World War

A story that talks about a world war between five different civilizations. This borrows from Duel Masters, a Japanese card game that was, once a upon a time, interesting to me.

World War

 

This story chronicles the great war that tore across the island of Zephyr, the five Civilizations that fought it, and its eventual conclusion.

 

In the beginning, when beings of great power first came to the island of Zephyr, they each chose one of five elements they would represent, and from which their underlings would be birthed. The elements were: Water, that which heals; Light, that which illuminates; Darkness, that which enshrouds; Nature, that which protects; and Fire, that which consumes.

 

These beings, taking on not only the properties of their chosen elements but the enmity that ran with them, began fighting, and buried half the island with their combined might. Each realizing their powers were too evenly matched, they left to their own specialized locales, with one exception. The being of Light retreated to the skies. The being of Water retreated to the seas. The being of Nature retreated to the jungles. The being of Darkness retreated underground. However, the being of Fire, being naturally angry and vengeful, could never find a true home, and instead wandered the destroyed half of the island, seething with anger and pained by the lack of things upon which to exert it.

 

Millenia later, the original beings had begun to fade, yet still harbored hostility against each other. So, they began creating spawn that behaved in the manner of their chosen elements. These spawn were meant to combat the others; however, the beings had fully departed this world before they had set the proper guidelines of creation, and so their spawn bred rampantly and new, unusual hybrids appeared across the island. Among these were the Dragonoids, members of the Fire Civilization that had been evolved from small lizards and now ranged in size from six feet to sixty, and the Leviathans, massive creatures of the Water Civilization that appeared in the guise of whales and massive sharks, and were undeniably the largest creatures on the island.

 

The Nature Civilization was the first to begin an assault, being natural planners (and breeders). They launched a simultaneous assault on the Water, Fire and Darkness Civilizations, being as of yet unsure how to even reach the Light Civlization. The Nature warriors were burned easily by their Fire counterparts, and they withered in the darkness of the tunnels underground, but they were greatly successful in their Water attack, and they took the first of the Water Civilization's three great cities. Unfortunately for the Nature Civilization, the Fire Civilization had decided to make Nature their first target, and instead of dividing their forces poured them into the Nature Civilization's hub city. Routed and dismayed, the Nature folk fell back to the deeper jungles.

 

The Light Civilization, as of then exempt from the hostilities, chose that point to make their assault. They attacked the Fire and Darkness Civilizations. The Fire Civilization's outright brutality and sheer firepower was not as effective on the Light Civilization as it was against Nature, and the Fire Civilization's lumbering juggernauts were unaffected by the Light Civilization's weaponry, so they were evenly matched. On the other front, the Darkness Civilization were outraged at the bringing of light to their sacredly black halls, and so they fought back with all their might, bewildering the Light Civilization with the creeping horrors the darkness bred. It seemed the Light had lost, but unbeknownst to either the Light or the Darkness, the Water Civilization had found their way into the natural wells and springs underneath the Darkness tunnels and flooded their halls, destroying many of their forces. Both the Light and the Darkness decided to retreat.

 

When Fire Civilization messengers reached the invading party of the Nature jungles with the news that the Light Civilization was attacking, they were outraged and fell back to their battlefield homelands. Although the Light had managed to hold their own for a time, the combined firepower of the collective Fire nation was too much, and the Light forces were destroyed. At the same time, the movement of the Fire forces from the Nature jungles allowed the Nature folk to regroup and, with flying beasts and the regular soldiers that mounted them, they mounted the first attack upon the Light Civilization. It was a strange battle, filled with blasts of light and the screeches of massive birds of prey, but eventually the Light Civilization pushed back their invaders and sent them spiraling back to earth.

 

Meanwhile, the Water Civilization, realizing it was somewhat outmatched by the primitve savagery of the Nature Civilization, approached the Nature Civilization and proposed a pact. The Water Folk would serve the Nature Civilization for a time, and in return they would become allies in the war. The Nature Civilization agreed, and both began making plans to assault the Fire Civilization.

 

When Fire scouts returned to their civilization with news of the Water and Nature Civilizations assembling a menagerie of different forces in the direction of the Fire Civilization, the Fire folk decided they too must seek allies, and so approached a known Darkness Civilization hub. With cautious optimism, the Fire forces suggested an alliance. It was found that both civilizations had much in common as regards battlefield tactics and the brutality with which to fight, and they too became friends. When the subject of whom to assault came up, a unanimous decision was reached: the Water and Nature civilizations would be their first targets.

 

The four civilizations advanced towards each other, the Water and Darkness Civilizations both moving underground, each pair not knowing of the other. When they met, they were surprised, to say the least.

 

The four civilizations launched into furious attacks, the Water and Darkness Civilizations battering at each other viciously, the Fire and Nature Civilizations blasting each other with their own specialized attacks. The Water Civilization tried once again to flood the Darkness tunnels, and in return the Darkness Civilization poisoned the water with their own brand of germ, a violent parasite that, despite its small size of less than half an inch long, could devour a regular Water fighter in less than ten minutes. Release thousands of them into the water, and you could imagine the effect.

 

Meanwhile, the battle above ground was not going well for the Nature Civilizations. The Fire Civilization had effectively batted aside their best warriors with the advantage of technology and raw firepower and was, quite litreally, annihalating them. The Fire casualties were less than twenty; the Nature casulaties numbered in the thousands. Their flying beasts were blasted out of the sky by the Fire Civilizations' cannons; their foot soldiers were simply burned. A Dragonoid flew above the battlefield, torching the ground below. A victory chant was sung among the Fire ranks.

