Rise of Cinder
In the Age of heroes many men were considered great, be it for the depth of their
accomplishments or honourable standing; these men no longer exist.
#1
Art was irritable – Although not an uncommon occurrence, it was not often to this degree. He
often found amusement in Benji’s rumblings, but as the sand dug into his toes and groyne
with every shake of the rusty old Military convoy, stuffing a sock down Benji’s throat became
increasingly more appealing.
“Enough already Benji, you haven’t stopped talking about seeing that girl of yours since we
last said our goodbyes to the colonel and got on this deathtrap” said Arthur.
As Art looked at his friend and felt him grow quieter a passing feeling of remorse swept
through him, the source of his anger was not Benji and Art was painfully aware of it. He had
been in a foul mood since his departure, since last speaking with the Colonel.
The Colonel was a rather unique individual. Art stood at nearly two metres in height, in
comparison the colonel was a thin man with small frame and stature, he looked to be in his
late 60’s, but it was hard to know for sure. The colonel had, for as long as anyone could
recall, sported a prominent white moustache that he curled at the ends with masterful
precision. He was never late, always clean and well groomed, and always mumbling to
himself. Art had heard many stories about the colonel, he was a rather hot topic in the
service regardless of what branch of the Military. That was because of a rather peculiar fact;
Despite being offered the position of General many times, he always turned it down. When
questioned by others he would always refuse to speak on the matter.
It was only many years after meeting the colonel, through a drunken confession beside the
campfire that Arthur found out why.
As a very competent military man, the Colonel had enjoyed a very quick rise through the
ranks, in fact, whenever he was up for a promotion he would always rise by two consecutive
ranks, not once in his entire career did he not exceed expectations. It was later in life, after
reaching the position of Colonel that he would save the country from a significant military
blunder, an accomplishment that should by all accounts have granted him a first class ticket
to the highest rank within the military, Great General. However, by saving the country he
would also cause embarrassment for many important figures within the government,
highlighting their incompetence for the entire world to see, such an affront would never be
forgiven. Given their knowledge of the Colonels' propensity for being eccentric, he was
forever denied the rank of Great General, he would never be able to achieve the highest
rank in the military and could not progress any further while maintaining the tradition he had
grown so accustomed with. So he chose to remain a colonel, preserving his dignity and
maintaining distance from the rank of General which would place him under the direct
service of the very ministers that had plotted against him.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
01:16 hrs /// 11/03/2124 /// British Isles - Great British Empire
As cold wet hands pressed against his cheeks a voice could be heard through the daze.
“Wake up Art, we’re here, we’re home mate!”
Arthur opened his eyes and was immediately greeted by the very familiar sound of crashing
waves and blazing sun despite the ever present trickling of rain. It had become so common
to see rain with no clouds under scorching heat that the sight was not strange but
welcoming. As the carrier helicopter landed on the top section of the wall separating the
crashing waves of the coast from the sprawling city underneath, Art could smell the salty
taste of dried fish and seaweed mixed with pollution. Much of the world regarded the scent of
New London as repugnant, but to Arthur, a street rat orphan who was never able to afford an
air filtration system for his home, if it can even be called that. No, to Arthur this was the smell
of victory, he no longer belonged to these rotten streets. In the end he even found his baby
sister and helped her too. It was not easy, suffering was often excessive, no one knows that
better than Arthur, none besides Clara…
“You’re daydreaming again Art, just can’t wait to go see your little sister han… what a great
big brother you ar — So keep in mind that I am your Captain Benjamin and your leave is
only 2 weeks, not forever”, said Arthur with narrow eyes. “Fine, fine, fine, sorry bossman – I
was just making a little joke, won’t happen again Captain jackass”. With narrow eyes Arthur
walked up to Benji, they wrapped their arms around each other in a tight hug and said their
goodbyes. The two friends were destined for different places for now.
Benjamin was not like Arthur, he was raised in the countryside heir to a prestigious family, by
all accounts the complete opposite of Arthur, making their friendship all the more unlikely;
and precision. Benji was an interesting fellow. Average height, wide muscular build but with a
round clean face with delicate features. It was like the head of the princes on the body of the
beast.
