Chapter 23

2014. That was the year of the Dawn. A stop of calendars and the start of a Blank Century under some stories and letters from shelters and people. Still, the clocks kept going, for the time could not stop.

It was fortunate that some people were prudent and many materials for teaching and knowledge were never destroyed, and rather kept safe in many ways. Digital or written, they were left for the unknown future where the new professors and scientists might keep speculating, trying to reclaim the lost knowledge, technology, and science.

It happened, oblivious of some of that past, because there were no Walkers back then. Even if the dead couldn't know that their prudence protected humanity, helping an unknown future.

The large scale of apocalyptic destruction didn't affect all areas unconditionally. The planet Earth was vast, filled with water and land, and fewer people if one would assume the sheer scale of everything. Sure, there were billions of human lives at some point, but the animal kingdom and scale of the earth were even bigger.

Many Darks cherished that large idea and moved accordingly when the Dawn happened. Space was a gift and curse at the same time, while Incursion could not possibly overthrow the whole planet. It was a case of years. Tough years. And those who didn't want such invasion struck back, or hid like turtles, trying to live like rats or lofty aristocrats.

Some islands, communities, or remote places completely abandoned the rest of the world, which included bunker societies and things like that. Taking care of themselves only, their fates were theirs. There were many such cases, and most ended in unknown silence and time, or they kept going, surviving even after a century, unknown to Walkers, unfamiliar with reality.

Destruction, Corruption, and continued hunts of Darks halted farming, travel, or ways to go ahead. It moved fast throughout the Blank Century.

Years passed, and in the twenties of the twenty-first century, the strongest retaliation was the usage of atomic bombs by some nations stuck at their last wit. They caused as much nonsense destruction as possible and ignored worldwide effects on a large scale. The weather changed, the ground began to rot, and a lot of places in the world became inhabitable.

But Darks survived. They adapted because of human stupidity and the last resort which some idiots considered to be their middle finger to death.

That was a far past that touched upon the last proper moments of some nations. Some did it earlier, others not at all, for they already lost their nukes, or they couldn't push that button. By the half-way mark of the twenty-first century, humanity lost its strongest old weapons. Nobody at present even remembered those who chose that destruction, or why, or... when. People survived. Nature adapted where it could, or where no other choice came.

Nowadays, a different world carried different rules and people because Walkers changed the status quo. There were no atomic bombs. Instead, there were living atomic bombs, walking, fighting, teaching, and helping in better ways than cold-hearted murder made by a simple push of an old button.

With Walkers came different difficulties and a lot of pain and grief, but that was part of fighting. Lives had to keep going. Years after the use of atomic bombs changed with the first generation of Walkers. Emblems were the core reason why.

Their first notes depicted unfortunate cursed babies, who eventually grew into effective weapons. They were able to fight against strange beings that moved in Dark Fog, eventually stopping things previously seen as unstoppable. Some were even capable of nullifying Corruption and killing Darks in moves no humans ever imagined.

It was a brand-new dawn, in some capacity.

With experimentation and bravery, settlements claimed some wins, and losses decreased, giving a new start for the human race. They started to expand all due to Walkers, who they utilized like fine tools, or straight-up slaves with very few options. Freedom wasn't cheap. Emblems were their fateful prisons, and the System was a whispering devil over their shoulder.

Darks were, at first, unable to cope with the arrival of those fighters, acting as if dogs met a new wolf in the park, but that was false. The park was vast. Too vast. Too hidden. Dark forest was unfathomable for youths who were barely fit to be called adults.

Everything changed with evolutions and further Corruption, Incursions, the start of Rifts, and years that kept going relentlessly. Darks finally met their match in heaven so they became happy, if not complacent to see this change of heart.

Walkers never stopped moving. It was a game between hunters, so it was more like an endless war.

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Information about the first Walkers was—due to their time and chaos—not entirely known even in the year 2128. The First Walker generations had it darker, tougher, and more mixed with unknown chances because they walked a path that had no shortcuts, yet Darks were the same against them. That was around the half-point into the twenty-first century, where each year produced Walkers at a steady pace. A deadly pace, or so many people described.

After almost eighty years of that, newer generations knew what to expect and do, and time also changed. Now, Walkers were in charge, and people found hope and focused on it. However, back then, a lot of chances slipped by, changing a great time to a struggling hope, until even that started to crack apart because Darks started to gain the upper hand. It was as if they woke up, and found greater prey than humanity and nature, or it was more rugged, operating on instincts, or destructive hope. Named were why. The Dawn was how.

