Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize from an official anime, TV show,
comic, book, video game, movie, cartoon, card game, or manga. Anything else
nobody recognizes except from one of my other works is owned by me. I can't
tell everything that I don't own specifically because that would be a list
longer than this here prologue.
~~
Imagine, if you will, a world very similar to our own. Many historical events are identical, many people are the same. But some things are vastly different.
While the theories of plate tectonics are correct, modern day scientists have their timetables all wrong. The current places of the continental plates was not achieved after millions of years. No, it was all done in less than a thousand years. The people of Atlantis were selfish and arrogant, thinking themselves better than the rest of the world. So they used their unbelievable power of magic and caused the continental plates to break and shift. In little over four hundred years, the continents were where they are today, relatively speaking.
Years went by and Atlantis sank, just as the myths say, roughly twelve thousand years ago. From its ashes rose the Clans, created from the various castes that ruled Atlantis. The Eldryn were once the nobility of Atlantis. The Atalantari were the commoners and craftsmen of Atlantis. The Clan Green was made up of the former scientists, wizards, sorcerers, sages, philosophers, and others of great learning of Atlantis. These three Clans were the Great Clans, and they ruled the Earth.
Then, roughly six thousand years ago, a great and terrible army swept across the land of the Clans. No one knows where this Horde came from, but it is speculated that it had something to do with the fall of Atlantis.
Only five people survived the destruction of the Clans. And even then they did not truly survive. They were slain in battle, but they were reborn as Immortals. They would live forever, dying only to be brought back to life as long as their head was not severed from their shoulders. The five young ones went out among the world, hiding what they were and casually manipulating events for the better good.
Now, six thousand years after the destruction of the Clans, great evil once again looms over the horizon. But this time, it does not only threaten the Earth, but it threatens the entire universe and the very fabric of reality. And only a handful of people hold the key to the salvation of all free people.
~September 24th, 2001 AD~
A young man, looking to be about 18 years old, walks through the drizzle towards an old building. It didn't look like much, but it was for sale. After walking inside and inspecting the building, particularly the large cave system beneath it that the owner's did not know about, he bought the property. Enough land to open a theme park. The building was large, nearly thirty stories tall, and it would be unimaginably deep after he was done with it.
Raising his right wrist, he types in some digits on the cell phone part of his multi-use watch, made by Microsoft.
"Hello? I would like for you to put an ad in the paper. Rooms for rent, reasonable pricing."
He gave the person on the other end a name to ask for and a phone number to call. Within a few days, things would be set up. The people within whom the magic event lines, the ki lines, flowed would be drawn to this place, where he would soon be overlapping the event lines so tightly that only a few would be able to move them if it was ever needed.
With a sigh, the young man turns to face his work. The building was run- down, yet still in almost impeccable shape. The structural support was sturdy, and soon nothing short of a earthquake capable of leveling a city on the other side of the world would be able to shake its foundations.
Rolling up his sleeves, the person goes to work, magical energy arcing around his body as he subtly changes the building to suit his needs. Oh yes, this place would do nicely. It would serve as a nice place to host the Gathering.
~On the other side of the world~
An attractive young woman with blonde hair and startling blue-green eyes is trekking through a jungle to an old temple. It had been nearly five hundred years since she had last been here. She was surprised that it took her this long to remember that she left a pendant here that she would need someday. She could have flown, or teleported, or just opened a rip in Space and Time and walked through it, but nothing left the satisfaction of traveling on foot. Too bad she had started in England and the temple was in the Congo, hidden from prying eyes.
Taking a moment to incinerate a highly venomous snake with a ball of magic fire, she stops to take in her surroundings. Confound it! She had taken a wrong turn back at the waterfall. Oh well. The dip in the cool water had been refreshing, even if she had ended up taking flight to avoid a few of the waters more predatory inhabitants.
With a sigh, she turns around and heads back to the waterfall. She had a lot of ground to cover. After all, she still had nearly a thousand miles to go, and that was if she took the direct route.
Which she wouldn't. She never did anything the easy way. She just hoped that she made it back in time for the Gathering.
