Most of you have heard the old saying “Knowledge is power”, but what most don’t know is who came up with the saying. Well, Sir Francis Bacon had it right.
Before the Judgement, homo-sapiens had the ability to manipulate the ambient energy of the universe and use it for their own ends. This energy was used for everything from extending the life of the person, to being cast as what we would consider magic. To produce these effects, knowledge of the physical world was needed. To make a fire, a person would focus the energy at a specific point and make the molecules vibrate rapidly. The strength of the person’s ability to harness and focus the energy determined their standing in society.
After a long war that devastated the population of the world and, unbeknownst to the people, created catastrophic energy disturbances in neighboring dimensions, a being with power beyond anything seen before appeared. This being killed all but a few people he deemed to be innocent. He then altered the survivors’ genetic code to severely restrict our use of the energy he called mana. The survivors were told that the block will last for 1000 generations as a punishment for the reckless use of energy that caused cataclysms on this world and others in the multiverse.
“You are in a fairly young universe, so this is a light punishment due to your lack of knowledge. After the 1000 generations have passed, the genetic marker I have placed will disappear. I expect there to be some down the line to have ability that even I cannot suppress, but they will be further limited by my next actions. I will leave a device on your moon that creates a shield of sorts around your planetary system. This shield will reduce the amount of mana generated inside it by the matter here and use that mana to prevent mana from outside from filling the void. Should humanity run rampant again, I will return and wipe you all from existence. Also, once the 1st person of the 1001st generation is born, every person on earth will be notified about the removal of the block. Their own block will remain in place, but the knowledge of the block’s removal will allow for measures to be taken to guide these mages down the proper path”
“Should you find my device before the 1000 generations pass, you will be given a complete history of your world since my arrival. This history will be unbiased. You will see the ugly truth of greed, villains disguised as heroes, and religion as the incarceration of thought. You will also be given texts on how to detect and train new mages. This power is limited only by the lack of imagination, so guidance is necessary.”
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“Holy shit!... soo, apparently, we found the device before the 1000th generation because I don’t recall hearing about a worldwide notification about the removal of this genetic block.” Jason said in the meeting room at Space Launch International. “Is that a translation?”
Tom Steele, “No. It’s not a translation. The text on the cube is exactly the same as what you see on the paper in front of you. What I want to know is how does this cube have our language on it when carbon dating says that it is older than our solar system.”
“Well, if the message on the cube’s surface is to be believed, this device is from another much older universe. Who knows if it even follows the laws of our universe? Have we accessed the history records it mentions?” Sandra said as she leafed through the meeting docket.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Tom sighed “Yes we have. Some of it is as we expected, but it even includes the motivations for certain notable figure’s actions. If this history is released, it will turn the world on its head. We are dealing with not one groundbreaking revelation, but multiple revelations that change how we view the world.”
“Jason, your group will be in charge of going over the training texts and separating them by whatever standard you come up with based on the contents. Sandra, you will get in touch with the best historians we can find and have them sign our NDA before giving them access to the device’s history records.”
Jason’s phone starts ringing “Ah, sorry sir. My wife is nearing her delivery date, so I may need to take off.” He steps out of the meeting room and answers the call. “Mary, what’s going on?”
Mary “My water just broke. Steve is taking me to the hospital.”
“Steve? Why was he over there? Oh yeah…tell him that he can keep that chainsaw as a thank you,”
“Hehe” Mary chuckled as she felt another contraction coming on and started breathing heavily and moaning.
“I’ll be there soon.” Jason said as he popped his head back into the meeting room and said “That was my wife. Her water just broke. Thankfully, my brother was there and is taking her to the hospital. That’s where I will be if you need me.”
Sandra looked over to Tom “That’s his first kid, right?”
Tom nodded and said “Yeah. I remember my excitement at my firstborn. It seemed like I blinked, and she was bringing home her first boyfriend.” He sighed “Changing everything we know about the world will have to wait till he gets back.”
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Jason’s mind was whirling as he got into his car and yelled at the navigation console to take him to the hospital. “What a crazy day. First, I’m told we found some alien artifact with information that can cause an upheaval across the world, and now my wife is in labor. 1000 generations… Nah there’s no way any of that crap about magic can be real.”
When Jason arrived at the hospital, he rushed in. The security guards noticed him immediately and started towards him. Speaking to the lady at the front desk, he said. “My wife just arrived here, and she is in labor. Where is that section of the hospital?”
The lady smiled and waved off the 2 security officers and pointed to a bank of elevators. “Take the elevator to floor 3 and go left. You will see a sign for the labor and delivery rooms about halfway down the hall. Good luck.” She laughed as Jason slipped a bit trying to get going again to follow her instructions.
One of the security guards walked up then. “Trish, what was all that about?”
“Oh, him? That is Jason Meadows. His wife arrived about 15 minutes ago and was taken to the Labor and Delivery ward. That was the excitement of a first-time father.” Trish said with a wide grin on her face.
The guard laughed and said, “I saw him running in from the parking lot like some kind of madman, but his urgency makes total sense now.”
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Jason rounded the corner into the Labor and Delivery ward, and half yelled at the first nurse he came across, “My wife just arrived, Mary Meadows. Where is her room?”
“Good you’re here. This way.” The nurse said, leading Jason over to room 343.
As Jason walked in, he heard Mary scream in pain while the doctor and nurses coached her on how to breath and time the pushes. “Mary, I’m here. Are you okay?”
Gritting her teeth, she ground out “Do I look like I’m okay?”
The Doctor spoke up and said, “Your wife is doing fine. We should be seeing the crown of the baby’s head any time now. I suggest you sit next to your wife. I’ve seen many new fathers pass out upon seeing the baby and blood. Keep breathing Mary. I see the crown. Push!”
Just as the baby started crying, text scrolled across the vision of everyone in the world. “The first child to be free of the genetic block has been born. The judgment is over. Learn from your past. Guide these new mages to a bright future.