The Day the Earth Cracked

In the year 4199, plate tectonics on the Earth's surface cracked open and unleashed a flood of burning-hot lava. It all started as earthquakes, only small tremors here and there, but very soon, those small tremors turned into cities destroying quakes. Finally, the earth split apart.

The lava rose quickly, and before any scientists or government could react, millions of people had already died. The oceans had dried up, and all the lands below sea levels were swallowed by the lava. Entire glaciers melted within days, and as the world heated up, water itself became more precious than gold or diamonds.

Despite their best efforts, the remaining world government and their combined work could do very little about the lava as it kept rising. Every day, more land was lost, and so were the resources on them. Whole forests were burned to ashes. Entire fields were set on fire. Lakes, ponds, and rivers were emptied. Basic supplies such as food and water dwindled at rapid rates. It was only a matter of time before the survivors, what few were left, turned on each other for whatever scraps they had.

It wasn't until what was left of humankind was forced onto the very top of mountains that they soon realized in order for them to survive, they would have to go higher than the mountains. They would have to go into the sky. The survivors learn that because of the heat from the rising lava, the extra warm air had caused shifts in wind patterns, making it possible to travel via the air. Gathering everything they had left and anything they could salvage, the survivors built massive airships. They took the clothes right off their backs and sewed giant ballows. They tore down the huts and shacks and stripped them of the woods and metals. The survivors worked tirelessly and endlessly until finally, they succeeded in building airships. Letting the heat lift them up, the airships, along with the survivors, took to the sky, and it was there that the seeds of a new world first began

It took decades of traveling, planning, and scavenging but before long, small villages and even a few cities began to take shape. Some were built right into the sky. Tied to giant scrapped balloons, the villages floated right in the air. Other villages and most cities were built on the very top of the mountains. As civilization slowly but steadily returned, the need for new jobs arose as well.

The only animals to survive the rising lava were birds. Flying into the air alongside the airships and the last of the survivors, the birds set up nests in the mountain. They turned into livestock, hence one of the jobs on the rise was bird farming. Bird farmers would tend to their birds before trading them with other survivors or cooking them for food. Waterkeeping was another job on the rise. Waterkeepers were in charge of maintaining the caves and caverns where water droplets would gather. They would gather and form tiny ponds that supply whole villages and even faraway cities with precious water. There was even a demand for blacksmiths. With the new abundant supplies of lava and the discovery of a new metal, weapons, and even airship upgrades were made. Despite all these jobs though, there was one particular job that caught many people's eyes. It was the job of a trader.

Traders and adventures were the people that would use their airships to travel all around the world to make trades and deliver supplies. The plate tectonic breaking apart pushed and pulled, shaping new lands. The development of villages and cities led to the development of trade routes which acted as lifelines to villages and cities all over. Trade routes became busier and busier as more people turned to trade as a source of income. It wasn't common for two, three, or even five airships to pass each other as they traveled along the same routes. However, as these trade routes grew in airships, a new job appeared. Piracy.

The lowest of the low, the worst of the worst, the scum of this new red and orange Earth were and are pirates. They were murderous monsters that would stalk the trade routes, looking for any defenseless airships, and once they found a defenseless airship, it was nothing but a bloodbath afterward. The pirates would steal anything and everything traders had, and only if the traders and their crew were lucky, the pirates would grant them a quick death. A shot to the head. If not, then they would be pushed into the ocean of lava below. Everyone hated and feared the pirates, but none were more hated and feared than the bloodthirsty Ebonie Ken, and his savage crew.

Legend tells that Ebonie Ken and his crew were the most ruthless pirate crew to ever sail the sky. They killed hundreds of traders and burnt their airships down. Ebonie Ken would laugh as he made traders walk off the planks. They said his laugh was so cold, it could turn the lava to stone. Rumors said that his signature black hood was given to him by Death himself, as a reward for giving him so many souls. Tales tell us that the balloons that carried his airship are red because of his many, many poor victims. At least, that's what everyone tells me.