What happened to humanity?

-The wounds on his hand reopened and the war rune began to pulse. 

Daniel's thoughts began to run wild. 'No. This can't be happening.' Ales's cold gaze changed to surprise as well after seeing his Inability to craft a runic gate. But it quickly returned as she spoke, "You must be the most defective lord in the history of the Origin Expanse." 

Daniel growled. Without the runic gate, he would be trapped in the expanse. He shook his head. "I'm sure it's just temporary." He said the words pleadingly, mostly to calm himself. After a few moments, Daniel pointed in the direction of the sun that was rising. We'll head east and see if we can find anything.

Ales reluctantly nodded and cast a forlorn glance towards the summoning gate before continuing. The two exchanged a worried glance. If something happened to the summoning gate while they were gone, then Daniel would no longer be a lord.

However, that didn't matter if they weren't alive in the first place. Ales's eyes fell to the ground as she pulled a scroll out for Daniel. "This is your-" Daniel cut her off, "I know. Keep it for right now". Ales nodded and held onto the scroll.

With the scorching heat bearing down on them, the pair knew they had to find shelter and water, or they wouldn't survive for long in such an unforgiving environment. They began to trudge through the soft, shifting sand, their feet sinking with each step, making progress slow and arduous.

Hours passed, and Night quickly fell on the two.

As the hours passed, Daniel's mind raced with questions. Why did the will of the origin expanse place them in this desolate place? Was there anyone else around? Where were the monsters? While it was welcome temporarily, monsters were needed to raise one's ability and strengthen themselves. The lack of monsters was another concern altogether.

After what felt like an eternity, they stumbled upon a small cave. Crawling inside, they found a welcome respite from the punishing sun. They collapsed onto the ground, panting from exhaustion and dehydration. Ales seemed to be faring better than Daniel due to her scales trapping her moisture inside. The temperature changed almost immediately from scorching hot to a biting chill.

The two had even begun to hallucinate the sand as snow instead. Daniel's chapped lips and hoarse voice spoke weakly, "Let's stay the night here. The rocks help regulate the temperature." Ales nodded and watched as Daniel moved a group of loose rocks towards the entrance of the cave, forming a small makeshift wall.

After half an hour, he moved back into the cave and put his back against the stone wall. Moonlight drifted in between the gaps of the rocks.

The pair sat in silence for a while before Daniel muttered under his breath. "Tell me about your people, Ales." Alessandra glanced up at him and rested herself against the wall opposite of him. "There's not much to say. We weren't very technologically advanced before the Orgin Expanse was created. The most advanced of us formed tribal, dynastic governments, but most of us remained nomadic."

Daniel shook his head and smirked, "How are you nomadic when your top speed is my walking pace?" Alessandra put on a fake smile, "How funny, my lord." There was a pause before Ales spoke again. "What about your people, my lord? Visually, you look similiar to the Kleptarians." Daniel's lips rose at the word. He hadn't heard of that species before, but he enjoyed their naming sense. "That's interesting because my people have become a Kleptocracy."

Ales tilted her head in confusion. Daniel cleared his throat before continuing, "I'm a human. Over 500 years ago before the Origin Expanse was created, the Human home planet of Earth was on the verge of entering the Space Age and forming a global government. However, human culture was devastated by the Origin Expanse."

Daniel paused and Ales beckoned him to continue, "Even now, our species is in denial of our racial ability, but it's apparent to any race that isn't human. Instead of human lords receiving equally powerful soul traits, certain families and bloodlines began receiving unbelievably powerful '4 star' and '5 star' abilities. Over time, we learned that, for humans, ability potential was genetic in nature. The democracies and rights that we spent thousands of years trying to protect were ripped away from us as the nobility of the medieval era began to reform. The poor became poorer and the gifted solidified their position. Over time, the weak bred more while the strong bred less, furthering the power divide." Daniel finally looked back up to meet Ales's gaze.

Her face tilted in confusion, "Are you part of the gifted families?" Daniel smirked at her question. "My family is the exception. We live in infamy. Our power was ripped away from us by a massive familial alliance after our progenitor caused havoc on our sector in the galaxy. Luckily, we still retained our luck with soul traits-" Daniel paused to look at his bloodied war rune, "-Or so I thought."

Ales's ears drooped behind her and she spoke with worry, "You sound like you've lost hope." Daniel shook his head quickly. "No, it's something else. It doesn't matter what I have to face, I will survive. I have a brother to protect- It's just that I can't see him right now." Ales glanced down to his war rune and nodded.

A few moments of silence absorbed them both before Daniel's chapped lips parted to speak, "Alexandra." Ales looked up to him inquisitively before correcting, "Alessandra." The corners of Daniel's lips rose, "Alex."

Ales dropped her jaw slightly before clearing her throat, "Aless-" she said, exaggerating the 's' on her long tongue. Daniel let the deliriousness from dehydration take control of him as he smiled, "Say 'Alex'" Ales paused before combatively responding, "You think I'm mispronouncing my own name, don't you?"

Daniel's smirk stayed painted on his face as he shrugged, "Just say the letter 'X' so I know that you're not mispronounced it." Ales scoffed. The origin expanse had given her comprehensive knowledge of the human language when it made her a maid. There was no way she couldn't pronounce a letter.

She smirked and spoke, "Ales-" A short silence hung between the two as Daniel locked eyes with her holding back laughter. Ales cleared her throat and spoke with more conviction, "Alesss!" Daniel laughed as Ales cursed under her breath and painfully repeated the 's' sound over and over again.

Daniel walked closer to her and pointed to his tongue as he spoke, "Alex. Your name is Alex" Ales pointed to her tongue in turn but moved her finger to her razor sharp teeth, "I WILL bite you, my lord." Daniel held his hands in the air in defeat, "Alright, alright. I don't want any injuries."