Around The World (Part 1)

A 'man' with 12 horns protruding from his head in the shape of an oversized crown stood atop a small hill calmly watching the smoldering wreckage of what was once the town of Brighton, England.

The 'man' stood more than 10 feet tall, with dark purple skin, four muscle bound arms hanging from his equally bulked up torso. He had a subtle smile on his face as he observed the work of his soldiers.

The sounds of terror and fear had originally been so loud that it had dominated all the other noises in the area. But as his soldiers swept through the town, the sound had gradually begun to die as the source of the sounds died.

Blood ran through the streets and bodies were strewn everywhere.

Not a single building had remained undamaged and the soldiers had begun to raise the city to the ground.

They would leave no one alive.

While the 'man' observed the town, a much smaller but equally imposing figure approached him from behind.

As the smaller one approached, the 'man' standing atop the town finally let his subtle grin grown into a wide grin and toothy grin. If someone had been looking at him straight on they would have seen multiple rows of razor sharp teeth with bits of flesh still stuck between them.

When the smaller man finally reached within a distance of a few feet, he immediately dropped down to one knee and bowed his head before he began speaking in a language no human on Earth would have understood.

"Your Majesty, we have eradicated the remnants of the so called 'humans'. Due to how pathetically weak they were, not a single soldier was injured.

What are your next orders?"

The one who had been referred too as 'Your Majesty' had no immediate response. He merely looked straight ahead as if what he was seeing was the most satisfying thing he had ever seen in his life.

After a few more minutes of silence wherein the kneeling soldier didn't so much as flinch, 'Your Majesty' eventually turned to face the kneeling soldier before speaking.

"We kill: everything. I want this planet for my own."

The kneeling soldier raised his head and let loose a toothy grin of his own.

"By your will, Your Majesty."

*****

In the frigid temperatures of Russia, a group of nearly 20 men, women, and children were desperately struggling forward with every ounce of their strength brought to bare. Even with their path blanketed in snow and strong winds pushing relentlessly against their bodies, they did their best to move forward.

They had been living in a small town north of St. Petersburge until the emergence of The Path.

Due to the bravery of some of the local men and women, they had managed to fight off the zombies and other monsters and establish a small colony of a few hundred locals.

Although they never felt truly safe, they had at least managed to survive.

That was, until today.

While the survivors were busy going about their day, a young soldier from their camp had stumbled through the main gates with wounds covering nearly 50 percent of his body.

His clothes soaked in blood, the young man only managed to get out on word before he collapsed dead at the gates.

"Run."

Unfortunately, his voice had only been loud enough for a few individuals to hear. And while those people immediately started to move away, some curious onlookers tried to rush and help the young man.

That would be the biggest and last mistake they would ever make.

Before they could reach the now dead young man lying on the ground, large green creatures that looked oddly similar to traditional orcs burst through the gate and, using whatever weapon they had in hand, began a slaughter.

Immediately the survivors panicked and began running in every which direction, screaming at the top of their lungs.

Some of the fighters from the camp attempted to fight back but were immediately overwhelmed and killed.

The group now wading through the snow, were the last remaining survivors from the camp and were desperately trying to find some, any, salvation.

They could hear the orcs quickly closing in on them and knew they were nearly out of time.

Some even gave up all hope, dropping to their knees and began praying to God that someone save them in this, their darkest hour.

Just as the first person to surrender to fate and thus the closest to the orcs was about to be killed, a flash of light, barely perceptible to them cut across the orc.

Seconds later, the now bisected orc slowly fell to the ground in two pieces.

Standing in front of the stunned survivors was a woman no older than 20. She had hair as white as snow that was currently tied in a pony tail, deep black eyes that looked as if they could peer into your soul, and a rosy complexion cause by the cold winds on her face.

Before the survivors could even react, she dove headlong into the oncoming horde of orcs.

While the survivors were frozen in place watching the woman, a young man close in age to the woman currently fighting, walked up to the group from behind.

"Comrades, you are not safe. Please follow me, safety is not far from here. You did well in making it this far."

*****

In a small forest in the South Eastern part of Australia

"Whose idea was it to tame a koala?! Show yourself! That was the stupidest idea I've ever heard! You deserve a good walloping!"

Even though the voice was complaining, the old man from which the threat had originated did not let up and continued to run at full speed.

Chasing him was what was once a Koala; but it wasn't just one Koala, it was dozens of them.

One of the kids at the orphanage / training facility he had started after The Path's emergence had asked if he could tame one of the cute and cuddly animals for her to keep.

The old man was the first person in his city to reach the Enlightened Stage and his Path had been a Beast Tamer.

It sounded simple enough, but he had discovered that he was capable of not only taming beasts for himself, but also for others.

Essentially he could transfer the 'ownership' to whoever he so wished.

With that revelation, people began asking him every day to help tame different types of beasts for them to use as partners in the fight for survival.

At first, it had been simple for him because his strength had far outstripped most beasts in the area.

But as the beasts grew stronger, so did the task.

Of course, the old man had his own beasts and they too were nearly as strong as he was but that didn't make him infallible. He still had to be cautious and approach each job intelligently.

But he had clearly underestimated this job.

The Koala's were nearly the size of a mini cooper and moved with the agility of a monkey when in the trees and a cheetah when they were on the ground.

The best he could do was run, and run fast!