[VOL. 0] Chapter 1: Prologue (1)

In the beginning, gods reigned the world. They were considered to be myths due to their unbelievable existence by the public in the modern world, but it’s true. The gods from different pantheons once existed. They ruled different corners of the Earth. There were stories about them both the good and the bad.

The world prospered by their existence, giving mortals whatever they wished in return for worship and offerings. They left a mark on the world for the future generations to study. It all changed when they became extinct.

The reason for that is the biggest catalytic event in history called “Ragnarök”, also known as “Doom of the Gods”. It has been prophesied long before the gods’ existence about their extinction at the end of days.

All of them attempted to defy fate whatever they could, but fate prevailed in the end. There were no survivors left. All gods have died. Shattered. No longer able to reincarnate or reborn. Gone forever. The prophecy has been fulfilled.

But before their extinction, gods from different pantheons had a meeting in Olympus where the Greek God of Forgery, Hephaestus, showed his greatest creation yet - Theos Krustallos or the “God Crystal”. He proposed that while their fates have been sealed, their abilities will be passed down to mortals via the crystal in order to continue their legacy or else they’ll be forgotten.

The gods weren’t satisfied with his idea, but he reassured them that fragments of their memory and soul will be with the chosen mortals which works as a semi-reincarnation for them. After an hour of discussion, all of the gods agreed with the idea and stored half of their abilities in the Theos Krustallos.

When Ragnarök descended upon them, Hephaestus hid the crystal deep beneath the earth before being slain by Mimas permanently. All the gods, demons, giants, titans, fairies fought one another until there was nothing left but humans and ordinary animals.

As the time goes by, that is when the gods have been myths. Nobody believed their existence anymore, except the minority who still worshiped the Old Gods. They may be gone, but their legacy lived through stories thanks to the mortals who studied their history. The gods feared that they may be forgotten and that their existence was meaningless before Ragnarök, but the ancestors of modern humans prevented that from happening by telling the stories of gods that once existed. Their legacy lived on without the Theos Krustallos, which has been buried beneath the ground for centuries. Then it all changed when the 21st Century came. The century where the true legacy of the gods has been born. The century… where the New Gods arise.

—

In the year 2035, it has been the same boring day. The people walking by the streets after the infamous virus has been diminished, animals playing in the park, cars honking loudly on the road, and many more. A middle-aged man woke up from his sleep before his wife could.

His name is Jeremy Scott, a renowned scientist and inventor at Archon Corporation. He had been working for Archon when the company was founded five years ago. Archon Corporation has become one of the most famous institutions due to their discovery of a cure for cancer three years ago, the invention of actual hoverboards a year ago, and many others more achievements they have in their belt.

Jeremy is famous for the invention of the Full-Dive Virtual Reality Headset that is inspired by the ones in the famous anime, Sword Art Online, nine months ago. The public were somewhat concerned due to the “dying-in-game-dying-in-real-life-“ part, but he assured them that it was completely safe. His invention was sold millions upon millions of dollars, surpassing phones and consoles.

Aside from that, he also discovered the cure for muscular dystrophy and dementia. He earned an award for creating something impossible that no scientist has ever had. He is one of the richest man in the world due to his success.

“I’m going to prepare some breakfast.” He then gave a kiss to the cheek of his sleeping beautiful wife. He isn’t really the type to wake up early in the morning, but he had a memorable dream about gods which is odd because he doesn’t really have interest on mythology.

Jeremy descended from the stairs where he was greeted by two android maids and one android butler, which are robots that one of his co-workers in BioTek made called “iClean”. They have been in sales since last year. They are sold well, but have yet to surpass his Full-Dive VR Headset. In fact, nobody could surpass it yet to this day.

He ordered his two maids to whip up some breakfast while he took a shower. His butler prepared his business suit as he had an important day today. He is going to receive a promotion from Fredrick Manfred, the Founder and CEO of Archon Corporation as well as work for inventing Healing Station which can heal minor injuries quickly.

“That was a nice bath.” He then wore his bathrobe before taking a seat in his fancy dining room, waiting for his wife while watching some news.

A woman came down from the stairs with a yawn, “Good morning, honey.”

“Sweetie, good morning to you as well.” Jeremy replied gleefully.

“Is there something going on with you today? You look happier than usual.” She then takes a seat, admiring the aroma of bacon and sunny side egg with a hot coffee.

“Oh, there is. I’m going to be promoted!”

His wife’s jaw dropped from the unexpected news, “Really!? Congratulations! I’m surprised it took so long, given your famous works.”

“I’m surprised too, but it doesn’t matter. Today is the day I’m going to be promoted.” He said before eating the entire bacon in one bite. “And I heard that I’ll be sent on a field trip to study… some kind of object with the other famous scientists. I’m in the big leagues, Sara!”

Sara giggled before giving her husband a kiss on the cheek, “I knew you could do it. I believed in you ever since high school.”

Jeremy was lucky to have a wife like Sara. He then looked at the time, realizing he was gonna be late. “Oh crap! I’m going to be late! I’ll be going now, darling.”

“See you later, honey. And don’t forget to buy me a new controller on the way out!”

Jeremy chuckled, “I know. You really should leave Elden Ring for now. You’re going to end up destroying the TV instead.”

Jeremy exited his mansion and rode inside his luxury, expensive car. The car model, which is called “Nikola”, rivals Elon Musk’s Tesla. It is an electric car that can automatically drive itself without a driver thanks to an Artificial Intelligence that was developed by NuxShrew Technologies.

While his car is automatically driving towards Archon, he took out his laptop where a classified file was sent to him by Mr. Manfred. He read the information about the mysterious crystal, much to his disbelief and slightly familiar with the appearance. He refused to believe that this crystal was magical as there’s always an explanation to anything unexplainable given time.

“Theos Krustallos. That’s the name of the crystal as stated by the carvings of its pedestal. It’s a Greek word for ‘God Crystal’. Founded on December 22, 2022 secretly by Dr. Günther Jürgen Ludwig. It was buried under the replica of the Athena Parthenos in Nashville, Tennessee.”

He couldn’t contain his excitement of experimenting on the crystal with famous scientists around the world. No one has ever tried to explain the nature of the crystal or its capabilities, but it’ll change when scientists like him will finally have an answer to the question.

Judging by the energy spiking on the crystal, he theorized that it may supply them with unlimited clean energy meaning that they’ll have no issue with brownouts or blackouts anymore. The crystal might provide all the possibilities he could think of, but he’ll have to be patient for now as he doesn’t want to look bad in front of his fellow scientists.