The Old World

The Old World
By Geoffrey Foster

Prologue
The classical myths and legends fell out of belief in the minds of men long ago, and over time they became buried under the great weight of science and logic. The forgotten had been rendered nearly powerless, but that is also what seems to have strengtned their resolve. Finally they fought their way back and they brought the world they built with them. Old cities slowly rose up to replace the newer ones and great nations fell. All the laws of which science were based had been broken. Magic could not be obscured by rationality and logic any longer. It was the ancient world and the beings that inhabited it reclaiming their land. They took up their old thrones, resumed their old duties, and held great celebrations to mark their return.
The first significant thing that happened, the single event that marked the end of our world and the rebirth of the original, occurred in Greece.
Christos Baptiste lived in a beach front house on Katari Kassos Island. One morning he was awoken by the sounds of waves violently crashing against the sides of his house. He ran into the living room, one entire wall of which was almost completely glass, and what he saw sent him straight to his den to retrieve his video camera. This video was broadcast throughout the world in a matter of hours. We saw a long wall comprised of narrow sections of glass, intermittently decorated with large potted plants, which gave an impressive view of the ocean which now surrounded his house. Roughly a Quarter of a mile away, a giant was rising out of the wild Aegean Sea, sending massive waves crashing to shore. He wore a bushy beard covered in thick moss and had long hair of what appeared to be seaweed. His dark green robes clung to his wet form as he rose. He came to the shore’s edge, nearly blocking the view of the ocean completely, and dropped to one knee with a great boom that shook the ground, knocking over the potted plants, smashing a huge amount of unseen breakables and shattering the glass wall. There he remained silent and stoic, one hand upon his knee, the other holding a great three-pronged spear, its points to the sky, its base buried in the sand. He appeared to be standing sentry, guarding the ocean beyond. The whole world stared in horror and disbelief in front of their T.V.’s and computer screens at what was obviously real, but wholly unbelievable. The religious groups tried to claim it as the second coming but didn’t seem to really believe it. In a way, it was a second coming, just not the one the Catholics expected. It wasn’t “the one, true god” called Jesus, but it was a God. It was Poseiden, son of Cronos, and he had come to resume his role as protector of the seven seas.




ONE
Emergence

For some time it seemed that America would be spared the sudden emergence of myth and legend, though both these terms did not carry the same meaning they once had. The entire world was redefining its belief structure. The impossible had proven to be very possible and this scared the hell out of scientists and fascinated historians. But America watched all these developments from the comfort of their own homes. It was theorized that the reason for this is that America was a much younger country and before we inhabited it, it was mostly Indian Territory and the Indians had few strange creatures and no physical gods in their belief structure. But the one thing that was made very clear by these staggering events was that no religion or set of beliefs seemed to be the true one. The ancient myths seemed to rise only in the countries that believed in them, that thought them up, proving that belief alone had great power, and that man seemed to be the creators of such power.
America was not completely unaffected, of course. The normal day to day structure of society was thrown into upheaval. Panic had spread like wildfire and most people locked themselves away from the world, in fear of its new state.
But America was only spared for a little while. From the very beginning, the new inhabitants of our world set their eyes westward to this new land that seemed to be beyond mere belief. This new land, that seemed to hold none of their own mythology, interested the once forgotten and drew them towards us.
All of Europe, from Britain to Japan, had become pure chaos and anarchy. People died in the hundred thousands. Some were slain by beasts, others shot themselves out of panic and fear, and some dropped to their knees and swore allegiance to a Pantheon of gods thought to have only existed in books and movies. These were the ones that survived. They prayed to their new gods as their ancestors had ages before. Not so much out of loyalty, but of fear and respect.
Britain’s government was overthrown by King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, who swore to return the world to a place of peace and justice, the ideas of which, in their minds, seemed to have become altered and perverted during their long absence.
Reports were coming in almost constantly on American news stations, the only news stations still in operation: a dragon attacks another town, destroying crops and buildings, killing many people; More people disappear in a small village bordered by a stone house that’s believed to be inhabited by a Gorgon; A man believed to be a sorcerer of some type has taken over a small town, killing all who attempt to enter; A man calling himself Agamemnon has begun the conquest of the lands bordered by the Aegean… and so on and so forth.

