Strings Prolog

A world is ending somewhere. Not all is as it seems. This is just a first draft prolog I am working on. I will continue to edit it and fix the many errors.

Strings Prolog

Far across the plains of time and space a world is ending. This is the tale of that ending. On this world humanity prospered for longer than memories can tell. Humanity strove to carve out a path throughout the world and bind nature to its own will. It was a time of wonder, an industrial age. The sounds of metal clattering and clanging could be heard all along the city streets, bellowing clouds of smoke consumed the horizon and twisted the colors in the clouds, and even the lights of the sky had been captured and bent to humanity's own design. Humans pressed ever forward throughout their world. However humanity was not alone.

The immortal realm of spirits in turn exists by the mortal world's side. They are together in balance and in destiny. As humans were born into the mortal realm the gods had been born into the spirit realm. They became the weavers of divine fate and guided the mortal world into the next age. Humanity had long lived in the god's favor. Temples scattered the lands in every county and every nation. The gods truly payed little head to the dealings of mortals. However their presence was still ever looming. Unfortunately nothing stays the same for very long.

The gods and humans alike squabbled with amongst themselves. The two great empires Ormania and Vryisum turned the great continent Vrahos on its head. Hundreds of cities were stained red, rivers filled with mortal nightmares ran through the streets, and even great men rushed to their deaths in the chaos of war and pain. So to did the gods fight their own battles. Each one wanting something different for the future of humanity, and some caring not either way. However the gods where much more tame than humans, and they would never war amongst themselves. Instead they found solace in their own voices, the thrill of debate to guide them towards tomorrow. Even so this meant little progress for either side.

All the while this was allowed to continue the humans began to fall into a state of sadness and pain. On the continent of Vrahos the goddess Dolores grew especially powerful. The hundreds of thousands lost to the war weighed heavily upon the living. Dolores fed upon the sorrow and grief the living held. Her shrines sprouted across the land like the flowers of spring after a long winter. These were places to grieve for the lost and relieve the pain in the heart, however all that sorrow became Dolores's power. Soon she planed to enter the mortal world herself, a feat only Prometheus, god of knowledge, had ever accomplished. It was not in a god's nature to travel to the mortal world. They were so content with manipulating the strings of fate. You can see why Prometheus found it very odd when she approached him with questions of going to the mortal realm.

Prometheus sat day upon day in his palace of eternal sun in thought of the universe. Such was the fate of one so old and wise. He had given humanity all they needed of him and thus he felt his fate was over. His palace shone gold in the sun during the endless immortal days. The marble walls and clay vases basked in the ever warming eternal. This place was so strangely alien. This place remained static in time as part of its master's design. Only the shadows ever wavered, a reminder that with the eternal light would come eternal darkness. Prometheus had become one with this static world of his, unchanging and unending, a testament to the past and future.

In the palace of the eternal sun Dolores approached him hoping to find answers. “Prometheus”, she asked humbly with a bow, “I wish to inquire about how you set out to the mortal realm so many a year ago.”

“Thou doth takes such strange tones in my presence,” grumbled Prometheus, fire whisking from his breath, “ why do you ask such puzzling questions.”

“I merely wish to alleviate the pain of my followers. They have been trapped in such a bitter cycle of war and death. You did the same thing did you not?”

“Yes,” is voice hissed out in a quick motion like a candle suddenly going out.

“Please then do tell me the secrets of the Babylon.”

“Fool, Babylon has been unreachable since the last I had used it. Traveling to the mortal realm is not possible any longer.”

“Then could you at least show...”

“I refuse!” Prometheus shouted interrupting her. His voice pepper with flames. “I will not allow you to upset the balance any further than you have already! Both worlds shall lead a path to bitterness if you continue with this.” He looked deeply at Dolores and pondered at her questioning. “I see only selfish desire in your eyes.” And with that Dolores storm out of the palace of eternal sun.

She continued to scour the land in hopes of finding Babylon, the gate of god, which linked the realms mortal and immortal. Eventually she came to her home the sea of sorrows. However she found something unfamiliar waiting there for her. It was Janus, a god of change, his face appeared twisted and strange always in flux with itself. One could not tell where his body began and ending. It was as if his body couldn't decide whether to become solid or liquid.

