02. PLOT

[GREED]

PLOT
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"imagine there's no heaven, and at once the sky's the limit." - Salman Rushdie

there has always been a difference between 'good' and 'evil' - concepts built by either 'humanity' or a 'divine' source. it has always been heaven and hell, angels and demons, the god and the fallen. and for millions and millions of years, a war unseen yet felt by mortal souls is waged between the greatest enemies in religious history.

however, everything should always come into an end, and so one day, the final battle between YHVH and lucifer commenced. it was so tremendous even those without the gift of the so-called 'sixth sense' could witness this duel. it went on for days and days, until all of a sudden -

nothing.

neither figure was to be found, and so the results of the match was unknown to all. however, this was nothing but the mere 'beginning' of the apocalypse.

all of a sudden, creatures only known in religion and supernatural tales started appearing throughout the world. these creatures have been, in fact, present in this world long before the humans, and most have been in hiding ever since. we call these creatures 'demons'.

everyone reacted differently to this phenomenon. some were more curious than afraid, others were downright suspicious. eventually someone started attacking the other race, eventually leading to panic, and in turn leading into conflict.

a world with no real sense of good and evil is a dangerous world. the disappearance of god took away the miracle of life, and so no being has been formed ever since that final battle. in the midst of chaos and warfare, species started to die out - any species that didn't end up being extinct had to adapt to the new and harsh environment, while some new species came into existence.

it took ten entire years for the conflict between humans and demons to settle down. but for how long this 'peace' will last? what happened to the leaders of the opposite armies and where are they now? too many questions leading to nowhere, or perhaps, to more destruction or could it be salvation?

no bright future remains in sight - are you still willing to walk the road of justice and light or perhaps you'll take the path to chaos and darkness?

[GREED]

TEN YEARS LATER
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Before I even start talking about this world, I'm going to talk a little bit about myself as awkward as that always is for me. For those that don't know me I'm Vanir. That's not my real name, but my real name's not important anymore. I'm a dual living in scenic middle of nowhere near Vanir's Crater. Some people call me a "brilliant scientist," though I'm not sure I would use that term, it's actually quite embarrassing. My field of expertise is biology, more specifically genetics. I have the ability to fly in my demon form, so I decided to explore a bit of what was left of our world and write this. I hope all of you reading it find it useful. Anyway, this book is dedicated to all those that persevere in this environment. I know it's hard and I hope this book will help you not only survive, but make your a little life better.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

01. Introduction
02. Nibiru
03. Agartha
04. Perdition
05. Garbhodaka
06. The Bay of Anostos
07. Keris
08. The Wasteland of Barzakh
09. The Gihon River
10. Vanir's Crater
11. Caucasus Mountains
12. Mount Elbrus
13. Eksitaja Forest
14. Blakulla Valley
15. Cockaigne
16. Babel Tower

Apologies. I have neither the artistic talent nor the proper materials to make a decent map.

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That is the land we all live on. It was affectionately dubbed "Crescent Island" because of the shape of the land that's actually somewhat inhabitable. While it is technically not an island it might as well be. No one's ever going to be able to cross the Caucasus. Even I couldn't do it, and I can fly. The mountains are infested with countless demons.

This was a much prettier place twelve years ago, but then God and Lucifer had their fight and everything changed. Even worse than that, whatever was separating this world from the abyss where the demons lived vanished and they started pouring into our world. Needless to say bad stuff happened. The entire shape of the world changed. People forgot the cities they were once from. Civilization collapsed. Plants mutated along with pert of population, new beings came into existence and war for supplies started in many places. Even now, ten years after the end of the battle and the demons invasion, there is no such thing as "civilization". Sometimes small groups of people band together, but for some reason people like being stupid and acting without the help of others. Things would be so much better if people would just grow half a brain and not kill each other, but this isn't supposed to be an opinion book, so I'll leave it at that.

Anyway, the water on Crescent Island is dirty and is probably full of nasty microbes and bacteria. I highly recommend purifying it before drinking it. It rarely rains, except for on the peaks of the Caucasus where it's almost always raining, so most of the plant life has died out and the ones that managed to survive were affected by nuclear radiation from dying power plants and missiles. Some of them now eat humans, demons or whatever they can get their grubby little roots on. Most animals are extinct as well, and some the few that have survived also suffer from bizarre mutations.

I highly recommend staying in one of the four cities, Garbhodaka, Perdition, Agartha or Nibiru. Even though people are still being ridiculous and they might rob you or try to eat you, you have a much higher chance of survival around others than you would on your own. If you wish to live alone like I have chosen do be prepared to fight ever day of your life. I guarantee that you will never get a good night's sleep.[/blockquote]