The Fae’s Captive

It was now infamously known as The Reckoning. That brief period of time when the world went awry. It started slowly, creeping up on the humans living on the planet back then. There had been the odd natural disaster here and there. Terrible and devastating, but not exactly unheard of or out of the ordinary. Nothing for people to worry about; it wasn’t happening in their country; it wasn't directly affecting them. Until it was; that's when it became a concern for everyone. It started with the water.  Thousands upon thousands of dead and dying sea creatures washing up on the shores, littering the beaches with their decomposing bodies, the waters running red with their blood.  Next came the rains; toxic water that fell from the sky in torrents. The storms destroyed buildings, ruined crops, their poison so strong it killed all that stepped foot outside within minutes. Water fast became the most sought after resource; shops were pillaged, people were killed. Money became useless. Whilst meteorologists, ecologists and various other scientists frantically tried to come up with a reason as to why this was happening, the next apocalyptic event occurred. Clouds of ash and dust filled the sky, hanging heavily in the air, blocking out the sun and making it difficult to breathe. Hundreds and thousands of people and animals died, suffocated by the thick heavy dust polluting the skies. Humanity fell apart. The people in power found themselves blamed for everything. There were riots; friends turned against friends, neighbour against neighbour. It was chaos. Some said it was due to climate change, but most people turned to religion. The religious fanatics went wild, informing everyone it was the end of times. Everyone had dismissed them at the start, but soon even the most rational of men had been incited into an irrational fervour, panic and fear spreading like wildfire. It didn't take long for the once forgotten, and barely used places of worship, to become filled to the brim with desperate people praying for salvation. Begging their Gods to save them, but it made no difference.  With no water and no sun, the crops, plants and wildlife soon dwindled. All that remained were empty barren lands. Littered with the bleached bones of the dead; that had been picked clean of meat by the few surviving carrion birds.  Those that survived the water, the dust and the violent actions of their own kind now faced starvation, but humans are resilient creatures, and survive they did, barely. Existing but not living in this dangerous, strange, dark and barren world.  The sickness came next. Striking down the remaining people, few survived and those that did found that they had become weak. Fertility rates dropped, and those children that were born rarely survived their infancy.  Unfortunately, this was not the end of their woes. A few years after the first plagues, humans were dealt the final blow. Loved ones that hadn’t survived the previous plagues, the many people that had been carefully buried in graveyards, or discarded in the mass graves, started to claw their way up and out of the ground. Thousands of corpses in various states of decay roamed the earth, eternally searching for their next meal to try and fulfil their insatiable hunger for flesh. The era of Mankind looked like it was coming to an end, the future bleak and hopeless. That’s when They came.  The Fae folk. Creatures with magical abilities; who came in many unusual and spectacular forms. Some appeared to be supernaturally beautiful, others grotesque. The only thing they all had in common, was that not a single one of them could be trusted.  They preyed on the remaining humans, offering a solution to the problems that plagued their world. The humans, in their desperation, had accepted the Fae’s offer, not fully considering the cost. The Fae cured the sickness that plagued the lands and reduced the level of toxicity in the water to a bearable level. The sky remained dark, grey and damaged, the suns beams barely able to break through the gloom even at the height of summer, but at least the air was now breathable. They were unable to put the land back to what it was or eradicate the dead, but they offered protection to the human settlements against the risen undead, providing they upheld their end of the bargain. Now it was the humans turn to make good on their side of the bargain. Every year the humans were to offer their people to the Fae. Each female in each village over the age of 16 would present themselves to the visiting Fae faction. The Fae would then select whoever pleased them most, to return with them to the land of Faerie, as slaves or worse. Those chosen were never seen or heard from again.