 

Then all hell broke loose.

 

The Light Civilization had chosen this moment to make their attack, blasting the Fire Civilization with light so intense that even the Fire soldiers heat-resistant skin crisped and burned. At the same time, the Water fighters, desperate to escape the germ that gnawed at their skin, punched through the ground directly underneath the Fire Civilization. Burned and drowned, the Fire Civilization was momentarily disheartened, but they regrouped and sent their Dragonoids to fight the Light soldiers. At the same time, they reduced the water underneath them to steam and gave the Water Civilization a roasting for their troubles. Facing the angry flames of the Fire Civilization on one side and the vicious parasite of the Darkness Civilization on the other, they had no choice but to call on the Leviathans.

 

The Nature Civilization took advantage of this distraction and launched a frantic assault on the Fire Civilization's flank. Angered by this attack, the Fire Civilization concentrated their collective firepower on the Nature Civilization. They desperately attempted to shield themselves, but to no avail; whatever the Nature Civilization hid behind was reduced to ashes in moments. No Nature soldier was left alive.

 

And then the Leviathans arrived.

 

A large, sharklike Leviathan burst through the ground and eliminated twenty Fire soldiers in one bite, diving back into the ground when it had finished its jump. Its skin was covered with parasites, but they could not find any way to tear the thick skin of the Leviathans. At the same time, the Light Civilization finished off the rest of the Dragonoids and hit the Fire Civilization once again, torching their lesser fighters and blistering the greater ones. It was only the timely intervention of the Darkness Civilization that saved the Fire forces from being wiped out.

 

A deafening roar was heard.

 

Now, naturally the Darkness Civilization does not like light, and will go to great lengths to avoid contact. Light does not physically harm them, but it greatly interferes with their peace of mind and jumbles their thoughts, making them unpredictable and perhaps even harmful to themselves. However, at times of great need, the Darkness Civilization does indeed venture aboveground, causing great damage to their enemies. This was one of those times.

 

A massive tiger, with a body composed of smaller ones fused grotesquely together and arms and claws of pure bone, burst above ground and roared even louder this time, shaking its head with disorientation. Other creatures crawled out of the hole the tiger had made; they were smaller, but no less terrifying. They ranged from creatures seemingly created purely out of bonded flesh and cracked bone to humanoid creatures holding bloody swords and spears and growling menacingly. The smaller creatures wasted no time in jumping onto their Nature Civilization, ripping them apart and sometimes quite literally sucking the life out of them.

 

Batlike creatures were mounted by some of the humanoid Darkness soldiers and sent into the skies to distract the Light Civilization. At the same time, the gigantic Darkness tiger let loose a massive beam of purple energy from its mouth and decimated the remainder of the Nature Civilization. The sharklike Leviathan attempted to make another leap, but the most powerful creature of the Fire Civilization, a huge, flightless Dragonoid with cannons for arms and armor placed at strategic places along his body, stopped that thought. As the Leviathan was flying through the air, the Dragonoid caught it, slammed it down upon the ground, and crushed its head underneath its massive foot. The other Leviathans were dispatched in a similar manner, with even the smaller creatures joining in.

 

The bat-things of the Darkness Civilization had done a good job of disrupting and injuring the Light Civilization, but the Light was not to be denied, and so flew back towards earth, intending to blast the Fire and Darkness Civilizations and destroy them once and for all. The Dragonoid and tiger communicated with their underlings and instructed them to direct their fire at the sky.

 

The results were brutal.

 

With the help of the masters of their civilizations, the Fire and Darkness soldiers projected beams and blasts of fire and pure darkness at the onrushing attackers, picking them off like flies. The birds, beasts and other beings of the Light Civilization crashed to earth, and each time one died, clouds covered a little bit more of the sun.

 

Eventually the Light Civilization was destroyed, along with the Nature and Water. The trees had died, the water was gone, and the sun was obscured behind mile-thick clouds. Darkness enveloped the land, and magma bubbled in the volcanoes, but there were no other signs of life.

 

Now, the Darkness Civilization would have been perfectly content to retire to their tunnels as co-rulers of the island, but the Fire Civilization had no such ideas. They had intended to betray their allies from the start, and so they did. The Dragonoid annihalated the Darkness minions, and so the tiger destroyed the Fire minions. Both of them were enraged, and so they leapt upon each other, tearing and slashing wildly. The Dragonoid blew out the tiger's heart just as the tiger tore out the Dragonoid's jugular.

 

And so the volcanoes died, and darkness retreated. There was nothing left on the island of Zephyr. It was blank. No light and no darkness, no fire and no water, and most certainly no nature. Nothing. Except...

 

One last Nature soldier crawled, fatally wounded, along the battlefield that he once called home. The lower half of his body had been removed, and the blood that he trailed was the finishing touch on the masterpiece that was this destroyed island.

 

Those of the Nature Civilization have the ability to give up their lives to create pure nature equivalent to their life force. This is what this Nature Civilization soldier did. He had only enough life force to create one small, yet bright, flower. But with this, he brought back an island.

 

Nothing can exist in this universe without something with which to compare. You cannot say something is bright without the darkness to judge it against, just as you cannot say something is hot without the cold to accompany it. And so the nature came back to the island, as did the water, the fire, the light and, yes, the darkness. But they were no longer so angry, and learned to live in peace with one another. And that, my friends, is the conclusion to this story: the war that racked the island of Zephyr, its conclusion, and its eventual victors: everyone.

 

END

Author's Note

It's quite long, but it's worth the read, in my opinion. What do you guys think?