Kane sank into a long dream, running on the Ice Fields of Nomos.
Or was it really that, he couldn't tell...
He then heard an ethereal voice call out to him in pain through icy mist,
"...hel"
But as he turned his head to find the source, the dream ended.
His eyes opened to room filled with UV lights, a door left half open letting some ambient yellow light in, his body was still worn out and heavily bandaged- but it was a bit better than before.
He got up slowly and walked up to the opened door, his nose tingled and he saw Selena chopping some vegetables and adding them into some kind of boiling stew.
" It smells good", He spoke weakly and Selena briefly turned her head towards him.
This was the first time, he saw her completely, she had silver hair and icy blue sapphire eyes, her skin olive and had a rather attractive athletic figure...
'Woah, why is my mind wandering so much?', Kane felt a bit of sluggishness in his head.
"You done staring?", She rolled her eyes at him, causing him to chuckle a bit.
"Sorry about that, I'm just feeling a bit sluggish", Kane replied softly and sat at the table.
Selena merely harrumphed lightly at his response and finished her chopping, she added the vegetables to the boiling stew and closed the lid of the pot.
She then handed over a glass of juice to him.
"You're suffering from the Hangover, I had to give you a pretty strong decoction to keep you alive- this juice should soothe it a bit"
"Thanks", Kane took the glass and drank slowly.
"Honey, lemon, mint -", he spoke as he appreciated the taste
"Cucumber and cumin- works wonders, my dad taught me", She seemed to have a melancholic smile,but it quickly faded as it appeared.
Kane noticed and chose not to comment, he drank it whole and felt a coolness assauging the sluggishness.
" You must have a lot of questions, follow me-let's chat while dinner is cooking",she led him to another floor.
It was empty but it had a massive glassed balcony through which he could the devastated ruins of a city.
Right now, a massive blood red storm was undergoing through the city, it was barely translucent enough.
"What... Happened?", he asked surprised to see the devastation and incredibly disappointed.
" Human Greed...", Selena spoke with sadness.
" Since you don't know anything - I'll start from the beginning since we have time-",Selena began as Kane gazed at her.
" Year 2025AD- was the collapse of the Modern world, so much happened - we faced an alien species and we were bombed with the Lazarus Virus- remember that bestial urge within you yesterday? It was that virus and we don't have a cure for it- Sunlight and UV help to curb it down, but there is no vaccine, all humans alive carry the virus"
"The world was shattered in 2025AD, something happened in the skies- all we know is that a benevolent goddess was born and humanity divided into 3 factions"
" The goddess restored order and hid our world but it came at a cost, the world was ravaged with the soil overturning, the seas churning and the Earth breaking apart"
"In return she gave the humans the ability to cultivate and sent the survivors to the hidden Strongholds to live "
As she spoke, she saw Kane's expressions fluctuate wildly.
"And what did she do that divided humanity?", Kane then asked with a more cold voice.
" That day, a great Evil had secretly entered our World, a Veil Daemon who goes by the name 'Nidhogan'-", She then saw Kane's hands clench tightly.
"Destroyer of Empires, World Breaker, Inevitable Demise", Kane uttered as he stared at the Red storm.
"... Yes", Selena looked surprised but she continued anyway.
" Nidhogan offered something more darker to the Human of that Era- he offered raw Power directly, especially since the infected monstrosities began to reproduce instead of dying out- people chose the easy path and began to worship him in exchange - they created the cult of Absolution"
"Jiah was a member of that cult- you yourself know what happened that day, in fact you know more", Selena spoke with a meaningful tone that Kane definitely noticed.
" Then the Goddess taught us Genetic Cultivation as a means to protect ourselves - without strings attached yet slower in comparison... And so the Temple of Aeterna was formed a force that relief deeply on worshipping the goddess and sought to protect her, even if she didn't need it",Kane oy frowned at that, he didn't really appreciate Zealotry be it on either side.
"And as expected - soon A brutal civil war took place for Earth- for control...", She spoke with a sad sigh.
"As a result - The third faction was born, standing on neither side, the Black Wardens - they seeked to shackle the Daemon and the Goddess for one crazed belief, that humans could control their combined Energies to achieve Eternity-"
"Utter Rubbish!!!", Kane rejected furiously as Selena smiled helplessly.
