Everyone should have a role. Something that makes them fit in, something that categorizes them. Everyone should have a goal. Something they want to be, something they want to do. Everyone should have a place in the world. So why don’t I?

~*~

“Wh-why?” A middle-aged man forced out in utter disbelief, “Why would you do this?” He looked like a disaster. His greying hair messy and what was usually immaculate attire loose and crumpled. He set his desperate, searching gaze upon the person sitting across from him.

“Why not?” The other person quirked a brow, slightly amused and curious. He was similarly aged and looked like any other average person picked off the street - wearing casual clothes with slightly thinning hair and grey eyes. Wholly unremarkable.

“W-we’ve known e-each ot-ther for s-so long. Ha-have I ever d-done anything wrong? You can tell me anything. I’ll change!”

“Really? You're just another one in denial. It’s unfortunate. I had high hopes for you. I honestly thought you were better. I guess I’m too optimistic about humanity.”

“Y-you-” The middle-aged man was cut off as the other person stepped forward with otherworldly grace and, in one flowing motion, eviscerated him with a dagger that seemingly appeared from nowhere.

“Ah. Terribly sorry, but I have the bad habit of ending interesting people with my own hands. Who knows? Ha! It might get me killed one day. Pfft.” The average-looking man dissolved into a fit of laughter as the other’s lifeblood drained from him.

~*~

In the sky above, the sun and stars were completely obscured by a thick layer of dust and ash. The entire planet was enveloped in it. Everything seemed to be covered in gloom. Most of civilization was turned into ruins. Entire swathes of forest and vegetation had withered away, and the ecological balance was completely destroyed. Around two thirds of the planet’s landmass was sunk into the ocean which, along the way, had turned grey and slimy from who-knows-what. Humans and every other species were almost extinct. It was the picture of an apocalypse.

As human civilization reached great heights, further improvement became difficult. This caused all kinds of competition to become extremely common as humans struggled to find entertainment and creative, new ways to feel accomplished. It’s amazing how far people can go just to avoid boredom. Is it any wonder that they devolved into war?

Different countries sought even the most petty reasons to compete with each other. At first it was just with sports and games, the most directly competitive. Then it was the rest of the entertainment industry: movies, novels, music, video, and all else. After, it was the economy, fashion, art, wealth, anything and everything was used as a point of competition. In the end, even things like heroes and powers were used for contention. Heroics wasn’t commercialized back then. It was almost blasphemy to use heroes for wealth and fame. There was a lot more awe and respect for heroes at the time. Unfortunately, like everything else, human greed corrupted the nature of heroics. People began becoming heroes for fame and power instead of justice and peace.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Things began spiralling towards war when countries started having heroes compete against each other in games and competitions. If you think about it, these competitions, especially the fights, were small-scale wars by proxy. Eventually, this wasn’t enough. People started getting restless. Countries started distrusting each other. Espionage and counter-espionage were used, causing even more distrust. Secrets were stolen, technology copied. Chaos and war were brewing.

Small conflicts began in smaller counties, instigated by larger ones. This was the spark to ignite the flames of war. Clashes happened more and more often and countries were racing to improve their weapons as much as possible.

It was never widely agreed upon which country was the one who fired the first shot or started the first invasion, perhaps it was more than one, but everyone agreed that it was the greatest, most destructive, most counterproductive war in human history.

At the height of the war nuclear weapons began to be used. Not the big ones, though, they were much too destructive for even the crazy to use… In the beginning, anyway. When one of the smaller countries was about to be conquered, its very decisive, nationalistic leader was driven off the deep end and used the most destructive nuclear weapons they had created. The small country was blown off the map, while dealing a great amount of damage to the invading and neighboring countries.

Once the first weapon of mass destruction (WMD) was used, it was like a fuse was lit. The other countries thought that if one country had already used WMDs it was suddenly acceptable for everyone else to. The war was taken to the next level. WMDs were used left and right: nuclear weapons, large-scale lasers, the newest biological weapons, even natural disasters were used. Powers and the latest technology were used to set off massive earthquakes, all kinds of storms, and volcanic eruptions. There was even that one island country with the most water elemental type Empowered that raised worldwide sea levels to flood the mainland. By the time the leaders realized how far-reaching and damaging the consequences it was already too late to turn back. The war could not be stopped.

In the end, the countries all destroyed each other. The best result was only a pyrrhic victory. All countries and governments were disbanded from debts, the collapse of the economy, riots, and civil war. The world descended into anarchy.

Before things could settle down again and people could begin rebuilding, nature struck back. The planet’s environment was so messed up from the war that all kinds of disasters destroyed all that was left. Everything was enveloped in nuclear winter, the ground, water, and much of the air was filled with pollutants. Almost everything was hazardous to life. Humans engineered a mass extinction event including themselves. It was almost impressive how quickly they effectively killed the planet, inhibiting the existence of life.

~*~

“Ha! I’m such a hypocrite.”

“You’re truly the worst.”

“It’s all fun and games anyway.”

~*~

“Watching the world crumble before my eyes is like watching a robbery in progress; it’s fascinatingly horrifying… and I can’t help but try it again.”