Two particular species used to dominate the worlds for thousands of centuries: Humans and Bumans. Bumans share the exact same body shape and structure as we do, although they outclass us in physique. They’re significantly tougher, faster and stronger than us, whereas we better them in wits and intelligence. However, despite our gaping contrasts, we’ve gotten along with them really well and our chemistry was second to none. They were our ying, and we were their yang - the “other pair” that we believed would never separate from us.
Until roughly two millennia ago. Life was prosperous, the economy stable, and peace prevailed across the world. It’d be impossible to think that the problem stemmed from a political mishap, or a sudden disagreement escalating rapidly. No, the problem was the sheer number of us roaming the overworld. She huffed and puffed under our enormous weight, which grew heavier with no hint of stopping.
King X, a young well-respected man of intelligence, was one of the first to recognize this problem, and was the first to attempt to formally address it. He set off on a 600-mile journey up north to meet the Buman King, to come up with ways to solve the over-population issue. After completing his journey, he sought permission to enter and eventually met the Buman King. The Buman King, known to be a bit of a hot-head when it comes to his people, adamantly refused King X’s suggestion to tackle the worrying issue together and strongly believed that nature should be allowed to continue its curious course. King X knew that continuing the conversation would be an uphill battle, and he left the Buman palace at once.
Decades continued to pass, and birth rates continued to grow at an alarmingly-high rate, with fundamental resources, such as food, water and clothing, struggling to keep up. Tensions between humans and bumans began to grow. It was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened. King X, now a withered old man, wasn’t capable of setting off on another expedition and sent a messenger to deliver a lengthy letter to the Buman King, suggesting that the humans and bumans live separately, fearing that blood may be shed over the increasing lack of resources.
What King X received was the head of the messenger and a nasty reply which initiated the greatest war of eternity; “If the strongest need to survive, then they shall.”
The battle between humans and bumans stretched on for centuries. The bumans had strength and colossal numbers on their side, but the humans bravely fought back with clever tactics and advanced weaponry. Blood became the new soil of the overworld as both parties violently depleted each other’s numbers. The battle concluded after 500 long years, with the remaining several hundred bumans the victors. A handful of humans, including the King’s grandson, successfully hid themselves from the blood-thirsty beasts and secluded themselves to the underworld…awaiting for the right time to claim the promised victory and retake the overworld from its demons once again.”
She concluded her story and turned her eyes back to me. “And here we are.”
I continued staring at the young girl across my side of the table; my eyes twitching. She exhaled deeply and rose her voice slightly, attempting to break me free from my trance. “Does that answer your question now, sir?”
I remained silent and stared at her – unable to discern whether my tongue was held out of confusion or exasperation. The girl proceeded to speak again. “I hope my explanation quenches your curiosity.”
Finally remembering how to speak again, I slammed my fists down at the table in a fit of rage and sprung up from my seat. This didn’t satisfy my curiosity at all. She didn’t appear intimidated at all.
“How old am I?” I interrogated. The young girl, still as calm and composed as she always was, half-raised her eyebrow, perplexed.
“14, sir.” She answered.
“Exactly!” I quickly responded and spun on my heel, my back facing her. “What am I?”
The girl nonchalantly replied. “A bright, handsome and intelligent young man.”
“Quite right!” I gleefully exclaimed with a slight smile. I turned back to her and pointed a proud finger at myself. “Do you really expect an intelligent man like me to believe such ludicrous tales?” She went quiet. I smiled expectantly, waiting for my answer.
“Sir, but this is all that I know. Her Majesty would never jest about such a tragic history.”, she pleaded.
“History is written by the victors and sourly accepted by the losers. For all we know, we could be believing in the words of a rambling, traumatized man who’s lost his sanity.”
“Sir!” the girl shouted. She, too, was on her feet.
“Listen, I respect your loyalty to my mother’s words. But open your eyes! Doesn’t this seem too surreal? Bumans? A 500-year sanguinary arc of struggle? A globe dominated by two measly species since its creation? And what! We’re supposed to dedicate the rest of our lives into getting revenge for the deaths of our forefathers? I seriously struggle to come to terms with how you think your story elucidates our living in this woeful place of abode.”
