• Prologue
    The birds sang happy songs as they spun in endless circles around each other and the morning dew was glistening on the grass as the warming sun shone upon it; the crisp, clean air was fresh, inviting Vivian into a world of dreams. At this very moment, he could be swimming in the Aphromica Sea, in the warm sun playing various games with his friends…or he could be in a boring classroom, learning things that were not in the least bit interesting to him.
    Unfortunately, Vivian was sitting slumped down into a desk that was too small, staring at page twelve in his textbook. What subject was his class even reading about, history?
    “Alsorta, could you please read the next section in the textbook?”
    “Yeah…uh…”
    “Were on section 1-3, Viv,” whispered one of Vivian’s classmates, Sanji. A wide, thin grin had formed on his lips as he taunted Vivian.
    “Viv?” Vivian whispered back in disgust, raising an eyebrow.
    “What, you don’t like the first syllable in your name?” Sanji ragged on the boy.
    “If you wouldn’t mind reading, Alsorta! We haven’t got all day!” The teacher, Kaman Utona, was becoming impatient, for he too had so many better things he could be doing at the time rather than teach a bunch of seven year olds about world history. Everyone on the planet new the history of the New World, whether their parents told them the story, or they learned it in history when they were five. What did history have to do with becoming part of the military anyway?
    Vivian found the appointed section in his book on the next page, cleared his throat, and began reading aloud, “Section 1-3: The Recreation of Government Enforcers. The end came swiftly and painlessly for most people; explosions of Nuclear Warheads were designed to kill people instantaneously, disintegrating everything in their path with dangerous chemicals mixed with extreme heat. However, not everyone perished, thus, it was not ‘the end’ that most people expected. Hundreds of thousands survived, but nearly half of this population could not withstand the effects of nuclear fallout, and slowly died in agony.
    “The other forth was affected by fallout as well. It mutated or destroyed the genes of many, and took shape in numerous different ways upon many different people. This mutation had what where deemed a number of bad effects. It changed the physical appearance as well as the internal appearance of countless, turning skin, hair, and eyes a variety of colors, and adding unwanted and awkward limbs to the body. Some died because the human body was not stable enough for the power the mutated genes contained, and their muscles tore themselves apart.”
    Utona quickly interrupted Vivian to explain to the children what the text was trying to interpret. “So, the war heads were supposed to wipe everyone out, yes?”
    The children nodded their heads yes to Utona’s question.
    “Wrong! The world leaders at this time only wanted to wipe out each other, not the people. The leaders did succeed in eliminating their foes, but in doing so they also were killed themselves. This is what they called MAD, mutually assured destruction. So the various leaders shot nukes at each other, and they died. Some of the people did, too, but not all of them. These people suffered from nuclear fallout. Fallout is the radiation hazard that appears after a nuclear explosion. Nobody knew what the effects of nuclear fallout were before the so called ‘end’. Continue, Alsorta.”
    “On the other hand,” Vivian continued, “some considered the mutations a blessing; it gave people either agility beyond anyone’s belief, mind-boggling strength, astonishing stamina, unbelievable mind power, control over certain things of nature, and some, very few at the beginning, gained more than one of these attributes. These people are what we know as the most elite and important bodies of five of the six kingdoms today. They are the militia and head of the New World, sitting on thrones of gold as kings of the five nations and control peace and havoc as they wish.”