Gods and Burgers

The Colony, Residental District 4

It was sunny when Kaga stepped out of her apartment. Dressed in a simple pastel green dress, she timidly looked around her surroundings as she exited the 'evil-ator', still unaccustomed to the scary room that seemed to trap her as it rumbled and shook it way up and down.

Today she was supposed to go to the Academy for her introductory classes and the morning before Billy left for her work, she had acted like an older sister, teaching Kaga how to take the public bus and where to get off, despite being younger and shorter than Kaga.

Kaga gathered her courage and strolled out of her apartment block and nervously looked around. The scenery still slightly different in the day compared to the time she first came in the evening. There were slightly lesser people on the streets and she even saw some people riding on strange contraptions with two thin wheels, working their legs in a circular motion and speeding along the streets.

She saw some children playing around a park as she walked towards the bus stop, they were climbing up and down some kind of tiny castle that even had some kind of slide, which the children giggled and laughed as they zoomed down the slides. Kaga felt conflicted as she remembered her own childhood, that there were no fun times. It was all about learning and training on her spirit techniques, even the other children had to work in the farms or help out in their families stores.

Is this some kind of utopia? She thought to herself as she walked down the clean streets, passing by a park filled with bright yellow flowers, each almost as tall as her. Kaga has not seen such flowers before and she took a detour and stood before one of the massive blooms.

"Little girl, is this the first time you have seen such flowers?" An elder suddenly spoke to her from the side. He was dressed in outdoor work clothes and wearing a straw hat and gloves.

"Ah... yes, what kind of flowers are these?" Kaga frowned as she doesn't recall seeing such flowers in her books that she read before.

"These are called 'Sunflowers'," The gardener explained, "They came from the hoomans."

Kaga looked surprised, "The hoomans? You mean those short eared people?"

The gardener nodded sagely, "Yes, these flowers are not only beautiful, but the seeds could also be eaten or pressed in oil for cooking. Even the petals can be used to make colored dye!"

"I see," Kaga smiled and gave a bow, "Thank you, sir, I need to go to the bus stop now!" And she left the park full of sunflowers. "Interesting."

As she arrived at the bus stop, she saw a row of stores or houses next to the bus stop with many people queuing up. Curious, she went and take a look and her sensitive nose picked up delicious smells of cooked food of some sorts.

Her nose carried her body to the stores before her brain caught up with her, and she saw several shops selling bread, pastries, some kind of 'bur-girls', the soupy long chewy 'nu-dels', and even traditional people's food like fruits and nuts platters in paper bowls, honeyed porridge, and cold cuts.

Kaga's tummy rumbled despite having breakfast, and she jingled the strange colorful coins in her pocket that she received as part of a 'Care Package' that every newcomer gets after registering in the City Hall. Should she get a 'bur-girl'? She pondered long and hard. And in the end, her tummy won the war against her brain.

After she queued for a short while and ordered a wyvern patty 'bur-girl' covered generously in tomato sauce, she happily munched away and saw a bus driving off from the bus stop. She froze as she recognized the bus number as the one that Billy told to take to go to the Academy, and that if she missed it she has to wait up to 20 minutes or more for the next bus!

"Nooo! I'm late!"

-----

The Colony, Academy of Science and Magic

Dr. Sharon, Magister Thorn, and Petty Officer Kristine sat around the work desk in Magister Thorn's office as they looked at the stack of documentation regarding the broken amulet recovered from the Hero. A two live video conference call was linked to UNS Singapore's conference main where several of the top brass were in attendance.

"So in conclusion, this Sun Amulet is from Huītzilōpōchtli, the Aztec deity of war, sun, and human sacrifice. But in this case, human, being the relative word, as we can confirm that it does not limit to human beings but other living species as well," Dr. Sharon said. "The information was given by the girl who witnessed how the Hero drained the life force out, can be concluded that it is a form of sacrifice to Huītzilōpōchtli which most likely, boosted the Hero's life span and also his powers."

"From the Marines' eyewitnesses, they clearly heard the Hero bragging he lived over 200 years, meaning that the Hero must have routinely sacrificed people to increase his life span," Dr. Sharon added. "But we can't really prove any of that, so all these are just working theories."

"So Doc," Blake's voice came in loud and clear, "How does all this relate to how an ancient human civilization deity came over thousands or even millions of light years to this planet?"

"We suspect that due to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire from 1519 to 1521, which drove the Aztec Gods away. The Spanish inquisitors in Mexico during that time were pretty effective and brutal in enforcing their ways and religion," Kristine took over and explained, "This probably reduced a massive amount of devotees worshipping the Aztec Gods meaning a huge reduction in faith, which was theorized by some that faith is the main source of power for Gods. As for how they travel to other planets, we have no idea. By magic?"

