Zero

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          Fifty four years ago, the apocalypse happened here on Earth. Two-thirds of the human race was eradicated. It wasn’t what people had expected. It was not zombies. The sun did not explode. There was a plague but no virus. It wasn’t aliens, at least not completely, some knew exactly what the invaders were. They were demons, and they brought along with them World Wars IV, V, and VI.

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          None of us knows quite how it happened. The mortal humans (we like to call them Mortalines) had even less of a clue. But to explain it, we must first cover the basics of reality. The real reality, not the petty reality in which Mortalines believe. There is such a place as Hell. But contrary to belief, everyone goes there. Or rather parts of everyone go there. When we die, our souls do not. The ancient religions which told of reincarnation or the continued journey of the soul were not incorrect.

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          When one lies on their deathbed, the soul can be seen as a bright, partially translucent bluish, whitish, or greyish line, which is connected to the person, right in between their heart and the center of their chest. It travels through the air, typically connecting to an unborn baby somewhere. The “beautiful bright light” seen at the end of death is often the same “bright white lights” some are able to recall from when they were born. This part of the soul, which was transferred to a new being is the purest, and second largest portion of the soul; it is the Basic Soul.

          However there are two other parts of the soul. From the dying body, another faint line can sometimes be seen flying straight upwards. It is the smallest part of the soul. This is the good a person has done, often too small to see, it is called the person’s Righteous.

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          The last part is the largest. It remains in the body until around thirty seconds before death. This part is the one which most religions deny mentioning. It is the person’s wrongdoing, guilt, their sins and demons. This part will pass through a portal into Hell at the proper time, where, if not already, the wrongdoing and guilt will transform into an embodiment and become Demons.

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          This is generally what happens for the average death. A car crash, airplane crash, murder, or suicide can result in a somewhat rare splitting of souls, which accounts for the increasing global population, but generally, the soul will transfer as stated.

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          Some demons, as said, will have already been created and will pass through the portal. Some will escape into the world instead of passing through the portal. Mainly, the demons will pass through the portal or will be created from guilt and wrongdoing in Hell. When they escape though, it is our job to take them out before they kill, possess, or corrupt another Mortaline’s life and soul. We are the Heavenly, or as the elders like to be called, the Lightsworn. We have traces of angelic blood in ours, giving us the Vision, the ability to see the transferring souls and demons, and to use our weapons.

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          There is more than one portal to hell. In the whole world, there are a little more than 300 portals to Hell. These are not stationary portals, they are constantly changing location, which made for one of the hardest wars when the apocalypse struck. When the apocalypse occurred, it was unnoticeable at first. It was so simple, the portals to Hell opened wider. Then the demons started coming out.

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          There was no stopping them, the planet entered World War IV with countries blaming each other for it at first. Try as they may, the Mortalines quickly found that their weapons did no harm. Machine guns, tanks, and battleships did no harm. The only reason nuclear weapons weren’t utilized was that the collateral damage would be the death of the entire planet. So when the Lightsworn stepped out of the shadows and started fighting the demons in public, all of the tables turned. As with fictitious superheroes, the governments turned on us as the enemies, and a petty movie conflict became a very harsh reality. Two months after the entrance of the demons, the transition from World War IV to World War V began, changing the targets from other countries to the Lightsworn.

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          The Lightsworn have heightened strength, stamina, agility, and speed. Along with that, other characteristics beneficial in battle are heightened. But we are not invincible nor immortal. So when bullets flew at the Lightsworn, they died. One month later--three months after the entrance of the demons--around twenty-one thousand Lightsworn lay dead, piled up, as there were worldwide laws against their right to funerals, and the governments finally decided to do a death rate analysis of the common people. They found that as the Lightsworn had been killed, the numbers of deaths due to demons had increased exponentially and so the governments decided to make a worldwide plea for forgiveness and for help.

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          In April, all screens and radios in the world were taken over. On the radio, the UN Secretary-General, some college student who had taken over after the mass deaths that had occurred, started to speak. On the screens, the new 27-year-old president of the United States and the new 72-year-old president of Russia stood side-by-side next to the 17-year-old Chairman of China, who looked quite fearful. The British Prime Minister was covering for Russia’s and China’s leaders while they were gone. The world had condensed governments in the wake of the mass deaths. China’s control stretched to Australia, Japan, North Korea, and South Korea. Russia controlled the Middle East, India, and eastern Africa. The British controlled all of Europe, the rest of Africa, and southern South America. The United States controlled North America, northern South America and Greenland. The was no conflict between nations anymore, only against the demons and Lightsworn.

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          “We’d like to formally apologize to these beings which we’ve been hunting who call themselves the Lightsworn,” the Secretary-General said. He was horribly pale, and his light brown eyes kept bouncing to the left, presumably glancing at the door. “We’ve been mistaken to be hunting you, but in the midst of the chaos, we looked at the anomalies as the causes. We hope that you can forgive us. We know that we have no right to at this point, but we’d like to ask that you help us in the fight against these, as you call them ‘demons’ and are willing to offer you all available resource to help in the fight.” There was a crash, yelling, and the screens showed a quick splash of red liquid across the camera lens before going black.

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          Later that day the largest group of Lightsworn in New York City, the college and high school students who had hidden from the government raids, entered the UN headquarters, now located at a former Panda Express. They escorted all personnel in the building to an airport, retook the Pentagon with the help of the Lightsworn crews in Washington D. C. and set up base.

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          The Lightsworn called out to all other hidden creatures. The vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, faeries, elves, dwarves, orcs, and goblins helped out whenever they could. World War VI, the world against the demons began. The war was hard on the Mortalines, even harder on the Lightsworn. The Lightsworn survivors were entirely college age or younger. Most were teens, youth stolen away, all with elite training. In the end, the majority of the demons who had invaded were eliminated. The influx through the portals had long ago stopped. A covert, new branch of government was created for the Lightsworn. It was kept secret from the public. There was no base. It was called Strike Force Lightning Bolt. Another branch was created but kept also secret, composed of the other Mythics and their new breeds, such as the half wolf half vampires that had arisen when the two kinds made truce. It was called The Invisible Force. Both still work together ridding the world of demons.

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          Today, the Mortaline population is up to a quarter of what it was before the apocalypse. But a lot of buildings stand vacant. Not haunted, not damaged, just vacant. Many elementary schools and preschools are upkept, but with not enough children to fill them, they remain eerily quiet. Whole cities remain uninhabited around the world. New Lightsworn are found every month, having been made fun of for their natural differences. Across the globe Strike teams remain active, being called to kill demons which have been found is a common occurrence. The world is not that different compared to how it was before the apocalypse. The only differences are that it is quieter, with more vacant buildings in towns, and military operations are normal. We’re also a tad more violent. Mortalines, for the most part, still have no idea what demons or Lightsworn are, and haven’t any clue as to what the military operations are about. Kids are taught about history, and the apocalypse and world wars remain only referred to as “the Change.” Time is no longer AD or BC, but is rather before apocalypse and post apocalypse: BA and PA. AD is still used a little, but rarely.

 

Nothing else happened, everything just Changed.