The War to End All Wars

TorTracyn

I see you.
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. Multiple posts per day
  2. 1-3 posts per day
  3. One post per day
  4. 1-3 posts per week
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
  4. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
  3. Primarily Prefer Male
Genres
Fantasy (both medieval and modern), I'll do scifi but it isn't my forte, magic, horror, romance...I came here from Lackadaisy so yeah, I'll do anthro lol Pirates, Fallout style post-apolyptic, steampunk, dieselpunk, apocolyptic, dark dirty gritty, historical...syfy isn't my forte but I can get into it lol
Her life hadn't always been hard. The ground hadn't always been so barren. But, as she heard the elders say, war never changes. But this was bad. She heard of wars before, but this one was so much worse. After years of the Abnormals being persecuted, experimented on, hunted down like foxes by the Normals, they rose up. They rose up and started fighting back. It had all started with one strike, but it had been a big one. The Capitol of the United States fell into shadow created by one man, and when he removed the shadow, the building was little more than rubble. Two other men and two women stood at the four corners of the buildings, covered in dust, their hands all aimed at the ground. They fell the building, killing everyone inside with nothing more than their hands.

The time had come for the 'strongest race' to stand up and take their rightful place! No more were they to be slaves! No more were they to be hunted like animals! No more were their living and their dead to be taken and experimented on! No more were they to be treated like lesser, inferior beings, when it was obviously the Normals who were inferior! With their inability to create matter within their hands, to control the elements, to shift their bodies into other forms! NO MORE!

The man's speech was heard around the world. Every radio on the planet flicked on at once and the man's voice was transmitted across the radio waves, across the country, across the oceans, to the furthest reaches of the globe.

And they rose up. They stood as one and started The War to End All Wars.

The shadowmancer was taken down immediately following his speech with a bullet to the head. As were the four who crumbled the White House. It didn't matter. He hadn't been the leader. Not the true leader.

The war started immediately. Every Abnormal who was still in slavery, with their powers halted by special collars, was slain on the spot. The armies of every country rumbled to life and troops marched across the lands. But the Abnormals had an army too. An army spanning the globe. An army united under one flag. An entire race of people with footholds across the globe stood up for their freedom.

The number of deaths on the first day was staggering. There were no deaths the second day as the Normals took a strategic step backwards to regroup and figure out how to fight this war. They had to win. After all, they were human.

The Abnormals, after two generations of oppression and death and despair, had no mercy left in their hearts for Those Without, for The Normals, for The Humans.

And that was what brought Brenna Tash flying over the ruins of a city whose name she did not know. By the second year of war, the humans had come to distrust all animals. Unlike the year before, she had to be careful. She flew high, her raven eyes seeing far. She loved the chance to fly, but rarely got it anymore. It was too dangerous. Her elders forbade it. She didn't understand. The first year of her life, before her change, she was taught The Tennants. One of them was to fly. To spread the wings Mother Earth gave her and to fly as far as she could, to see all she could see, and to collect the secrets of the dead. That was their purpose. That was what Mother Earth created them for.

Far below she spotted a body not yet picked over by the buzzards. She cautiously circled lower and lower. To her surprise, he also had his left eye. It was all she needed. With the utmost caution in her movements, Brenna landed on the chest of the corpse, her head tilting this way and that. Please, allow me your secrets. She stood still, slowly picking up her right foot as she perched there, waiting for a response from the corpse. When he gave it, she plucked out his left eye and drank the vitreous humor quickly, not daring to wait and savor the taste. She put the empty orb down roughly in the same place that she got it from and watched the soldier's last memories, his last moments of life.

He was running, his platoon leaving him behind. He was hurt. His leg was bleeding. He turned to look behind him, terrified, heart racing, as the enemy turned the corner. A man blasted fire from his hands. A woman ripped the blood right out of someone's body. He turned again to see where his fellow soldiers had gone but they had left him. He tried to remember where they were headed, maybe he could take a short cut, but he felt a horrible sensation rising in his body. His blood stopped moving in his veins. He turned around and saw the woman behind him as she slowly closed her fist and ripped her hand towards her chest. The last thing he saw was the blood exploding like shards of ice from his body, and then black.

