The red sun. The bearer of life. Its blazing flames stood above the sky of the barren land. Yellow grass flourished with the sparse trees. Beasts hunting their prey for the fun of it.
It was a dangerous land for the lonely. That's why the Lopococo tribe, filled with humans, stuck together. Their grass huts let them protect themselves from the rampaging heat. Their bronze skin protected them from the dangers lurking in the sun's rays, yet occasionally having some shade was nice.
Each of the hundred tribe members had their duties to keep the tribe running smoothly. There were the guards who protected the rest of the tribe from the dangerous beasts outside. There were the harvesters who picked fully grown grass, fallen tree branches, and big enough stones to help build their huts and weaponry. There were the builders who built and made the things needed to have the tribe continue fighting.
Then there was the Chief. He was the man who made sure everything ran smoothly. He dealt with discourse between the tribe members. Those who were too dangerous were expelled. The fate of everyone who was expelled was certain. They never returned.
This story begins with a young woman from the Lopococo tribe. She plucked the nearby grass that was as tall as a full-grown human and placed it in her basket. However, she was tall enough to see just above the tall grass due to her height, and her athletic build showed that she had never stopped training her body with additional exercise. As she stuffed every blade of grass into her basket, her shoulder-length black hair would get stuck onto her sweaty face, forcing her to take a break when it became too much.
She was like a machine. Efficiently picking, placing before moving on to the next area showing her years of experience as a harvester.
Once her basket was full, the young woman lifted the basket over her head with her raw strength and placed it on top. Balancing it just right where it would stay put, freeing her hands up. With half of her duties over for the day, the young woman made her way back to the tribe.
As she got closer, she saw more of her fellow tribe members returning their baskets, too. They chatted with one another with satisfied smiles from a hard day's work. Now, they could relax a little by watching the builders work or tell stories. Some stories were more popular than others.
As the young woman listened, her face darkened just ever so slightly.
"Did you hear that Savannah's younger brother was watching the ants again?"
"He is not contributing to the tribe, so why is he still around? I hate him."
"The Chief refuses to expel him. He is the firstborn on record, so he has a special place in the Chief's heart."
"That's not fair!"
Some tribe members venomously gritted their teeth as they talked to each other. No one in the tribe opposed their opinion even though they were causing discourse in the tribe. Clearly, they all shared the same opinion.
The young woman silently sighed, and the thought of talking to her fellow tribe members dimmed. She focused on her task at hand, returning her basket to the builder's hut and taking a short break before heading back out to continue plucking grass.
"Girl, why are you covered up so tightly? Aren't you hot?"
"I'm protecting myself from the upcoming apocalypse, Mom."
"A-apco-what's that?"
"Mom, it's a big event. The next one is coming soon. I was told about it. It was coming today."
"And who told you that? Are you sure your friends are not pranking you again?"
"No, mom. Life told me."
"Shh! Be quiet. You are going to get in trouble. You know you aren't supposed to talk to him."
The young woman who was walking froze turned around, and walked over to the mother and daughter who had spoken earlier. She recognized this mother-and-daughter pair very well. Well, she knew everyone in the tribe very well. It was inevitable.
The girl's mother, Bru, was kneeling down with her empty basket in front of her daughter, Uter, who had a hat made out of dried grass and covered her body in fur. In temperatures like this, no one would ever dress this much.
But that was not what the young woman was interested in. It was who.
"Uter, you spoke to Life?" The young woman asked with a smile.
Bru saw that she was too late and sighed. She didn't want to get involved in this, but since they were caught, so be it.
"Mhum!" Uter nodded her head, almost dropping her hat.
"Life said the apocalypse is coming. He said that the other kids and I might get sick, so we should dress up in more clothes. He then said sweating means that I'm fulfilling my very purpose."
The young woman's face twitched before asking another question, "That does sound like Life. Do you know where he is right now?"
"I saw him looking at the big ant hill at the south." Uter snitched without hesitation.
"Thank you," The young woman said with appreciation.
Bru had an awkward expression on her face as she hesitated.
"Savannah, is your younger brother going to have another episode? Last time was scary." Bru asked, nervously gulping. She had a feeling that something was really about to happen.
"Maybe I should get myself a hat too." Bru thought to herself.
Savannah paused before shrugging her shoulders.
"Who knows. Last time was just a coincidence. How could he have stopped that earthquake?" Savannah answered before patting Bru's shoulder and smiling.
"You should get a hat. It would look good on you." Savannah said lastly before walking away towards where the ant hill was.
Bru frowned and touched her forehead.
"She isn't making fun of my forehead, right?"
"Mom, your forehead isn't that much bigger than everyone else. Life told me that all differences are a source of pride." Uter said, trying to be supportive.
"That doesn't make me feel better. Let's go get matching hats. Who made your hat?"
"Treko did!"
Back to Savannah, as she got further away from the tribe's main gathering spot, she started to pick up her pace. Her mind frantically remembered the time six years ago when her brother said these similar words to her.
"A dangerous event is coming. The world is becoming too unstable. You should tell our parents to wear extra fur as protection."
"If only I listened back then. Maybe Mom and Dad would still be alive." Savannah thought before shaking her head. She needs to focus.
"This might not be real. Last time could be a coincidence, so he might be joking."
