Rivers and rivers of blood flooded the village. Screams and cries echoed through the empty streets. Flames on the north, Ice on the south. Both creating their own chaos and destruction. And in the middle, they collided.
Forming a storm in the sky and a hell on the ground, working together Fire and Ice put an end to mankind.

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Silence roars throughout the world, filling the empty spaces of the lifeless land. Darkness covers the seas. Light shines but only once a day. Empty cities become nothing. Villages become nothing. Men and women become nothing. Children become nothing. Earth as a whole becomes everything.

People were not aware of everything being destroyed around them only until the end. At first, clueless as they’ve grown to be, they lived as though nothing was different. As the end came closer, they became more ignorant than ever. They became colder than before.
Moments - as they appear to me, years to them – before their species was extinct, they realized the damage and as idiotic as they were, they blamed the Earth.
They blamed the Earth and they blamed Me.
Only few came to learn that it was them who caused their own destruction. The only creature ever to exist to make itself extinct, and yet they’d claimed themselves the brightest of them all.
And even then, after they knew the end was near, it was as if they did not care. They acted still selfishly and violently. If they had only cared enough to ask me, I would have answered. I was prepared with over a million answers, one for every man, but not many sought my help.
And so I waited patiently for them to come to me, so I could help them get back on their feet. I had a brilliant plan. If only they all were interested to hear it and to follow it, they would all still be here.

But in the end, they didn’t come. In the end, they all burned. They all drowned. They all died.

I cried – creating much of a chaotic rainstorm – as I hovered over the Earth and watched as they all screamed for my help. I wanted to help them, but it was far too late now and my rage had caused me to lose control over the worn out peace – that was once enough to break apart all the wars of the world – that slightly covered the Earth.

The atmosphere was filled with screams and tears and regrets. All the noises coming from around the world joined into one whole sound. An agonizing sound that broke apart the land and created a massive hole in the ground that with the work of gravity made all the dead bodies fall into it. And once the Earth was quiet, and no man was left, I closed the abyss.

And just like that, the end was over.
No more lies, no more discrimination. An end to hate, an end to poverty. Everything, good and bad, caused by Man has now disappeared.
What’s left is only the sound of the wind, gently blowing through the never-ending green valleys and forests. What’s left is the sound of crashing waves into the warm sand, the heartbeat of the ocean and the light of the sun. What’s left here is only the rivers of fresh water and the oceans of salt, home of creatures dancing to the natural music of life.
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It is now the second day since I closed the abyss and everything is still though somehow moving.
Birds are flying gently over the blue, clean waters.
Deer freely walking around trees filled with squirrels and one or two owls.
Everything is simple. Beautifully simple.
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It has been one whole week. Everything is the same though somehow changing.

It’s dark. Middle of the night, and I am sliding through what used to be Australia. Now, it’s simply another wonderful part of Earth.
No light, but I manage to see every single living and non-living thing.
And just as I’m about to float up to the heavens, I hear something. It isn’t exactly a sound. It’s more like a presence. A presence of something that isn’t meant to be present.
I quickly find that it is a human. How? I don’t know. Maybe, some part of me didn’t want mankind to end. Maybe some part of me wanted them to have another chance.
What other explanation could there be?
What other reason could have made me do this?
Confused, I’m heading back home. I’ll let the man live. Just as long as it can, I will not help him, but will not try to destroy him.
I will know him, before I call him mine.
And if I find he’s a good man, I shall create a woman for him. A sister with whom he shall continue this new human race.
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It’s been over a month since I found the man. I’ve been observing him constantly. He radiates mixed emotions. Walks among the Earth. Afraid.
I’ve also been searching for maybe another man I might have left alive, but I’ve not found any.

It’s late, but not completely dark yet. The man has made fire today to keep warm. He’s been eating only fruit from trees and bushes. He’s been planting also.
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Second month. The man has learned to hunt. He’s gotten a branch, sharpened one side to a point with a rock.
Patiently, he waited in between bushes for an animal to pass by. He knew what he wanted. Deer. And eventually one came. He prepared and I saw how every inch of his skin, every bone in his body, was awake and ready. I was about to leave the man, when a drastic change caught my attention. The man loosened up and sighed. I read his mind.

He felt as though he were committing a crime, a sin. He couldn’t manage to kill and was ashamed that it ever crossed his mind.
That night I spoke to him.

I spoke to him through the wind and through the crackle of his fire.

“All the living creatures that you see and that you hear, I’ve created with no soul. With no soul, I have created them. You may kill and you may hunt, but never more than you need. Though their existence in this world or in the next ceases at death, they form a great part of what is left of the Earth. If you kill too many, if you take away their lives for reasons other than your needs, you shall be punished. Do not fear me, but fear yourself, for you are who can punish and destroy your own life.”

And then I was gone.
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It has been over three years since the closure of the abyss. I have been hovering over each mountain and each river, desperately searching for something I’m missing. I have no idea of what it could be.
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My confusion has invaded all my thoughts and all my feelings. I’ve created massive waves and hurricanes and earthquakes all around the world.
Gods and Saints still have bad days.
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I saw the man today. He was asleep, but I could read his feelings and his thoughts.

