When my senses came to, I found myself in a pure white area. Confusion filled my head as I looked around. Then I saw a girl looking at me. It was Airi. I ran to her with a glad expression and hugged her. But she didn't move. In fact, her entire body looked like a doll. Her face was blank. I couldn't understand what was going on.
But then, out of no where, she suddenly called out to me loudly. The shock made me leap back a little. The way she suddenly moved was like a glitch in a video game.
"Taneki! Taneki." Then she hugged me. "I'm glad you're alright."
"What is..."
"There's no time. I need you to listen to me." She continued glitching. "This world is not what you think it is. It looks different where I am."
I was completely baffled. "You're in this world too? Where are you? I'll come get you."
"You can't come here yet. From what I've learned, it seems I'm in a different continent. But I'm a baby."
"A... Baby?"
"Unlike you, I was reborn. Remember that day when you fell from heaven then, at night, looked at the stars."
"What does that have to do with..."
"You saw multiple shooting stars come from one place. Those were your classmates. When their souls travelled here, apparently they were too many, so they caused a distortion in heaven. That allowed me to escape."
"Escape?"
"I was not supposed to be reborn in this world. In fact, I don't know where I was gonna go. Then the distortion occurred and many souls fell through. Including me."
"Then how did you..."
"I'm running out of time. Listen. I learnt that the gods and some other powerful people are referring to someone from your continent as the Heaven's Favored. I don't know what it means but I think it has something to do with you. Those people might be after you. And they are bad."
"Heaven's Favored?"
"There's more. They say that a world shattering event will happen in 15 years."
"What? Why are you telling me something that will happen in 15 years?"
"Because you will be the one to cause it. Also, I don't know if we'll be able to communicate again."
After a brief pause, "Airi. Wherever you are, I'll come find you."
"No. I have a better idea." I was confused. "There's a way to change everything. You could prevent all of this. Everything can go back to normal."
At that point, I didn't even know what to think. "How?" I became serious.
She smiled. "When the time comes, you will..." Her glitching became worse. I called out to her, trying to make her stay. Then everything went dark. That's when I snapped back to reality.
I came to on a bed. My eyes were covered with a blindfold and a beast girl was seated next to me. I could barely move my fingers as I tried to show her that I'm woke. She immediately noticed and went to call the others.
Giselle was the first to show up. she looked worried but was glad that I woke up. She didn't want someone who was so kind to her and her people to die like that because of what she did. My body still couldn't move. When I tried to use a skill, nothing worked. Not even Clara.
But it seemed like they knew that this was going to happen. So they got the dwarves to make me a wheelchair. Apparently, since I ran out of mana, none of my skills nor any part of my body could move or work. That means that the mana regeneration skill I made won't work either. If I knew this, I would've made it so that the skill can work even without my mana.
The beast people who owned the house I was resting in helped me on the wheelchair. Then Giselle thanked them and pushed me out the house to the streets. Outside, everybody heard the news that I woke up and were waiting for me. They wanted to celebrate my victory over the hero.
It turns out, Its been two days since the battle. The city was partially destroyed. Some building collapsed, maybe because of the force of the battle since only the taller ones fell. There were no injuries or casualties. The orcs already began rebuilding the houses. The farms were also damaged and new ones had to be made. Some of the residents even decided to do combat training.
These were all the things I was seeing while on the wheelchair as Giselle pushed me around. She seemed really happy for some reason. then she brought me to a pond that was constructed close to the farms. It had beautiful fish inside and beautiful flowers that were floating on the top. That's when she started speaking.
She spoke with a smile. "You might be wondering why people were so excited that you defeated the hero. Most of us were affected by her actions over the past years. She burnt all the villages and settlements of the demi humans. Most of us had a hard time. Especially the elves and dwarves. We were enslaved by the humans."
Since elves and dwarves could live for hundreds of years, they lived through the torture of multiple masters. Elves were captured because of their beauty. They were mostly used as sex slaves and sometimes for hard labor. Dwarves were captured because of their skill in craftsmanship and their shear physical power. Beast people however had normal life spans. Some were captured because of their beauty then used for labor once they grew older.
Although this has been the case between the humans and demi humans for thousands of years, the humans have never been able to capture as many as they did in the last 400 years. Elves are well known for their magical power and hunting skills. Dwarves are known for their powerful weapons of war. Beast people are known for their animal-like attributes such as agility, strength, speed, possessing venom among others based on the animal they are supposed to be.
This obviously meant that most ordinary humans weren't able to capture any of them because of the difference in their abilities. Things weren't getting better for them as the more time passes, the less the number of humans that have magic or magic related items on them reduces. Such is not the case for demi humans, as they will always keep their features for all generations.
"Now that she's gone, we might be able to get everything back. So, thank you. From all of us." She said. If only she knew that the hero was still alive. She has to. Right?
