To Reset The Clock [2014WC]

The old man sighed dramatically, stroking his long white beard thoughtfully. The last of the hot flashes below began to fade, leaving behind a darkness broken only by the white flakes of fallout that drifted lazily across the once brilliant blue planet. Beside him the dark coated lord of the underworld shifted nervously.

This was not what he expected.

“You said there’d be survivors,” he stated flatly. The old man sighed again, gazing over the once blue world.

“I said they’d come out of this warring phase. The seventh fire was supposed to be the one that guided them toward peace and prosperity. The eighth fire was supposed to be the turning point. Not their annihilation.”

“Well don’t look at me. I played my part. The evil ones were supposed to push just hard enough for them to want to push back, and rise up against them.”

Across the room others looked on, their own expressions between horrified and bemused. An elder man, dressed in elegant greens and blues, leaning casually on a trident, watched the now blackened stone intently.

“So does this mean we get another go?” he asked, almost nonchalantly. Beside him, a great warrior, his golden braided beard covering much of his face like a poorly woven straw hat nodded in agreement. He waved his great hammer in a circle, leaving sparks of lightning in it’s wake.

“Indeed. I would like another turn at this. You and your sons seem to steal the spotlight every time we do this. Perhaps the game needs to change.” The old man shook his head slowly.

“We have done this before with different faces at the head of the table. The humans seem to get to this point of their evolution, and it is always the same. They destroy themselves.”

“Perhaps taking away their free will this time will solve that.” The speaker, a beautiful woman with wispy silver hair and skin of the bluest ocean stepped forth, tapping her oaken stave on the floor. The dark one laughed mockingly.

“You’re just tired of being the one raped every time we do this,” he challenged, the blue woman’s fiery eyes lighting up.

“What I’m tired of dark one, is you whispering in these human’s ears that the only way to salvation is to strip my creation of it’s life! We always begin with the humans only consuming what they need, and sure enough by the time we’re finished, they have cut off my very sustenance, and starved themselves.” One by one the others joined in, their voices echoing throughout the great hall, the argument reaching a fever pitch as each joined their voice to the chorus.

A boom of thunder so prevalent, that it shook the very floor they stood upon, silenced them all at once.

“Enough of this!” the old man thundered, his words seating all assembled in a heartbeat.

“This bickering is pointless. The humans are to be created with free will, as they always have been. If they choose to be the progenitors of their own destruction as was the case with this time around and all the others before it, then so be it. Lucifer, you will, as always be the one to corrupt mankind, as was the deal made at the beginning of this. Gaia, you will be the birth of mankind in their vegetative state, and nurture them to a spiritual state as we always have attempted.”

“Hades,” the dark one muttered, “I prefer the name Hades. Lucifer sounds far too noble.” The old man rolled his eyes.

“As for you others, you will aid the humans as they develop through their vegetable and animal states. And please, no cross-breeding this time. Adding animal and mineral genes to humans without the inclusion of a soul to create these ‘were-creatures’ as you called them wasn’t funny. We all knew how that turned out last time.” A few in the back of the hall snickered at that eventuality.

“Now then, if no one else has anything else to add,” he turned his sharp gaze upon all seated to indeed make sure they didn’t, “We will reset the clock and cleanse the earth again, so the humans can have another turn at this life.”

At the back of the room, an old man that resembled an ancient tree turned to a great bronze and gold clock. It had stopped at November 9th, 2014, by the current human calender. Barely 5000 years in this time, and they had already destroyed themselves.

“Father Time?” the old man asked as the old oak spun the hands back to zero. After a moment he nodded as the tiny second hand began to tick again.

“The clock is reset. Let’s see how long it lasts this time.”

reply to post by 74Templar


nice piece of work man. interesting as to where this came from, what drove you to say this?

reply to post by JamesCookieIII


I guess I just wanted to show how we consider our own lives to be so important, that in fact we are just like a chess game to the Gods, if they do exist. That if we somehow wipe ourselves out, they just start over with us.

My mind works strangely sometimes

Originally posted by 74Templar
reply to post by JamesCookieIII

 

I guess I just wanted to show how we consider our own lives to be so important, that in fact we are just like a chess game to the Gods, if they do exist. That if we somehow wipe ourselves out, they just start over with us.

My mind works strangely sometimes

There is a God. He has sent me two signs. I must wholly as I can stress how serious I am. Nothing in my life has come close to changing my perspective.

I cursed his name and he turned out the light as I asked for a sign. Blue flash across the room. So I challenged him again. I said, "God, if that was really you, then could you please turn the light back on?" and the filament flew back together inside of the light bulb. I sat silently in my garage smoking cigarettes and contemplating existence and space time and relativity, but eventually crawled into bed and was content for the first time in my life. I knew.
The other time he sent me a sign was when I was with my Satanist friend Dan. He was sitting with me professing the improbability of there being a higher power, when I said "God, if you're there, please send this Satanist a sign." As we sat on the second floor rear patio of an apartment building overlooking five or six square miles of woods, a light came from over the treetops. Stunned we watched it pass overhead and behind our backs. Dan quickly resumed his normal stance, saying it could've be a helicopter or plane or anything of a list of numerable things, maybe a UFO or something strange... I said, knowing God exists, while pointing to the sky with my index finger, "if that was really you, God, would you please put a shooting star on it for me too?" With impeccable timing, a lone burning point ignited at the tip of my finger, and Dan stood next to me vexed so much that he could say nothing. We sat till the morning came up and he said nothing. I understood; I felt as he did once. There is a God. All you have to do is Ask and you shall Receive.

reply to post by JamesCookieIII


I guess I can't say either way. I have my beliefs of course, but keep them to myself, especially in a place like this. Bear in mind this was a work of fiction based off the current writing contest here. It is not intended to discuss as to the possibility of the Gods or whether there are deities overseeing us. The idea was simply to discuss how we would view the world in 2014 if it still existed. Being the writer I am, I always try a different perspective with each story, mainly to make the reader think. In this case it was put from the perspective of looking from the outside in, as I presume the Gods would.

Nicely done. The God's still have their morals, aye? I don't think we'll make it that long next time around. SnF.

Very much a pleasure to read. Thanks.

reply to post by Druid42


I kind of left it open for the reader to decide. To me though, we are just some game to the Gods, kind of like a big reality TV series. Game over? Oh well, just reset the pieces and see how we go all over again. The universe I guess is cold and indifferent to our current suffering. I think you are right though. We seem to be stuck in a never ending loop, that ends the same no matter how we play.

Thanks for the S&F.

Very nice 74temp. This is one of my favourites so far.

I could very clearly picture this round table......and the one looking down on them. Perhaps these are just "student" gods trying to get a project to work. Who is watching the watchers?

Incredible, as always!

reply to post by coven83


Thanks

But something to consider... Who says its the gods?

reply to post by smyleegrl


Thankyou.

I was almost going to can this one as it was very similar to the one you wrote, but figured it was different enough to warrant a look. Glad I did now.

reply to post by 74Templar


I like it very much.

Since it's a "prediction" contest,i predict that this story will be among the 3 winners.

S+F