Chapter 61 - Grand Elders' disappearance

Before the red fiery star had a chance to bathe his room with its orange rays, Spencer was already up and ready to go for another day of training. Although he could, in theory, function without sleep probably indefinitely, he could still feel mental fatigue.

Last night, after he returned to the library after the small rest in the park with Shaya, he continued reading for a bit.

Despite this, he was still up after a couple of hours of sleep, feeling fresh and ready for the big day today.

Yes, yesterday he agreed to have a fight with the big guy, and he was really looking forward to it. For some reason, Spencer felt that there was something unique about him, something different compared to the others. He had no affinity, yet he was among the top warriors in the tribe, with pure physical strength alone. That had to mean something, he had to have a secret, even if Milo himself had no idea about it.

After a quick wash, he got himself ready and left the spacious room they assigned to him during his stay with the tribe. Along the way, he thought more about the history of this unique species. Unfortunately, he didn't find any clues, at least as of yet as to what could have happened to them that made them disappear from the future, but at least, from reading their past, he understood more about their present state.

The Fashacalli's ancient history seemed to revolve around the rise and fall of Aethros, and this so-called "Great Clash of the 5 Great Powers". The great war, this great calamity began after several decades of the strange pillar of light and energy surged through the entire planet. One day, out of nowhere, from the south a lonesome figure emerged, and with fury burning in his eyes, returned to his place of birth.

Not many could recognize the now fearsome-looking, godlike being as it suddenly showed up above the skies of a certain tribe. With a single glance, the entire tribe was enveloped with dark boundless energy and vanished without a trace.

Even their Elder couldn't escape, nor retaliate. The only thing he managed to accomplish was to send a singular strand of energy towards the colony's Grand Elder, warning them about the arrival of a 'Calamity'.

Some of the records seemed to have gone missing, or maybe they were never written down. The next date picked up after about a year of Aethros's emergence. By that time, almost half of the Fire Colony has been destroyed. After an inspection of the missing tribes, the Grand Elder mistakenly believe that it was the doing of the Earthen and Air colonies' blatant attack.

In return, the Grand Elder contacted the Water Colony's Grand Elder. Nobody knows what could have the Fire Grand Elder promise to the Water Grand Elder, but a short while later their combined forces invaded the Earth territories.

The chain of events set up by Aethros resulted in a great war between all 4 great colonies. The flames of war engulfed the entire planet. Millions lost their lives in the scheming of an individual from the shadows.

In the end, the Grand Elders decided to set their grievances personally and met up to battle it out. However, when they met at the agreed location, high up in space, another figure was already waiting for them. What surprised them, that they couldn't even sense its presence until it was too late until they stepped into his domain. High up in the sky, he was the only god, the only law…

There are no records from their battle, but after that event, none of the Grand Elders, nor Aethros were seen ever again.

After this, the once-booming, and populated civilization almost went extinct. Ever since then, the surviving colonies broke apart, and the tribes closed their borders, afraid to light the fires of a second calamity.

Spencer let out a sigh, thinking about this. While he did gain some insight into the history of this race, it did not answer any of the important questions. From the records, he understood that this 'Aethros' was probably the first with dual affinities and not just that, but with two from the rare ones. Based on the texts, it seemed he was the first to have awakened an affinity to these higher powers.

But if so, and if he was so immensely powerful, what happened with him? Did he destroy the other Grand Elders? Did he die with them? Where did they all disappear to? What was the Grand Elders' power level actually? They were all godlike beings, so they must have been at the last stages of the Divinity Access Realm...

He also did not gain any information about their evolution, nor their prospective apex form. However, based on what he read, he could guess that power was the absolute truth to this race. Their whole hierarchy was set up on this. Another interesting fact that he gained is that they even used their Fasha as currency. They stored small strands of their FE in crystals and used that to barter goods from traders.

After the closing of the borders, this changed. They no longer used currency, everything was based on survival. The amount of food and necessities you could get was based on your contribution to the tribe.

"Hey Spencer, good morning!"

He was woken up by a familiar sound from behind. Turning around, he greeted the girl with a friendly smile.

"Good morning Shaya. Did you get enough sleep?"

Shaya revealed a playful smirk in response to the question.

"Huh, I'm used to it. I did tell you, remember? But enough about me, how about you? You are the one with the big fight today, after all."

Spencer only smiled in response to the question. As they crossed the hallways inside the Champion's Hall, approaching the room they used and partially demolished yesterday, Spencer suddenly asked a question that kept bugging him all morning.

"What happened to the Grand Elders, Shaya?"

"Huh?" Shaya looked at Spencer with a quizzical look. "What do you mean? What Grand Elders?"

However, after a moment, her expression changed as she processed his question.

"You mean the ones in the history books?"

"Yeah." Spencer replied. "The last I read about these mythical, godlike beings of your race was when they duked it out with that Aethros fellow. By the way, what happened to him? I couldn't find anything about it. Are there no scrolls about it?"

"We don't know either, there are no records about their battle." Shaya shook her head and didn't speak anymore about the topic.

After a while, she seemed to remember something, as her face lit up, and spoke out again.

"You could ask the Elder if you are interested, he may know. Some scrolls are only available to the current Elder. Besides the current Elder, nobody has access to those records."

"Hah, good to know, I might as well do that later. Thanks, Shaya!" Spencer smiled at the girl. Inwardly, he cursed himself for his stupidity, however. How could he have not thought about this? The Elder himself said something similar when he sent Spencer and the girls away.

As he cursed himself, he failed to notice the small rosy hue coloring Shaya's face.

Time passed by, as they crossed the dimly lit hallways, while they continued chatting. Spencer did notice a change in the girl's attitude towards him, but he did not put too much thought into it. He wasn't that bothered when he could feel her anger and dissatisfaction towards him anyway. That being said, the friendlier atmosphere did feel much better.

As they stepped into the room, they were greeted by the giant standing and training by himself in the middle. The white marking on his body emitted a faint glow, the air blurred around his fist as it sent out small bursts of air with each punch.

"The big guy sure is eager..." Spencer said with a smirk on his face as they approached Milo.

Noticing the duo approach, Milo waved at them with a big smile on his face.

"Hey, guys!" Noticing a change in the girl's mood, Milo looked at Shaya with a curious expression. However, in the end, he decided to ask about it, instead, he asked about the missing one.

"Hey Shaya, how is Cassa? Is she better now?"

"Uhm." Shaya nodded with a pained smile on her face but did not say anything else.

Not noticing her gloom, he looked at Spencer, and with an expectant grin, he asked.

"Hope you rested enough Spencer and you are at your peak performance. I really want to feel your full power!"

"Me too. I hope you will not disappoint me…" Spencer responded with the same grin.

Shaya could only release a tired sigh as he walked to the side. She already knew that tonight the Elder will need to use his powers to restore yet another building...