~The Vatican City~
After living among the Knight Templar for a decade, a young man is finally going out and about in the world. The Knight Templar were a nice bunch, but they were too serious about their faith, even for a young man who had dedicated the last two millennia in the service of the Christian God. Of course, things had really changed from the persecution at the hands of the Romans to it becoming the central religion and creating the Holy Roman Empire.
With the use of some disguise implements, he had managed to make them think he had aged within that decade. Not that he had, that is. Nothing could age him short of some very powerful magic, and then he would slowly revert to his current physical age. If he became his chronological age, he'd become dust. Or maybe a fossil, but most likely dust.
Checking to make sure that the sword he carried away as a sign of his service as a Knight Templar, blessed by the Pope himself,was still on his waist, he goes on his trek to find the place of the Gathering. Ten years out of The Game was nice, but no one could run from it forever.
~In a small shrine in Thailand~
After living here for twenty years, the young man had developed a kinship with the monks. It pained him that they were slaughtered by marauders while he was away on a trip to a city for supplies. Now he was tracking the killers to make them pay for what they had done. He was glad that he had decided to stay another week before heading to the place of the Gathering. If he had left when he had planned to, then he wouldn't have been able to avenge the peaceful monks.
The group of marauders was not large, at least not compared to some that he had faced. Maybe thirty men, all heavily armed with various handguns, knives, and various older weapons such as swords and spears. One guy, possibly the leader, carried a semi-automatic and a glaive.
Then he feels it. The same old feeling that he got whenever another one of his kind was around. Through the years, he had been able to perfect this talent to determine the Immortal's exact location.
It was the guy with the glaive.
And the guy knew someone was about, but not where. He orders two big men to go out and look. The stalker slays them effortlessly and then begins his systematic work of the entire marauder camp.
Within the space of five minutes, all but the other Immortal is dead. Drawing his sword, the young stalker goes on to finish the fight and take the head of the evil beast who would slaughter the defenseless monks.
~Somewhere in Mexico~
A young woman, possibly no older than 13 by physical appearance, steps out of the bar where she had just finished a brawl. Nearly twenty drunks all coming after her either to kill her or do other things to her, and she had taken them all down without much difficulty. Using a disguise spell, she disguises herself as a woman of about six years more in age. In fact, it would be how she would look if she were allowed to age six years.
But no, the participants in The Game could not age. The Game had to take place over the course of millennia so its participants had to be Immortal and ageless. She hops onto her motorcycle, a birthday gift from one of her brother's back in the Thirties, and takes off, heading north. After all, she couldn't be late for the Gathering.
~Unknown~
He watches the Earth and all that transpires from his place in Purgatory, an offshoot of Limbo. These Five had escaped him six thousand years ago. Their ancestors had escaped him twelve thousand years ago. And now these children would fall at his hand once again. Only this time, they would not return to life.
And it looked like he had some allies in taking on the oldest and strongest of these five.
Bearing an unfounded hatred, he stalks the eldest of the Five with a passion unlike any other hunter could possess. Yes, he would be most useful.
Born of a Dark Quickening, he had somehow been spared the fate of the loser of a Dark Quickening Battle Within. He had become a corporeal, able to fight and kill. And hunt. He hunted his other self, the one who was Chosen by the Power of Silver to lead the fight against Evil itself. Little did he know that there were others like him who would instantly take up his quest the moment he died or no longer continued his quest. And the former would likely happen before the latter.
A warrior, strong and noble, possessing a power foreign and dangerous to all, he hunts the Chosen One. His mighty sword ready to cleave his foes in half, he seeks to destroy all who serve Good. And he would start by eliminating the foremost Warrior of Good, the Chosen One of AMC.
A Master Assassin, bearing the power to steal the bodies of others for himself and send their souls on to their final resting place. He fights for money or his own reasons, whichever take precedence in each new job. He would fight the Chosen One of AMC, but only because the Chosen One would seek out to destroy him when he learned of how he gained power.
Many people were drawn by the ki lines and the event lines to the location known as AMC City. It was technically part of the United States, in the state of Tennessee, but people merely called it AMC City, even when writing letters. People the world over knew of it. The city rebuilt upon the accidental atomic destruction of the city that used to be there.
Yes, the time of the Gathering was upon the world. A Gathering not only of Immortals, but of others. It was a sign of the Endtimes, the time when Good and Evil face each other in their final struggles.
