Location: Plains of Díoltas
Φ Pointing to Iancu beside me, Willow and Suzuka, he says, “You seem more knowledgeable than the other humans who look quite smooth.”
Iancu without hesitation says, “Smooth is too light, utterly idiotic is a better word to describe the three of them, especially Suzuka.”
Suzuka completely out of character starts to attack Iancu and says, “Why did you only exclude me!”
“I was just trying to be truthful!”
Seeing her act wilder than she ever does, I laugh a bit, and say, “Didn’t know you could be like this.”
This causes her to come down and say, “I am not a monster Maple, it is just that Iancu is a demon and deserves to be smithed.”
Watching from a distance Senán snaps his fingers which create a loud sound then says, “Are you all done?”
“Yes!” We all say frightened by his slightly aggressive tone.
“Now nightmare, do you know of the 1st cycle?”
“Of course I do, it is hard not to.”
Willow turning to me says, “Isn’t that the thing Orb talked about?”
“Yeah, I believe he said history is split up into three cycles.”
“Now I ask nightmare, do you know of how this had happened?”
“As someone who has spent quite a bit of time researching golems, I would know of such a thing.”
“then explain to me how such a thing came to be.”
Iancu makes a slightly annoyed face, and says, “Why am I doing all the talking after you made it sound like you would be explaining things.”
Looking at him, I say, “Please, if you do I will let you suck Willow's blood.”
“My dear wife I am not ok with this!”
“Why would I want to do that.”
“Orb is always saying how he would like to try such a thing,” Suzuka says.
Iancu then says, “WELL I DON’T EVER NEED TO SUCK WILLOW BLOOD.”
Annoyed I say, “My husband's blood is probably amazing you are missing out!”
“All of you are annoying, but whatever. I will do what you ask and explain.”
Taking a death breath Iancu says, “The five Continents are Victoria which we stand on, Enotita to the east, Molstoria to the west, Terrafide to the south, and further west is the Dragon continent of Molstoria.
Between the continent the two continents to the east of us which are the Enotita and the dragon continent of Avesta, there lies a giant ocean that separates the two of them.
And in that space, a sixth continent used to be from our historical records, Nitztzedek. During the time of that continent's existence, we used to live in a golden age of sorts where all of the people in the world were united and the science we managed to achieve was the principle of humanity at the point, with only Basileia and celestial vision two thousand years ago rivalling it.
Suzuka says, “If such an amazing place existed where did it go?”
Iancu says, “It was destroyed completely, the entire landmass was annihilated, and almost all of its history went with it, very few texts from that time still exist, and almost all monuments of that time have been destroyed, all of the glory of that time had vanished in an instant.”
Everyone falls silent as Iancu says this. But then he continues on and says, “Yet that wasn’t the worst of it, the destruction of a continent made the weather in the world run crazy, making most of the world into an extreme weather zone, like Fimbulwinter and Jedidiah.
This change in weather completely destroyed most civilisation not on Nitztzedek as well, and brought an end to that era of humanity, and so the scholar of Cordum named such an event to be the end of an era of humanity of the end of the 1st cycle of humanities history.”
As others take time to digest what Iancu has said, Senán says, “I thank you for the explanation Iancu, and now I ask that you let me finish it.”
“Go ahead, I don’t know much about the 2nd cycle since a lot of the history is disjointed until the end of it.”
Senán then says, “Due to the event of the 1st cycle throughout most of the 2nd cycle humanity lived completely disjointed and nomadic because the incredible attacks they faced due to the weather stopped them from developing civilization.
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There were groups of people who stayed in and around the same area throughout most of the 2nd cycle, but during this time a lot of humanity got disjointed with most of the difference between different groups becoming null and void.
No one knew their ancestors, no one knew the differences between them and due to this countless different bloods mixed leading to the destruction of many of the cultures during the 1st cycle.
But eventually, the planet started to adjust and the strong weather zones vanished. With this people started to rebuild civilization again, but then they were faced with an issue.
For thousands of years, all of humanity found themselves unable to reestablish a form of civilization. Any country that tried to establish itself would all collapse within 30 years.”
“But why?” Willow asks.
“It is unknown why, it was almost as if a curse was placed on all of humanity that they would never form another society again. Many believed that this was a curse from god, from the Messiah. That humanity had made so many mistakes that they would never be allowed to build anything of their own again, And like this, we all wandered the world like birds with no place to return to.
But amongst all those people were those who were stuck on far in the southern part of the world during the end of the 1st cycle. These people knew their home was far away but knew great riches lay there.
