Chapter 142

Ellie knew how to go around Walkers and threading lightly wasn't her call. She grew into a lady who wouldn't stop just because someone disliked some ideas, and in this library, she was no regular lady. She knew many texts by heart and many of them weren’t cheap or simple.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t mention every little thing to William. It would pose a bad precedent or terrible time because she wouldn't be able to move on at all.

Darks had secrets, which wasn't surprising like Walkers. It seemed imminent, or it… might not be something he was ready for. Many pieces sounded terrible and almost inconsequential for young minds, yet he was about to become a Walker, so this idea might be wrong. This room might not change it. The Dawn would, Ellie assumed.

What was ahead was shrouded in many gaps and haze of research and mysterious dangers. William wondered if his curiosity was good or not. Perhaps what Luke said was correct; the card in his pocket was poisonous and far too precious for him to go crazy.

Those matters on the upper floor should be taken gradually and he hadn’t even stepped in one single room.

For now, William decided to think about Luke and his own misconceptions and growth. Taking Luke’s warning to heart and Ellie’s lessons to mind was surprisingly easy. However, one thing was his opinion and the other was Ellie, who wouldn’t recognize and accept everything.

He couldn't tell her every one of his slowly changing opinions, or what he ought to accept or not. It wasn’t about her anyway; William had to come to his own conclusions because that was how it stirred many youths.

However, he was like a torn page, kidnapped, but accepted. No one knew him as much as Dann. No one feared him further than they should. Fresh and entering a new era, only Ellie was watching over him.

After entering the upper floors, expectations and desires would change, or become tame in comparison to what his mind endured over those lower floors. Time was also right, even if someone might disagree.

Ellie was pretty much ready to exploit the shit out of his card. She had no qualms to give about some rules since he had it, and if it was a problem, they should’ve forced it out of his hands a long time ago. Alas, Burton did nothing and Heidi didn't say anything about it. In fact, Ellie thought Heidi would even encourage it.

She was correct. William was still wet behind his ears and had a whole lot to learn from her and this place. Gow to act to gain advantages or straight up leap out of the norm was a gift worth seeing, and there was no way he could do it on his own.

The reason was those who pushed him to this place.

For now, William read and discovered notes and strange information and materials. There were quotes, references, or direct measures to all sorts of places. Those had numerous mentions and links to historical references, either giving museum floor and military reports surprising benefits.

William was dumbfounded by the approximate tolls of the Dawn Wars and how quickly they happened. The first billion lost lives rolled in literal days, caused by massive storms and shifts in Earth’s surface. A sheer scale of humanity didn't help with anything either. Cities became rags in maps and reality.

It sounded wrong to call everything dead, but mother nature didn't fucked everything up. It was when bizarre monsters started their rampage and used the unpreparedness of people who were attached to looking at themselves.

It was more fitting to call it a cleansing, but everyone had words up to their preferences. Still, six billion were combined losses of the first decade, rather than being a complete wipeout. One billion people began to look for scraps and lived in constant stress and death.

Continuous defeats went on until the year 2039. In a time when Darks reigned as true kings and people were ants, becoming less populous was lesser evil rather than a problem.

It was around this time when the First Generation of Walkers went to the unknown lands and began to fight and seek hope. This pushed a new hierarchy and the structure of people slowly changed. William even dared to say that Darks hoped for this change. They got the prey of their utmost dreams and humanity got their last chance. It was beautiful.

Back then, there were different times and requirements to live, yet it remained in many parts. Time was a terrifying enemy because human babies needed to grow up a lot to validate their Emblems, and this time became very precious. Walkers were no exception to time, even if they were enemies and griefers of this concept.

The number of people kept declining until the second half of the century when even more Walkers waged wars and tolerated the mysteries of their Emblems. Some did that better than others, allowing places to flourish and generations to grow. That led to many further changes as the political landscape shifted while Darks never made the final blows.

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Everything calmed down. In a weird sense of reason, William couldn’t believe it. For this world to be called calm, was wrong and unbelievable, but it was before his eyes. He discovered a variety of emotions from all these texts.

He had to listen to Ellie with an open mind, not frown, or be emotional. He changed a lot in the past few days and kept his mind calm and sharp.

Approximately forty million people were enduring this shitty world, which was a surprisingly small or large number depending on the context. William read about the size and part of the entire world, so it made sense for his mind to broaden and slow down.

