September 27, 1972. The day our world would change completely.
The Cold War was heating up, humanity stood divided in the face of two conflicting ideologies. Would you stand with America or the Soviets? How long did humanity have before they blew themselves back to the stone age?
Unfortunately, this question would be answered with a different question; How long until Humanity went extinct by a foreign invader? The answer to that was "Not long".
The first rift opened up in the Mariana Trench. The first Kalamity we called Sea Hydra, a fitting name for it. It was a massive serpent that resembled the mythical nāga from the Indian subcontinent. The United States lost all contact with the Mariana region. At first, they thought it was an attack from the Soviets, so they readied for war. Then, the Soviet fleet in the North Pacific disappeared. Thinking that it was an attack from the Americans, they too, geared up for war. When the two sides confronted one another about the incidents, they realized that neither side had attacked. Suddenly, reports began flooding in about a massive creature moving toward Okinawa. Satellite footage showed the two superpowers the beast.
The US forces worked alongside the JSDF, and begrudgingly, the USSR. Operation Monsoon was commenced as the quickly formed alliance engaged with the Sea Hydra.
All forces of the operation were lost. A day later, Taiwan sank beneath the waves.
News of the failed operation reached the rest of the world, and they responded with the most reasonable answer: panic. The US fortified the west coast and intended on using their Pacific territories as a shield, while the USSR closed off their borders in the east. China was left to fend for themselves as the Sea Hydra wreaked havoc on their coastal cities. Once it had neared Kamchatka, the Soviets decided to detonate nuclear bombs. A barrage of nuclear ICBMs was fired at the beast, the might of humanity's knowledge, the ability to split a universal force, thrown at it. 2 of the heads were severed off from the barrage. The world rejoiced, "It can be killed!" they all thought.
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In the empty place of the 2 heads, 4 more grew. The only known weakness of the Sea Hydra was that it couldn't go on land.
With the Pacific in complete and utter chaos, another Kalamity appeared in the skies over Mexico. We called this one the Sky Lizard. It was essentially a dragon resembling the ones in Western European mythology. More and more Kalamities appeared across the world, plummeting us into destruction.
As humanity hung upon their final breath, held up inside bunkers deep beneath the earth, a mysterious message played across all forms of communication.
"People of Earth, we are the Guardians. We have heard your cries and witnessed your plights. We have watched your conflicts and battles against one another evolve into a war for survival of your kind. We have not gone empty on your prayers to your gods and words on your oaths. For we see how you fight against your invaders who are near your destruction. We bless you with the power to defeat these beasts you call Kalamities. We as your guardians, your protectors, bestow upon your kind the strength to fight back, and reclaim your world from those who dare take it."
Many obviously didn't believe it, they thought it was simply a final message to try and stir up enough courage in the remaining societies. But that was far from true. One day later, footage was spread worldwide of the severed head of the Kalamity, Cliff Bull. Its body lay lifeless in the Colorado plains. Standing atop its head was a lone man; Chayton Argas, the first of the Bearers.
The bearers were given their name as they bore the power of the so-called 'Guardians'. Their arrival marked the turning point in humanity's war. 17 bearers were directly chosen as idols for the 17 Guardians' powers. These became known as the Great 17, the First Hope. Bearers were chosen randomly across the world, using their powers to fight the Kalamities that had driven man to the brink of extinction. Hope was restored to humanity as the bearers led us to victory after victory. Eventually, only one Kalamity remained; the first of disasters, Sea Hydra.