Death stopped the clock at 2:34am GMT. Her three sisters didn’t want to help but Death could be incredibly persuasive when she wanted to be.
War got to work, spiriting away armaments from all sides. She couldn’t change their warlike nature, and almost congratulated herself for encouraging it in the past. She rebuilt shattered settlements and created homes for the displaced. War cried at first, but she soon found making instead of destroying to be far more satisfying – although if any of these new spaces were damaged, there would be hell to pay.
Pestilence took up a mop and set about clearing up the oceans. The devastation shocked her, and she only wished that she’d taken more humans if it would have meant less chemicals in the water, fewer damaged reefs, and better fishing stocks. She absorbed the poisons of the seas, and considered how she might best use it to create a new plague in the future.
Famine swept through the land, reversing damage to the forests, and purifying the air. She imbued crops with an innate resistance to pests, and absorbed blight from trees and plants. Quarries were filled in, covered with forest, and the landscape breathed a sigh of relief.
Death got to work on the people and the animals. She rooted out the men who were dead inside, hollow shells masking a hole where their conscience should be, and snuffed them out. Poachers were removed, and she gave life back to the animal population to help swell the numbers of endangered species.
It took them a year, and they met in Parliament Square when their work was done.
“We’ve done well, ladies. It’s a shame it took our intervention but hopefully everything has been balanced, and they can maintain it,” said Death.
“But if they don’t…” said War.
“Then we saddle up and do this all over again the good old-fashioned way.” Death grimaced.
The four sisters hugged each other before Pestilence, War and Famine went their separate ways. Death pointed at the clock of Big Ben, and snapped her fingers. The minute hand slid to 2:35am.
Humanity moved onto borrowed time.
There’s something unnerving about them resetting the world so as to preserve their own… what? Wildlife refuge? Petting zoo? Hunting preseve?
I think they’re trying to give humanity a second chance…but there’s no more re-spawns after this one.
Oh man, I really want Death to help out guys who are dead inside! Weekends will be much more fun. Very creative take on unbreaking the world, Icy.
And of course Death is on GMT.
I’m glad you like it! And yeah, the Four Sisters get an extra hour in bed tomorrow.
This seems counter to their purposes…
I don’t think they’re ALL bad…
Borrowed time is better than no time. Fun spin on the horsemen.
Thanks 🙂
Nice take on the world’s situation – not sure that I think the human race will make good.
I’m not either 🙁
We really don’t do well unless our backs are against a wall. Then we can rise to great heights.
Hopefully one or other of the four sisters will let us know the clock is ticking.
(By the way, I did like how Pestilence kept an eye to the future. You just never know…)
Nice work.
Yeah, she’s a little more forward thinking than the others, possibly because she has to evolve more often!
If only…
Wonderful concept, Icy.
Mother Nature gets a vital shot in the arm, but the apocalyptic clock still hovers a couple of minutes to midnight while man is marking time over the planet
Very well done. I like this take on the Apocolypse, but I’m not wholly sure those left will make the best use of their borrowed time.
Brilliant concept, killer execution, Icy. Naturally!
Might you consider adding your imagination and all around It-ness to the Beginnings project in the form of a fourth chapter? I had a rip-roaring time writing chapter 3 : )
Ooh I’m not sure. Who would I speak to about it?
Well, the baton is mine to pass to the next writer, and no one has offered to take it yet, so if you’d like to, that would be most awesome!
You’d just need to read the first three chapters and see what they say to you, for you can advance the plot anyhow you like.
Ah! I forgot to mention:
If you type your chapter on a manual typewriter first, you get major bonus points (this all started with Mark Gardner’s cool 1949 Remington experience)
And just let me know if you decide to do it and I’ll begin the baton-passing ceremony hoo-ha : )
odd thought… I think making the plants more resistant to disease and pests might be one of man’s issues right now. Fundamentally changing their ecosystem has a bad affect on the world around them.
The idea was that if crops were resistant to disease and pests naturally, then mankind wouldn’t need to use the pesticides that kill off bees and other wildlife. There was logic behind it.
Sort of like a blending of the apocalyptic riders and the Norns… really works!
Ugh, and I hope their plan does.