For a time, Ben Marshall honestly believed that the chaos would remain overseas, leaving America unharmed. Looking back at his unrealistic optimism, he sometimes laughs at himself. Other times, the thought is enough to make him ill, because when the reality of the situation became clear, the life he knew was violently thrown aside and nothing would ever be the same again.
Ben didn’t know a whole lot about mythology when the event the media titled “Emergence” occurred. For the next two weeks he was in a constant state of alarm which turned into a kind of surreal existence that often felt like a dream he was expecting to wake up from. The dream did not cease, but turned into a nightmare. Ben was a student at Kline University and had his own apartment nearby. He had just started seeing a girl in his linguistics class named Holly. Holly was, by all accounts, an easy conquest. A few smiles and flirtatious looks across a room was all it took to grab her attention and a little small talk capped off with a request for her phone number would close the deal. This is exactly what Ben did, amazed at how quickly she agreed to go out with him. He figured she had been around the block many times before Danny Alstrom confirmed it a few days later, but didn’t care. She was nice and easy to talk to, a little needy perhaps, but he didn’t mind that so much. It was better than being alone, he supposed, and there was nothing wrong with a little companionship every now and then. It would never last because there was no real connection between them, but there was comfort, which made them both content.
The first few days of the Emergence were spent on the phone with her. She wanted comfort and reassurance that he was not capable of giving any more. He tried his best but ultimately couldn’t do much to calm her mood. But they spoke constantly during those first days. Then on the fourth day, she did not call and there was no answer on her cell. He did not hear from her after that.
On the seventeenth day, the old world seemed to have reached America. The event was not as startling as the return of Poseiden, but it was enough to create a great increase in fear across the country. It was at 10:36am of that day, when a great flaming bird with orange and red feathers was seen flying over central Manhattan. The bird flew overhead, trailing flames from its wings and tail, in the direction of New Jersey. It was determined quite easily that this bird was a Phoenix. That was the first of a barrage of news reports of “monster attacks” across America.
In Los Angeles, a citizen caught a battle between the cops and nine centaurs on film. The centaurs carried bows and arrows, and pairs of swords. The cops had shotguns. Seven policemen were killed before the centaurs were finally taken down.
Most of the attacks that morning didn’t involve police at all, but people just carrying out their daily activities. Within hours central park was inhabited by Satyrs and where the weather was stormy, they were the harpies plucking children from their mother’s arms and babies from their cribs. That night brought a full moon, and with it came the werewolves and vampires in a variety of forms and appearances. The Pacific Ocean was suddenly plagued by great sea serpents. By midnight, nineteen boats and ships had been pulled to the depths. Before the clock struck 2am, Half of Chicago was burning from an attack by a five-headed Hydra.
By that time, Ben had boarded up the windows in his apartment and kept his swords, a Katana and an Italian rapier, close at hand. He knew how to use both, but he took classes in fencing every Thursday which made him more apt to grab the rapier every time he heard a noise. At 4:12am his hand fell easily into place around the rapiers handle when someone banged on his front door. He slid the Katana in his belt for back up, and went to the door. Halfway there, he heard Holly’s voice on the other side.
“Ben! Ben, it’s Holly! Open the door! Please open the door! Ben! Please!”
He quickly went to the door, and just as he undid the final latch and gripped the handle it occurred to him that maybe this was some kind of trick by a man eating shape shifter to lure him outside. But it wasn’t. Holly burst through the door and slammed it shut, quickly turning both the deadbolts and the latch.
“Jesus, Holly. Are you okay? What’s out there?”
She burst into tears and fell into his arms.
“God, I Hope you are you”, she cried.
“What are you talking about? Of course I’m me. What the hell is out there?”
“First It looked like my brother, then you, then… then I don’t know what.”
Ben felt a chill roll up his spine. Not the kind you feel in the middle of a cold night or when you hear a strange noise. No, this was stronger; it was terror creeping up his spine. Something was outside the door, or at least nearby, and it could change its appearance. It could like anyone.