Horse, rider, and child alike plodded along the long, crumbled road of old, damaged by the power of time. As the sun began to set over the far horizon, the black clad figure began to recite the history of old, the tales of the Old Age, and for a moment, just one moment, the boy forgot the horror he had been subject to. In a deep, aged voice the mysterious stranger began his story.
“In the days of old, before the world had felt the power, the destruction of the glow, the world was ruled by reason and logic. Men with great minds used the magic of one's own ideas and callused hands to build marvels that now lay in empty husks beside us.” Giving a motion to the unrecognizable, rusted, and overgrown husk of metal that was once a car, “These ‘machines’ could do the unbelievable, and some the unspeakable. These machines could be drawn with no horse and even greater ones could fly through the skies!”
The boy behind him gasped, his eyes wide, “That’s impossible!”
“Impossible? No, they were extraordinary. The concrete jungles were once the sites of mighty cities, the likes no one living today could begin to comprehend. Reaching high into the clouds above and their foundation digging deep below. It was a world of unbelievable creation, and unbelievable destruction. They turned their vehicles to war machines and their minds to create weapons of unspeakable annihilation. In one mighty war between these people of old, they discovered the Glow. By splitting the very matter that surrounds us, they released the Glow’s fury. They enraged it, for the Glow is not meant to be a slave to the machines of man or man’s mind. With this power, a mighty empire forced the world into peace, peace bread by fear, yet it was that fear that brought its downfall. Soon, many around the world unlocked the power of the Glow, and when the fear had boiled over, they unleashed it upon the world. They were fools. The Glow did not discriminate, no, it destroyed all, and that once great world fell, the Old Age was no more. The Glow gives and the Glow takes.”
An eerie silence fell over the two as they rode through the crumbled empire that once stood taller than what is imaginable. Veering his mighty steed into the looming forest, the boy clung tighter to the black clad figure. The path they followed seemed little more than a game trail, and sounds echoed across the twisted trees touched by the Glow. Woods like these were where the stories of Glow Beasts and other horrors roam, yet the rider continued through the dark wood, past hanging vines, and the skittering of woodland creatures. The boy's eyes darted from side to side as the tree limbs reached to pull him from the horse, and every noise was a beast stalking in the dark. Fear gripped the young boy’s heart as the shadows loomed over him, but as quickly as they entered the forest, they left its dreadful grasp.
Within a small clearing, the rays of sunlight piercing the forest's stalwart shield, illuminating the tranquil grove. As if a sanctuary from the dread forest they had emerged. In the center of the clearing, a hole stood open into the deep recesses of the earth. The rider led his brave steed into the gaping maw of earth and stone, as the ramp leading into the darkness slowly turned from dirt, grass, and pebble to the concrete of the Old Age. The flickering light from a torch casting shadows across the passage, revealing the concrete walls that incased them. After walking an eternity in down into the passage, deep beneath the cold earth, a large, rusted metal door stood open, letting light flood from its opening.
Another black clad figure stood beside the ever open door, once meant to protect, but now to far gone to do so. Holding up his hand, the rider raised his hand in greeting. In a voice to match the riders, the greeter spoke, “The Glow gives and the Glow takes.”
The rider gave his response, “The Glow is power the Glow is pain.” And then in unison, “The Glow is the Way.”
