1. The Beginning

THE BELLS tolled, and under the bright light of fireworks couples kissed to celebrate the new millenium. 2000 years since the birth of Christ, and as the fireworks faded a presence left. Everyone on Earth felt an indescribable loss for less than a second, an unmeasurably short time, no-one even had a chance to speak of what they had felt as their brains took over and the revelries continued. It was the year 2000 and the gods had deserted man as man had deserted the gods.
On another planet, similar to Earth but by no means the same it began again. People believed and worshiped in the gods, gods of the sun & the moon.  The gods had power they had not had for millennia, and so began the great game.
7 people from around the Earth found themselves in a chamber, a waiting room. They would have talked to each other- but whatever mysterious force brought them here daunted and belittled them. They waited for a few seconds but it seemed like forever to all of them. The doors opened and they found themselves entering it unthinkingly. As their eyes grew accustomed to the light they saw a wondrous site- a chamber of gold.. A place of dreams, none of the people doubted for a second where they were, people sat on a table, but they looked more than just people, their auras told the visitors they were gods, none of the people in the room had ever been more sure of anything than this. Simultaneously they fell to their knees- feeling truly belittled, as their heads rose they were beckoned towards the table. Then one of the gods spoke.
"We will give you 6000 years of life, 6000 years to lead your civilizations to glory, but let them never forget who we are. Let them never forget.."
The last words echoed through their head as they found themselves back as heads of the tribe. The warriors sharpened their spears as they listened to the tale, the great game had begun.
The Russians, the Indians, the English, the Zulu’s, the Chinese, the Aztecs, and the Germans as they would all come to be known founded their first city, the gods had chosen their chieftains well since they would represent them in their quest for global conquest.....
Barbarians!! came the cry, the horsemen charged towards the Chinese village. The Barbarian chieftain smiled as he led the charge, there were no enemies visible, they must be hiding, the thought came, then went in a second as the Chinese phalanx became visible, fortified in their trenches. The Chinese had recently developed bronze working, and now the Barbarians would pay. A scene of carnage awaited any traveler’s that afternoon, the Barbarian leader preferred to die rather than be captured.
'Fellows' said the chieftains,  'it is time for us to found a new city, can we risk our entire populace, our culture, and our technology being wiped out by barbarians?'.
The argument settled it, the settlers left, the Chinese capital momentarily suffered a drop in population, and then the settlers built 'the great road' between Peking and the city they later founded, Shanghai, and so the Chinese empire grew.
Other civilizations were having less spectacular starts, the Indians had managed to explore a great deal, and had founded 3 cities, they had also developed knowledge of the Alphabet, and Warrior Code. The Germans had only one city, but were putting everything into it, they had just developed bronze working. The other civilizations had 2 cities and 2 techs each, the world was still at peace, then something changed:
The archers entered the forest when they noticed signs of civilization, roads and irrigation. A messenger was sent, what should they do?? They had found small tribes before, but never ones with the technology to irrigate land and build roads. The reply was hurried back, 'make contact, defend yourselves if need be'.
The Russians archers moved down to the road, and saw a city, an emissary was sent out, and then began diplomatic relations between the Russians and the English.
A few hours later the Russian archers had been destroyed, and thus began the first “great” war.
The Zulu officer walked forward and looked into the trees, had he just seen movement, or was that just a figment of his imagination??
And thus the German civilization and the Zulu’s met. The Zulu archers eyed the German warriors with distaste. If this was the best of the German civilization then they might as well finish it here and now. The Zulu officer wanted to start a war. Later however they learned that the Germans were not as far behind technology as they seemed to be. The Zulu scribes came with endless piles of documents, and so both civilizations acquired higher levels of technology.
'Charge’ the notes were sounded again and again as if they could force the horsemen forward against the hail of arrows. The English archers were veterans and poured flight after flight of arrows into the charging Russian horsemen, horse and man cascaded down in showers of blood. A fear came upon them as the horsemen continued, as soon as they reached the archers it would be slaughter, a few archers took a few steps back, they feared the horsemen more than their own commanders, a few more steps, soon it was a rout. The second Russian horsemen unit had destroyed the English second archers and had almost destroyed themselves in the progress.
That night queen Elizabeth studied the maps. The two Russian cavalry units had destroyed the fourth warriors and the second archers, however they would need several days to recuperate and even then they would be quite far from London. The threat was the Russian first archer unit and Russian second warrior, which were a day’s travel from London, by tomorrow they would be within strike range. A smile touched Elizabeth’s lips as she contemplated the fate that awaited those units in the capital.
Elizabeth was not the only one studying a map that chilly autumn night. Lenin had his own maps. His generals wrote out the orders telling the cavalry to rest and the archer and warrior units to advance.  Then a man strolled into the room. He carried a document, as Lenin viewed the document his face did not betray the feelings of apprehension, fear, and inspiration that he felt. Tomorrow would be interesting....
The Indian commander cursed the sun that obscured the cliff from view. He cursed his soldiers who could not even kill a bunch of barbarians without continuous pestering from him, but most of all he cursed the barbarians for fortifying themselves in this hill, this hill with no strategic value which the politicians had ordered taken. And so his men would die for this worthless bit of turf.
The barbarian leader intended to stay put until this damn force left, he would make sure never venture into this crazy territory again. Soldiers had trailed his every moving, surrounding them, hounding them, even taking extraordinary steps to follow him, then he saw he would never do anything ever again, the Indian horsemen had charged. The barbarian phalanx wearily raised their bronze tipped spears, the horsemen approached, but no horse wanted to charge into that seething mass of metal. One horse was skewered, his frenzied rider threw himself from the horse, raised his sword, dodged between the points and cleanly beheaded a barbarian, and his bloodlust opened the way for several horsemen to make their way behind the barbarian horde, inspiring terror in the barbarians. It was too little too late however, the few remaining horsemen fled, the ravaged barbarians numbers had been shrunk drastically, sighs of relief and disgust filled the air. They were not too last for long as the Indian second horsemen unit began its charge, the barbarians formed a ring around the hillock, so they could not be attacked from the flank. The battle went well for the barbarians at first. The Indians had seen the destruction of their comrades and feared those spear points, then one brave horseman vaulted over the barbarians, and leapt off his horse scything his sword around in a glittering arc. The fear of the horsemen turned to anger, and then the anger turned to bloodlust, the barbarians assailed from all sides split and fled. The horsemen tracked targets, cutting down the barbarians with fierce slashes until none of them were left standing, the barbarian presence had been removed from the hill.
'A great wall sir'
'A what'
'A great wall, wouldn't that be a good idea, then looters would not be able to get away with loot'
'Hmmm, interesting' Mao's frown slowly turned into a smile, they would build this great wall, it would be a testament to the superior building techniques of the Chinese, the most advanced civilization in the world. Besides, no one would dare attack a civilization with the resources to build this 'great wall'.
'Fire’

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