A world that was once, a luscious green and blue is now a beautiful white diamond. Abel is known for its oasis towns, and very rarely they are the size of lakes, but when they are it will definitely be crowded with people. There is very little vegetation. The fauna can be ill tempered even malicious for despite Abel's beauty its home to demons. Demons who enjoy using the heat and delirium and fashioning illusions, hallucinations and mirages to catch travelers for a meal. The more evil creatures usually aren't in broad daylight but underground in the ravines. The ravines were created when the world was technological. So advanced that when the nations designed the most powerful weapon on this earth they accidentally and unintentionally unleashed it. It evaporated all the water in the oceans and lakes on the earth surface. Since their was no water, vegetation died, people starved and dehydrated and the world's governments deteriorated. The only Order was survival of the fittest. Water was such a valued commodity that it become more worth than gold. Many a lucky person retired in happiness when finding a hidden oasis. And where water was concerned everyone collaborated. Thereby making this city, Fresco. The shining jewel of what is now and was and still is Caliphornia.
Frescany has a population of about half a million. It's water is found in wells that are connected deposits of the main lake that is the center of Frescany. Frescany's central lake is home to hippos, tropical freshwater fish, crocodiles, lobsters and turtles. The lake is also visited by African antelope, lions, zebras, hyenas, deer elk and buffalo. Many of these creatures can be found in the zoos of Cain its neighboring world.
Since it's too hot to plant and grow crops and most of the technology has become unreliable after the apocalypse. It has become the hunters job to find food for the people in the city. More often than not it is not the herbivores people in Abel eat. It's monsters. Since technology has become unreliable magic has taken its place. And advancements in magic has allowed and found monsters to be edible, when treated and prepared. But in order to get to that part there must be tools in order to find and capture such creatures. Hence why hunters are equipped with magic weapons. A knife and revolver are such tools that are found on a typical hunter. The most advanced hunters supplement their job with a bit of magic to make things easier as well as to aid in hunting tougher game. The most aspiring of hunters will chase after the three great beasts, the Land Beast Behemoth, the Sea Serpent Leviathan and the Divine Bird Tempest. They roam the land laying destruction in their wake. But they only appear and show themselves when the planets align and when the end of the world is coming.
Life in Abel is like that in our cities today. It's cities are full of traffic most of it commercial. The shopping centers are still in use however the buildings themselves are in ruins. So most transactions happen in the parking lot in booths. Most things for sale are found outside in the city, especially in the ravines where most of the wealth can be found for those brave enough to venture forth. Common things sold in the markets would be smoked meat, bits of scavenged junk, water and sometimes even live animals. Rare things would be precious stones and metals to ancient artifacts such as weapons. Relics from a distant past buried under years of sandstorm.
We now follow the footsteps of one such enterprising venturer. Faghan Dunlop, the hunter searching for his next meal. Inside the Otherworldly Ravines. It's moist inside the ravines because the sun's doesn't reach down here. It's also a labyrinth and it smells of death, decay and the ocean. Or what's left of the ocean down here. Underwater caverns are aplenty down here home to many a vile creature.In this case he finds a handful of slug like creatures with stalactite shaped bodies. These invertebrates are small about the size of a head. They crawl on the ceiling in which they drop and impale unsuspecting prey. It want that hard to defeat them all Faghan had to do was dodge when they come and shoot them with his mini rifle as they try to escape by climbing the walls back up using their squid like tentacles. The seasoned adventurer then roasts the mollusks in his special hunter issued portable grill. He takes off the shells and cleans the tentacles.
The portable grill looks like a tackle box, with a grill. It has seasoning on each of the mini storage boxes on the removable drawers. Faghan pulls out a self lighting cigar, inhales and exhales. That's when he hears something dragged in the darkness. Faghan stops not moving a muscle. A minute passes and the sound slowly fades. The only thing that can be heard now is the sound of water dripping from actual stalagmites. Faghan sighs, the breathing of an haggard old man. He gets up and heads to the underwater pools. Tonight's entree at the city will be rainbow marlin steak. With a side of stalagmite.