Brenna retched, spilling out the liquid from her stomach, as well as a bit of a leftover sandwich she had found on her way out there. While she worked for The Resistance, while she was an Abnormal, some of the others made her stomach churn. Blood Benders were one of them.

When she was done throwing up all over the body, she thanked his spirit quietly and hopped around on him, digging her beak into his pockets for anything that would be useful. All the while, she kept an ear or an eye out for any approaching danger.
 
Huluhot's delicate fingers moved over the dial as the radio began to turn into static. His eyes staring through the thin pieces of glass in front of him, hanging loosely from his nose. His aged movements didn't seem to slow as he moved toward a terrified crowd which presented itself in front of him. All concentration was focused on his answer.

The war was beginning to enter a new stage. One where the countries knew it wouldn't just be months or years but maybe even a decade or so. With the front constantly shifting towards them and the masses of the abnormal beings showing no sign of wear. It would soon be within all their homelands.

Huluhot could see the fear presented, as if a gift, in front of him. He raised a hand and looked over carefully at the massive hall that carried the enormous sea of people gratefully between its pillars and walls. As he seem to count each head he began to move his mouth.

"These days are dark... The beings, monsters for what they have done. Demons spawned from the festering lakes of hatred to wipe us all. We cannot live in peace and harmony as of now and we need to do anything we can to eliminate these beasts from our righteous land! The world was never made for them! It was made for us! Will you allow them to take what is yours and what was kindly given to you by your loving God!?" His voice rang throughout the large room as it echoed with agreements and cheers. "These things are the devils advocate and thus shall be eradicated from this Earth. Let them realize our righteous wrath and don't be frightened to be a martyr for this cause!" The room seemed joyous as a few members walked in front of the congregation with clipboards and asked those willing to join the war to sign their names.

Huluhot watched as thousands began to sign the military contracts as he glanced to his side. In the corner of the room hidden by a touch of darkness stood a man with his arms crossed. Huluhot had finally been asked to use his influence to encourage his people to go to war. Although the deal was complicated, Huluhot still had control over his people and they would ensure that they wouldn't miss any of his preaches or he would turn against those wishing for his help. He eyed the man warily as he clasped his hands together and began to say small prayers to the individuals who would rise their arms for the people and more importantly for their God.

Dram coughed as he watched, he wasn't exactly a praying man and this wasn't what he was used to. H actually despised what he had to do. They weren't going to say they were losing but with the current front pushing in they weren't exactly winning either. The elections had just past and the most moderate, even handed politician lost to the more radical insane one. People turned blind when this man assured that through war they would achieve peace once again as his opponent was trying to persuade with peace talks and rights for all. Humans only cared for themselves and not even that much. This new man allowed for slavery and child workers for the war and demanded that everyone contribute. His policies were extreme and would result with total control over the country.

The leader's name was Brackham and Dram even despised knowing that much.

As he watched the number of people continue to sign their lives to him he decided it was enough. He succeeded in what he set out to do and began to escape the confines of the place of worship. As he continued to move through, he could hear the multitude of voices join in on the prayer. He tried to separate the words from his head but a single phrase seemed to continue to slip through.

"We shall offer the lord our children and wish them to kill the enemy."

He froze as the words formed in his head and turned to face those who had already signed the sheets. He soon realized these were not the soldiers that would walk alongside him on the battlefield but the children of these people would take their place instead. His heart began to race as he stared back at Huluhot.

Only a smile graced the man's lips.

---

Liquid coughed as his breathing began to quicken. He touched his body to make sure it was intact before grabbing at his revolver and checking the floor for any ammunition. He was a mess, covered partly in blood and having multiple lacerations among his body. It was the only way to keep himself from being killed if he had to fight one of the sickening things that controlled blood. Allowing his blood to flow freely from his body would allow him to escape instead of being torn to shreds.

The reapers though would eventually drive all the abnormal beings away. The sight of one walking silently through the created graveyard was horrifying within itself but when it began to reanimate dead bodies it was one of the few driving forces to keep the abnormals at bay. For some reason they didn't seem to negotiate with the others even though they shared powers and always helped the humans for some unfounded reason.

