Prologue
Wild hair whipping about, the office clerk ripped the drawers out of the desk with a loud bang. The contents were dumped onto the usually pristine counter in a frenzy.
“Verdammt! Damn it! Pen, pen I need a pen!’ .
The room was in disarray, tidy workspaces left in shambles, ergonomic chairs upturned and left askew as the other workers had deserted their posts in a blind panic.
“I must write it down before I forget! I must remember before it’s too late!” Amid the piles of office supplies and papers strewn across the desk, was a single blue capped pen, “Ach, I see you there peeking out from under the… the… irgendwas, the… something or other… See? I can’t even remember what that blöd thing is and I use it every day!” The office worker wrenched the pen out from under the printer, yanking the stack of paper that hung out of the back, and slamming the pile of white sheets on the desk. As the pen swept desperately across the first page, the clerk scribbled fleetinng thoughts in an effort to impart the truth before it was too late. Knowledge of all that was and all that had happened was already fading into a murky grey of nothingness.
‘I am documenting this as my memory fades so that I will know and can tell others what happened to our world:
By A.D. 2125, global warming had reached its zenith. Coastal cities worldwide were inundated by a rapidly rising tide line. Countries around the world began the struggle for land and life —fighting for our very existence. Government rose up against government, country invaded country, and neighbour fought against neighbour. Any remaining human unity was swept aside in the blinking of an eye. The Land War of 2125 began with the cries of the dying. The first official act of war was Japan’s abrupt exodus and invasion of China. After that, it is all a blur, but I remember it was a dark time.
Far above the struggles of our world, the heavens aligned and a long string of planets formed a celestial bridge to our world.
Dubbed the Advent Herald Conjunction, this planetary alignment shattered the illusion that we were only life in the universe. As the sun rose on Europe, the nations ceased their warring, bickering, and disputes and turned their attention to a new development. A mysterious continent now stood in the Atlantic, off the coast of France and Britain.
Atlantis had returned from beyond the stars to the world of man. Absent for more than three millennia, the Atlanteans offered to help mankind in our most desperate hour.
Proclaiming themselves the progenitors of the human race, they freely offered their vast wisdom, medicine, and sustainable crystal energy. Atlantis sent advisors around the globe, offering advice in resource management, politics, economy, and well-being. We believed we had been saved. Our desperate world leaders gladly accepted aid from our antediluvian ancestors.
The Atlanteans gave us a vague reason as to their absence, and where they had been, I can’t remember what it was… and it is unimportant so I must continue the story. They did not say why they had gone or why they had returned; only that we were blessed that they had arrived in man’s time of greatest need.
To stabilize the planet and push back the rising tides, the Atlanteans offered a solution. They would need to use our nuclear fusion technology, because they had depleted their energies in transitioning back to Earth. They would use it to change the earth’s environment and stabilize the polar caps.
We had no way of knowing what they truly intended and since the seas continued to rise, lapping at our heels and flooding our cities, we humans gathered in agreement and accepted their proposal. We had no idea that we had just left the frying pan for the fire. With the power of the atom now at their command, the Atlanteans opened a rift through space and time, allowing the return of the ancient deities back to the Earth.
The gods appeared throughout the world, returning to their respective lands. They were wroth at humankind’s abandonment of piety and reverence for them and began their tyranny.
“Worship us!” they demanded, “give us sacrifice, and submit yourselves.”
Against the advice of the Atlanteans, our now-panicked human governments launched an initial flurry of bombs at the gods, killing some lesser deities, and wounding others, but that was the worst move we could have made. At the first sign of retaliation the Atlanteans returned to their island home, abandoning us humans to our doomed war.
The War of the gods began. Poseidon raged, whipping the oceans into a frenzy, drowning the naval fleets, inundating shorelines, and submerging even more cities.
Zeus rained lighting from heaven, crushing the Greek armies, and destroying their land. Electrical systems were disrupted, cities were left in the dark, and planes fell from the sky.