Rayne was busy having so much fun, the air was beautiful despite being a desert. Everything was crisp including the dried fruit and soda she got from a street merchant. And playing games with the children on the street wasn't so bad. Wait, but wearing what though. And then she wakes up and realizes it was all a dream. She gets up the surroundings shabby like she was sleeping in a tool shed with a cot. Her robes stank worse than rotten food and she was still wearing them. How she convinced a man to let her borrow the shed was beyond her. Her scythe laying by her cot, she picks it up. This scythe must have some kind of power she could use to get rid of the smell right? She taps the scythe on the cot. Nothing happens. Sighing she puts away the scythe and goes out the door. According to rumors there is a place between worlds located deep underground its time to find out if it were true. Had Rayne noticed the neighborhood ,it is empty as if everyone in it was spirited away to someplace strange and surreal.
In a far off distance, in a tribal encampment on the desert plains of Abel their was a tribe of people that were attending a traditional coming of age ceremony. These people have seen the hottest of summers and the coldest of winters. Everything from their wagon tents to their clothes speak of many years in a harsh wasteland. Here at this moment their is a bit of a snag. One boy in robes is claiming that he saw an angel. A woman in white robes and wings appeared before him and chose him for a quest of salvation. Of course him being a child it would sound preposterous. So they tear off his robes. And standing before them a image of a white bird shining on his chest. The one who tore off the robe screams in agony and runs away from the camp, repelled by the light. The other boys shriek in terror. The village shaman rushes over and covers him back with robes again. She ushers him into her tent.
"You are in danger, my son. The fact that an angel has visited you means you are going to face an arduous journey to places beyond the fold. You will face many dangers, now go to the cavern ravines someone will be their"
Without a word he runs off to go to the caverns. Past the strange weirded out superstitious tribesman and ragged tents. He transcends deep into the places where myth and legend become real.
A distance away from all this the boy who tore off the robes, blinded by the light is lost in the desert. The light has blinded him. He knew he must return home or the demons of the waste will eat him for a meal. Minutes turn into hours and it is nighttime. The mournful howls of coyote can be heard. But to Buscun this was the sound of terror. And his fears were founded as his demon appears before him in a cloud of dust kicked up by the cool nighttime winds. A fiend with the head of a vulture. The arms and legs of a human and the black wings of a raven. It towers over Buscun menacingly. It then pokes out his eyes with a pitchfork. And Buscun screams in pain and agony. And he runs away, the fiend's cackling echoed in his ears.
Moments later Buscun returns to camp by some small amount of Providence . And when his parents scold him he is furious, furious that Doven was being compared to him. And in his rage he was hearing the whispers of the fiend telling him.
"Let go, let your rage consume you, you will never be chosen by the Dove"
And so with a roar Buscun let's out his rage. It consumes the entire encampment as negative energy turns everyone into wilted corpses within seconds.
Buscun then comes out through the fog and realizing what he has done and in grief, guilt and fear flees the encampment of bodies.
Meanwhile in the Ravines the huddled beings in the darkness were dragging two bodies they found and if the shaman of the village was right one of these persons would lead them back to greatness. To times of when the great orb of fire is extinguished and the beings can finally cavort and dance and do as they please among the surface. And so after many hours of twisting, winding and forking tunnels they reach a giant open clearing with giant mushrooms. Mushrooms that in an delirious mind would look and function like homes or buildings for some purpose normal man could not understand. And would not as well.
Meanwhile in the surface a man in the wilderness scavenging for metal finds a woman in the scrapyard he frequents. As is tradition in Abel he is to take her to every temple in Abel to show respect. So the deities may safeguard her soul and favor her. He drags his body off to the temple of the sun. "This smells of what, mushroom spores" the man mused. He dismissed the thought a corpse is a corpse it's best he did the right thing and take this body to burial.
Meanwhile in another part of Abel called the Soul Crossing, a swamp said to be somewhat akin to the river Styx. It is home to undead, giant alligators,dinosaurs and even demons and sphinxes. Here the Lord Crocodile is at the mouth of the river holed up in his temple fortress built right on top of the holy lake, said to lead to a different world in its depths in a cave and he has plans to fight the Hippo Prophet's throne in the city of Glovis.Home of the Temple of the Sun. Where the Hippo Prophet will receive his vision from his ancestors. Where it will be revealed where the true sun lies on the House of Crocodile or the House of Hippo. Both houses have been at war for years. The Crocodile safe in the swamps which is rife with natural defenses as well as food and resources. While the Hippo has the best soldiers and technology employed at its command as well as a desert as natural deterrents. It is hard to fight in the marsh for aside from its hostile creatures it is filled with disease. If one is not prepared you can die fairly easily. Meanwhile the city of Glovis has employed many demon hunters to guard the city and replenish its food supply. They are the best and it requires permission from the prophet to hunt in Glovis. And as a result it is where new hunters are trained. Very few make it past a few years ,most die before they are recognized as seasoned.
