TF Chapter 32 Interlude; Merely Stronger Mortals!
The early humanoid started out in caves, alone and any interaction with a neighbour always led to conflict. But then, families were started which evolved into tribes, kingdoms and empires.
Civilisation bloomed all around the world and technology developed to the point that everything on Earth had seen a human footprint, even the Marianas trench, the deepest part of the ocean.
After all that, we turned our attention towards space, our solar system specifically, where Mars was the first to fall into our grasp...
Until one day, something bizarre appeared! A continent surfaced on the molten surface of the sun, as if it had been deep below, waiting for us to take that next step towards space. Once again, many things were put on hold and technology advanced to the point that man once again stepped onto the sun, kickstarting the age of forgers.
All these achievements, overcoming challenge after challenge, made us develop pride which eventually turned to arrogance, then complacency.
Most of us forgers had become complacent after the lack of a genuinely threatening enemy in our lives, and many took that as a reason to stagnate. Being heaped with praises from the public had stroked our egos, making us believe we were the chosen ones, the special ones out of the billions.
I, Celeste, for one hadn't gotten drunk on such useless things, but it had started. I had started to get arrogant, thinking that as long as I reached the third stage and joined the council, I would be at the peak...
Yet, the universe decided to teach me- no, humanity a harsh lesson. And that lesson had shown us that in this vast universe, we were still mere mortals!
That...entity...I never want to meet such a being ever again!
I gazed down at my fingers, taking in all the lines marking them. Many of my comrades were beside me in this ship but, everyone was silent, even the exceptions were conversing in whispers as opposed to when we were making our first journey towards that star system when there had been a lot more liveliness.
Do trust me...when you meet such a being... If you still haven't realised that you are a frog in the bottom of a well, then that's plain stupid.
Our somber mood isn't because many of us died, no, its because we have realised that we are still too weak!
A single being had slaughtered over 30% of all forgers! 30%!
You have to know that there were tens of thousands from the accumulation of numerous years, YET!
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Over 4000 forgers were killed by just a single alien, slaughtered like flies! Even those on the council!
We were mistaken. Our previous thoughts of having reached the peak of power were shattered. We had theorised the existence of a fourth stage after the third, but hadn't known how to reach it. Even now, we don't have a clue about what stage that being had been at. But, we all agreed that it was most definitely above the third.
I wanted to be okay, but I think I would never be after seeing all that. I wonder how I am going to face my students without the confidence from before. After many months of gruelling war...well, mostly us hiding and performing guerilla attacks...we were finally heading home, yet, I felt no joy, instead a growing sense of weakness. Will humanity ever produce a being like him? Will I ever reach such a level?
Fear hadn't just taken hold of me. The council had already released an order for space exploration to halt. Any that disobeyed this order would be slaughtered without mercy! So, we were only going to have to focus on the solar systems we had already explored.
Though, was it just fear? Or had it morphed into terror? I hope cowardice wasn't the result.
I also feel the fear, but as humans, we can't stop because of fear. We just have to get stronger! Even if we will have to first have to find a way to get closer to the corpse of that dead being. Everyone of us survivors know that in order to advance to the next stage, its body is the key.
Its weird. I don't feel the excitement I felt when I was about to meet my students for the first time. Instead, what I feel is fear, fear that one day, they might face the same threat that we have just faced. It looks like I have developed an attachment to them.
Humanity, specifically we forgers had gotten complacent due to the praise heaped upon us with our meager powers, making us believe that we were the peak of evolution... But this... It entirely knocked us off our pedestals and rebranded us as just another branch of mortal. We were more powerful, but still just mere mortals, ants. If that being hadn't managed to gain information about our origin star system, we would have run away when we failed to take him down the first time.
"Hehehehehehehe...I used to think that I was big, bigger than everyone. An immortal above the common mortals. Hehehehehehe...it looks like I needed this rude awakening. The universe is vast and unfathomable. I was a frog at the bottom of the well, thinking that it was the entire world, how stupid!"
Someone next to me slipped into a monologue.
"I had slowed down my training, thinking that even if I went slow and relaxed, l would eventually become an elder on the council. I, no, we should have realised it since there was a freaking continent which had popped out of the sun! We had forgotten that such a thing existed...couldn't there be other things, not to mention beings that had taken the forger path?" He took in a deep breath, his eyes widening and his hands clenching with such force that I saw some red between the folds.
"I am going to train will all my might! Even if we fail to glean anything from that being, I will simply take a ship and head towards the uncharted parts of the galaxy in search of the next level!" His voice had risen to the point that it had drawn the eyes and ears of many.
His words, even though a bit selfish, rekindled a flame within me, a flame that had died down at the moment I had graduated. I had to train with zeal. Also, my students...I am going to make sure that I prepare them for the vast universe.
"I, CELESTE! AM GOING TO REACH THE LEVEL OF THAT BEING, AND EVEN SURPASS IT!" I shouted out, enhancing my voice with the power of my spirit. I was going to be punished later, but this is a vow to myself, a vow I must never forget!
The very atmosphere within the ship pulsed with my words, making me feel as if I had just broken out of a cocoon, one I had trapped myself in before.