6 Chapter 6: lore dump

I feel enlightened. Whatever was in that pipe, opened up more than just air ways. When before I relied on my senses to read people, now it felt like everyone within proximity was an open book.

Every emotion, thought and feeling was shared within this space. My mind was an open door for anyone to walk in, but so was everyone else's. I feel naked. I feel vulnerable. On the same note, I also feel free. Free to explore other's souls. It feels oddly intimate to be this open around others.

This handsome abyss dweller that I do not know, feels like a brother. A kin that is of same blood. I feel connected to him, like we are bound by a tether; but we are also all interwoven to everyone and everything around us.

Am I high or something? This is making me paranoid. What if he knows my curse? Does Dior have the ability to take advantage of my thoughts? Does Zara? My breath quickens as panic seizes my mind.

"Relax brother. We cannot invade what you wish to protect. This spiritual bond we all share is not meant to be used provocatively. It is meant to enhance your connectivity to others while still being constrained and respecting each others privacy."

I feel no dishonestly behind his words. It is pure, clean, and comforting. I can feel the sincerity in his soul. In an instant I allow myself to ease and relax; bringing my focus back to the task at hand. To quench my curiosity.

"Ask away till your heart is satisfied. I can show you more than I can tell. This bond we share allows me to transmit memories. Things that would take hours to explain we can converse in minutes through images in our mind as well as the emotions behind the memories we share."

It feels like time stops and for the next hour as he explains the mysteries of the world to me. I first ask about his relation to Zara. All the answers stem from her.

Turns out she is more than just an alphie diver. She is the daughter of one of the seven sovereigns that lives in the celestial islands.

Those bastards are the ones responsible for the war. The whole reason why the orphanage for war refugees exist. All of us coastal dwellers live on the outskirts of society because we are useless to the war front.

Anyone that is not of value is left to die on the shore of the abyss, cast out from the protection of the garrison walls, awaiting their death by the abyssal hellspawn ghouls that snatch up and devour helpless souls.

I've always wondered about the secrets of the abyss. Where the ghouls come from, why have I been haunted by them all my life? Why does is this war wage between human machines and mystical creatures just for my friends and family to get trampled in between.

Perada doesn't hold any secrets, he happily tells me his side of the story with compassion in his tone. Long ago, in the place of the abyss, as boundless water. Water so vast and deep, that nobody was able to know the secrets within its void, much like how the abyss is to us today.

Perada shows me images of the world, the globe, covered in blue. More than two thirds of our planet, engulfed in marine life. I marvel at its sight.

He tells me that this is an image passed down from generations of his people. He himself was not alive those eons ago, but his ancestors made it a tradition to remind their kin of their origins.

The dwellers of the abyss call themselves Atlanics: an ancient species of humanoid creatures, older than any sentient being that lived on the earth.

The very first Atlanic as introduced to the gods. Back then, the concept of demons were not a thing. It was invented by us surface dwellers.

We are said to be deviants, a miss-input in the evolution process. Humans seek to destroy, Atlanics aim to preserve. Humans are prideful and selfish, Atlanics share an intimate bond with everyone and everything.

He continues to shit on us, but I know not to buy his propaganda bullshit. Every race has a flaw. The human race may be a dick sometimes but I sort of like our kind. Even if they started this god forsaken war.

The important information I glean during his rant about humans is that our weakness is fear. Fear is the mind killer. Any god we feared we deemed demons. 

We fooled ourselves to believe they are a lesser deity, separating them from the gods we adore and worship. The truth is, every god that is feared is tremendously powerful.

All of a sudden I'm not so ashamed of my covenant with the demoness of lust. She is now recognized as a god.

The humans never grasped this concept and never knew of this worlds true gods. They created idols to worship, false gods, shrines, and even scripture that they themselves invented.

Meanwhile the Atlanics kept to themselves, below the surface and living peacefully along the depths. Creating covenants with the real gods, reaping the benefits of true power, and cultivating their hidden world.

Eventually word of the humans destroying our planet reached them through the pollution of the oceans. They observed our behaviors for the first time in thousands of years.

We were monsters in their eyes. Killing and savagely harming each other for petty gain. 

War begets war begets war; each of our battles left our world more broken than the last. So they decided to unleash monsters of their own.

A final war to eradicate all wars. They purposed in their hearts to wipe out the parasite that is humans, and cleanse the earth to replenish what was once perfect without the deviant demon race.

The waters of the earth released natural disasters at frightening frequency. Ripping cities apart with shifting tectonic plates that scattered crevasses across the world.

Sending hurricane and tornados that shredded the surface. Things started burning, billions of lives started to drop like flies; and then, once humanity was dwindled down, the world shifted upside down.

The waters of our planet dried up and elevated to the brink of this worlds orbit. High above the clouds, a deep layer of crystal clear blue liquid encapsulated the entire planet.

The lack of what used to cover most of our planet left a giant void that we now know as the abyss. Portals of mystical monstrous creatures, known as ghouls, were created by the most powerful vessels of the Atlanic's.

Monsters spawned from the depths of hell, deep within the abyss, full of bloodlust for humans, haunted what little remained of the weaken race.

The Atlanics witnessed the fate of the humans from the oasis of water above the planet. Watching over the frantic desire to survive of the demonic parasitic human race.

Decades passed, but the humans were resilient. They fled to the mountain tops and created a society protected by an impenetrable bubble. They studied the ghouls and extracted information about the gods and the secrets of vessels.

Humans left unchecked became dangerous enough to rival Atlanics. They rose above the undermining and started to gain momentum against the ghouls. The abyss wasn't enough.

Shepherds, the weakest of the Atlanics were sent to turn the tide of the war, sealing the fate of humans. Currently, the humans strive for perfection, they breed the most perfect beings, specific to serve the duty of war, if not a vessel of a god, they are made to be slaves to the machine: a diver. If you did not fit the mold of either, you are thrown out of the protected garrison peaks.

Any flaw is enough of an excuse to discard human life. That is what makes up the peak elites. The sovereigns, the most powerful human vessels, rule with an iron fist, all in the name of winning the war and preserving the human race.

I shiver when Perada relays these messages. I feel his emotions, his thoughts, his sentiments. Oddly they are not of hatred. They are not even of sadness. The information he is giving me isn't his own opinion on the matter, I realize he is simply relaying what he's been told by his people.

I ask him what are his own thoughts on the matter. Why is he with Zara? What part do we all play in this grand equation of war between the abyss and the peaks?