Era of Evolution II

Deus leisurely moved his legs, his turtle friend Miraak settled onto his arms, as he navigated through the wet jungle. Though he could reach the location that Miraak experienced the rise of a tribe from in a few seconds, Deus wanted to enjoy the novelty and expectations that rose from walking.

The rustling of animals, living, breathing animals of variety, were all music to Deus's ears. And soon enough, he heard the sound of footsteps—

"Oh, seems like we arrived."

Deus casually remarked to Miraak, using Ruler of Creation he ordered the creatures around him to ignore his presence, exiting the parameters while looking around excitedly with the gaze of a child.

Miraak smiled at His Lord's expectations, though, if there were humans here, that smile would resemble the wise and affectionate smile of an old grandpa looking at his grandchild.. Though they'd be surprised to learn that he was the younger one in this relationship.

—Before them stood a tribe, though incredibly barbarian in nature, it was still one.

Joy flushed into Deus's face as he excitedly, and unintentionally, pressed Miraak closer to him, nearly breaking him in two.

"M-My Lord, you're gonna break me in two?!" He struggled, though in the face of His Lord's strength, his efforts were futile.. 

"Oh, sorry. Got a bit carried away there," Deus released Miraak, though his gaze was still on the crude shelters formed from natural materials such as rocks, leaves, and branches.

He walked in, inspecting the new life forms scattered around the tribe. They looked human, and at the same time, not. Their skin was a rock-like texture, making the race resemble more statues of humans than actual ones.

Deus appraised them from a close enough view, yet none of them noticed him, as if he was completely invisible. Soon, Deus's attention was pulled to a hunting team that recently returned back to the tribe.

"Le Ri Ku?"

The language spoken between them was unknown to Deus, it sounded like gibberish to his ears. And so, he picked a person who had the most knowledge on the language, a woman next to what looked like the tribe's leader and copied the central information of language to himself using [Ruler of Creation.]

"Where other?" 

Finally, the fragmented words slurred by the tribe members made sense to Deus. Listening to their conversation and the murmuring of other people… However, with astonishment he returned to check back on the experiences of the many tribe members. Stunned to realize that the gender roles in this race were skewered. 

Here, men were not the leaders or the strong ones, they were the ones to provide the seed, while what could be constituted as the 'woman,' were the ones with strength.. It was a matriarchal society.

"Whatever."

Though it was just that, Deus was only initially surprised. His mood was like water, a stone thrown in it will be simply swallowed up, as it returns back to silence… It was the result of the loneliness and wisdom that came from hundreds of years. 

Thus, instead, he wanting to explore the tribe a bit more—

The edges of Deus's vision blurred, and he inadvertently dropped Miraak to the floor. Saliva collected in his mouth and dripped out, Deus held his head, the worried voice of Miraak fading into the background.

The Mystery inside his body moved and erupted out of his stomach, a swirling and mesmerizing star.

Deus stared blankly at the star, it was throbbing with a surreal light…

Mystery from the surrounding started to gather around the star, greedily sucking it all in. It became larger and larger, before splitting into two stars floating against each other.

All of the pain disappeared, and one star was absorbed back into his chest. The other star of different color remained in the air, connected with a light that went through shelters and into one one in particular.

Deus, almost hypnotized, stepped forward. He walked, ignoring the concerned voice of Miraak and entered that specific flimsy shelter.

There, laid a girl.. A girl that was like the template image of what the System named 'Protagonists.'

Black hair that didn't fit this area, black eyes that were like obsidian, and a strange aura of charisma from her that shouldn't be present upon a child. With a 'sad' backstory to boot.

Deus stood motionlessly, before he dispelled the star that was binding him to her, cautiously staring at the girl before turning back to Miraak.

"---My Lord, I hope you're fine.."

The turtle inched to the crude shelter, speaking to Deus. He was concerned, but what could he do, if even His Lord was in pain?