He stared across the battlefield as he watched a Raven land atop a body. It curiously ate one of the eyes of the soldier as it stood for a few moments. It suddenly vomited what it tried to digest and began to pick at the body immediately afterwards.

He cursed as he raised his firearm. He had seen this before and began to slowly make his way toward the bird. It wasn't feeding from the corpse and as he watched his earlier assumption of it being more than a bird were reaffirm. He nearly pulled the trigger before seeing a cloaked figure in the distance. He immediately pulled himself out of sight and glanced around his nearby area. Nothing was within the wasteland but firing a shot would attract anything outside his range of sight. He looked back at the bird and realized his only chance of safety would include that being. He checked his revolver quickly before counting the small number of bullets he had left and grabbed an empty shell. He moved it within his hand before tossing it nearby to the bird.

He revealed himself slightly for it to notice him as he aimed his handgun toward the direction of the cloaked figure.
 
First, she was attracted by the shiny object coming towards her. Then it clicked. Things like that didn't just skitter towards her on their own. Though, she wished they did. She looked up in the direction that it came from, clicking a button in her beak. She saw the gun and froze before slowly turning to look at the dark figure. Oh. Oh no.

Her head snapped down to the body she was on, then over to the cloaked figure again. Her small heart started racing. She stepped off the body slowly, putting the button down by the empty shell. Empty shells were a dime a dozen anymore. Buttons though...She picked the button back up. She started strutting towards the bleeding man with the gun, still as a raven. She turned her head so she could keep one eye on the cloaked figure as she walked slowly, doing her best not to draw attention to herself now.

The Elders were right. The war was dangerous. Flying was dangerous. Reapers were dangerous. Hopefully the man with the gun was on her side. As the cloaked figure passed behind a building, she spread her wings quickly and shot off, low to the ground, and into the hiding place with the man.

Once behind him, she shifted. She went from a large raven to a short young woman, about 5'3 with raven black hair and bright green eyes. As her feathers pulled into her body, they revealed clothes that started shifting out, a green plaid shirt that was much too large for her and jean pants that looked about the same. Her thick black hair was in hundreds of small braids, each adorned with at least one shiny thing she had found. Beads, bits of metal, glass, anything she found that she could put in her hair that caught the light.

She looked frail, fairly thin, not quite skeletal but lithe. Her pale skin showed it it rarely got sun, that she was probably mostly in her raven form. She brought her hand up to his mouth quickly, pressing it there as hard as she could, her sleeve all that separated their skin. When she spoke, it was a harsh whisper in a thick Russian accent. "You. Why you are here? You are Normal or Abnormal? Who are you?"
 
"I'm neither." Liquid replied in a hushed tone. He grabbed at her hand and softly pulled it away from his mouth. He nearly had a heart attack while she had flew to him. Those things were insanely sensitive to anything and while not many existed they seemed to make their presence known. The things could make an army from among the dead and even if you could hurt them it only seemed to slow them down. They were never permanently gone.

He was a bit surprised when he saw that the raven turned into a small woman. Her eyes seem to shine like emeralds and her hair reflected the animal she once was. He was a bit relieved as her feathers retreated into her body and her clothing was revealed. It was replaced with another fear and he grabbed her head and pushed it further down. Was this girl insane!? The items within her hair would be like a flare to signal to those things. He growled at his decision to receive help from this being. He probably should take the chance to kill her but the thought of creating any noise would probably have him killed. This person seemed to be more trouble than she was worth.

"I am here because I plan on killing someone." Liquid replied as he pulled his body away from its position as the reaper disappeared. He stifled a cough as he nearly had forgotten to breath at that moment. He listened to the rest of her words as he glanced at the button she had retrieved from the open. "Was that truly worth the risk of your life?" He whispered, as he carefully thought of her other questions. "I am no one you should worry of but I do require some help." He replied as he checked their immediate area again.

