A.R.

The year is 436 A.R... A.R. meaning "After Revelations." My name is Kali; I am the leader of the New Egypt Faction, the most powerful Faction in the New World today with just over one million followers. I guess you can call me the New World Moses; my people look to me for direction and understanding. I am also the father of two sons whom I love deeply. As a leader, it is sad to say that other than my boys, with their innocence and inexperience, I despise the world as it is today.

Things are very different in the future. Some say life is excellent others have a different opinion. I often hear stories of how the old days were. The days before Revelations. When Man ruled the Earth. For you to truly understand my people and me, you must first understand New World history. You see, it is written, at around the turn of the century that a president by the name of George W. Bush led his country to war. He manipulated the masses by stating it was a war against terror, and his conflict was justified to end terrorism. He pushed his war machine first through Afghanistan, then through Iraq. Claiming he was hunting for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), but as the years progressed, no WMDs were found, and the only terror troubling Earth at the time was Bush himself. Bush captured Afghanistan, then Iraq. He became even more greedy for power and then tried to conquer the world. Bush made it so uncomfortable for his brothers to the north and south that they were forced to join his alliance or be destroyed by his war machine. The rest of the world was against Bush and his Americans. They were determined to see that they were pushed out of power, and his territories split between them. Historical writings of this occurrence claim this to be the longest war ever to be waged in old world history. Most Americas hated Bush and the war crimes he committed against the rest of the world. On the other hand, because most Americans were so self-absorbed and blinded by material things, most didn't even care what Bush was doing. Others were so brainwashed by a box called television it didn't matter to them more or less.

Through the years, the war had many different names. First, it was deemed World War III, but as the years grew longer, the destruction and the carnage of the war grew worse, the name "Revelations" stuck. The world population plummeted to the tens of millions. Every city in the old world lay in ruins; bodies, pieces of bodies riddled the streets, fires burned uncontrollably. The people of the ancient world were living in destruction. Some believed that God himself was walking the Earth. It isn't clear what triggered the holocaust, but Man had reached the point of self-destruction. Nuclear weapons were released from every country that had the technology. The people of the old world believed that atomic weapons would harm the Earth and its atmosphere. The effect was just the opposite. Within the immediate blast, there was destruction. Only the tallest buildings were left standing. Radiation plagued the Earth and killed massive amounts of humans but had a different effect on the plant and animal life of the old world. The human population was desecrated and went from the millions to the tens of thousands. Whoever didn't perish from the immediate blast and the radiation famine took. Year after year went by after a century of starvation and disease. The remaining humans fled to the ruined cities for shelter and companionship.

This was the birth of factions. A faction comprises a leader, who was generally the most brilliant and most robust. They built 100-foot walls to protect themselves from the New World. A world that was now controlled by beast. The effects the nuclear holocaust had on the plant and animal life of the old world was unimaginable; the transformation was described as God-like. Over time animals began to grow 25 to 50% larger than their old-world forms. Plants grew in the same manner. After Revelations, the world was returned to the beast, and man had to either adapt or be wiped out completely.

We have rebuilt the cities and created life and new hope from where there was once none. We were able to save and enhance the technology of the old world. Old skyscrapers were converted into living quarters, and their rooftops serve as a lookout post. It doesn't happen often, but the perimeter walls sometimes are breached by a beast from outside the city walls. When that happens, the Faction goes on high alert, and a special task force is released to deal with the creature before it destroys the city. Within these walls, we are imprisoned. Unable to venture out and see the rest of the world because of how unsafe it has become. New Egypt is all we know. Some have tried to venture beyond the walls only to never return; indeed, the beast had their way with them. Legend says there are hundreds of other factions; I only know of three. Our only means of communication are through old television stations and radio towers. Where we have converted old studios to communications centers. There is really no way of knowing for sure who else is out there. This is the reality we live in today. My only reminder of the old world is incased within this golden locket I keep around my neck passed down from generations past.

New Egypt is beautiful; our advances in technology have allowed us to not depend on oil and other raw materials of the old world. Instead, we have learned to harness the sun and use its power for all our needs. From the lighting of our city to our hovering vehicles. All done pollution-free. All done within these walls.