So throughout the 2nd cycle, these people moved from the bottom of the world all the way up to Victoria. The world was a mess and those people faced hardship after hardship, the biggest one being that they had one rule which had be passed down to them generation after generation; to never partake of the flesh of an animal.
Due to this throughout their journey, many starved to death, but never lost hope and continued on. And eventually, these people reached their home, the Garden of Danu.”
Ganthrú says, “Where these people-.”
“Yes, they were our ancestors, the Tuatha Dé Danu. They found the land that was lost to them, a place overflowing with abundance of all things, a fruitful land that they could survive and thrive in.
Our ancestors had everything they could have wished for and they spent a decade building up a place for them, but one day they had an idea; that they should share this prosperity with everyone else.
So they ventured out of their land and brought other humans in, and for a little while it had worked, but just as quickly as this little land came to be it vanished.
Our people held the values of nurturing and caring for people above all else. We tried to see the good in others and made sure to care for each other regardless of their situation. We didn’t compete with each other but elevated one another, these values kept us connected to one another.
But within these values were weaknesses, because when evil came we were unable to act against it, and then a tragedy fell upon all of us. The greedy saw our weakness and plotted against us.”
“Why do they have all these resources?”
“Isn’t it unfair they have complete control over this land?”
“What if one day they kick us out of this land?”
“But don’t we have a right to be here?”
“No isn’t this place completely unnatural?”
“Maybe they made a deal with a demon?”
“Haven’t some people gone missing, I think I heard a rumour about such?”
“Maybe they are sacrificing them to keep this land as fruitful as it is.”
“Those beasts how could they do such a thing.”
“This place shouldn’t belong to such people?”
“We need to fight and take back our homes.”
“These people are an affront to the messiah.”
“Maybe these people are the reason Messiah has abandoned us.”
“They are the ones who cursed humanity to never unite again.”
“We must defeat these beasts and free humanity from this curse of sickness.”
“We are the heroes here, so let us destroy them in the name of the messiah.”
“And just like that the humans united and overthrew the Tuatha Dé Dannan and set up their own kingdom using our land. They turned us into their slaves, they were cruel and vicious to us.
We were turned into worthless bugs who they would use for whatever purpose suited them and as we cried, they told us it was our fault for conniving with demons.
The greedy used their nonsensical logic to rouse people against us and they listened because their lives become better if it is true, it was a lie that made them the just and we the evil.
But not all of us were turned into slaves, many managed to escape. But they were all stranded outside with countless humans looking for them so they could be captured.
Their living conditions were anything but consistent, so there were times when they would go days without any edible plant-based options. Thus they were forced to make a choice.
And they broke a rule Danu had passed down to them all, they had eaten the flesh of animals. They felt disgust within themselves as they did it, but they kept at it. Since if they died no one would be able to save their enslaved kin.
But soon they found the reason as to why they should never eat meat, because when they partake in an animal's flesh they gain the characteristics of said animal and become it. They became beastkin.
They gained a wonderous advantage, and then using this advantage they plotted in waiting for numerous years until they struck back against their foes, and this event was known as the first human beastkin war.”
Iancu has a contemplating face, and says, “It was always known there was a first war, but the reason behind it was completely lost to us, this is rather mind-blowing.”
“I am sure it is to all of you, as your facial expressions show me. But that isn’t the end. After we conquered the humans and took our land back we started to go out and conquer other humans as a defensive act.
Our hatred for humans had been set deep within us, and we set out to crush them and take from them to close the wounds they had given us, and this process went on for a year then 2 then 3 then 10 then 20.
Many humans were terrorized during that period of time, but they all knew the truth that no civilization had lasted for more than 30 years at that point. But then the 30th year came to pass, and then the 40th then the 60th then the 90th and in no time over 100 years had passed.
The beastkin rejoiced as they had broken the curse that had plagued humanity to them it was proof of their superiority, and the humans had cried tears as they had lost hope, they had accepted that this was their lives from now on.
Our prosperity continued on and on and our great kingdom grew greater and greater. We became people who had ruled most of the known world, and we were headed on a path of world conquest.
Yet two boys would change our fate complete, and the younger of the two was born in the 120th year of the athbhreith beithíoch calendar, a child by the name of Setanta.
Location: Outer edge of the Plains of Díoltas
Φ As me Cyrus and Dillion ride on the back of the Tiritrex silver pieces of hair fly down and fall upon all of us, and as I grab one of them out of the sky, I start to scream.
“Orb what i-i-i-is wrong!”
As Cyrus checks on me I am hit with the most intense yet clear images in my mind one of a man with a crescent scar on his cheek and after a moment they all start to play in order, and it feels like I am almost experiencing someone else’s life.
And in Orb’s head, he experiences them as Senán talks, the memories of Setanta.