So the Crocodiles will counter with witches. Witches that use hexes, charms and curses. Hexes are like debilitating magical effects like disease. Charms are beneficial spells that helps aid one self like a blessing. And curses are offensive spells meant to kill rather than debilitate.
The Crocodile Lord stands ready to fight ,his allies should be showing up anytime now. His features hidden by a cloak of Arabian silk, it shimmers even in twilight shadow.
Back down below the fungus have resuscitated the doctor and he stands with them by the fungi's sacred area albeit weakly. Stones that depicts a story. A man is shown with a conical hat that resembles a lot of a mushroom cap. He is shown brandishing and waving his hands at what is various sentient fungi. Some look wounded and sick others look on in amazement at this man. His waving seems to be doing something ,releasing spores which is healing the fungi. The next stone depicts the fungi going to war. From beasts to humans to animated suits of armor ,the fungi which we will call the Shinkin as they have no name are attacking. The next stone depicts a blazing female radiating light. Her rays of light are driving away the fungi deep underground.
After examining the story and carvings on the stone, Fenix looks up at the leader of the fungi. A giant anthropomorphic mushroom. It stands before him with a scepter in its hands.
"Take this, our people are starving since this world was destroyed and deteriorated we need your wisdom to lead us to victory as the legend has foretold. We believe the last one to be untrue and was written by an old splotch past his prime"
Fenix is given the scepter. It glows in his hands. Those of the colors of the rainbow. With it he will do many deeds and take control of this realm, he has lost his wife. But it is time for vengeance and justice not mourning. Many things must be done before the day is over. He must rouse the troops. With a wave of his staff he wakes up the mushrooms. He woke up the Shiitake, the Bolletes, the Morels and the Truffles. They are the warriors. Next he woke up the Amanitas and the Lepiota who became the builders. The time was nigh. It is nighttime on the surface. The beating of drums start to thunder.
Rayne was walking through the paved streets of Fresco. It's asphalt long gone and replaced with smooth cobbled stone. Up ahead in the sandstorm now brewing stands before her three figures cloaked in shadow. Each carrying an object. One was carrying a book, another was carrying a pen and the other was carrying needle and thread. They bow before her in silence.And again in silence their robes billow as if in a strong wind. The Binder's book releases its pages onto the floor in a pattern. The Writer draws magic onto the pages and the Stitcher stitches all of them together creating a portal.
A flash of the portal and out steps a albino girl and her piano keyboard in her arms. A flash and a wagon manned by two sickly horses canters forth, it stops right next to Rayne. A flash and a figure on a motorcycle appears covered in flies and maggots her eyes peering through the cracked visor of her helmet. A flash and a gaunt man appears his visage covered by a mask made of human skin, he carries a staff. A scythe blade at one hand a hammer in the other. Audible screams can be heard emanating around like an aura of despair. Then a final flash and out soars the gargoyle like vampire. It's fangs gnashing and it's claws flaying the air.
"These are your hands, they will help you in defeating both sides. War is coming, don't worry about them attacking you or disobeying you, the magic we cast binds them to your service. It is best we vanish, we will contact you soon. The Goddess Good will have us see you soon"
With that they disappear with a pop. Leaving Rayne to come up with a plan of what to do next. Rayne thinks, then realizes its best to wait things out. Wait for all sides to muster their forces. In the meantime she thought, I want to name this team. I got it I'll call us the Hands of Death.
Meanwhile in the city of Fresca their is a woman pleading for help. Her clean rags make her look decent. Her face has seen many years. Far longer than the oldest sand dunes. She has come to preach peace and love in a time of unrest.
"The end is coming the time for all who wish to be saved, act now!"
"War is upon us"
"Only the humble and penitent will be saved"
A man attacks her calling her a doomsayers. He grabs a stick for a club and beats her. She bleeds out and in her dying breath.
"Justice will be done, Heavens forgive you, you do not know what you are doing"
A flash of light and she vanishes. Leaving not a trace. An tumultuous angry rumble can be heard as even the earth cries. Screams of people from across the city as demons attack the town. Every shape and color terrorizing the populace. Gunshots and weapon waving can be heard. Yells and screams of townsfolk unlucky enough to be outside can be heard. The apocalypse has begun in Fresca.
