The Pioneers

Sophia was in her office like always. The piles of files had shortened since last time but she looked like she still hadn't recovered from the load of work she had to pull out.

Knock, knock, "Come in." Once she saw Al entering, she jumped out of the chair. 

"Hi Sophia, I hope I'm not bothering you."

"Not at all… I…" She looked troubled by something but her hesitation to talk about it made her look tired at the edge of being sick.

"Are you ok ? You look like you're sick. You probably overworked yourself yesterday."

"No, no… It's not like th…" Even more flustered than before her cheeks blushed. She tried to express that it was a misunderstanding, but in her embarrassment she stumbled even more on her words.

"Don't worry I have an idea, I've studied your book and discovered that Captain and Marianne ability can heal. I'm sure that if I ask the captain he 'll be able to …" 

Al was on his way to leave Sophia's office in order to head the Captain's one when he felt held back. Sophia had grabbed his hand to stop him.

"You don't have to worry about me… I'm fine." Her face was looking down hiding the redness of her face from Al.

Al looked at her surprised. Though Sophia looked a bit older than him, she still looked very young and was tinier than Al. She was probably in her very early twenties.

From Al point of view, he could see the back of her neck. After looking more carefully he saw that her ears had a red tint too.

"Are you sure ?" Sophia nodded, still looking down.

"I just wanted to say sorry for falling asleep yesterday even though you came early to ask me some questions."

"You don't have to, it's me who should be sorry for disturbing you when you had so much work."

Sophia shook her head and then whispered "And thank you for the blanket."

"What did you say ?"

"Nothing at all !" Sophia let out of Al's hand and took a step back even more red.

"If you say so." Al was really worried about her but didn't want to overstep her boundaries, so he kept quiet.

"So… So what did you want to ask me ?"

"Right, do you have more information about the Virus and its branches?"

"Depends on what you're searching for. If you want to know each branch listed by the Nahas and their powers then you should already have everything in the book that I wrote for you."

"Yes I've already read through it, but I was wondering more about its history and its source." 

Al could've sworn that either the woman in front of him had been possessed the second he finished his phrase or that she had switched personality. Sophia, out of nowhere, lost her embarrassment and gained star in her eyes.

"Do you want to know about the history of the Virus ?"

Somewhat her boost of energy made Al scared to answer yes. He gulped "Yes."

Sophia couldn't hold her joy and excitement and started jumping out everywhere in the office with an energy that came out of god knows where.

Al could only look at her speechless while listening to her monologue explaining why it was the best field of research in the world, why it was so interesting or how she was furious that other historians were sleeping on it.

After finishing she took a deep breath and sat down at her desk while inviting Al to do the same. 

"Where can I even start ?" Sophia got lost in her thoughts for a second. Then, she got up, went to one of her bookcases and came back with a book.

"You probably already know about the myth of the Pioneers." She opened the book. It was a very pretty children's picture book illustrating the myth.

"Yes, even in the mercenary guild people talked about it."

"Perfect, then we'll start here." She happily turned the page while counting the tale of those who traveled from the old world to the new world.

In the old world the virus was omni-present. Rare were those who were not contaminated. While optimizing the use of every branch they build a perfect world.

But other planets that did not have the powers of the Virus got jealous and attacked the old world. Followed a war that disfigured the old world.

In the end the citizens of the old world won, but the cost of it was too big to go back to their original life.

The environment and cities were destroyed only leaving blood and dust to cover the ruin of its former splendor. The survivors of the war could not even fill the tiniest village. 

Those who were either strong enough and had the chance to not have a lot of wounds to continue living a normal human life could only be counted with one hand.

Saddened by the destruction of his homeland and the loss of his pairs the Great Creator chose to give up on his humanity in order to ascend to godhood. Thus giving up on his physical form : his body.

With his godly power, he chose four of his best comrades and ascended them, thus giving life to the Great Warrior, the Great Philosopher, the Great Alchemist and the Great Oracle.

With his body he created the new world and with the help of the other Great beings he gathered the lost souls of his pairs and gave them a new home and a new body in the new world.

Those Great beings who created our world and the survivors of the war who were led to the new world are now called Pioneers.

Sophia closed her book. Al already knew most of the tale omitting some details but still had listened to Sophia from beginning to end. The story had him thinking, What if Delta were from the old world?

Although the supposition was crazy it could explain his lack of knowledge about the new world and his deep knowledge of the Virus.

"And what about the origin of the Virus in the old world?" 

"That's such a great question, you would've been a great historian. Different theories have been made among the contaminated historians. 

"Some say that like other viruses it appeared one day as a branch of common viruses of the old world and then developed into what we know nowadays.

"Others theorized that In the old world it was not a virus but just natural abilities of the bodies of the citizens. However, when the Great created the bodies for the soul in the new world they were not able to reproduce the ability system and thus had to give the powers through the Virus."

Al looked at her doubtfully. "How would this even be possible ? How can beings, that are able to create another world, would not be able to reproduce the ability system ?"

Sophia jumped off her chair. "That's exactly what I told them ! I knew you would understand me.

"My theory is that the Virus bestowed one of each branch to a hero deserving of such power in order to bring peace to the old world. Then the hero would spread the branch and guide the newly contaminated into creating the paradise that was the old world."

Al was also doubtful of this theory but didn't say anything after seeing how passionate Sophia was about her hero's fairytale.