Tap.. tap tap… tap tap tap.. tap,
A man sat at the computer, in the dark, typing away at the last lines of code on a new algorithm for the game he was making.
It was a masterpiece, a veritable wet dream for all the hard-core gamers around the modern world.
Kieron spent the majority of his time here, He was a brilliant coder, perhaps one of the best of his generation. He was a vibrant example of the splendor of the human mind. Rather unfortunately, however, he wasn't very widely recognized for his brilliance due to one crucial reason…
HE WAS A GODDAMN HERMIT!!
Now, he wasn't completely removed from society per se. He was actually a very interactive and amiable figure in the community.
He talked with neighbors, and he ran to the grocery. Kieron even maintained his fitness to a decent degree. Additionally, he worked for a small gaming company that completed outsourced work for the major games of the era.
But Kieron had not changed his pace for over 20 years, even after the death of his parents, Kieron did not respite from his routine.
Kieron had been adopted by a loving older couple at the age of 3, they always trumpeted that they liked the intelligent gleam I'm his eyes from the moment they saw him. Evidently, they were right, growing up over the years Kieron showed his colors as a brilliantly smart and calculative man. He flew through school after school, often jumping grade levels at a time as he drowned himself in all the knowledge Earth had to offer with a greedy smile.
Kieron was regarded as a generational prodigy, global media promoted stories about his rise to glory and gossip flew around. But under the watchful eye of thousands, right after graduating from college with a master's in computer science at the ripe age of 16, Kieron dropped off the face of the earth.
Poof! He vanished like a fart in the wind. As the world waited for him to make his big break into the limelight like an entrepreneurial genius. Kieron felt as though he'd seen everything he cared to learn and found himself at a loss, so he busied himself with more important business, namely, video games.
Video games are a grand illusion. A masterful work of code and electronic architecture blended into an escape from a dull, boring, and limited world.
It was Kieron's desire to create the ultimate escape, a virtual world seamlessly indistinguishable from reality. And being the genius he was, he could make it. In pursuit of his goal, he first prepared himself, getting a position in an outsourced game-developing company, a job he could complete with ease, that earned him revenue decent enough to fund his work. From then on in a quiet apartment in a homely neighborhood in the city, Kieron began his creation.
For 20 years, Kieron worked, his drive becoming an obsession, his entire life strung around the delicate creation of his masterpiece. During this time, his parents, old and weary, passed on natural causes. The melancholy left behind only served to inspire Kieron to get a cat. Night after night of sleepless work for 20 years until finally one day, 37-year-old Kieron stepped out of his workroom refreshed.
_____
'Kyaaaahhhh, it's been a rough night, and fuck does ass hurt, I really need to stand up more when I pull an all-nighter like that... But finally, finally, I'm close, I can feel it!'
The euphoric air was interrupted by an irritated hiss.
'Meowww!'
'Yea yea, I'll feed you grumpy…
Get a cat they said, it'll help with the loneliness they said. A bunch of bullshit, more like it'll drive me insane enough that I forget to be lonely and just skip straight to suicide.'
He mumbled as he went to get the cat food.
Behind him stood a behemoth of metal and wiring. A massive supercomputer was created through years of trial and error and years more of coding and tests. Hooked up to the computer was a coffin, which, if looked at closer, would resemble some sci-fi escape pod. If that pod was affixed with lots of medical instruments and a menacing-looking spike, thin as a hair, which stuck out from the floor of the coffin near where the head would rest.
It was the fruit of his efforts and Kieron was exhilarated at the thought of finally achieving his goal.
Unfortunately, for him, the universe likes irony and it was time for the second disappearing act.
_____
At this time in a certain plane, in a secluded valley sheltered from the outside world, an extremely powerful mage was currently sweating buckets.
His was the last human stronghold still standing in the frontier zone and all around him thousands of mages, warlocks, and commoners were fleeing in desperation. Many people subject themselves to extreme pain, burning their life force and using taboo spells to escape. Some less-than-intelligent humans fled through the gates hoping to survive the coming disaster by chance, others wrought with despair ruptured their mana core and let themselves, and anyone unlucky enough to be nearby, be quickly consumed by the raging storm of energy released.