She paused and lowered her gaze, almost hesitating. Both her and I knew this place was far from ideal to accommodate one’s self in. The underworld was a place where only the most lapsed and forlorn of society resided. The conditions here were harsh: food and clean water was scarce, the land infested with detestable, pesky creatures. The air was tight and humid; even breathing was laborious. You couldn’t even grasp the fear of the humans at that time to willingly hide in such an unforgiving place for several decades if it meant hiding from…whatever it was.
A fleeting moment of sinister silence followed. This was a rare moment that I almost forgot to cherish. She was cracking down to the hefty blows of my words. I leaned closer, whispering.
“Do you see it now?”
She looked at me again, her cold eyes giving me chills. “What are you suggesting, sir?”
I exhaled in a matter-of-fact manner and shrugged my shoulders. “The answer is pretty simple, really. Instead of expending our energy to seek revenge on such imaginary creatures, we should just live our own lives here. This place is certainly one for the peasants, but it’s home. I’d rather be nowhere else.” I yawned and went over to my bed. I took some time to cover myself with the duvet and get in my comfortable sleeping position.
“Besides, whole-heartedly crediting and living our lives around such an extreme prophecy may cause us more harm than good.” On that note, our conversation ended and I found myself fast asleep.
However, I must confess that it wasn’t all lies either. I too believe that something strange has occurred in the past that led us to this hell. My waning belief was reinvigorated last month, when I had a bizarre dream. I found myself staring into the mouth of a jungle, unable to move or speak. My vision pulsated. At that moment, I heard strange voices in my head while I was deep in my sleep. A valiant battle cry that implanted terror in the hearts of the adversary. A loud pause of blade strikes and weaponry noises followed, before I heard an ear-splitting scream. A scream that split the sky and the seas. I woke up that night, drenched in nervous sweat. That very same morning, I sought for the best interpreters to make sense of the dream I had, but no one was able to give me an answer. So in the middle of the night, I set off on a dangerous expedition behind my guardian’s back. To the overworld. To find an answer myself.
A fortnight later, I found another sign which enhanced my belief that the old tale had more to tell than many might think. And this one couldn’t be more concise. I trekked and trekked aimlessly, wandering through the desolate overworld. The bright white ball blessed the land with its beautiful light. I paused for an ephemeral moment, absorbing all of the beauty my people were cursed to missed out on. So this is the land that God prescribed for us, I thought to myself. The tall grass danced and waved graciously from side to side. The air tasted sweet, so sweet that I found myself coughing it out. The cold breeze washed over me, constantly freeing me from my tire.
Despite the charm that my eyes beheld, I couldn’t help but notice the horrors of the aftermath of the great war. Throughout my late night trip, I discerned shattered skulls - with its pieces spread out like broken glass - and disarranged, mangled skeletons neatly decorated across the once-battlefield. Although the corpses were long decomposed by natural occurrences, I could still sense the total dread from their remains. From their final, frightful, dying moment. Fear must’ve been a contagious emotion, because I soon found myself clutching my chest, breathing tightly. Just who did we have to deal with back then? After giving myself a few minutes to compose myself, I regained my determination and strolled on, clueless, until I paused in my tracks, all too familiar with my surroundings.
Destiny brought me to the very piece of land I saw in my dream. There I was again, met with the gaze of the jungle’s large mouth. Voices brewed in my head again. A battle cry. Clash of weapons. The voices continued gradually resonating around my head. I shut my eyes and clenched my head – shaking it – in a vain attempt to usher the voices out of my head. The battle noises didn’t stop. I was going to get a nasty migraine at this rate. I shut my eyes harder, hoping that the bothersome voices would let me be.
That’s when I heard the scream. The same scream that caused me to shoot right up from my bed. I jumped up and flung my eyes open, alarmed. The scream was raucous – such to the point that a slow, steady stream of blood oozed out of my ears. Instinctively, I rapidly turned my head around me, perilously observing my dark surroundings.