Night fell. A feast was prepared. Multiple monsters were caught. Boars, which the orcs didn't for obvious reasons, rabbits, deer, among other monsters that I did not know the name of. The ladies of the city turned out to be great cooks who also worked very well together. A large variety of great dishes were made.
They also drank huge amounts of wine that I didn't know where it came from and would rather not. They were truly happy for the victory. I was seated a bit to the side from them and watched when I realized something. Both my eyes were closed but I could still see. That was supposed to be a skill. But I didn't have any mana. Does it not consume anything?
While I was still thinking about this, an elf girl with black hair appeared next to me. She looked really familiar for some reason. She kept getting closer and closer. I began feeling uncomfortable. I was stressing out. That's when it hit me. More of like it hit her. Nirvana came by and smacked her in the head and they started bickering like a married couple.
"What are you doing?" Nirvana whispered as she asked her. "You know he doesn't know that you can do that."
"I only wanted to see if he could recognize me."
That part confirmed my suspicion. It was Cassius. She changed her gender and looked exactly like a girl. To make things weirder, he was actually pretty. I was speechless. Literally. Then Nephilim came with a serious expression.
"Sorry to ruin the fun, but we need to make plans for what is to come." He said. Party pooper, was my immediate thought.
"What are you talking about?" Cassius asked. "The party has only just began. Shut up, go back in there and eat some boar in front of Grendel to piss him off for no reason." He began pushing him back.
"Why would I want to do that?"
"Because its fun." Then they went back.
But what he said needed to be done right away. I was sure that the fight between myself and the hero must've had some kind of effect on the continent. We needed to plan on what to do next.
The next day, the fight was the talk among the humans even after three days. Along the streets and other public areas.
The high Priest and the Emperor were arguing on a balcony in the emperor's castle when the priest raised his voice.
"Impossible! We cannot allow it to continue the way it is. This matter is of the at most importance."
"This matter can't even be proven. Yet something else has already been confirmed."
"What could be more important than this? And isn't the failure of the hero enough proof?"
"The appearance of a demon lord."
"That's impossible. I haven't received an oracle about a demon lord yet."
"Then it looks like whoever the demons worship is more efficient than the goddess."
"You're seriously just going to believe what the demons say but not what I say?"
"I don't know!" The emperor lost his temper then cooled down. "I don't know." Form then none said a word to each other. They didn't know what to say.
Elsewhere, in the Aetheria Kingdom's capital city, the people had completely lost faith in the nobles. Riots occurred, houses were being burnt, people were trying to occupy the castle through the gates.
In that castle, there were nobles who didn't know what to do. Apparently, news about the appearance of a demon lord had spread and the people wanted to know more. But there was nothing else to say. This made them think that they are hiding something and that they may be working with the demons. Thus the riots.
"This wouldn't have gotten to where it currently is if it wasn't for the disturbance in the sectors." The lord of Relvina said.
"Were you able to confirm what caused it?" He was asked by another lord.
"If you take into account the fact that there were two powerful mana sources there, the most likely thing to have happened was... A fight."
"A fight? Between only two? And it caused all of that?" The other said with a breaking voice as if he was about to cry.
"Your majesty!" A knight shouted as he ran in. "Its important. Please. You have to look at this."
"What is it?" The king asked.
"Its a map of the continent."
"Huh... Why show me the map of the continent right now."
"Because its been altered, your majesty."
"What do you mean altered?" He said as he opened it. After looking at it closely, he felt as if the world is about to end.
Back at the conversation between the emperor and the high priest, the emperor brought up a new topic.
"Three days ago, there's a letter I received. Two in fact, with a black seal."
The priest looked at him curiously wondering why he brought that up. "One was about the demon lord, correct?"
"Yes."
"And the other..."
"The other wasn't a letter. It was a map."
"A map?"
"A map of the continent."
"Why would someone send you the map of the continent in a black seal?"
"Because that's how important it was... The map has been altered."
"Altered? What part? Which stupid kingdom is focusing on extending their lands right now?"
"It wasn't by a kingdom. Or rather, it wasn't by kingdom where humans lived."
"Your majesty. What are you referring to?"
In Aetheria, the king looked horrified as he saw the map.
"Your highness. what is it." A noble who noticed his expression asked.
"Its impossible. Its impossible! This must be a fake!"
"But the emperor has already seen it." The knight said.
"Your majesty, what is in the map?"
"Its concerning the north."
"What about the north?" Another asked.
At the same time the emperor was explaining to the priest.
"The sectors... They have united."
"W...What do you mean?"
Then the king and the emperor said in unison. "They united to form a new kingdom in the north. The kingdom of Haven.
This news left the priest in shock. Same case with the nobles listening to the king. Never before in the history of mankind living in the continent have so many major uncalled for events happened in such a short amount of time. Who would blame them for thinking that the world is ending.