The Colonel had on many occasions reprimanded Captain Arthur for being far too lenient on
Benjamin, he would often say “You are too soft on Benji, he is lazy, disorganised and
disrespectful, I understand that the two of you are friends but you are his commanding
officer, he should not speak to you in a rude manner in front of the platoon”. To which Arthur
would always reply “Yes sir, he is indeed a disgrace as a military man, yet he is the best
among us sir and I am proud to have him as a friend”. Benji would overhear these
arguments on occasion completely unbeknownst to either of his superiors, it was nice to be
defended and appreciated by Arthur who was always very rigid and strict. Although he did
think using terms like 'disgrace' was a tad unnecessary.
New Dawn
Through hazy vision obscured by sandwinds and mild rain Arthur could see the Red Cross of
the Royal Military Institute of Medicine; the hospital that has been treating his sister for 8
years. The Royal Military Institute of Medicine (or R.M.I.O.M) was the main reason Arthur
had chosen to go into the service to begin with. Prior to joining the Empire’s military force
Arthur was a rather skilled artisan, it was hard labour and did not pay very well but it was
something Arthur liked to do and was enough to support him. However, after finding his long
lost sister and discovering the extent of her injuries and price for treatments, that line of work
was no longer sufficient, and military service became the only option.
Terra 2.0///
After the melting of the ice caps sea levels began to rise to dangerous levels, in an effort to
preserve the world financial market from incurring unconceivable losses a plan was created
involving 194 nations. This plan was simple. Protective walls were to be erected shielding coastal
cities from the rising sea level. The only sovereign nation that opted out was Chile, Due to their high
attitude and lower than average population after the plague epidemics of the early century they
believed it was more cost effective to take what was left of the population and climb towards the
highest point of their nation, setting up an underground city in the mountains, far above the sea
level and protected enough from the hurricane winds. Overall it was a solid plan that worked well
for many years, Chile actually became a powerhouse within the Americas and a strong ally of the
United Federation. Even the sovereign state of Texas was in alliance with them at one point or
another.
But their success is what caused their downfall. Due to the time of prosperity the nation of Chile
was for the first time able to begin rebuilding its population, and rebuild they did, in less than 100
years they had quadrupled their population. More people need more space so the Chilean
government began to dig further down inside the mountains. They awoke to something from its
hibernation.
The Queen was once again in the surface world, the air was no longer poisonous, the temperature
was pleasant and warm. With her, came her people. With her people came power. With power
comes calamity. The first thing the Queen did was conquer all of South America and establish it as
her domain, her kingdom, as it was long before.
Having a new and unknown threat at their doorstep the United Federation; with support from other
world powers; Unleashed the full might of their military upon the new Insect kingdom. As the
world's greatest superpower the United Federation had in their possession over ? of the world's
nuclear arsenal. And they unleashed it upon the Queen and her people. It was months until any
country could get a read on what occurred due to the nuclear fallout and the impact it had.
Overnight, the weather conditions across the world completely changed. The once cold and grey
United Kingdom became dessert. Sand storms seemingly never ending. England was lucky, many
other nations had it worse, much worse.
Once the dust settled all that was left was for the rest of the world to look onwards to the Americas
and see what had become of the self proclaimed Queen. All they saw instead was the ruins of the
United Federation as DC burned. It seems the queen and her people had used their Magic (for lack
of a better word) to shield their entire nation from any hardship. The queen then proceeded to fly
her armies to the United Nations and kill every man woman and child before staking the once proud
leader of the Free World to his own flag and setting it ablaze for the entire world to see.
As a response many countries banded together to amass military might and in the end only 3
superpowers remained. The Queen and her Ancient Kingdom, The Great British empire, and the
Chinese-Russian Coalition. After seeing the effects of the nuclear fallout, the Queen chose to bide her time and play politics,
she might be able to kill all of us, she would have no world to Rule by the time she's done. Politics it
is!