Even though Savannah tried to convince herself nothing would happen, her pace didn't stop. She only kept getting faster and faster until she was running across the grassy plain. She soon saw a tall structure made of dirt in the distance. Even from this far away, she could see red bugs crawling in and out from the hundreds of small holes.
It was super creepy, just visually, and dangerous if you got too close.
But there was one exception.
Savannah saw that below the ant structure was a young man who bore some semblance of her. He had a muscular build that seemed to give him the sensation of being filled with energy. His eyes glimmered as he counted the traveling ants using his fingers. With every increment, his smile grew wider and wider until it was almost too much. It was soo exaggerated that it was terrifying.
"Five hundred and sixty-seven, five hundred and sixty-eight, five hundred and sixty-nine, five hundred and seventy…" The young man counted happily as if nothing was more important.
Seeing this young man, Savannah slowed down and walked over until she was standing over him. Yet the young man didn't budge as he continued to count every single ant. Most people might wonder how it was possible that he could keep track of every single ant and not accidentally count the same one twice.
But Savannah knew better than anyone that her brother was definitely accurate with his counting. She has seen this all before and has grown used to the strange things he was capable of.
"Life is another you, about to come?" Savannah asked before patiently waiting until he finished counting.
"One thousand ants in this colony. The Ant Queen is slacking off. I should give her some motivation." The young man known as Life said casually before turning to Savannah and answering her question with lots of energy.
"Savannah! He is coming!"
"Once he comes, we can start exploring!"
Savannah blinked before she smiled, seeing how energetic he was. This was the man she had grown up with. Even though the rest of the tribe found him problematic, rightly so, she loved his personality. It added so much color to everyone's lives.
"Who is coming? Can you tell me?" Savannah asked, feeling her heart racing with anticipation, but unexpectedly, Life froze and suddenly became deflated.
"He said I can't because it would ruin his entrance."
"But don't worry, I'll tell him to hurry up so that you can meet him sooner." Life said all bubbly.
Savannah quickly shook her head, "Wait, there is no rush for that."
Unfortunately, it seemed to be too late. The sky darkened as the eternal heat and light that everyone in the world had gotten used to quickly was covered up by…sky dust?
The temperature dropped as the wind began blowing. This wasn't the comforting and gentle wind that cooled her down from the heat. No, it was bone-chilling. It licked her skin, causing her sweat to stick and her muscles to scream from this unknown sensation.
The only places that felt better were where her fur clothes covered up her skin. Thinking about it now, Savannah understood why Life told Uter to cover herself up with more clothing. It was for this unknown evil wind.
Savannah felt her heart drop when she looked into the sky. It was gone. The entire sky and sun were gone. All that was left was the thick and dark sky dust that began swirling above their heads.
Savannah felt so small seeing this. This was the same feeling as back then. No, this was even worse. She could comprehend what happened back then. She could make sense of it. But this…she didn't understand.
"This is the apocalypse," Savannah muttered to herself, truly understanding the meaning of the word now.
"Savannah! What's going on!? I-is Life getting taken over again!?"
Just as Savannah was comprehending this new reality, she heard a familiar voice calling her back. Lowering her gaze, she saw a younger man than Life running towards them. He was on the thinner side and had waist-long black hair that flew from his frantic run, but he resembled them and had their good looks, too.
He was their youngest sibling, Treko.
"Treko, what are you doing here?" Savannah asked, regaining some of her composure.
Treko came to a stop in front of them and placed his hands on his legs to catch his breath.
"I heard what Life said to Uter and Bru, so I rushed here. But it seems that I was too late."
"But more importantly, what's going on? Why did the sky disappear, and why is the wind like this?" Treko questioned as he shivered from the evil wind licking his skin.
"I don't know. Life says that someone is coming. Another him, I suppose, but I don't understand why it is like this. It's nothing like before." Savannah explained with a troubled expression. She really had no idea what to do.
Life, on the other hand, looked relaxed. No, he looked excited and eager about what was about to happen. The world was about to change.
The swirling dark sky dust continued to gather above their heads, attracting the attention of every living thing in the world. They looked at the sky as their minds were unable to comprehend what was about to happen.
Everything was giving their attention to this swirling darkness that ate the sky and sun. As the evil wind licked them, causing them to suffer, some felt their bodies quickly becoming harder and harder to move, as if they were becoming stone. Fear and despair struck every living being's heart as their hope that everything would go back to normal disappeared.
Just then, a burst of golden light shot out of Life's body and straight into the center of the swirling evil. The swirling darkness exploded, destroying the endless sky dust. The warm rays pierced through the darkness, filling every being with renewed hope. They could all see the thin golden pillar that had saved them slowly shrinking as it eliminated the evil darkness that covered their world.
As the last bit of golden light vanished, bringing in a new day, Life used his hand to slick back his hair, which immediately gave him a different demeanor. Even though his face and body were the same, he seemed to become an entirely different person.
Noble, righteous, the world's savior!
Opening his eyes, the new man smiled gently as he looked into the sky and made an announcement to the world.
"I have come to save the world from the otherworldly invaders! The World's Savior has arrived!"
His voice echoed throughout the entire world, making every living thing understand that it was now a new era.
A heroic era!