In the sea of his deepest feelings and emotions, I saw loneliness and love. Love for everything before him. Love for food and fire and shelter and water. Love for animals and rain and clouds and the wind. Love for Me.

In his mind, I read his thoughts. His dreams. He dreamt of a woman. A fair, yet pretty average woman. In this dream, he lay upon a meadow so vast and beautiful. On his right sat a woman. In his eyes one could realize the adoration he had towards her. It was not lust, but pure love. Oh, he would promise not to touch her just to have her with him. He would promise not to make her his, just to look into her eyes. It came as a surprise for this man to be so much in love with someone who does not exist.
I stood above the man for several hours. Admiring his love.

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I presented myself as a human today and walked to meet the man I had been watching for so long.

“Fear not of my presence. I am the God you worship every night before you rest. I am the water that settles your thirst, the meat that settles your hunger.”
“You appear to me as a man. I’ve searched and searched these lands – not well enough, I see”
“I am not a man from this territory. I am no man at all”
“What are you, may I ask?”
“I am what brought chaos to the world in order to bring peace. I reside above the sky, watching attentively at you.”
“Me? I am but an ordinary man from Sidney. Before the devastating destruction of most human life, I was quite simple and quite dull. I had a job that I despised. I had a wife who did not love me. I had a child who died at birth. I had debts to pay. I was an ordinary man.”
“And yet you managed to survive.”
“Ah. Well, I did my best though times were never easy. I am just an ordinary man.”
“You say you are an ordinary man, yet you give me proof of only your past. I say, have you no idea how far you’ve come? You’ve survived the greatest destruction known to mankind. You are no ordinary man today. Now, I have to say, what’s on your mind?”
“I don’t know what to think of you.”
“Ah… You were unhappy, weren’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Before I took the life of almost every human being, you were unhappy”
“Ah… no”
“It was a statement, not a question.”
“Either way, I stand opposed. I had what I long for most now. I had company and I had a life”
“Company? You were a lonely man. I can see it in your eyes. They change when you speak of your past. And if I may add, you are certainly breathing. Your heart is certainly beating. Why, you seem to reek of life”
“I am alive, but I am life-less. I am alone! I need someone to keep me company. I need someone to love”
“Odd. Everyone who you’ve ever loved has broken your heart, one way or another. Your mother abandoned you at age seven, your father drank himself to death, your friends betrayed you constantly, your wife had many affairs, your only child died before you could even hold him. You’ve had so many heartaches. Why would you want to love again?”
“Do not remind me of the pain. Do not remind me of the tears. It’s been so long since I’ve set thought on that. So many years. It’s been so hard to mend the wounds these people have made in me. When my mother left, my father died, I began to think of suicide. I fell so terribly, my friends just watched me from the side. My wife, who promised to be true to me, spent more night with other men than with me. My son never met me, never knew of me. He died alone. I spent so many nights heartbroken , crying myself to sleep. Yes, you’re right. I was unhappy; I just never really said it. I lived my life miserably, but I lived it anyway. I gave it my best; I tried to be a good person, though it never took me anywhere. Everything I did was useless. I’m stuck here. Alone.”
“You are mistaken. Everything you did, everything you experienced – although it broke your heart – made you who you are. And who you are has brought you survival. Who you are has brought me here to you. I just have one question for you: who is she?”
“Who?”
“The woman you dream each night about”
“Get the hell out of my head.”
“It’s a simple question, Caleb”

The man walked away from me, but I followed.

“She has no name. She has no life. She is not real. Just exists in my mind”
“Let me bring her to you”
“Why would you satisfy a craving of mine? You do not agree with me”
“I do. I admire you. I admire the way you live. All you need is a life to live.”
“I am an ordinary man”
“Ah. You are too modest. You survived for a reason, I must tell you. And as you did your best to stay alive, I noticed how you feel towards the Earth. The woman you see, her name is Earth. You are so deeply in love with your home. Most men, most women, they would not have understood. They would have died so easily. They would have lacked the love you have. The love you’ve never been able to give to anyone without being hurt. It is the way you are; a man of love. The Earth is the only woman that has ever returned your love. It gives you shelter, food, rain. It is your home.”

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I have created a woman for the man. A woman for Caleb.
She is a newborn, yes. Caleb must care for her as he never did his own son. And when she grows, then they shall marry. They shall reproduce in millions. Caleb must pass down his wisdom and his need to love.
And so the story must begin again.
Men shall overtake the Earth once more. I will help them as best I can. I shall send men with minds similar to Caleb’s.
And I hope this time the outcome will be different. Better.

Caleb made me see. My son made me see.
He wanted love more than anything even though it had disappointed him so many times before. He never lost hope and never stopped believing in it. Always gave it another chance.

Mankind, that had disappointed me endlessly, also deserves another chance.
Everyone and everything deserves another chance.
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