One Hour to Launch

Things began not with mockery, though of course the line between cruelty and humor can sometimes be said to lay with the power involved, in how things messed and danced together. Five hours since humanity at large was informed that their reality changed and they had no recourse, no ability to do more than to dance to the whims of fickle and tyrant divinities worse than dreamt of in dreams of incense and devotion. It was further proof, as the twin spheres manifested, one over each of the poles and sixty miles from the ground, the children now in possession of this ant farm found themselves funny.

On each of the twin spheres, as they progressed down to the ground, slowly, with a sort of solemn gravitas, displayed a count down timer for any who was able to see. Electronic eyes for the most part, as the nations of the world screamed and brayed at each other, raw animal terror gripping the hearts of the powerful. For this was not something that heralded the lower classes to die in droves for THEM, but instead marked the hour in which they would be culled, the board wiped clean.

Behold the mighty, as they lost control by the hour. Behold the proud and uncrowned kings of the world, as nooses were set around their necks. Rendered helpless as any mere wage slave. Their commands unheeded as every mechanism by which they could exert their strength failed them, as their orders went unheeded. Why would anyone obey them after all? Their wealth? Meaningless. Guns? Rendered impotent. Control of nuclear or biological weapons? Halted before they could be deployed by the new powers that be.

Terror reigned in the cities. In America, those holding onto Republician ideals rallied to churches, farms and bug out locations long planned while the Democrats attack dogs howled and tried to burn the cities down around themselves in peaceful protests, even as they launched themselves at the weak and tore them apart with hands and teeth.

In Oceania, great pogroms were launched against animals and insects, war declared in pre-emptive self defense. Any animal, any insect, any and all would be potential bio-hazards as people were gripped with a fear for the safety of their children... and a terror that any encounter with the animal kingdom could now result in death.

Africa? Africa had always been a land divided and a land rich with warrior traditions. Now blood ran in the streets as the war drums pounded, as elders and wise men tried to halt the coming tide of blood from tearing them apart.

In the jungles of South America, in elder groves long hidden and forgotten, the trees whispered, figures in the roots hid and watched as parts of the night sky tore themselves into new shapes, their passage barely noted by the trees. Silently, they marked the wheel, as time turned backwards and in on itself at the command of strange and thirsting gods.

Europe braced itself, even as the trenches fell silent, the beaten and bloody nightingale of Ukraine still singing defiance to the Russian bear, but the soldiers on the front line? They disliked each other, hated one could say... but they would get back to killing each other AFTER the Nazi's were returned to unmarked graves. In France, enclaves of the Judaic faith and people readied themselves. On the one hand, the power granted to them had the potential to be unclean. On the other hand? Surely the lord would make an exception, if used to slaughter Nazi's?

Asia? Asia was a land in three parts. War raged in the Strait of Taiwan, as the CCP ordered an immediate invasion, because this was merely some American trick, and they would make sure to crush those insolent westerners after they called their bluff. Of course, the lack of working guns and a dragon that could call on storms defending their rebellious province indicated that there might be something to all of this.

In Tibet, gongs were rung on high peaks, as monks returned home, no matter the risks. After all, when would they get a better opportunity?

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People often forgot that the middle east was part of the Asian continent. And in the city of Jerusalem, from the highest of places, came the sounding of a horn and the shaking of the earth. Muslims, at prayer in the Dome of the Rock cried and trembled, as the structure was lifted into the air, displaced as a building emerged from the living stone of the mount. They cried out, as the oldest surviving example of Islamic architecture crumbled into ruins, breaking apart as it fell off the side of building and mount as a voice boomed out. "Behold oh children of Israel, the First Temple rises once more!"

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Game Launch

The twin spheres fell to the Earth as the numbers reached zero... as they exploded with great force, unseen ripples washing away all electronic devices in an unseen wave.

For a moment, the world stood still, as every human soul, save for the remains of the thousand early testers, found themselves elsewhere for an ageless eternity before they fell back into their flesh. Less potent in some respects compared to those early souls, yet numbers can do what power alone cannot in some respects. Not that it was something too dramatic, not in all places. In others? It was a madhouse, as the world went wild, as magic and power roared and rushed into the world as a wave.

Beijing crumpled, a sinkhole forming under the city, a glowing pillar of unlight raging up from the headquarters of the CCP as the great portal to the shadowlands opened even as the metropolis fell into the earth, its people screaming as demons emerged to hunt and feast. Nature would twist and darken, animals twist and bend... and the dead? Oh, while their souls would be going elsewhere, their bodies would soon find themselves with new inhabitants.

The night winds howled from the jungles, and soon the people of South America would find themselves gripped in a battle with hungry and ravenous beasts, as thousands poured into the largest cities, while only one or two would prowl and stalk the more isolated farmsteads. How they screamed, as these night hunters leapt, as they clashed with brave warriors and defenders, against the cartels that would have ruled. Nature was reasserting itself in fang and claw.

Europe meanwhile was facing ten mighty fleets of space capable war zeppelins, each comprised of thirty vessels, each well armed as they descended onto the earth amid vast electrical storms. The thing is however, they were oddly reluctant to kill, as they herded captives into centralized locations, laughing and in good cheer. For what reason, none could tell, even as skirmishes took place, as they rushed and tried to take all they could... and in several places, as people banded together, they were thrown back.

In North America, across the ocean, the ten largest cities saw a vast pillar of bone and rotting flesh grow from their centers, before they began to spew forth choking spores and corruption, radiating death and rot. How many were strangled by these spores in the first few minutes, their bodies warping and twisting before they rose, screaming and hungry? Few were in any position to say for sure... though perhaps ironically, Canada would be spared the worst of the undead in the initial waves for a simple reason.

Around the world each nuclear plant burst open, and death came raging out of it, screaming hate and fury to the world as radiation poured off their nebulous hides. Shrieking and furious, these beings of nuclear pollution raged and roared... even as they were anchored to their concrete wombs. Forced to stay inside of ten miles of their birth place, as they shrieked and roared their hate, as they tried to destroy everything of humanity that they could touch.

Monuments to mankinds hubris, and the harbingers of things to come....