"Why were you out there?" He asked as if astonished she wasn't murdered yet. He kept his voice low as another dark figure, closer this time, began to walk slowly away from them. Again, he raised his firearm and kept any noise to a minimal as he watched it move.

"Next time, don't place your hand in front of someone ready to fire." He replied as he carefully prepped his shot just in case. His mind had continued to race about this being. Could she possibly be a part of the reapers. Was that a reason why she remained out in the open? Was she just looking for survivors to reveal. He wasn't satisfied or comfortable and awaited her answers to make his next decision.
 
Brenna rolled her eyes and stuffed her hands into her pockets. "Very dramatic..." She picked one foot up off the ground, just bending her knee and pulling it up like she would if she were still in her bird form. "I am niet come just to get button..." She pulled her hand out of her pocket and looked the button over. "I am scout. I am get position of troop movement. I am scan area for sniper and reaper. That one is sneak up on while I am do part of job."

She looked down and idly brushed herself off, a soft tinkling coming from the items in her hair. She was in the shadows now, though, so nothing caught the light. She sighed. "You are want the way out?" She asked, looking up at him again. "I can give you the way out, but...eh...is niet free. Is cost."

She looked at her nails and started biting at one of them. She looked at it again and, now satisfied with it's shape or whatever had been wrong with it in the first place, she looked back up at him. "Is also depend on who you are here to kill. Are here to shoot me? If are here to shoot me, are doing very wrong."

She tilt her head to the side, staring at him. For someone with such lively green eyes, she had such a cold, hard stare. It was almost as if she was staring into his soul, reading his thoughts, emotions, memories.
 
"Very dramatic? I'm simply being straightforward." Liquid replied as he continued to notice how she said her words. He decided if she wouldn't grasp the severity of this situation in English he could always state his opinions in hopefully her native tongue. "Ты один, что это просто безумие."(You are the one that is simply insane.) He huffed as he looked over her shoulder to see what she was doing. She pulled the button from before and looked it over as if it were gold. He listened to her speak before understanding what she was supposed to be doing rather than collecting random objects. "And also a trash collector?" Liquid raised his eyebrow as he finally sat back down and calmed himself. This girl would be the death of him if he wasn't careful. He began to think as he looked back at her. "They are usually much more aware but it looks like they are specifically looking for something." He replied as he began to open a canteen of water and began to drink it slowly.

Every time her hair moved he could feel himself stiffen. Anything could happen to cause it to flash and reveal their location but when he heard she must be paid for her help he frowned slightly. "Would a pile of trash suffice?" He replied half joking as he passed the container of water towards her if she wanted a drink. "I also am not here to shoot birds. That would be a ridiculous reason to reveal your location to whatever is out there. What I am looking for is probably not even here anymore but I can already tell someone else is looking for the same thing." He replied as he looked towards a small building. "You were worried of snipers correct? Well some are in that building but they probably are not on your enemies side."

He watched as another cloaked figure began to walk ahead of them but this one didn't seem reminiscent of the past two. It walked rapidly across keeping its head low and carrying some large equipment on it's back. It suddenly stopped and began to unload some of the items on its back as it began to assemble a crude rocket launcher. As it finished it quickly raised it and began to walk calmly towards another area of the street.

He stared back with his emotionless steel colored eyes. He didn't seem afraid of her gaze but turned to continue watching what was about to develop. "If you care to know more about me. Just watch what is about to happen."

---

Dram yelled angrily as he stood before his group of generals. He couldn't get rid of the idea of what Huluhot had done. "The bastard knew this would happen." He growled as he pounded his fist into a nearby innocent wall. "He wanted me to get child soldiers so popularity would continue to shift away from us." His anger seemed to bleed from his hands as he continued to talk.

The room remained silent for a few moments before one of the others stepped forward. His uniform was adorned with medals and his face was hidden behind an old century gas mask which was slightly modified to suit him. His breathing seemed silent as he began to talk. "I consider this a win. We need help despite whatever age and it could be used as a psychological weapon against the unequals." The man replied as he moved his hand. "Even if you do not want to use them in warfare use them to make weapons. We can remove all men from our factories and replace them with children. If you have more you can begin taking women of age to do the same on the battlefield. This isn't the same war we fought between one another ages ago. It is a war for survival and decisions like this need to be made. As a person who fought against you. You must realized my tactics were brutal but yet effective. Am I not right, General Dram?"