After all, William saw a lot of the North and what Corruption could do, or what a variety of Darks caused to this world.

Just for a fact, the smaller population was a big advantage, even if breeding was relatively open. If it could be, however. Some places were harsh, and not able to sustain a human population. That was rather terrible in the past and one of the main reasons why one billion people became smaller over the decades.

The Federation as an island was limited in scale than most foreign organizations. China was huge, Japan held plenty of mountains and facilities, while India was hardworking. All these had one thing in common. They didn't lack the land.

The Federation was built on structural integrity that if invaded, nothing would fare well. Other places could endure and reconstruct their entire world. Fortunately, the size wasn't everything. Here, it was about quality and continuity. People were able to live better and securely, while Walkers were able to do what many decades could not.

It didn’t mean that Walkers had it easy. They had other things and worries instead, so calling them elites wasn’t wrong. Their importance deepened and their focus gave them choices that not many other lands could manage.

Being inland wasn't safe and fighting of any kind had its toll. The worst wasn't death. It was about the possibility of getting stronger and laying the foundation for the future that wouldn't crumble if worse times arrived. These ideologies had been spreading for decades around camps. William learned them when young but never relied on the word hope.

William believed suffering was a tool for surviving as it made people stronger. There was strength in struggle and trying. Walkers kept going to terrible places and had to expand in hostility and remain stronger! He should do the same as many other people.

At all costs, some ideas in Walkers didn't lose anything over the years. It was regular people who did, as they had no idea about their world or what was out there for them. Their shells and bubbles were manufactured, created, and kept by blood, but they were also true to their values.

The Federation had its stakes, and everyone had some advantages and disadvantages to navigate around this world.

It was no walk for Walkers since fairness, loyalty, and power weren’t always fair, fateful, or proper. Sometimes, it was straight-up defying their choices and putting them on paths without directions or ends in sight.

For youths to follow these steps, William was overwhelmed.

They were pillars of societies, ensuring the living spaces were livable, so they could grow and protect what they should handle. It was the missions that were struggling, making them fight and rush to get more assertive in this endless clash.

The rough estimate of people was still just an estimation. There might be millions of people scattered around the world that no one could see or reach.

In a dark forest, being out there, helpless, struggling, yet still safe because some places might be fine, Darks could sleep or ignore places. It was a peculiar problem that had no clearer answers than surveying vast areas on foot or by air. Such work was dangerous for any Walker and essentially established endless missions.

Because of that, living far away from everything sounded good on paper.

Desert regions were hard, but if the people had lived on them before the Dawn or in ancient times, why not now? Caves were also suitable, as long as their safety and stability did not interface with any Darks. Those often loved and took them for their homes, so this created problems.

Cold tundras and icy mountains were promising inland dwellings, thanks to less variety of Darks capable of withstanding them, or by the lack of life. But those who could be there held the danger of upper Ranks, so strong Walkers were required in them.

Japan and China had many of their strongholds in such places, while their Walkers worked hard to guarantee their protection. It gave their Walkers worth and work, growing them bit by bit.

The Federation was pretty much the same but focused on different fields and vastness. After all, their core made of people was one of the most secure of mankind. If camps weren't included in this idea, of course. William did include them in his mind, so this lowered his opinion.

The strangest variable that William found out about was the Emblem Academy. It was a weird entity. It had a notable lack of confrontation and knowledge, or the knowledge was lacking or intentionally suppressed.

Their methods were rather unknown, yet their reputation was high, so wasn't it odd? Where was it, how many Walkers it had, or was it really close to the Federation as rumors described? Those sorts of questions dwelled in the minds of many people out of nothing but curiosity and hope.

In any form, human lives had their statistics and irregular metrics. William didn’t want to think about every one of them too much. Outside was crazy and under his eyes, so these numbers and his perspective clashed with the Walker and Outside inside of him.

Canadian lands, let alone the Federation, were just small portions of this world, yet one of those was much more pleasing. A deep foundation stemming from this hemisphere and former nations.

People built a city as if he went through time, so wasn't the Federation absolutely ridiculous? Sure, it happened over time, looking closer to stuff like a camp that many called their temporary home, but it was a home. Sure, Darks and Rifts were tight around the edges, stressing the minds, and crashing spirits or security to bits, yet a stronger fact was out there. They never crashed this place.

There were rare moments in the recent decades that showed the wisdom of the past eras.

William learned from them and wondered what more was ahead, or slightly ahead of Walkers.