Kane took a deep breathe and spoke,"Please Continue "
"It became a three way war, and it got so bad that the Daemon had begun to won, it was a Daemon that fed off despair and grew ever strong"
" The goddess was aware of this and in a supreme act of self sacrifice, she forcibly took action, just as the Daemon Nidhogan was about to unleash eternal darkness upon humanity"
"She sealed Nidhogan along with herself, in a prison that now leeches their powers and unleashed it onto the world", She pointed it at the Red storms ravaging the City Ruins.
" No one won that war, it was tragedy from the start, The Absolution Cult retreated into the Living Mountains and the Warping Deserts, the Black Wardens stay in the Grey Plains and the Blackened Seas, while the Temple of Aeterna controls the Deep Roads of Rapture and the Strongholds, you know- Hyperion, Astra, Valkyrie, Tianxia and Eidolon ", the more she spoke, the more grim Kane's expression was.
It was bad, very bad...
It all started with Nidhogan, how could he not remember this Daemon, the very Daemon he had fought on Nomos!
And Humans, all this fight over the so called Goddess who was actually Earth's World Spirit!
He could forgive the Temple but the Absolution Cult and the Black Wardens had to be exterminated with extreme prejudice.
How foolish do you have to be fight against your own World Spirit!
And that too, these three Forces engaged in war when the hidden fourth force was being born- the Lazarus Undead...
"Greed, it was all greed for power, control and immortality- fine, no matter the disruptions - everything must continue", Kane utter with resolution.
He was pissed, reasonably so.
He had stepped in a d stopped the Xenos forces from wreaking Havoc on Earth to set them on a brighter path, but all it took was one Nidhogan to create absolute Chaos.
Whatever - he could work with the cards dealt to him.
" Unfortunately our Grim history doesn't end here Kane, for the next two hundred years we saw the rise of the Lazarus Undead, those who succumbed to the virus "
" And there was the hidden race to master Xenotechnology"
" The Absolution Cult created the Legion of the Blight by assimilating the special Mutations of the virus, creating Bloodthirsty sentient horrors"
"The Black Wardens created the Magi of Flesh to dabble in controlling the infected and sculpting them to their own desires"
"The Temple of Aeterna created the Legion of the Dead, A group whose sole purpose is not only to combat the monstrosities brought by the virus by studying and using all possible weaknesses "
"As for Xenotechnology, the Absolution Cult created a new force- The Fiend Empire, A slave army of extremely Powerful Xeno-human hybrids - to cover their critical weaknesses in dealing with the Black Wardens and the Temple of Aeterna "
" The Black Wardens instead studied the Psionic Branch of Xenotech and have created a Peculiar group, the Union of Wyches- incredibly powerful Psykers"
"And lastly, the Temple of Aeterna created the Praetorate Guard- a force that uses unique Xenomech suits, created by solely studying the Technological parts of Xenotech to create a powerful defense force to guard the Human Strongholds from both Psionic and Viral Horrors "
"The conflict between the Temple of Aeterna, the Cult of Absolution and the Black Wardens had been going on for more than 3 Centuries centuries while Earth had been eroded over time"
"These Red storms are deadly to humans and are becoming more and more frequent, the Ecology has already begun to change into something far more hostile to human life, we are slowly but surely getting pushed out of Earth's Natural cycle and the Veil had been getting thinner gradually...", Selena looked on forlornly at the ruined city.
" That's the long story short- what do you think?", she leaned against the pillar while staring at him carefully.
"It's a mess, but I can work with this", He spoke after a moment, though he didn't bother to hide the disappointment in his voice.
Selena then closed in suddenly and stared deeply into Kane's eyes, she asked," Who are you really? You're not Kane, you're not a Daemon- you chose to help me when you could've abandoned me..."
" Do you want to know the whole Truth?", Kane asked back , returning her gaze with his own.
She stared at him silently for a moment and then spoke softly," you have your secrets, I have mine- but you better adjust to this unforgiving world, come- dinner is ready- We will work on your Biomarker Bracer afterwards "
She left the room leaving behind a silent Kane.
Kane stared back at the Red storm with a grim gaze briefly and then spoke," If you think I can't put two and two together - Nidhogan you must be very foolish, I have been reborn and I will seek Vengeance for Nomos..."
"As for the humans, Now that the lines have been drawn out, I will intervene now- I will complete my mission ", He spoke resolutely as he stared into the Raging Red storm.
He then left wordlessly.