Story Time Thursday - the red

the red

The Cataclysm ended freedom as we had once known it. No one could predict the horrors that would occur on our own soil. Horrors only imagined in nightmares or seen in cheesy movie flicks, horrors that affected everyone in the world. The Cataclysm was the spark for the birth of a new world.

The Cataclysm said hello to the world with an earthquake. America was building a world headquarters for the oil barrens who pillaged the earth where it pleased. The headquarters would be a monument to man’s conquering of the land. Historic and massive praise was heralded to the heartland as the nation watched with empty coffers. Earth insulted, struck back at man by bringing the tower down, and with it the nation.

A City was torn in two where the earth’s shell cracked. One side of the town had sunken below sea level. The other side had risen to become a true mountain where the peak had been a park bench. Shock and disbelief paralyzed the nation. The shock of the shift in the earth’s crust had sent a spire stabbing the sky. Disbelief at the unholy sight coupled with the feelings of gratitude and praise that the earthquake hadn’t been worse. Though it toppled the tower, the earthquake didn’t spread, nor did it claim the lives of many. The earth was telling us that she was supreme, she was powerful, and she was in charge.

The tragedy couldn’t have happened at a better time for the regime who ruled the state with a red thumb. With elections for governor looming, the prospects for a massive gain in control took over the nation. The state would now be ruled by a sorceress whose skills’ with conniving lies would bring down a nation. Where the earthquake shed few droplets of blood, the red painted the land with her color. Little Red turned out to be the wolf.

The nation poured money into the heartland. Already weak from stabilizing a fluctuating economy, the nation crumbled when the banks fell. Without the support of the dollar, the nation plummeted into despair. Little Red saw opportunity in the face of this new challenge. Seizing the army, she declared the heartland to be a free people under a new government. Her government was utilitarian rule. She charmed the wealthy into positions of power and held court in the newly rebuilt and finished World Headquarters. From atop her pedestal she restructured a state into a nation.

The east sat with open mouth. Drained of resources, money, and power and it sank into poverty. Countering the new crisis proved to be too overwhelming. It brought about the collapse of government altogether. Some states were better able to deal with the decay, others broke into chaos. The once mighty cities of the coast, where the people turned feral and the political struggle amidst panic and madness ended in the destruction of most.

It turned out that the earthquake was just the beginning of the Cataclysm. All eyes were on the nation when the West was taken from the mainland. The formation of the nation’s new mountain had slowed the earth’s rotation and shifted her axis. Weather followed. The spire sparked the formation of massive storm system that soaked the west, flooding the vast deserts and changing the landscape forever. The West became a mass of islands, marshes and mountains. United was no longer an option for the nation.

Little Red became the head of a broken people. With ultimate power at her beck and call she enslaved the people. With communication scarce and limited, she strengthened the core of her country before setting about the walling of her people. Neglecting calls for aid from her neighbors and spreading lies about the support of countries from afar, the red began controlling her people. She began to show her traits of true cruelty when the south began to move north. Manipulating the Republic’s own soldiers, she allowed them to cross her lands only to rule them before they made it to the other side. No blood was spilled in her lands, but she bathed north with it. She ruthlessly sent her armies north to claim other states. Those who resisted were killed.

Little Red’s ambitious plans amidst chaos and confusion altered life as we knew it. A once free people now sat powerless before a puppeteer whose ultimate desire for power would lead to the death of a nation and the death of unity. The world watched in horror as Little Red obtained control of country after country. Her mercenary army took out opposition to lay claim to most of the continent. Little Red’s nation was fueled by control, the oil barons were rocketed to elite and the common man became a soldier or an outcast.

The Cataclysm ended freedom as we had once known it. Free will and escape became a dream. The earth had sent a reminder that she was in charge. But Little Red had shown the land that her cry for attention was the perfect springing board for absolute power. And she showed the world what power she had attained. The Cataclysm was Little Red.