Chapter 27: The Destruction

"Those people were divided into multiple Empires, and each Empire competed for supremacy. The Greed of getting ahead of the other Empire and becoming stronger than the rest kept pushing the humans to make stronger weapons of mass destruction."

"A race had started in the field of those weapons. The Greed for advancement and supremacy brought each of the Empire to great heights, but then there was also the hate and conflicts between the Empires."

"With so many weapons of Mass Destruction, all it needed was one spark, and the entire world was going to burn," Lambard grimly stated. 

"Now you see why that civilization went extinct? A great war took place, and it was like nothing before. A mentality was spread between the Empires that they were willing to have themselves be destroyed if it meant their enemy was going to be destroyed as well to teach them a lesson."

"And thus, there was that war... The war which destroyed most of the life forms in the world. Almost all the humans had died, leaving only a few in existence. Most of the animals that used to exist during that time went extinct. Only the ones we see today managed to survive."

"The War changed the entire landscape and ecosystem of the world, destroying most of the natural resources of this world."

"Ultimately, the humans that managed to survive learned a lesson after all this... They didn't want to repeat the same mistake again, so they just gave up science altogether. They started living the basic life."

" Throughout the millions of years, slowly our world managed to recover and become more habitable. All the remnants of the past were wiped out. The people who were alive during the time of the Ancient Civilization destroyed all documents and evidence of that ever existing."

"Those people had seen what hell looked like from up close, and they didn't want their children and their future generations to see something similar."

"Even though humans kept increasing in number with coming generations, the ones who knew about Science died of old age, leaving no knowledge behind."

The old man finished the story that seemed to cover a long-forgotten history of this world. 

"That would explain why that Ancient Civilization was wiped, but I still don't get it. How does that relate to the Mages? How does that relate to our ability and the Mark of Karyk?"

"The incident which I talked about has everything to do with the Elements of Yours because it's what gave birth to Karyk. The First Human God that we know of..."

"So when people say that humans received powers from Gods? They are wrong. It's not humans who received the powers from Gods. Instead, it's the humans who became Gods themselves!"

"First Human God?"  Gabriel frowned. 

" According to the stories that I've had access to, that's right. Karyk was the first Human God, and his Element of Death and Necromancy was the Origin Element that gave birth to a new era after Destruction... The Era of Gods!"

"This world that you know of? This isn't just any ordinary world. It's the world where gods were born! A World where gods walked amongst men! The world where many gods died as well! That's the reason this world is called the Tomb of Gods!"

"You don't understand how, right?" The old man smiled. He could see the confusion on young Gabriel's face. 

"As I stated before, it all started with the great war of Ancient Civilization and a young man who was right in the middle of all this chaos... Or should I say it started with the end of that war..."

*****

[Millions of years ago]

There was a fire in the entire city. Screams and agonizing cries were everywhere, enough to torment the consciousness of everyone that heard them. Unfortunately, those screams were often buried in the explosion that took place at regular intervals. 

Before long, all the screams and cries for help went silent. The explosions stopped as well, only when the entire city was destroyed. No single structure was left standing in the city. 

The streets of the Royal Capital of the Zeiss Empire were painted red in blood. Bodies could be seen littered all around, some missing their limbs. The entire sight was so gruesome that it would've made any sane person close their eyes in disgust.

Amidst all the unmoving bodies, there laid the body of a young man who seemed to be in his early twenties. His body was covered with blood.

The young man was covered in blood from top to bottom. Most of his face was burned, and so did his skin for the most part. It was impossible to even recognize him for the most part. 

The previously handsome face of the Young Prince of Zeiss Empire was something that was disgusting. Unfortunately, no one was there to see his face since everyone was already dead. The young man also had his entire left arm missing, which was obliterated in the explosion he barely survived. Whatever was left of his previously Royal Attire was now covered in blood. 

In the entry city, only one person was breathing, and it was this unmoving young man. 

After an hour, the young man finally made some movements as if he was regaining consciousness. 

The man had lost most of his blood, yet he survived, which was no less than a miracle in itself. He opened his eyes to complete silence. There were no cries for help. There were no explosions. The entire city was silent... Deadly silent!

The young man opened his eyes which were bleeding as well. He rubbed them to regain some clarity, only to notice the massive amount of rubble ahead which belonged to the Royal Castle. The place which was his home! The place where he grew up. 

Watching that place like this, the young man roared in agony as he forced his body up. It didn't matter how much pain he was in; he didn't care at the moment as he forgot everything while running to the remains of the Castle.

"Mother! Father! Ria!" The man roared. His voice was hoarse and filled with pain. 

The man tried to remove the rubble to find his family, but he couldn't. With just one hand, it was impossible. And even if he had two hands, he couldn't do it since he was so weak.

He didn't stop. He kept trying as if he had gone crazy, but he didn't succeed. His entire family was buried in the rubble, and the entire city was destroyed. There was nothing left... Everything was gone because of this war that his father started. Only he had survived in this entire city. 

He stared at the rubble blankly as tears of blood dripped down his eyes as he realized that he had lost his entire family to this war. He was all alone.