings surfaced from the creature's reforming mind. Hunger, fear, need and hope.
Hope.
Weeping, the creature began to climb, pulling itself hand-over-hand, skeletal fingers growing torn and bloody as it dragged itself up the chains, towards the light. Even when the rays vanished, reappearing and twisting at random, it climbed on, until it could haul itself out of purgatory. It lay there, panting in a dusting of granular snow and soot, gazing up at the stars and quarter-moon, listening. Its limbs moved slowly, painfully.
All around, the storm continued to vent its fury. The cries of dying people pierced the night, begging in unfamiliar words with unfamiliar accents. The tears froze on the creature's cheeks, running down into the wrinkly pale skin. It tasted blood on its cracked lips. There was blood on the ground as well, and the creature followed it, shuffling and sniffing like a coursing hound until it found the mangled corpse. The flesh was still warm as the creature tore with its teeth, savouring the flow of life and the return of forgotten strength.
The storm gradually moved on, leaving only silence in the sheltered little hollow. The Flood swept away all that once existed on Earth. The creature wiped its mouth and reverently lifted the shard of gleaming crystal from the dead man's grasp. Bloody fingerprints stained its beauty, but not enough to blot out the reflection of the creature's eyes. They flared now, like twins of leaping fire, redder than a slick of frozen gore.
At dawn, a large boat sailed across the wide blue ocean. An elderly man watched from the front, searching for a land to call home. He may have his family with him, but he has lost everything: his home, clothes, riches, even his close friends. Yet, he wasn't sad about it. He looked back and saw animals, a pair each, pondering on why they were on a boat instead of being in the wild where they belong. None of them urges to take a bite from each other. The man turned his head as the sun glistened in the clear blue eye, warming the boat and its inhabitants.
A new age has begun.