However, uncharacteristically, Miraak suddenly switched his attention to the girl in the house. "My Lord, who.. No, what is she?"

Deus answered with a mix of emotions, "I see it affected you too. It's the Protagonist Halo I told you about," Deus deduced with his attention split that the stars within him likely represented protagonists, though he was very unsure of the reason behind it.

..Deus became reminded that it also meant that Miraak was also a Protagonist. His gaze stuck on Miraak for a bit longer, before he walked out of the house. 

The existence of a Protagonist at this time was troublesome for him.

Protagonists, entities named by the System who appeared whenever there was a world-changing event approaching. The theory of Plato in the future, one of the rather well-known Magicians who studied the System, was that Protagonists either formed, brought over from other worlds, or reincarnated because of the factor of 'Conflict.'

Be it emotional, physical, destiny-related or universal, their presence signified one or the other, a great misfortune, unless artificially created like himself.

".. Miraak, please do go back to Test Site 12 and stay there for a while. Danger is predestined to arrive. I'll stay here a bit longer to watch out." Miraak had known about the previous term 'Protagonist Halo' mentioned by His Lord, once before, though merely its concept since he was told in passing.

"Understood.. Lord, though, if I may ask.. Are you truly alright?" Miraak asked with his head tilted upwards at Deus.

With a smile, Deus laughed cheerfully and patted him on the back. "Yes, I'm fine, as always, Miraak. Though your concern brings me happiness."

…

…

The nameless girl didn't understand.

The sky looked like it was falling apart, fire raining down on her tribe. Countless screams and wails came from afar, yet sounding all too distant for her.

What exactly was this?

What kind of nightmare was this?

She didn't understand.

She only knew that the hunting team had gone out and returned with two survivors this morning. Before her life suddenly broke down. The bullies at the tribe, who told her she'd never become strong— the kind huntress who she idolized to become one like her— it all burned down from an attack of unintelligent beasts.

The nameless girl didn't have parents to be evacuated with, only the huntress who was kind to her had told her to stay in her house, not to come out.

Although the nameless girl didn't have much of an understanding of death, she was still scared of the beasts that were flying and spewing fire.

But, eager to see what was going on, as she was, she stepped outside of the house.

That was what she regretted most..

—-And the fact that she couldn't have enough strength to protect her tribe— or at least the kind huntress who provided for her.

Fear, despair and rage surged into her heart. Completely overwhelming her mind. The incredible nausea made her vomit uncontrollably, unintentionally attracting the attention of a beast she shouldn't have.

The nameless girl's eyes, still glistening with tears, met the eyes of a beast without realizing it.

It was a lion-like beast in white, a red horn with disproportionate legs. Its horrific mouth wide open, revealing many sharp teeth and a foul smell of flesh.

The mind of this nameless girl far exceeded the tribe hunters of the tribe, thus, her mind had already foreseen the future many others didn't.

She was gonna die.

Just like the kind huntress that provided for her.

Just like the bullies who threw stones at her.

..Just like how her parents had died in a hunt.

Under the cold embrace of death, she attempted to open her mouth sluggishly, letting out a moan of unintelligible words.

"Ah—Uh.."

However, before the lion could gulp down this nameless girl whole, it suddenly dropped dead.

The nameless girl lifted her gaze with a blank stare at the scene, looking around, she saw the beasts that were overpowering the tribe all dropping dead one by one, by an unidentifiable power.

It was like the force of a god, punishing the sinners below.. It reminded her of the ramblings of the elderly, who believed in a god of ashen eyes.

She froze, her gaze meeting one with unidentifiable face structures, besides ashen eyes—

—-Just like the god and creator of the tribe, who the elderly believed in. The one who was planted in the memories of the first born of the tribe.

"Who… are you..?" She asked, despite instinctively knowing the answer.

"—-Do you wish to live?"

The ashen-eyed man however, returned with a question of his own.