"Sis wait up"
Daena was catching up with her little sister Rayna. They were in the Coral Caverns. Hunting for dinner. Snails is what they were hunting. The air was surprisingly windy, the phenomena was unheard of. And as Daena reached for Rayna she hit her head on the coral itself trying to squat down in a small crevice. Shooting blinding white hot pain was followed by a soothing wet feeling as she closed her eyes. And as she opened them. She was underwater. She tried to hold her breath for what felt like hours but was actually seconds. Finally she lets out. Then realizes despite being in water she wasn't drowning. Even deeper realization was that she wasn't even in the coral caverns but was in some sort of underwater subterranean cave. Accessible it seems by the top of the cave which had no roof. The sun could be seen illuminating the room. And their before her was a monster. It had a head of a horse, horns of an bull and the body of a sea snake. It glares at her. And finally it utters a roar. Quickly she looks for something to defend herself with. She spots a rusted trident on the ocean floor by a decaying dead warrior. With the light it was easy to see. And with that she swims nearly dodging a bite from the coiling serpent. She grasps for the trident from the rib cage of the dead warrior and stabs at the monster. The monster hisses in irritation but not because it was hurt but because it was such a blow that deserved contempt from its pride. It then stops its attack. Looks around as if sensing something. Then it glides out of the cavern into the light as a figure approaches. It seemingly came from the light.
"Take my hand child of light"
Not knowing how she could last this long in the water, or how the figure could talk or how she even got in here, she knew she had to go. She grasps for the beckoning hand.
And with that she wakes up on a beach. Seagulls are cawing in the background Daena gets up and looks around then sees somebody. An old man with rags for clothes, a tattered baseball cap. He is sipping some beverage, it must be alcohol , she thought.
"Your awake good I thought you'd be sleeping all day, I'm Faghan Dunlop. But you can call me Stevens. I'm known as a hunter. A Divine Hunter."
Faghan and Daena were walking along the shore. The greenish blue waves crashing against the hard rock. Every once in awhile a seagull would fly overhead. Fagin was describing to her what she saw.
"What you saw my child was a vision from the heavens. You are destined to fight the being known as the Devil. Lord of demons and all creatures foul. It is prophesied and said in Abel the final battle for the world will be fought here"
"I will fight a giant sea snake?"
"No my child that is a representation, an idea of what you must fight, in order to fight the great evil, you must fight the lesser evils first. Like that"
Faghan points to a humanoid figure, he is stirring a pot filled of green ocean water. With what appears to be a strange stick
"That guy seems normal, what am I missing?"
"Look closer"
Daena looks closer but at a distance she notices the man is more than he seems, the stick is an arm bone. The contents of the pot is made up of seawater but also flesh and bone. This creature was not human.
It then stops and looks at Daena roars and charges at her it's teeth shaping into toothpicks and it's fingernails becoming claws. Then a loud resounding booming sounds echoes throughout the beach. The creature grasps his chest and narrows it's eyes. It looks for the source of the sound. It turns around and sees Faghan. He has a gun. A weathered beat up pistol. Faghan shoots again and creature vaporizes and turns into ash. Faghan kicks over the cauldron.
"That my dear is a demon"
At that he hears a noise in the far distance the sound of demons growling with anger can be heard as well as the sounds of battle.
"Duty calls, Fresca is under attack!"
Their once was a time when a commoner came to explore the world. On his last trip he defaced a shrine on his way back home, believing it to be superstition. He came upon a giant beast blocking the path, a lizard with bat wings. Flames and smoke would billow out of his nostrils. It had wicked sharp teeth and claws. It's scales were black as midnight. It stared at the explorer. And the explorer so brave and arrogant told him to move out of the way. With that the dragon gave him three riddles to solve. If the man won the dragon would let him pass, if he failed the dragon would not budge an inch. One riddle answer was the son. The second riddle the father. The final answer was the spirit. The explorer got every riddle wrong. And with that the dragon reveals himself to be Good, who came to test him. And for getting the answers wrong and defacing the shrine dedicated to her, she cursed him. He will aspire to become a god,but will fail every time when he reaches the lofty mantle. He will aspire for a trillion and one lifetimes. At which the dragon will again meet him and test him to see if he has repented. With that the dragon disappears in a puff of light. The traveler scoffed and went on his way back home.