Nero Walker, Book 3 Ch.51 (166) (Patreon)

Mike hid behind his shield as the dirt, mud, and blood exploded in front of him, killing the group of kobalds that had been assaulting his position. The lull in combat allowed him to get better look at what was going on around him.

To his left and right he saw other members of his unit holding up their shields and cutting down kobalds in numbers that boggled his mind. The number of bodies on the ground was staggering.

Above him, towering magical shields kept the kobald artillery from ripping into their lines. He could hear the massive generators behind him struggling to maintain their artificial essence fields. Between them and the few support mages they’d been assigned, they were able to keep the sky from falling down on top of them.

The bunker he and his team were defending seemed like a peaceful oasis compared to the carnage he could see the other troops suffering through in the distance.

There were massive siege-wyrms being assaulted with chains from massive crossbows, holding them down so that the ground forces could finally kill them. Abilities were coloring the battlefield with flashing lights, and throughout it all was the sea of dull green kobalds that were blanketing the ground like an ocean.

The reality of the situation became clear when he saw the bunker to their left being overrun after its shield failed and the lines were broken by enemy mages. Like a wave, the kobalds flooded through the gaps, pulling down the human troops and swallowing them with their numbers. In seconds, the position fell, and the wave of kobalds moved on.

Before he could see if a relief force managed to get there in time to collect the bodies for resuscitation, he was forced to pay attention to a fresh wave of kobalds bearing down on his position.

Firming his grip on his shield, he prepared for another round of battle. ‘Their numbers aren’t endless. Eventually they’ll break. We just have to hold on,’ he promised himself, silently praying to whatever deity felt like listening to his plight.

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Nero tried to pay attention, he really did. But the recurring problem he’d had since he’d arrived in this fantasy world once again reared it’s ugly head. No matter how detailed and comprehensive an answer he received, every single question led to more questions.

With both his hands gripping the hair on the side of his head, he closed his eyes and tried to quell his rage at how utterly stupid and incomprehensible this world seemed to be.

With his eyes closed so hard his face hurt, he took a few deep breathes before he opened them to stare at Vera, who was patiently waiting for him to formulate his latest question.

“So let me get this straight. A long ass time ago, which you can’t be more specific about due to some time-fuckery which resulted from an inter-planar war with an actual demon king, a bunch of humans got together to form large communities in order to protect themselves from the world around them. Then, some unspecified time later, the leaders decided to start calling themselves nobles so that they could begin warring between the communities. Which they did because they figured out that by having more people in a one area, humanities control over the essence became strong enough to stop monsters from spawning inside their walls. How in the hell is that even supposed to work?” he asked, trying to focus on a singular question while letting the other nonsense fade into the background.

Cathleen interjected, obviously hoping to dumb it down enough for Nero to understand. “The ether takes in the essence created by those within its domain. You can think about it as a many streams coming together to form a river. By increasing their populations, the first cities were able to be formed. Enough people in an area, and it will slowly identify as a human settlement. This was the beginning of civilization as we know it.”

Nero, semi-grasping the concept, asked the obvious question, “So, in order to bolster their populations… they fought wars with each other, killing who knows how many people in the process?”

Cathleen and Vera nodded, pleased that Nero was finally getting it, and that they could now move on with the lesson. Meanwhile, Rose was off to the side, listening patiently while nibbling on a cookie, her legs crossed with one foot slowly bouncing in the air as if she were merely enjoying a lazy afternoon devoid of responsibility.

Throwing his hands up, Nero said, “Fine! That totally makes sense to me. Then what did these genius’ do next?”

Vera pointed to the hologram behind her, which was currently displaying a map of the time before Oglivarch. “Then came the first of the Great Houses and the time of strife. Those few that were able, created families that had power spanning across multiple cities, whether by trade, marriage, or consort agreements. At this time, the average human was merely a placeholder, a tool for those in power. You can imagine how chaotic the times were.”

Waving her hand, the image went through several changes as cities sprang up, then disappeared just as quickly. “As you can see, this system of government was nowhere near stable. As a result, houses would rise and fall quickly, being solely dependent on personal power and interests. When someone became powerful enough to take control of the local resources, a new house would be founded. As the head of the new house, they inevitably left the running of there area of control to those whom they trusted, usually family members and the like. Meanwhile, they would continue focusing on increasing their personal power and lifespan, trying their best to reach the next tier.”

Cathleen interrupted the flow by snorting and muttering, “Idiots.”

Vera nodded and replied, “Quite. Regardless, while some lucky few did succeed, most others did not. The only universal truth at the time was that whoever was in power was only temporary in power until such time as someone they’d abused eventually rose up and took their place. Adversity bred stress, and stress resulted in growth. Therefore, there was always someone there to oppose whoever was seemingly in charge at the time.”

Cathleen added, “That’s not to say that there weren’t isolated regions that had a semblance of stability. Over time, small kingdoms did emerge. But, their stability invited challenge, which kept them contained. Yet, they did remain relatively stable.”