Ra dropped fire from heaven, scorching Egypt. Missiles were launched, but he easily swatted these aside.
Shangdi appeared in the midst of China, slaying the people with sword and with magic.
Here in Deutschland we have surrendered to the might of Odin and Thor. Our German military was torn to pieces as a host of Asgardian warriors waded into the sea of soldiers shattering all resistance. Bullets were ineffective since the dead warriors of Valhalla rose again and fought on.
The oceans raged, the skies rained death, lightening, fire, and poison.
Desperate, we even turned to our remaining weapons of mass destruction. Destroying the land we had worked so hard to restore. But even this did not stop the inevitable.
Having depleted their arsenals, their people’s blood soaking the earth, and their armies devastated, the leaders of the Earth finally bent their collective knee, and surrendered.
That was today. It began this morning and now, as the sun is just beginning to set it is already over… and if I don’t hurry I won’t finish and there will be no hope of remembering.
As penance, knowledge of science and our past was to be stripped from the minds of every mortal. Advanced technologies are being taken and even now I feel my heart and mind being warped back to old ways of thinking and doing. The gods have vowed to tear up the earth and reshaped the world in their own image; they will plough over existing civilizations and remould the peoples into ancient races lost to time. Ancient Kingdoms and cultures will be reincarnated and even Elves, Dwarves, and mythological creatures will be reborn.
No more will man self-govern, and all will bow to the rule of the gods. The first of the gods’ edicts have been given and blaze in our minds like lightning:
The first rule ~ Obey your gods.
The second rule ~ It is forbidden to kill a god.
The third rule ~ A king is vessel of the gods,
and therefore inviolate.’
Straightening up from writing, hand cramped from the effort, the clerk’s eyes cast about for a place to hide the papers. Across the room, the office worker spied a white box with blue numbers flashing 00:00. Running over to it, the worker yanked the door open to find a circular glass plate on a rotator.
“What is this?” the befuddled clerk asked out loud. “Useless! I need a safe place and this stück müll won’t protect anything.” Turning around and around, the worker searched, but nothing suitable presented itself. Tears began to flow, the office had become an alien landscape of unknowns and uncertainty. Running out into the hallway the clerk dashed into the next room. A maze of cubicles and tables, flat boxes with glass or plastic fronts blinked with a myriad of nonsensical patterns.
“No, no!” the office worker cried out, choking on phlem and emotion, shoulders wracked with sobs, “I don’t remember. No, not yet. Hold on!” Eyes cast about until the clerk’s eyes settled on a safe and an inkling of recognition floated to the forefront. “Okay, okay, hurry, mach schnell. Key, key, find a key!” Near the safe was a body, wrists slit and skin pasty white. A hurried search produced a ring with a handful of keys. Hands shaking uncontrollably, the office worker tried each one in succession, until the safe popped open.
Worship us! Submit! Forget! —Like an over-amplified loudspeaker these thoughts washed consciousness and memory out of the clerk’s mind like a tidal wave sucking sand off the beach and into it’s roaring mouth.
“But, I’m an Atheist,” the worker shouted back, dazedly looking around the room trying to remember what was to be done.
Another blast of thought, like shimmering poetry slammed into the worker’s mind. “Heilir æsir! Hail to the gods!” Resolve and will waivered like the last flickering of a spent candle. Only the indefatigable purpose of the goal kept the office worker going. Already the overwhelming need to kneel and worship buckled the clerks’ knees causing the clerk to lurch sideways and collapsed against the counter. Shoving the papers inside the safe, the office worker slammed the door shut with the last of fading urgency.
Kneeling, face planted to the carpeted floor, overwhelmed with a sense of unworthiness the office worker began to weep and gave up any shred of memory still left.
You are to be called Dusty!—and with those words, all thoughts of a previous life, memory or understanding was obliterated.
“Hail, Odin! Hail Thor!” Dusty shouted in a jubilant mantra, grinning in an expression of delirious thankfulness.