Grandmaster blood mage Gerald Vincerath, the master of the last frontier mage city, rather than attempting to organize the survival of his people, was one among the old mages who was attempting to use a forbidden technique to escape.
And why was even the all-powerful leader of the last human bastion in the frontier lands so desperate? Because they were fucked!!
In the plane of Etheria, countless planets exist, most are desolate ruins inhospitable to all life. Some planets are just inhospitable to the weak. One planet in this plane is a vibrant planet called Iroria, tens of times larger than Earth, with countless different species, massively varied terrain, and more importantly, mana.
Iroria was created as a manaless planet. It was only after centuries of development the planet evolved and acquired the ability to produce mana. After the evolution, the planet saw the rise of one particular species on its surface, Humans!
Humans exist prominently in Iroria, in the years after the planetary evolution their reach extended from the human continent to the lands around. Large swaths of the planet were taken under control as humans slowly learned how to use the mana that the plane birthed. Centuries passed and the beasts could not keep up with the humans and their grasp of mana.
The largest continent on the planet, which the humans called the 1st frontier, remains a contested zone despite centuries of battle to claim its treasures. It remains one of the only continents near the human land they cannot control. However, in recent centuries humans have begun to gain the lead. Countless cities and forts stretch endlessly into the wilderness, laying claim to nearly half the land of the continent.
As the humans fight among themselves and separate into different factions they separate among the continents claimed by mankind. Royal and Imperial lineages claim entire continents around the human mainland. And so too do they claim regions of the central continent. The frontier is an unceasing war ground, a meat grinder that humans use to polish their troops. However, years of success and ease form a casual repetition. An acceptable fault for that is as it has been for centuries, but one day, something changes!
An imperceptible rumble sweeps across the land, mountains tremble, and the oceans boil. Thousands die, but millions more wonder what is occurring.
____
Deep in a cave, a young drakon asks his Elder in confusion, 'What is happening, master? Why does Iroria anger?'
'Oh but young one, she does not cry out in anger, she erupts with joy!! New times are coming… Follow! Quick! We must be ready before the festivities begin!!'
____
All across the planet mana erupts formlessly and quietly into the air. The lakes and streams, mountains, grass, and trees embrace pure mana, energy birthed from the very Planet itself.
The humans call this event the great cataclysm, but the beast of nature called it the grand awakening. On a planet-wide scale beasts of all varieties begin to change, suddenly mutating in ways never seen before. Introduced to pure Mana, energy irradiates the very essence of their being. In the blink of an eye, the Humans' centuries of advantage, hard work, and struggle are torn down.
The newly dubbed magical beasts emerge from the woods empowered and resentful, the humans will know their blood lust!
Within two months of the awakening, 90% of the humans' grasp is destroyed. One month later only the last bastion stands. Wargrave City, once the shining example of humanity's strongest forces, counts its final days. At its gates, hordes of monsters rush the walls hoping for one more bite of human flesh.
In Wargrave Hall stands Arch-mage Gerald Vincerath, three months after the surge of mana. He scrambles to flee, resorting to his last measure.
_______
'fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! What the hell am I gonna do! A day more was all I needed, the retreat was in order, why did they have to get here so soon?! How could they have gotten here so soon?! I must do the only thing I can, if my body must die here then I must find a way to escape with my soul… but what shall I use as a sacrifice? Hmmmm'
Quickly darting across the city, Gerald spots a powerful cat beast that has just breached the wall and is already slaughtering mages with ease. Flying over in a hurry he reaches down and stabs his hand into the back of the unsuspecting beast. Then, holding its still beating heart in his hands, Gerald chants a guttural spell.
''@$*#%^!?!"
After 10 seconds of chanting, the heart in his hands gains an eerie glow. In front of him, a red film spreads quietly in the air and time seems to slow as the film accumulates before finally splitting like a seam. Next, separating his soul from his body, Gerald continued with his technique, detaching the cat's own soul ruthlessly, before cleaning it and forming its essence into a material fit to sustain his soul outside its shell.
Gerald turned and admired his corpse amid the frozen hellscape that was once his city, before turning back and diving quickly into the opened rift in the air.