"If that is the case," Commander Ford interrupted, "Does that means that Gods and Deities from America, England, Eygpt, China, India, hell, all over the world are real?"

"Theoretically yes," Kristine replied, "We have a lack of information and evidence here, but we theorized is that the Gods and Deities from Earth had migrated away from our planet when the civilizations they are the patron of, collapsed. As they lost worshippers and faith, their powers or even their presence were weakened greatly and have to find new worshippers in other worlds."

"But how come there isn't any divinity with Christianity or Buddhism or even Islam?" Someone asked. "Why we didn't have a Hero of our own?"

"I think there are, is just that modern people don't believe in them as much as the olden days, I mean look at the old days, there were stories of Heros and even Gods appearing upon men, but over time this became legends and myths." Kristine explained, "We pray to our own religions, and make offerings, but we rely more on technology than faith to power our current culture and lifestyles, whereas, in the ancient times, religion and gods were integrated in every part of their lives and culture, maybe that is why we lost touch with magic as we rely more on tools and technology nowadays."

"So does this means that as long we have faith and belief in Gods, we can use magic too?" Blake asked.

"No, we probably had regressed too much in that matter," Dr. Sharon replied. "Our species have evolved to be more reliant on technology, our brains are more attuned to science. This probably cut off our original roots with magic. That is probably why we can't feel or touch any magical power now."

"So is there a way we can use magic in the future?" Major Frank asked, "Like training or even implants if required?"

"Most likely not in our generation, if we continued to live here, but future generations and cross-breeding with the elves," Dr. Sharon frowned, "I say there is a 60% chance our descendants will be able to use magic."

"As for the use of implants," Dr. Sharon sighed, "If you are willing to sacrifice people to do testing as guinea pigs, then there's a 50 50 chance of success, maybe higher."

"Or we dig up more of these artifacts," Dr. Sharon gestured the Amulet. "Fuse ourselves with this and we can use magic too."

"No, we will not sacrifice people as test subjects on some mad science experiment here," Blake forcefully cut in. "No departments must ever cross that line, or I personally put a bullet in your head, is that clear?"

"Aye Captain!" Everyone replied in unison.

"Good, that line of thought will not be entertained again," Blake growled. "Now, the amulet, is it dangerous? What did Dr. Sharon meant by fusing with the amulet?"

"Dangerous? Not really as it is in an inert state," Magister Thorn replied, "But it is best not to touch it with bare hands, as it might attempt to fuse into the person's body."

"Fuse?" Blake looked worried, "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Well, the amulet doesn't react to anything except when it senses a living body touching it," Magister Thorn explained, "As long no one touches it barehandedly, it should just lay dormant."

"Magister, did you touch it?" Blake frowned.

"Ha..." Magister Thorn looked slightly embarrassed, "I did it under controlled conditions with guards and even Dr. Sharon watching me."

"The amulet seemed to feed off the life force or mana of living beings," Magister Thorn added, "I feel my mana powers draining from just a slight contact of no more than two seconds, which I quickly retracted my touch from it."

Blake sighed and rubbed his face, "Magister, please do not take such risks, and from now on, no one touches the Amulet, once you all have completed all your findings, I want that thing booby trapped, locked up and buried with the key thrown away. Is that clear?"

Magister Thorn looked dejected, "But its a God level artifact..."

"No..." Blake shook his head, "It's too dangerous, no one knows what will happen if the Amulet fuses with a person. Will that person still be sane? Or the mind has taken over by the Aztec Gods. So no, it is for the safety of everyone, we can't take the chance of another Hero rampaging here, especially in the school and so near the city."

Magister Thorn nodded and apologized, "You are right, I am sorry, I have forgotten about the safety of my students and the people in the city."

"Apology accepted," Blake replied, "Remember no risks, we can't afford to lose any people at all."

"What else do we know?" Blake asked, "Are there more Heroes out there?"

Magister Thorn nodded, "There are a few over the years, but no one knows where they are now."

"I see," Blake frowned, "What else?"

"The inscriptions and pictograms on the Amulets are like a prayer to Huītzilōpōchtli," Kristine said, "Well, with half of the Amulet missing, I could only translate so much."

"But one thing is for sure, Huītzilōpōchtli was here during the Age of Gods," Kristine continued, "So theoretically he should be part of the New Gods, who fought against the Old Gods. But since we do not have much-written records of what happened to the Gods after the Final Confrontation on this continent, we do not know if there are any Gods still remaining on this planet."

"And also what kind of God leveled artifacts are scattered around the world," Kristine said, "If the Empire has on their hands a few of these artifacts, we might be in for a tough fight if they have a few more of those 'Heroes'."

Blake's expression turned dark, "I understand, Tavor, I want you to see if you can set up some spy network, we need to gather more information from out there." Blake turned to the Intelligence Officer who nodded.

"Now, the other problem we have is which other ancient Gods and Deities have come here!"