Collective Conciousness

[ELEVEN YEARS LATER]

Eleven years had passed after the death of Balthazar and Fafnir. The world was at peace once again, and Magic was usable after regaining its former glory.

Maverick Lionheart, 11 years old, attended the most notorious academy of the North Continent, alongside his sister, Emerald Lionheart. The school known as Gelfendor, accepts all races and cultures, as such trivial things have no meaning there.

He was enrolled at the age of 6 and passed at the age of Eleven.

The same was said for Emerald. Enrolled at the age of 7, and passed at the age of 12.

Not even the Master Mages of the academy could pass in 6 years.

Maverick Lionheart could learn complicated magic in seconds while it would take Master Mages years to learn.

He and Emerald can decipher millions of magic circles and amplify their usage better than the casters themselves.

Calling them geniuses was an understatement, they were beyond the realms of intellect. They received their education at such a young age, graduating from the academy, and proceeding to move on with their studies.

Maverick was a magic fanatic, wanting to learn and experience all kinds of magic, but Emerald merely wanted to keep up with her little brother so she could always pamper him like an older sister.

They stood in the middle of the training fields, staring each other down.

"Are you ready, Maverick?!" Emerald smirked as she stood across from him, drawing a magic circle into view.

"I'm ready." Responded Maverick, visibly nervous as sweat lingered on his cheek.

"Testament Sphere!" Emerald extended her arm forward, opening her palm. Mana gathered at the center of the magic circle until a bright divine light protruded forth.

"You really did it… you used Divine Magic…"

Maverick was in awe at his sister. There were hundreds of complications when trying to learn Divine Magic. There were only a handful of mages on Terra who could utilize this supernatural magic that was different from Arcane Magic. It's said to come from the Gods themselves, as only they can use its innate spells.

But mortals have proved them wrong time after time, such as what Emerald just did.

"You see? This is the potential we have. Your older sister is no one to take lightly." Smug as ever in her accomplishment, the sphere started growing wider. "Huh?" Emerald all of a sudden jolted back in shock, "Uh oh."

"I-I think you proved your point now, sister…"

"I-I only knew how to cast it, but I didn't think ahead when it came to controlling Divine magic!"

"What?!" Maverick leaned back in disbelief, gritting his teeth, "What do we do?" He whispered under his breath, looking around for any parental support, but no one was there.

They were far outside of Ottenmore kingdom on the vast hillside, where nobody could see them.

"Mom and Dad aren't here… it looks like it's up to me. I'll have to do that thing again."

Maverick balled his fists and took a few steps forward in courage.

"Emerald, I'll use that thing again!"

"W-What?! Don't, Maverick! You know what happens whenever you use that. You'll only be harming yourself even more, idiot!"

Maverick shook his head side-to-side, "I don't care if I hurt myself. If that spell goes off then we'll both suffer serious consequences!" Maverick finally stood in front of the Divine spell, extending his hand forward.

"M-Maverick…!" Emerald shouted his name, worried as she could be.

The Lionheart closed his eyes as voices suddenly flooded his head. There were dozens… no- thousands of voices rushing into his mind. He could hear them all. Each voice sounded different, but deciphering them strained not only his mind but his Data Core as well.

It was a conceptual wound bestowed on his very being.

Yet he continued.

"I hear them again… all of the voices… they're reaching out to me."

"W-What are they saying, brother?!"

"They're guiding me."

Emerald cluelessly blinked at him, still worried. "Guiding you?"

"They say that they're all dead. All of them were wiped away from floods and inferno, killed by the God they worshiped. One of them tells me that I'm communicating with the Collective Consciousness of humanity."

"The collective… consciousness? Dead? Floods and Inferno? Brother… what's going on?"

Maverick was unaware, but he had the ability to connect his mind with the Collective Consciousness of humanity across the Mortal Domain. Through this connection, he could gain intel through collective thoughts and memories, or even change and rewrite them.

He was the ruler of humanity, in a literal sense. He had access to all of humanity's information, memories, experiences, trust, and hope.

Maverick was the embodiment of Humanity's desire to have the most powerful, most intelligent, and most skilled human to ever exist, in order to protect their race from harm.

His very being is abstract.

The day he was born, Maverick caused chaos across the world. Some said that it was his own power that did this, and in some sense, it is true.

