Chapter 1
As long as Ararian was a country, there had been wars. Wars, wars, wars. At first, it was against disagreeing countries, then civil wars between the East and West began. To top it off, Ararian was still fighting for its freedom from the different countries it had risen from. After centuries of wars and fear, the citizens of the young country fled, leaving behind a burnt wasteland that was deemed empty. But that was a mistake.
Ararian had been split into 5 colonies, all with the same wealth but different values. Though they had to work hard to survive, finally they all agreed that the country was perfect. A colony filled with people with similar beliefs, good schools, and enough food for every person to have a serving a day.
HillTop colony was a happy place. Cozy cottages, raging bonfires, and a cheery atmosphere. The people believed in working hard one-half of the year and relaxing for the next. Though they farmed, hunted, fished, and gathered for 2 seasons, the other 2 were calm and relaxing. They traded with the Fire colony and worked for money from the River-Bank colony. The Night colony and Cloud colony ignored HillTop, thinking its happiness was a bad idea.
The Fire colony believed in working all year, but focusing more on education than food. "Who needed food if you weren’t smart enough to eat it?" That was their motto, which the adults said quite often and the children complained about just as frequently. While HillTop traded with them, the other colonies thought that was silly. They needed food to survive, but smarts would do nothing for their rumbling stomachs.
Next was the River-Bank colony. They were cheerful, though not quite as happy as HillTop. They believed in money. Some of the colonists were from A, as some kind rich folk used to come visit Z and try to help out. A few of those A’s were stuck in Z when the airplanes came, and so they started River-Bank for those who wanted to be rich. They got food from HillTop, and in return paid them very little. They convinced other colonists to do work for them in return for a penny or two if they were lucky.
The Night colony didn’t exactly believe in anything but a mixture of comfort and work. The original idea was for everyone to do work half the day and relax half the day, but the new leader decided half of the population would work all year and the other half would relax. Night wasn’t particularly popular because once one had their name in the raffle to relax or work, they couldn’t escape for a year.
Finally, there was the Cloud colony. Cloud had a mixture of beliefs. It was a popular colony for those who felt like they didn’t fit into any of the other colonies. Some chose to work half the year, some chose to work the whole year, some chose not to work at all and bought food, and others did none of these things. Whatever they chose, it was allowed, and so the population grew and grew.
Within a year of the last civil war, the citizens fled, leaving behind only the poorest of the poor, called Z’s by the laughing rich citizens in reference to their poor lifestyle.
Years later, many of the so-called "Z's" were still on the hunk of warfield entitled Ararian. Within the five colonies were five heroes, just waiting for their chance to save the world.