He stood there faceless as always as if this was a conversation about household products. He seemed genuinely content with the outcome and wanted to see it move forward. "Also, if we want to remove Huluhot's religious power this is a great way to start doing it. He may still have a bulk of the control of his population but if we can start to change his children he will have less control of the generations to come but I suspect that is what he wants us to do but despite that I see no circumstance where he will still remain more powerful than he is now."

The congregation just silenced as they listened to his proposal and after a few more moments Dram signed it through.
 
"I saw the snipers." She replied in Russian. "They are no threat to me. They are on my side of things. Telekenetics, I believe...at least, the one across the street you didn't notice is. And his partner set up directly across from him. The one you did notice. The other one, I do not know his power, just that he is good at what he does, like all of us. We are all assigned jobs that allow our special skills to excel."

She quietly watched the new figure, holding the canteen to her lips as she sipped lightly at it. She handed it back quietly and just settled in to watch. "What's going to happen?" Now that she knew he spoke Russian, it was just easier for her to keep their conversation to her native tongue. At least, her native human tongue anyway.

----

A young woman, little more than a maid, went about cleaning up after the court of generals as she thought the last of them left. She was young, maybe 17, and plainly dressed, wearing a plain white dress and a brown apron, plain shoes. She hurried through with her broom and bucket, setting her bucket down. She started to sweep the room, humming a soft tune to herself. It wasn't until she turned to pick up her dust pan that she realized Dram was still there.

She jumped. "Oh! Sir, I...!" She started gathering her things quickly. "I am so sorry. I thought everyone had left! I'll be going. I'm so sorry to have disturbed you." She said, letting out a scared yelp when she knocked over her cleaning supplies. "Sorry, sir, I..I..." She dropped down, putting things back into the bucket as quickly as she could. "I'll be out of your way in just a moment. I am so sorry..."

 
"You are fine." He replied as he stood motionless, a shell of his former self. He had hated himself and what was happening at that very moment that he hadn't even noticed her until she began to speak. His response was little more than a reaction.

He moved his face up to look at her as she scrambled for her things and nodded it off. "It isn't like we are any more important." He replied as he bent over and pushed her hands away softly as he alone began to pick up her cleaning supplies. "I sometimes forget why I even fight... But I remember the words of this young woman who helped me along. She wasn't like the others, even tattooed a frog on her butt. She had the idea of wanting to help what she loved. I don't think soldiers like that are created. I simply think they are born and with that they are leaders. I just don't even know what I am anymore." He replied as he finished picking the equipment and handed it back to her. "Probably just as bad as any of those politicians you see on the streets. They honestly do not care about war as long as they simply win it or profit from it." He walked over to another part of the room and opened a multitude of maps which were folded neatly and spread each of them out on the table.

"You'd probably one day hate me as well when I have your kids fight in the front lines against those things." He whispered softly.

---

Before Liquid could reply the figure had finally stopped and stood frozen as if something had stalled it. The figure took a few steps back and as it tried to raise the makeshift weapon it created, it stumbled. It finally raised it up to a good height and tried to fire but as the missile began to smoke at the end it suddenly erupted within the weapons and launched the figure towards their direction. A scream of help came from the body as it was blatant to see the mangled parts of the body as blood began to paint the street.

"Welcome, to the child forces front... These children like much of these areas have lost everything because of your war with mankind. They are tricked into getting paid to kill reapers but they don't realize that it is only a trick to cause the Reapers to stir." Liquid replied as he pulled his revolver and aimed at the sniper she pointed out. "You must make a decision here quick. If I kill another that should slow them enough for us to leave. They will inspect the bodies especially one from your kind." He replied as the sounds of a howl began to fill the streets. "Fresh corpses attract these things like vultures. Your idiotic sniper team won't withstand an onslaught of this many even with powers." Liquid replied heavily as he glanced at her. "Or do you truly wish to believe there is some good hope in this world?"