But truth be told, it was all of humanity's rage and hatred, being exerted from his newborn body.

Maverick Lionheart is the vessel of the Collective Consciousness. It is through him that humanity's collective beliefs, ideas, and concepts can be brought into reality. And it is through him that humanity can be United as one.

Maverick heard all of this information from every single individual who spoke to him, and now he learned the solution to solving this problem.

"…Perish!"

The spell was destroyed, releasing Emerald from her anxiety.

"Uwaaah?!" Emerald stood there in disbelief.

Maverick used something known as the Phantom Eyes; they were a pair of eyes that originated from the Lionheart bloodline, only being available after a Lionheart experiences intense emotions.

However, Maverick didn't experience any intense emotions. He didn't need to. The moment he learns about something from the Collective Consciousness, it allows him to use that said concept.

If he learned about a fire spell that he never heard of from the Collective consciousness, then he would be able to use that fire spell. If he was unable to kill an immortal but used the collective consciousness to guide him, then he would obtain a spell or greater ability meant to kill said immortal.

The Collective Consciousness was an omniscient force, knowing everything and witnessing all things at once.

But, such a force has a massive toll on him.

Maverick wasn't omnipotent, he had his limits.

"Nghhh…" He felt woozy, placing his hand against his head.

He stumbled back and forth… and in a matter of seconds, he lost consciousness, falling to the ground.

"Maverick!" Emerald quickly ran to his aid, catching her brother underneath his shoulders, "You overdone it! I'll take you to Mom right away!!"

***

Hours had passed, and Maverick was still unconscious. Everything was black, but he could still hear those voices from the mysterious realm. They continued to speak to him, though they were more silent than before.

("What do they want from me? I can hear them all… and… I can feel their emotions…")

They told Maverick that he must be brave, powerful, and ruthless.

The collective force of humanity was adamant about taking revenge against their traitor God. And it is through Maverick that they could do that.

"…Tyrannical… Brave… and Strong? I must be all of those things…?"

The Collective Consciousness of humanity wanted to create the perfect ruthless King that kept their race alive for as long as he lived.

Maverick was their hope.

They continued to persuade him.

They continued to bash him for his weakness.

And they continued to Guide him.

He heard all of it at once. Even though temporary omniscience from the Collective Force fried his brain and Data Core, he was still able to converse with them, but only a few at a time.

("…I'll become great… for the betterment of humanity. If they need a savior, then I'll become that savior. I'll make sure to protect every one of you.")

His words calmed down the raging Force as they put all of their faith into him… eventually going quiet.

Now it was only silence, and pitch darkness… until his mother spoke out to him.

"Maverick… can you hear me?" Amelia had her hand against his forehead, looking down at his pale face, "It's me, sweetie."

He slowly opened his eyes to the sound of his mother's voice, groggy in his tone as he said, "Mom…?"

"…I was worried sick. You had me Warp all the way to Argonaut to grab Shyrlonay since she's the only person I know who can cast powerful healing magic. I thought you caught some type of illness, but it seems you're doing fine. Your sister won't tell me what happened. It's like she doesn't want you getting in trouble." Amelia looked at Maverick with a death stare, sending shivers up his spine.

"M-Mom… it's not what you think… we were just playing with magic and I ended up malfunctioning a spell, and it knocked me out."

She crossed her arms, lifting her brow, "Is that so?"

The sound of the door opened as two figures walked into the room. Shyrlonay, wife of Balthazar, and Crimson, son of both.

"Oh my, he's finally up, is he?" The Motherly dragon with unnecessarily large breasts came walking into the room, holding her child's hand, "How are you doing sweetie? I fixed you some warm tea." She sat down a cup of tea next to the table, letting Maverick drink it whenever he got the chance.

"Uhh… t-thank you." Said the Lionheart.

"Of course dear." Shyrlonay placed both hands against Crimson's shoulders, pulling him in front of her, "Have you met my son yet, Maverick? This is Crimson Argonaut, the future ruler of the country of Dragons. This is his first time in Ottenmore, a country full of humans."

"…Oh, it's nice to meet you, Crimson. My name is Maverick Lionheart." He sat up in bed, taking the cup of hot tea, and drinking it carefully.

"This country smells like filth and shit."

"Eh?!"

That was Crimson's first impression?!?