~~
Well, how was that start? Not my best, I'll admit, but its good enough. Please review. This story is my pride and joy and I really want to learn what others think of it.
~~
Imagine, if you will, a world very similar to our own. Many historical events are identical, many people are the same. But some things are vastly different.
While the theories of plate tectonics are correct, modern day scientists have their timetables all wrong. The current places of the continental plates was not achieved after millions of years. No, it was all done in less than a thousand years. The people of Atlantis were selfish and arrogant, thinking themselves better than the rest of the world. So they used their unbelievable power of magic and caused the continental plates to break and shift. In little over four hundred years, the continents were where they are today, relatively speaking.
Years went by and Atlantis sank, just as the myths say, roughly twelve thousand years ago. From its ashes rose the Clans, created from the various castes that ruled Atlantis. The Eldryn were once the nobility of Atlantis. The Atalantari were the commoners and craftsmen of Atlantis. The Clan Green was made up of the former scientists, wizards, sorcerers, sages, philosophers, and others of great learning of Atlantis. These three Clans were the Great Clans, and they ruled the Earth.
Then, roughly six thousand years ago, a great and terrible army swept across the land of the Clans. No one knows where this Horde came from, but it is speculated that it had something to do with the fall of Atlantis.
Only five people survived the destruction of the Clans. And even then they did not truly survive. They were slain in battle, but they were reborn as Immortals. They would live forever, dying only to be brought back to life as long as their head was not severed from their shoulders. The five young ones went out among the world, hiding what they were and casually manipulating events for the better good.
Now, six thousand years after the destruction of the Clans, great evil once again looms over the horizon. But this time, it does not only threaten the Earth, but it threatens the entire universe and the very fabric of reality. And only a handful of people hold the key to the salvation of all free people.
~September 24th, 2001 AD~
A young man, looking to be about 18 years old, walks through the drizzle towards an old building. It didn't look like much, but it was for sale. After walking inside and inspecting the building, particularly the large cave system beneath it that the owner's did not know about, he bought the property. Enough land to open a theme park. The building was large, nearly thirty stories tall, and it would be unimaginably deep after he was done with it.
Raising his right wrist, he types in some digits on the cell phone part of his multi-use watch, made by Microsoft.
"Hello? I would like for you to put an ad in the paper. Rooms for rent, reasonable pricing."
He gave the person on the other end a name to ask for and a phone number to call. Within a few days, things would be set up. The people within whom the magic event lines, the ki lines, flowed would be drawn to this place, where he would soon be overlapping the event lines so tightly that only a few would be able to move them if it was ever needed.
With a sigh, the young man turns to face his work. The building was run- down, yet still in almost impeccable shape. The structural support was sturdy, and soon nothing short of a earthquake capable of leveling a city on the other side of the world would be able to shake its foundations.
Rolling up his sleeves, the person goes to work, magical energy arcing around his body as he subtly changes the building to suit his needs. Oh yes, this place would do nicely. It would serve as a nice place to host the Gathering.
~On the other side of the world~
An attractive young woman with blonde hair and startling blue-green eyes is trekking through a jungle to an old temple. It had been nearly five hundred years since she had last been here. She was surprised that it took her this long to remember that she left a pendant here that she would need someday. She could have flown, or teleported, or just opened a rip in Space and Time and walked through it, but nothing left the satisfaction of traveling on foot. Too bad she had started in England and the temple was in the Congo, hidden from prying eyes.
Taking a moment to incinerate a highly venomous snake with a ball of magic fire, she stops to take in her surroundings. Confound it! She had taken a wrong turn back at the waterfall. Oh well. The dip in the cool water had been refreshing, even if she had ended up taking flight to avoid a few of the waters more predatory inhabitants.
With a sigh, she turns around and heads back to the waterfall. She had a lot of ground to cover. After all, she still had nearly a thousand miles to go, and that was if she took the direct route.
Which she wouldn't. She never did anything the easy way. She just hoped that she made it back in time for the Gathering.
~The Vatican City~
After living among the Knight Templar for a decade, a young man is finally going out and about in the world. The Knight Templar were a nice bunch, but they were too serious about their faith, even for a young man who had dedicated the last two millennia in the service of the Christian God. Of course, things had really changed from the persecution at the hands of the Romans to it becoming the central religion and creating the Holy Roman Empire.