“Greets my lady.” Janus greeted her. His appearance suddenly changed to meet hers. His face became like a sculpture and his smile beamed at her with a fierce intensity. His gray clay skin became dark under the clouds above.

“What is it you have come here for? I am very busy as of late and do not have time for petty squabbles.”

“Oh, but I thought you where looking for something,” he said in a cynical smile.

“So you have been speaking to Prometheus?”

“I speak to everyone. It is in my nature,” he stated with his smile still ever beaming. “I myself may be able to help in your search.”

“Why would someone like you help me? What is it you want?”

“Oh, you misunderstand. I want nothing more than to see you join the mortal world.”

“Then what is it you have for me? No tricks will work with me. Speak up or I will cut you down where you stand.”

“Oh, no tricks. Not with you anyway.” That smile again. It was strangely alien. However Dolores was intrigued at his words so she didn't turn him way. “I happen to have within my possession the working Babylon. It is yours to use as you see fit.”

“Why would you do something like this?”

“I merely wish to see the world squirm.” His voice was cold. Truly he was some kind of madman to take pleasure in the pain of the mortal world. “I desire change within both worlds and this will be the fastest way to do it. Do you understand?”

“Then why not use Babylon yourself?”

“I cannot be in two places at the same time.”

“You sound like you are manipulating me.”

“I am.”

“Very well, take me to Babylon then.” Janus turned around and began to walk away back towards his own home with Dolores following. “There is no turning back you got that.”

“I think I know that better than anyone,” Janus said with his smile still beaming.

Eventually the came upon Janus's home the labyrinthine fortress of spirals. The walls themselves seemed to curve and twist. This place was a maze of complex tunnels, rooms, and halls. It was a strange sight to see the jumble of architecture here. It was almost as his Janus had arranged himself a puzzle, but each piece came from a different set without rhyme or reason. Sometimes halls even began to move and spirals sprung from the floor to form new walls. Eventually they reached Janus's sanctuary. “Here it is,” Janus said, “my sanctuary.”

“Where is Babylon?”

“Patience my dear. Babylon is still sleeping.”

“What does you mean by this! Surely this is trickery!” But then something stirred in the sanctuary. Out of the darkness a pool of water lit up and with it the sanctuary came into view. The neon blue lights from the pool shown across the walls. The room was a freakish collection of spiraling plants and rocks. Ancient trees and stones where twisted by Janus's power. Everything was in motion, constantly flowing onwards. It was very fitting for one such as Janus.

“Ah, it is awake. How fares you Babylon?” The only sounds that were to be heard where the plants and rocks twisting around themselves. It was like a never ending dance, both entwined endlessly. “Its ready for you. Babylon has been waiting for so long.”

“What is this...,” but before she could say another word she had fallen through the floor. Everything fell away until nothing was left, only the void remained. It was like glimpsing the moment of creation. Dolores fell into a long sleep.

Then she woke up, a mere ghost in the mortal world. There in her own shrine on the sea-line of Vrahos she stood, completely entranced in the mortal world. She had heard feelings and prayers of the people but never seen anything of the mortal world. It was a fleeting beauty that touched everything, and as it faded another beauty came to take its place. She could of stayed at this shore forever lost in the scenery, but forever is a very long time. Everyone has things they must do and she was no different. Even reduced to a specter her goals where still right in front of her. In this moment the world truly was her own.

“May Dolores guide my lost husband into the afterlife peaceful, and may she dry his tears for all his sorrows,” a young woman said. In her small grieving state she was barely noticeable. Tears balled up in her eyes as she thought of her beloved, lost in a sea of war and pain.

“I'm afraid I don't do such things,” Dolores whispered softly. She knew no one could hear her, those words were more for herself than anyone else. Then she gracefully placed her hands on the young woman's temples. “Allow me to end your grief.” With those words the woman fell and crumpled into a lifeless husk. She grew cold on the wet ground by the ocean. Then somehow red returned to her cheeks. “Fear not your body shale become my vessel and your image will live eternally on in this life as in the next.”

Then somehow she began to cry. All the sadness and pain of the mortal world bunched up inside of her, all that power she had stored across the aeons came rushing out. Her tears became a torrent and soon the coast was swallowed up by the sea. It is only fitting that the world be consumed in its own sadness, thought Dolores, once this world is flooded it will be mine and I will replace these pitiable humans with creatures of my own design! This is how the ending of the world begins.