A Trail of Smoke and Reason (452 hits)
Category: UberMadness! EntryRating: 2 on 1 review (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Lutes <absolutes18.at.hotmail.com> (View user info) at 2005-07-26 06:19:54 EDT
This post was an official UberMadness! entry. Click here to view the original matchup.
Fire had emerged on Earth long before man was born, and for many years life was harmonious and uneventful. The arrival of the new, primitive species made Fire wary, but they had both soon realized their need to coexist. Without Fire, man could not survive on its own, and without man's help, Fire could not strengthen and expand. Humans used fire for essential food and warmth, while Fire fed on man's increasing technology to grow and reproduce. It was an uneasy compromise, but it suited both beings for the time.
Man's awe of Fire's power, however, gradually turned into jealousy and greed. Fire, like many other things in nature, was considered by man to be too valuable and dangerous to run wild. Where Fire had once been a proud element, human beings now sought to control and restrict her. When Fire attempted to spread and breed peacefully, her movement was suppressed and her offspring were cruelly stifled at birth. Man ignored Fire's pain in their quest for supremacy and the tentative agreement of amity was no more; it became warfare.
And this marked the beginning of the Flame Hunters.
The Flame Hunters came in different faces, shapes, colours and uniforms across the globe, but they all shared the same purpose: to destroy Fire's lineage and extinguish her children. Never had human beings been so organized in their battle, and Fire's kin was fatally doused at an alarming rate. The Flame Hunters were cleverer and braver than most of their kind, and forced Fire back with a grim determination. They risked, and often forfeited their lives towards their sworn duty. These men were Soldiers of Water, and each was carefully and specifically trained to kill her family.
It sickened her to see them pronounced as heroes, when they were nothing more than murderers in flame-retardant suits. Newscasts praised their bravery, their perseverance, their dedication to saving lives. Nothing was ever said about the other lives they aborted or ended far too short. No one ever mentioned the other, grief-stricken side of the battlefield.
Fire was no longer respected as she had once been throughout the natural world, and was feared and loathed by the entire human race. She was rarely ever thanked or praised anymore, even though her kin still provided the necessary heat humans now all took for granted. Instead, mating seasons in the dry summer fields and prairies were banned, warning bells were installed in every household, and some flames were even forced into domestication, where they were confined in small glass cases as pets to do their human's bidding.
Humans seemed to have gained the upper-hand, but the crusade was far from over. Fire refused to lay idle as her race was slaughtered, their integrity forever lost in clouds of anguished smoke. No, she had already set her plan in motion, and this time she would play mankind's game. They had shown her no mercy and she did not intend to give any in return.
For every one of her brothers and sisters that were murdered, she would render a family's life and home to thick ashes. For every one of her babies they smothered to death, she would incinerate an entire, helpless village. For every flame they drowned, she would retaliate with a hundred more, twice as fierce.
It was, in essence, a life for a life. A fair trade.
After all, even in times of war Fire could be reasonable.
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Submitted by FunnyAsCancer (user info) at 2005-10-30 05:27:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
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