With the use of some disguise implements, he had managed to make them think he had aged within that decade. Not that he had, that is. Nothing could age him short of some very powerful magic, and then he would slowly revert to his current physical age. If he became his chronological age, he'd become dust. Or maybe a fossil, but most likely dust.
Checking to make sure that the sword he carried away as a sign of his service as a Knight Templar, blessed by the Pope himself,was still on his waist, he goes on his trek to find the place of the Gathering. Ten years out of The Game was nice, but no one could run from it forever.
~In a small shrine in Thailand~
After living here for twenty years, the young man had developed a kinship with the monks. It pained him that they were slaughtered by marauders while he was away on a trip to a city for supplies. Now he was tracking the killers to make them pay for what they had done. He was glad that he had decided to stay another week before heading to the place of the Gathering. If he had left when he had planned to, then he wouldn't have been able to avenge the peaceful monks.
The group of marauders was not large, at least not compared to some that he had faced. Maybe thirty men, all heavily armed with various handguns, knives, and various older weapons such as swords and spears. One guy, possibly the leader, carried a semi-automatic and a glaive.
Then he feels it. The same old feeling that he got whenever another one of his kind was around. Through the years, he had been able to perfect this talent to determine the Immortal's exact location.
It was the guy with the glaive.
And the guy knew someone was about, but not where. He orders two big men to go out and look. The stalker slays them effortlessly and then begins his systematic work of the entire marauder camp.
Within the space of five minutes, all but the other Immortal is dead. Drawing his sword, the young stalker goes on to finish the fight and take the head of the evil beast who would slaughter the defenseless monks.
~Somewhere in Mexico~
A young woman, possibly no older than 13 by physical appearance, steps out of the bar where she had just finished a brawl. Nearly twenty drunks all coming after her either to kill her or do other things to her, and she had taken them all down without much difficulty. Using a disguise spell, she disguises herself as a woman of about six years more in age. In fact, it would be how she would look if she were allowed to age six years.
But no, the participants in The Game could not age. The Game had to take place over the course of millennia so its participants had to be Immortal and ageless. She hops onto her motorcycle, a birthday gift from one of her brother's back in the Thirties, and takes off, heading north. After all, she couldn't be late for the Gathering.
~Unknown~
He watches the Earth and all that transpires from his place in Purgatory, an offshoot of Limbo. These Five had escaped him six thousand years ago. Their ancestors had escaped him twelve thousand years ago. And now these children would fall at his hand once again. Only this time, they would not return to life.
And it looked like he had some allies in taking on the oldest and strongest of these five.
Bearing an unfounded hatred, he stalks the eldest of the Five with a passion unlike any other hunter could possess. Yes, he would be most useful.
Born of a Dark Quickening, he had somehow been spared the fate of the loser of a Dark Quickening Battle Within. He had become a corporeal, able to fight and kill. And hunt. He hunted his other self, the one who was Chosen by the Power of Silver to lead the fight against Evil itself. Little did he know that there were others like him who would instantly take up his quest the moment he died or no longer continued his quest. And the former would likely happen before the latter.
A warrior, strong and noble, possessing a power foreign and dangerous to all, he hunts the Chosen One. His mighty sword ready to cleave his foes in half, he seeks to destroy all who serve Good. And he would start by eliminating the foremost Warrior of Good, the Chosen One of AMC.
A Master Assassin, bearing the power to steal the bodies of others for himself and send their souls on to their final resting place. He fights for money or his own reasons, whichever take precedence in each new job. He would fight the Chosen One of AMC, but only because the Chosen One would seek out to destroy him when he learned of how he gained power.
Many people were drawn by the ki lines and the event lines to the location known as AMC City. It was technically part of the United States, in the state of Tennessee, but people merely called it AMC City, even when writing letters. People the world over knew of it. The city rebuilt upon the accidental atomic destruction of the city that used to be there.
Yes, the time of the Gathering was upon the world. A Gathering not only of Immortals, but of others. It was a sign of the Endtimes, the time when Good and Evil face each other in their final struggles.
~~
Well, how was that start? Not my best, I'll admit, but its good enough. Please review. This story is my pride and joy and I really want to learn what others think of it.
