Rise: Origins: Dimension Lost (Patreon)

Rise: Origins: Dimension Lost

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Commissioned by Althero

Wordcount: 1000

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Wyverns flock to roost in humanity’s old dwellings now. Their excretions sit upon machines crafted to ease the daily lives of the regular human being. Their talons and claws forge nests from the remains of infostructure that drove away the darkness. Skyscrapers, built without the aid of magic and by men who risked their lives, are now hollow caverns that are being torn apart by flocks of monsters.

Somedays, I question the Hero Faction’s alliance with Ouroboros.

On days such as this, I find it utterly repulsive. 

The entirety of humanity is now under our control. The newest generation of humanity shall be the greatest it has ever had. Each one can stride into humanity’s old, decrepit cities and cleanse it of the infestation of monsters and those who claim to be superior to humans. They shall be the finest generation, the reclaimers of the planet, and they shall herald the age of a humanity that stands above, Hell, Heaven, and Earth.

Yet their indoctrination, bodies, and training is not the only price for that coming age.

It is the billions that died when the magnificent agricultural systems of superpowers collapsed. It is the hundreds of millions who found themselves without protection against the monster kept back by the Church and fledgling, federal supernatural agencies. It is the silent roads, decaying cities, and darkness that covers the earth every evening. 

What use shall the cities be, if there is not enough human beings to fill them? 

The Hero Faction sacrificed ten-thousand years of civilization in order to create a legacy that shall last… a thousand? 

Two thousand? 

Three?

Time moves ever-onward. Humanity is a product of change, circumstance, and challenge. The day will come when the Hero Faction will fall apart, either through differences in ideology or a foe that scatters us to the seven winds, and when that day comes will we have given more to humanity than we have taken? Shall Heaven truly prostate themselves before us? Will Hell’s Satan’s fear our footsteps? Will every last monster that threatens the lives of humanity’s young be vanquished forever?

To each of those questions, the answer I find is no.

Yet, when the plan was drafted, when it was enacted, and when the moment came for me to choose to let it pass or be silent… I gave my silent, obedient consent.

Since then, all I have felt for the decision was regret.

It is why I do not enter the false paradises that the Hero Faction now touts and will never let my student live within those walls either.

No matter how much she adored their ice cream.

I’d rather go to another world entirely and pick her up something forged by that humanity’s civilization than have her be involved with them.

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I willed myself to appear where my student was, after sighting her target practice, and found her waiting for me as instructed. She was clad much like myself, in a thick Sorcerer’s coat over armor, as well as all the artifacts I could afford to not have on myself. Though she was still growing, it was necessary for her to have proper protections. No matter how much she complained of their weight, nor how much those fools said students didn’t require such powerful artifacts, a Sorcerer is at their weakest while they are developing.

Thus, I protected her with all my power and ability, no matter how much she complained or how fools griped.

Her amethyst orbs took notice of me as swiftly as I appeared and she frowned when she followed my own, faraway gaze. 

“Wyverns again, my teacher?” My student had a frown on her face, while she swung her legs atop the light post. I brought her to my side without a word, but due to experience she landed on her feet instead of falling butt-first towards the ground. However, she was incapable of dodging my Teacher’s Strike of Contempt. “H-hey, that was mean!”

“No. It wasn’t. It would’ve been mean to send you up there without telling you, especially when you weren’t paying attention.” I was very aware that I set high standards for her. However, given the dangers humanity faced all over the world… let alone our own “allies”… I had no intention of making her merely good enough. So, if I arrived in her presence, I expected her to instantly know I was present. Not a second later. Not a half-second later. Instantly. Sorcerers, especially those without my advantages, needed to be the most aware individuals on the battlefield. “And, this might be tedious, but you know that it works. Through combat, you speed yourself up and train both your mind and body. It is, as you say, the dopest way to train.”

“…I’ll do my best today, if you promise to never try to use slang again.”

It was a deal that I accepted easily since the next generation can keep their silly words.

As she summoned her power and prepared for battle, I couldn’t help but wonder how much happier my student would be, if she were not born into a world where the Hero Faction existed. Her power would go unnoticed by humanity, as is the case for the vast majority of those talented with magic abilities. Would she have become a traveler to satiate her desires to see new places? Would higher education have suited her? Could it be that she’d simply own a confectionary shop focused on her favorite desserts?

For years, I’ve looked upon the remains of civilization and felt spite and anguish at my relations with the Hero Faction and Ouroboros. However, when those questions arise within me, as I send my student forth into battle against monsters… I felt hate for them both. And, when she gets hurt in necessary battles, because she would not survive if she did not gain exceptional skills and experience, I had to repress the urge to attack those who I pledged allegiance to and those they have allied with.

If the loss of humanity’s civilization across the world was the trigger, I was sure that Coda was the slow, burning fuse to my eventual separation from the Hero Faction.

This cannot last forever, those who died cry out to be avenged, and while I will forever hold the sin of not stopping Armageddon… I can kill those who brought it upon the world and seek some semblance of absolution. 

Perhaps… as soon as I know that Coda can take care of herself… I shall.