Prologue

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What is a man, among a world of beasts?

What helps distinguish the apex predator from the world’s vast machinations? The never ending will of nature taking form around the collective consciousness of society.

It is said that from the dawn of time, life did not merely blossom into being. Much as the universe implodes on itself into existence, the first step of creation started as mere atoms. Soon these atoms formed molecules, which began duplicating in endless reactions. Thus, started the initial process of evolution of sentience.

Mere fish in the depths of endless ocean soon leap their way to the dryness of land. Mutating their aquatic limbs into those suited to walking among the rocky landscapes. New organs to breathe the oxygen in the everchanging atmosphere. Nature shaped the land dwellers of old into selective adaptation, and as time passed, dawned the age of the Neanderthal: the first human.

As the human evolved further from primitive roots, they survived by shaping the wilderness around them. Wooden branches, to fire for warmth.. Wet clay, to bricks for shelter. Iron ore, to steel for hunt and battle.

They were not the first creatures to inhabit the surfaces above. Yet the strong innate drive to survive and persevere, sought the desire to survive over all other perceived dangers. Whatever they lacked in genetic code, was a weakness accounted for through man made invention. And with such fulfilled necessity came the cognitive ambition to innovate. To expand borders that were once seen impossible beyond the grasps of previous generations behind them. No longer constrained to the limits of land, man began to conquer the domains of the deep oceans and the endless skies.

Nature had groomed the Earth’s most advanced and most intelligent organism in its ever spanning cycle of coexistence. The perfect analogy of both trial and tribulation in the sands of time.

And yet, man had other thoughts.

Before the dawn and development of science, the origins to the universe and forever changing state of matter were far from considered thoughts. A spectrum of possibility far above the primitive nations who long since grew accustomed to the circle of life and death.

Yet the mind would still wander. Questions formed endless queries and unanswered theories. What brought them to this existence? Why were they given such ability to think and adapt further than the primate ancestors they eclipsed in genetic structure? Surely someone was responsible for their creation.

So before logic and reason, there was faith.

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Man chose to believe that they did not gain such hierarchy through years of success and error. Believing that it was bestowed upon them. That there existed a higher plane of cosmic cognitive being that reigned above them. A haven chained and connected to their lesser land through divine suggestion and intervention, yet detached and void from such corruption that plagued their everyday struggles. Gods of all paths of creation, had simply willed all life and their contents to their past and present forms. Tales from all cultures were spun and told to generations and generations to come. Moral and sin took hold in the subconscious of mankind, as a testament to their enlightenment and devotion to their unseen creators.

What other explanation could it have truly been at the time? It was the only answer that made an inkling of sense.

So man grew complacent in this knowledge. Too complacent.

In every bold decision of evolution and innovation, comes the inherent thought of fear from the unknown. A survival instinct forever intact to protect the body from hypothetical hubris, and a sudden end. A stubborn yet tried and true trait.

With mankind’s desire to expand their ways of life and culture by understanding the world further, such scholars were met with opposition at every turn. Man saw themselves as the gods’ chosen. To be blessed with gifts of all imagination and tested with battles to prove their pledge of faith.

Such superiority hid fears of natural inadequacies. Questioning all they knew was deemed heretical. Pursuing mystery and creating inconsistencies in their reason would surely lead them astray and result in death. Or worse, abandoned by their ever loving gods.

From ego, came ignorance. From ignorance, was born bias. From bias, formed prejudice. And from prejudice, created the cycle of hatred.

Deviation of their own respective societal norms were deemed savages or simple-minded. The genetically unique in appearance alone, segregated and viewed as minorities to the dominating classes. Geniuses would either be shunned for challenging the status quo, or ignorant of the horrors they unearth if they fulfilled the shared agenda.

Conflict forever ravaging the planet they shared. An apex predator at odds with itself, and everything else that would dare challenge their claim.

In the name of what? Their gods in respective heavens? To cast out the demons that dare sway away the hearts? Good versus evil? The difference of right and wrong? The benefits outweighing the means? Are these what make us unique? The way we are? Who truly decided this fate?

What makes us any different than the beasts before us?

The hypocrisy of man’s ideals conflicting with their flaws plague us in a chaotic balance. Soon threatening to tip the scales in one favor over the other. Slipping into unforeseen damnation or ignorant bliss.

Man however, marches on.

The answer to our existence may never truly come in a way that ever satisfies. Man may forever be monsters in the clothing of mortal flesh. Entrapped by the sins of its past, which clouds their desired future. Challenged by the horrors of the unknown and incomprehensible, which halt the peace of mind found in discovery and enlightenment.

Others may pick a side of the spectrum, for that is the easier path to live. Those who walk the gray line will expect torment in pursuit of a dream out of reach.

A fool’s gambit. But that too, makes them human.