Darks were unreasonable. People never found something correct about them, for they were abominations, doom-walking, flying, or floating around without any goal in sight then destruction. It was a focused scope of thinking, no different than observers thinking how a bear went to a stream to catch some fish. Nature was also brutal. Darks were similar. Almost.

People began to cope, compromise, and start thinking about the long-term benefits in the sixties and seventies. Walkers were the same. This idea was up to the older generations and surviving nations, which soon started new creations, models, and projects of the first Walker-based organizations.

The Federation became the greatest project of the Blank Century, right around the mark of the new century. Three decades of history wasn't a lot. In fact, things went much deeper because the Federation held a vast amount of ideas from the past nations or Blank Century. They decided on a proper land set by Walkers and links around the world.

There was time for heroic moments only where it was worth it. The Darks were hunters, capable of change, even against strong Walkers who began to see their lacking manners. It was because of human growth factors, as well as the System, or ways to increase the Ranks themselves. Darks had far too insane a headstart, instincts, and dedication. Humans had the intellect to go against that. It didn't sound like a lot. It was never enough.

The majority of the starting generations of Walkers died long before great settlements stood firm and finished. But they were their vanguards, shadowy protection in stories or legacy, and history. This grace came from the bottom of their heart, deaths, and sacrifices.

Darks almost couldn't believe it. Never-ending retaliation from the first generation had a surprisingly big deal of changes, which most ended in dreadful ones instead of hopeful ones. Giving power a change of evolutions, new kinds of powerful Darks killed almost ninety percent of Walkers.

Information about those times was regarded as classified since many people were unaware of what it took to be a Walker, let alone see or understand what they tended to do or face. Some were used to losses and retaliation was seen as a very lofty political move that was obscure in worth.

Historically, that time period came from today's Outside, so many stories and legends continued to circulate in some places, changing, becoming fake with tinges of truths. People, or even Walkers, shared it as history and documentation and blamed that fighting back had some consequences, and only true destruction could kill anyone or anything. That was a double-aimed fact.

Humanity prevailed even after all of that and began to slowly crawl back from heavy losses that kept them at bay for decades of accumulated merits and work. A lot of work. With a new century starting, it was about time.

Darks used to be more than winners at first. Then they tasted how to be losers before they changed into utter nightmares that hadn't moved much ever since. There was only wilderness Outside and no proper nations. There were bare-bone components of them, thanks to perceiving ideas that leadership had to keep going and history had to keep up. At least in the northern hemisphere, this ideology was in people's blood and minds.

These remains were the struggles of that time period, but that time gave rise to the current timeline, where Walkers were not only protectors but the ones who made the heaviest decisions. It was no longer a time for regular people, who would use or order the Walkers like weapons and tools.

It wasn't exaggerated or underplayed. They understood the status quo. Walkers weren't fed up with anything; quite the opposite. They had to change their ways, knowing they had to do the same thing as them, but now holding their own reign. Walkers couldn't live without normal people. There would be nothing otherwise.

William liked to hear these interesting stories ever since he was seven. He remembered little details that his mother used to tell before sleeping, though most of them were bitter memories, huffed by her soothing voice, or he couldn't remember them because he was way too young and her loss came at a terrible time.

As William kept his pace in silence, Dann teased him. “What will you do in the Federation, sir Walker, big guy, or... how else to call you now? Will you get a nice uniform as well? Should I call you a bit better?”

“Call me muppet if you may,” William tossed a pillow at him and finished his packing.

“Muppet... Uhm. That is harsh, sir muppet.” Dann said, sitting on the bed. “You will fight. I know it. You fought before. You never stopped.”

“But fear...”

“Is natural. You are just a person born with a tool. Use it well.”

William scratched his right arm, showing a crimson storm in its prison. William wasn't sure if he saw a crack in it, or if it was his heart. “I don't know.”

“Darks wait for nobody. They attack anyone. Become it instead.”

Knowing more about the Darks was the same for Outside and Walkers alike. Knowing the enemy. That was one step to get ahead. Knowing oneself was another, and Walkers had heavy responsibility and ideals about both ideals.

For example, Hellgars, which were beast-based Darks, resembled a mix of wolves, lions, and large cats. Their Dark Aspects made them mutated, weirder, and often mixed with various patterns. They could be slender, hideous in skin, sharp in claws on four limbs, or slender while being the same as some thicker ones. Some Walkers described it as their progression since some Hellgars could be of Rank 1, 2, or 3.