Zero Sum

Tribe

From high above in the sky, out of the clear blue of the sunny morning sky, hovers a lone figure above an isolated village. The Tiwi tribe of aboriginal people were going about their day just the same as any other. When the strange hovering figure placed his feet on the ground and revealed himself to be a power enabled being, the Tiwi paid him as much mind as they would have to a cloud of dust blowing in the wind. These villagers had grown up and survived in some of the harshest conditions, and came to this island through extraordinary circumstances. So there is very little that they find fearful.

With little fanfare, the being walks through the tribe of people and examines their living conditions. Seeing that they lack materiel for building, the powerful being flies of for a moment and returns, having retrieved a shipment of freshly cut lumber. Having in that short disappearance, chopped down several trees, cut them into uniform two by four esque shape, and carries the tons of heavy cargo on his back as he hovers back down. There is no difficulty for him to accomplish such feats.

Over the course a several days he builds homes for the people to live in, dams to harness the power of the sea, canals that lead that water from the sea to their isolated village. Resulting in produce being possible to cultivate successfully for the first time. The tribe in all of their existence have never experienced such prosperity.

Another moon has come and gone. The benevolent strangers sits alone at night, pondering over his work on behalf of the Tiwi people. Some village children have fallen into the habit of following the majestic being. Surely as they have never before witnessed such a person or such feats. It only makes these young minds more curious about the stranger.

Other times the adults of the tribe come to appeal the stranger for help with a task, such as mending some part of their home, or to replace some of the tools that have been provided, or just general generosity towards the stranger.

There truly are no words that can fully convey the magnanimity of this individual.

This particular night however, one of the children senses some sort of a shift in the stranger. If not for the language barrier, he could ask the stranger what seems to be bothering him. However such a thing will be forever out of their grasp.

The now dirty clothing and well worn signs of manual labor that have for weeks remained on the stranger begin to disappear. If the child looked closer he could see the eyes of the stranger begin to glow.

But, he never has that chance. The glow of the strangers eyes instantaneously erupt and surround the stranger in a glowing aura. As this aura erupts it takes apart and reconstructs the particles of the children, villagers, even the newly emerging plant life.

Now hovering slightly above the ground he goes essentially from door to door and does the same thing to the rest of the villagers. In a few moments, eliminating all the work and effort that he and the tribe have made together.

The villagers can run, but there is no stopping of the inevitable.

As the screams die down the lone figure is left standing in the middle of the village. Whether this was a vicious premeditated attack, some sort of perverted form of torture, or a twisted dose of misguided heroics, who is to say?

What is apparent is that, despite the outright atrocities that have been committed, the nations of the world choose to turn a blind eye to the region and what just happened. No news breaks out about the massacre. No alliance is formed against this apparent menace, no effort is made to repay at all for the atrocities committed here.

In fact, it would seem that the powers of the world chose to turn a blind eye to such blatant crimes. After all, it would not seem to be in their best interests to try to stop the menace. That is, even if there was some chance of there being anything at all that could be done about him.