That’s when my eyes turned back to the jungle’s yawning orifice.
Staring back at me, with bloodshot and glowing eyes, was a queer-looking creature. It stood tall and proud, almost questioning me as to why I entered its domain. Its head was spiky and grotesque in shape. Its freakish body was tall and ridiculously slim, and so were its arms and legs. However, what made the complexion of this crazy behemoth even more crazy…were its hands and feet. They were disproportionally large – so large that they weighed down the limbs of the creature, giving it a permanent hunch.
It began emerging from the jungle opening, dragging its heavy limbs behind him. My heart pumped faster. My brain was in overdrive, begging and signaling my thunderstruck body to move. But I couldn’t. I just stood there, too scared to move. Stunned at the sight of this unsightly thing.
But what a mistake!
The monster must’ve taken my staying still as an arrogant challenge, because its slow approach converted to a blood-lusted charge. Its heavy hands flailed behind him, as he took long, powerful strides towards me. He was lunging in for the kill. To kill me.
That was the wakeup call I needed. With newfound energy, I bolted back the path I came from. I ran. My body felt like passing out from shock and drowsiness but adrenaline kept me going. I ran. If I hadn’t been in a life-or-death situation, I’d have been mightily impressed with how fast I was running. I ran. I blurred past the crippled human remains. Still, it was rapidly gaining on me, edging nearer and nearer with each ground-shaking footstep. Suddenly, I felt the blazing breath of the monster burning down my back and felt a sturdy force barge me to the ground.
Instantaneously, I collapsed to the ground and wheezed, feeling a part of my soul depart from my fragile vessel of a body. I felt a growing pain in my back but that was the least of my concerns. There, looming above me, was the hellish fiend – its unforgiving glare forever etched in my conscience. I saw that it had no mouth – instead, it was replaced with a sharp, stony beak built solely for the purpose of impaling its victims. I wanted to cry and scream for help, but the daunting fact that I was the only human occupying the overworld washed over me. No matter how hard I kicked or how much I pleaded, nothing was ever going to be of assistance. This risky trip to the overworld came with a price, and I wasn’t prepared to pay for it in full. I began sobbing, slowly coming to terms that I’ve already reached my resting place.
But then, out of the blue, the lanky creature trudged away from me. It was going away. I, still in a teary mess, watched in astonishment as he dragged his enormous hands behind him – its large feet sending shockwaves across the vicinity. I remember thinking to myself, flabbergasted. It spared me. That thing spared me. I’m alive. I rose up and crookedly made my way back to the underworld, utterly shaken at my near-death encounter. My back, which had a mountain of a bruise by now, was throbbing agonizingly. But that wasn’t my main concern. I had to go back. I needed to.
After getting treatment for my fractured ribs, my people pleaded desperately that I tell them what happened. They all seemed angry and saddened, seeing me in the shaken state I was in. In response, I remained silent, not daring to utter a word. What benefit was there in telling them? You may say that it’d serve as a good warning for any madman to go up, but it’d certainly backfire. Notifying them of the truth – about the tragedies that occurred to their prince - would only add more fuel to their vengeful, fiery hearts. They’d be hastening themselves to their own deaths. No matter how much we may be in number, there’s no way we’re going to make it back to the top. The only thing that I can do is try to dissuade the people I love and care about from this augury and persuade them to live life here.
Notifying them of the truth would also indirectly ridicule the old prophecy they clung onto for so long. Bumans are believed to have the same structure as humans. Yet what I saw definitely didn’t look anything remotely close to our kind. The skulls that were effortlessly smashed to pieces didn’t look like any earthly doing. If humans and bumans are supposedly familiar with each other for thousands of years, why would they feel the need to fear each other on the battlefield, where love of life is carelessly cast aside? Why did I sense that sickening aroma of dread during my expedition around the overworld? And then there’s that tumultuous scream that looped in my head…
If the bumans weren’t solely responsible for our near-extinction, then what else was?