Rose didn't hear the "maybe" that Acheron whispered under his breath, she was too busy stomping the ground dissatisfied with Acheron's answer.
Not caring about the 25-year-old redhead's little tantrum, Acheron went back to staring at the number above the elevator doors that was slowly speeding up as time passed by.
"Anyway, any more questions?" Acheron asked,
Rose stopped her little fit and smiled,
"Tell me more about the city! How long has it been here? How did you do it?" Rose asked excitedly,
Acheron grinned widely and sat down, Rose mimicked him and sat in front of him on the cold, steel floor.
"So, let's start from the beginning. Why do you think demihumans are considered myths? Creatures of the imagination when they have been around for thousands of years?" Acheron asked,
"I don't know, Acheron-sama. They were hunted down?" Rose said uncertainly,
"Yes and no," Acheron said,
"It's true that humans hunted demihumans, but it wasn't to the point of being scared of soldiers with swords and shields when they could easily overpower them, so what happened?"
Rose didn't answer, she just let Acheron continue.
"Humans' insidiousness, cunningness, and their talent for war," Acheron revealed the answer,
"Although demihumans are by no means stupid or anything, and there are races born with high IQs, most of their cultures revolve around strength. They are very straightforward with their desires and most races tend to solve problems straight on.
Humans poisoned their food, their water, set fire to their homes, causing them to move, and killed the young. Of course, demihumans retaliated without a second thought by attacking villages and towns but that was a losing battle. Humans' biggest advantage came to play here, their numbers. They procreated like rats, and an advantage over the demihumans was it took them decades to have but a single child.
Human advancement of weapons only increased as the years went on, while the demihuman talents were picked off one by one until they had no choice but to hide.
Seeing this, I began my plan. I created havens for them all over the world in wilds too dangerous for humans to explore. But that only delayed the problem, not fix it. Centuries passed and humans began to grow bold and began to explore those regions once left untouched by them. At this point, demihumans' sightings were rare and the term 'Monsters' stuck to them like glue. With their havens slowly beginning to be discovered, monster hunters took the stage once again.
Werewolf hunters and vampire hunters are the most famous of them werewolves and vampires were some of the few that never left human society.
That's when I began to build these cities. I built them right underneath their noses as a slap to their face sort of speak. At the time I built them 10 times bigger than the cities they were under, but now they are probably half the size of the cities.
First, I dug down deep into the earth's crust and created a colossal dome made from metal and rock compacted into each other thousands of times, making it basically indestructible. I found magma rivers and underground rivers and intricately weaved them around and through the dome to regulate temperature. I divided the dome into biomes native to each country and its demihumans but at the time, I had one problem… a light source, more specifically, sunlight. Europe was in the Middle Ages and mutants were treated as witches, but I had just harnessed the power of electricity, it was only a matter of time until I found a solution.
In the meantime, I introduced bioluminescent animals and plants. As the years went by, my technology advanced and I put it all into the domes. I met with the demihumans, and I showed them this new place where they will be safe far away from humanity's reach…. And they have been there ever since, living their lives underneath everyone."
"But how do they breathe? did you have a way to pump oxygen into the dome?" Rose asked,
Acheron smiled,
"How indeed do they breath, eh?"
Rose knew that answering her question with another question meant that she already knew the answer. She replayed what Acheron had said from the beginning in her head until the answer finally clicked.
"Plants?" she answered,
The nod she received from Acheron only served to confuse her even more.
"But Acheron-sama, that makes no sense. If mutants progressed along or even further ahead than humans then just regular plants wouldn't cut it… unless they were special!" Rose exclaimed, earning a head pat from Acheron and an approving nod.
Acheron reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. After a few taps on the screen, a hologram of a purple plant with a lily-like flower that seemed to glow slightly was projected in between the both of them.
"Out of all my experiments through the centuries, this is one of my greatest successes… 'Elysium'. Or more commonly known as the 'Violet Lily' plant." Acheron said, his smile wising with every word.
"Wow~!!" Rose exclaimed in wonder hearing his tone full of pride.
"The process carbon dioxide a hundred times faster than the fastest natural plant and pump out oxygen just as fast. The best thing about it is that it doesn't need sunlight or just carbon dioxide, all it needs is to be in the open air and it would convert anything and the more it converts the brighter it glows so it can also be used as a source of light!" Acheron exclaimed with newfound enthusiasm.
"On top of all that they fully mature from a seed within a span of 48 hours. Due to that, I had to make a system to regulate their growth so that they don't pump more oxygen than needed or the whole place will go up in flames. Nowadays it's all controlled by a simple AI just like most of the life support systems to keep the domes in the perfect state for all life that calls it home to thrive."
*Ding*
The elevator chimed notified that they had arrived, and their elevator ride has come to an end.
Standing up, Acheron and Rose waited for the doors to open while Acheron continued to talk.
"In other words, I made my domes to be paradise on earth for all the Mutants that reside in each country. They are the most beautiful places you will ever lay your eyes o-….."
Words were stuck in Acheron's throat as he laid eyes on the view before him. What Rose thought would be a place straight out of a fairy tale was anything but; what appeared before them was a steampunk city straight out of an apocalypse story.
All plant life appeared dead, nothing but dried husks and fields black and semi-desert from the lack of water. There was a smog so thick around the city that you would drop dead just being inside it for a couple of minutes. The Elysium flowers that should have covered the inside of the dome and been pumping clean air throughout the area were gone, nothing but dried grass in its place.
Rose turned to look at Acheron with worry, she saw the life visibly drained out of him. His skin turned pale and his tail that was happily wagging behind him was now limp on the floor. Then just as fast, his color was regained, and Rose sensing danger jumped to the side. A black aura seemed to seep out of Acheron like a thick ooze and the floor beneath him shattered from an unseen pressure.
Rose turned to look at Acheron from the floor, her whole-body shivering from fear. The black aura soon faded away and instead was replaced by a smile on Acheron's face that almost seemed to split his face open as it almost reached his ears. His insect-like tail shook like that of a rattlesnake.
"Oh n-n-no…" Rose whispered with dread.
The Big Bone Daddy's Announcements:
Hello babyboys, babygirls and Non-binarybabys,
It's been quite a while hasn't it, friends? Too long some might say, but what are you going to do right?... Anyways, many things have happened since we last talked. It's almost my first Anniversary with Albedo-sama in two weeks.
We will be moving soon to Kentucky, USA, and we also plan to have kids within a year or two and buy a house. *Sigh* Time sure flies right, old friends?
it took me a year to write this chapter, and what free time I have is only enough for a couple of sentences every month... Oh! and I finally got covid about 2 months ago. 2 YEARS without catching and we get it the weekend before our cruise.!!! I almost activated my "The Goal Of All Life Is Death" skill cuz I was soo angry.... haha, that's funny.
I've gotten a new job since December, with better pay, and more work but it's fun and I enjoy it.
My hair now reaches the middle of my back, Albedo-sama says I look better with long hair and she loves to braid and play with it so I might just let it grow until it becomes a real pain in the ass.
*Sigh* I really missed talking to you guys and I hope you are all doing well. I hope to write more for you guys, and I appreciate all the people that check every day to see if I update.
Until next time old friends,
Your Bone Daddy