Reeve stood atop the mountain the 'gods' had claimed. She knew them for what they were, merely the first. Vast in power and experience, so vast they dwarfed even her, but that did not matter. They too were human once, they too would fall like any other. For too long had the rest of the world lavished in ignorance, satisfied with the scraps their gods deigned to leave them, this would be the end, and at last the power of Miracle would be shared with the world.
"Stupid girl." the voice boomed, genderless, commanding. "Did you think a paltry collection of mortal mages and warriors could stand against the might of your GODS?"
“You are no gods,” she retorted, rage and hatred clear in her voice. “Mortals who were first are no more gods than the lowliest babe is a warrior!”
“Stupid, foolish girl. We are not mortals, we have NEVER been mortals! We came here before the first of what would one day become humanity crawled out of the slime-filled seas. We watched and prodded as you came into being, giving you all you needed to survive, we are your SAVIOURS.”
“I deny your lies, here before the entire might of humanity you dare to claim such fantasy can be anything but?” Reeve raised her sword, energy coalescing in her off-hand. “Let fate decide the victor here today!”
----------------------------------------
A sneer was the only response the collected Gods gave the army of humans as they began their assault. Eldritch energies gathering around them as they began to strike the impudent creatures down. How DARE they assault the home of the Gods? For this, they would burn. For a thousand years or more would they burn, their terror and agony a message to all other mortals that the Gods were immortal and omnipotent.
And then Shiva fell. A simple arrow, aided by the wind and simple human magics had pierced their eye, this should not have been possible, and yet here it was clear. Shiva lay dead before them. The many armed God was fallen.
Zeus was next, their rival Odin shortly after and then the Gods began dying by the dozen. The Humans were dying in droves, trading 10,000 lives for the death of a single God, and yet it seemed they would triumph. Unthinkable. The Gods were in agreement about a single thing, one issue they had never disagreed on. The higher energies were THEIR domain. No human would ever touch the power of Miracle they held. They would sooner lock it away for all time than see it handled by the ignorant apes. A Contingency was activated. The only one of its kind. The final few living gods turned their weapons inward and ran themselves through.
“Stupid humans, foolish humans. We may pass from this world, but you never shall. With our deaths do we lock the energy of the world. It shall never again be touched by your filthy hands. The Ki you use to extend your lives, the Mana you use to cast your rituals, all will fade in the blink of an eye. Humans will NEVER touch Miracle!” A shuddering gasp fell out of the being’s throat, bringing a tide of silver ichor, and the last of the gods died.
----------------------------------------
The mountains beneath them shuddered, vibrated almost. Over a million Mages had lost their lives to buy this victory, and yet it seemed the world would never know how it was won because, at that moment, Mount Vesuvius detonated.
In her last moments of life, Reeve used the last drops of Mana she had to cast a single, terrible spell. She would remember in the next life, and all the lives to come. If only to tell people of the victory won here today. Of the day that mere mortal men slew the gods.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Greater European Union
Experimental Deep-Core Mining Site
July 13th 2050ce
It wasn’t so long after the wars that industry had recovered fully, the previous 25 years of brutal conflict had ravaged most major cities, and the satellite network and orbital stations had only just begun their restoration. Nonetheless, fortune waits for no man, and Jeremy Reeveson was no different. His task was one of the most daunting ever conceived. With an initial investment of over 1 trillion USD, he was to create a mine that would last for hundreds of years. It would provide the United Central Authorities the heavy metals, and rare-earths required to attempt the impossible, they were going to build a Space Elevator.
He wasn’t supposed to know that, but practically everyone did at this point. Why else would they purchase a massive area in the middle of the Sahara, build a 4 level highway out to it, and construct what all experts agreed looked like an anchor station for the worlds largest tether? His son had been rattling about it non-stop since the ‘unconfirmed, no-comment leak’. He was proud of his job, Jeremy was a civil engineer of peerless repute. Responsible for hundreds of sea-wall and deep-sea super-drills. He could do this, and it would be amazing enough maybe his son would get his head out of the clouds and be impressed with his old man for once. The initial core-test drill was nearing the mantle now, 30 kilometers into the crust, further than anyone had ever drilled before, and this was a test of one of the mini-drills. Barely 100 meters across, not even a tenth of what the big one would be.
A crack split the air, a shift so far below it was nearly imperceptible. Yet every single person in the world felt it. Every worker on-site flinched momentarily, then most, like the sane people they were, checked seismometers. Nothing, not a single solitary movement indicating potential collapse. All was well.
Then the drill shot out of the ground like a pebble from a geyser. Jeremy’s final thoughts were of his son and his lack of regrets.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Great Lakes Megalopolis
Grand Rapids Borough
North American Territories
July 13th 2050ce
Numb. Numb and cold. That had been his dad’s project. News continued flicking across his contacts as he stared blankly in disbelief. This couldn’t be, dad didn’t make mistakes like this, he was thorough. He handed an Internal Security Service background check to the parents of Max’s first date to reassure them that his son wasn’t a creep (it didn’t work). Max knew, he KNEW his dad had made no mistakes. He was drilling in the most tectonically stable region with the crust-thickness and lack of volcanic activity they could get. There was no way a ‘magma flow overpressurized the underground river they drilled into’ they were less than a kilometer from the mantle, underground rivers didn’t go that deep. And they weren’t drilling a revolutionary water collection and storage plant either. This was a coverup.
Max knew he felt the moment his dad died. Like a trembling of the earth itself. It rocked through him, and there weren’t earthquakes in Grand Rapids. He lived in a megalopolis of 100 million people. Alarms, car alarms would be going off like crazy if there had been a tremor that strong. No, it was something telling him his dad was dead. The news continued, heedless of Max’s internal arguments and fallacious logic.
“Strange reports are coming through of millions of earthquake calls in areas no seismometers detected earthquakes. Is this a sign of something larger? Or just an elaborate bot prank? Find out when we return, after the break!”
Wait, that sounded important… It said millions of reports of earthquakes… Max had just experienced an earthquake, and according to the site he had pulled up there hadn’t been one. His brain was sluggish, trying to process the death of the only relative he had left when he felt it again. And again. And again. Increasing in intensity and duration until it was a slowly growing roar, vibrating him down to his core. It didn’t stop, he felt his body in agony, but it was distant, far away, down an ever-growing black tunnel…
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
It was on this day, July 13th, 2050ce. That Humanity broke that seal holding them back. They regained their former power and a chance at something far more.