Vera continued, “That’s correct. In fact, it was stories of these isolated kingdoms that inspired the first king’s rise to power. Although born to the life of a simple shepherd, he imagined a kingdom which cared for its people as its flock.”

Nero’s eyes widened, as the story sounded uncomfortably familiar to him. “Don’t tell me the dude was named Jesus?” he asked, fearing the answer.

Vera looked at Nero in confusion and replied, “No, his name was Leonard. Why?”

Nero, now totally baffled, asked, “Leonard? The guy’s name was Leonard. Leonard the shepherd founded Oglivarch?”

The three woman all shared a look of mutually offended confusion before Vera replied, “Yes. King Leonard Oglivarch the first, known as the first among equals, founded the kingdom of Oglivarch. And from the ashes of the previous kingdoms, he and his populators built Hennings, named for his wife who died in the pursuit of their shared dream. I would ask that you not insult his memory. To the people of Oglivarch, he is still considered the best of us, and his legend inspires us to this day.”

Nero gulped, a sense of solemnity at that moment bore down on him like a ton of bricks. He could almost feel the history in the ether, showing him glimpses of the terrible sacrifices that man and his companions made to usher the world into a new age, one of true civilization and stability.

“Understood,” he said. “I can see how someone like that has earned their place in the history books. How long ago did this happen?”

Vera seemed to accept Nero’s apology while replying, “Over 100,000 years, we can say that with certainty. However, due to several incursions, being any more specific than that is a little problematic. At one point, the entire continent spent a significant amount of time in one of the hell dimensions. Whether or not it was returned due to the actions of Plastia or some other reason, we simply do not know. Why are you so interested in when things happened, anyway?”

Nero felt taken aback at the question. “Um… cause timelines are important for putting things in order? You guys have recorded history, so I figured you’d have a pretty definitive and well kept track of what’s happened since the founding.”

Vera shrugged, and said, “Not really. Too many disturbances have happened over the millennia. For the most part, the archives try to maintain the legends, but going that far back is problematic. You see, languages themselves are fluid, while the meaning remains. However, that meaning only exists by mutual understanding. For example, the truth of the past at this moment is not the same truth of the past at the time it occurred.”

Nero’s face twisted into total confusion. “Huh?”

Cathleen tried to help by saying, “The past only exists as interpretation of whatever is left over. Yesterday only exists because we remember it. The only reality that truly exists is the here and now. That is why while you can learn from the past, you can never dwell in it.”

Nero looked at the woman, and a feeling of outrage began bubbling up in his gut. He had the sudden and inextricable fear that what she was saying was not just some philosophical bullshit, but may in fact be how things work around here.

“So, you’re telling me… that if I somehow teleported back in time to watch King Leo found the kingdom, I’m not going to see what actually happened. Instead, I’ll be seeing the reflection of what people currently believe happened?” he asked, silently praying that the answer wouldn’t be ‘yes’.

“Yes, that’s correct. Over time, even the records slowly change to reflect the current interpretation of what has happened. History is nothing more than an interpretation of the legends. Like everything, it changes with the times.” replied Vera, while Cathleen just nodded as if it were completely obvious if Nero just bothered to think about it.

Nero felt like laughing at the absurdity, but wisely kept his mouth shut. He’d always believed that history was written by the victors, but this was taking it a little too far. In fact, if he were to accept the premise that history was totally up for interpretation, then it followed that the present reality he was living in was nothing more than a delusion shared among whoever happened to be alive at this very moment.

A half second later, another thought came to Nero. What if all of this was just in his head? And the reality around him was made manifest by his own personal beliefs. Technically, that still would be in line with the way reality seemed to work around here.

Nero was brought out of his existential crisis by a cookie hitting him squarely in the forehead. Blinking a few times to clear his mind, he refocused on an amused Rose sitting across from him.

Vera regained Nero’s attention by adding, “You’re probably wondering about your place in history, and whether or not you’ll be remembered. Rest assured, you have nothing to worry about. Extensive studies have been done on both the soul and the mind. While your body may perish, who you are, and the core of your potential will live on indefinitely. Well, that is usually the case unless you end up in a particularly troublesome after life. Or your soul ends up in one of the hell-planes. Also some of the heavens can be a little complicated to explain. But that is not the subject we’re covering at the moment.”

She turned around and changed the holographic projection to the next topic she wanted to cover. To Nero, it looked like she had arbitrarily decided that she had answered all of Nero’s questions and it was now time to move on.

Nero however, remained firmly rooted in the subject from thirty seconds ago.

‘I mean, seriously, how else did you expect it to work. With magic and self expression making the world go round, is it really so hard to imagine that the past is just as fantastical as the present. These are real life legends we’re talking about here. Everything is fantasy, and reality is just the clay powerful people play with. The lesson here is that I should get strong enough for my opinion to matter, otherwise my reality will remain dictated by those around me,’ he thought to himself, before cringing at the stupidly philosophical conclusion he’d just come to.