Chương 1: Start Reading

Prologue (Prehistory of the events) Long before any living creature was born in the world, emotions were already surging in the universe. When life took place, all creatures obeyed the demands of feelings and lived in response to them. Then people came, with gifts of the soul, free will and creation, empowered by mind and logic.

They could choose to live in response to these emotions, as any other living being did, or could discover even more, embracing and growing into something much greater, much freer, more intelligent, more everything that they could think of or even imagine. And they did. They used the ability to respond. The ability to grow too. Just not in intended ways.

With the power of creation similar to god's, enchanted with free will to use it in any way they want, people forged their own ways, entirely different to those that were prepared and available for them. People reacted to every emotion, but created their own reactions, in ways alien to any other creature, and by doing so, created new emotions, new feelings that only humanity would embrace and carry within themselves. That's how fear, guilt and shame were born, followed by resentment and grudges.

Also, superiority over others and craving for something, that was never intended to be shared, were born and flashed in multiple ways. Each person was given one life, and no matter how many other lives one would claim, they would still never be able to receive a second life for themselves.

Each was given one body, and no matter the efforts, no matter how many bodies of living or dead one would subdue by using power, greed and control, they would still live and die just in the very same body that they were born into. But people tried. They tried to take what belonged to others by exercising control, manipulation and power, calling it love and support, mingling it with an understanding of true feelings until nobody knew the truth any longer.

Twisted understandings created twisted realities, which implied their own rules and weakened humanity, as true strength came from the flow of life, which stayed in a real reality so freely given to everyone on the day of birth, and so brutally ignored by people submerging in the footsteps of those who had already gone astray. Not all gifts of the creator were ignored entirely, and many managed to find a light even in this dimmed reality.

But still not in a way it was offered, not up to the degree it could have been reached. Some emotions were favoured more than others in some people, while different feelings were closer to the liking of others. Preferences and sorting were born, creating separations. Many different nations started to rise and drift apart from each other. In some cases, this difference was just in abilities, in some cases even in appearance.

Sometimes it would influence even the surroundings, creating new speeches of animals and plants born from that particular feeling favoured so badly by humans around. Despite this separation, people still managed to live together, if not in complete harmony, then at least in respect for each other.

Some nations did manage to find ways back to the light, back to the truth, and by doing so, the true power of life could enter them more and more, providing their lives with something that no one had ever experienced before. But still, preference to one emotion over another, to one ability over another, was already entrenched deep inside and with each generation would grow even bigger. Growing nations didn't realise that this empowered preferential world was bringing not only miracles but disasters too.

The same world shared the same likings, so the effects of it strengthened in everyone. Even in those who others would plead to reconsider, as their preferred feelings were bringing doom not only to those who have submerged themselves into it, but to anyone surrounding them too. Cruelty was spreading rapidly, and new, much darker nations were brought into power. Instead of creating their own wonders, they were craving what others already had and taking it by force without consideration for others.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Not much can be taken by force, as the world does not support such a force. Once you bring your own beliefs and likings into some place and replace them with what used to be there before, all the wonders that you were desiring will slowly, or rapidly disappear, and the place will turn into something that you brought, not what you wanted to take.

So, at some point, people even stopped craving things for themselves and destroyed them for the sake of others not having them. Violence was spreading rapidly, bringing despair to older and more advanced nations. Brute force was becoming more difficult to withstand, as it was so easy to fall for it under sorrow and suffering.

Once you answer violence with violence, there is not much difference left between you and the attacking forces, and it doesn't take that long until your own heart starts to prefer those feelings that are seemingly unnecessary in such a world. Once it happens, the ways to true power start to shrink, making you weaker, and then using force seems to be the only option left. In the midst of this madness, a sudden, unexpected glimpse of hope was born. It came from a man born of a nation drowned in greed.

But still, his proposition was pure, his suggestion was firm, and it was eventually heard by many. Leaders of eighteen remaining nations gathered for a meeting, which ended up in lengthy discussions. Hope turned into belief and belief into faith. When faith is born, there are no obstacles that cannot be overcome. Eighteen leaders found a way to seek help from the creator itself, who by then was already long forgotten and replaced with multiple myths and religions.

By immense human will and personal strength, they managed to break through these never-ending beliefs that, for them, were as natural as breathing, as all they were born under the blankets of these false realities established long ago by reinforced misunderstandings. And they succeeded. They managed to break through and sought help from the creator in a way that the creator could answer them and provide direct help.

By accepting this help, all eighteen were gifted with some extraordinary powers and abilities that no one else ever had, and most likely will not ever have again, as it is very unlikely that the same or similar circumstances would ever repeat themselves. By the combined power of eighteen, a new world was created, a very accurate replica of the one that everyone was living in.

All nations that embraced feelings leading to cruelty and oppression were sent to this newly built world, where they could live their lives in the ways they had chosen, without bringing disaster to other nations who didn't want to drown in this violence. Eighteen Gifted (that's how they were called from that day, because of the direct gifts from the creator) had to pay a high price for the ability to create that world.

All eighteen became immortals, as they were part of the power that created a new physical world, and all of them had to stay in a physical world, in their physical bodies, for those boundaries to hold. Peace once again returned to the Old World. People were calling it the Old World now, as it was much older than the one that was created. Eighteen nations prevailed and were able to return to their own living. Since that day, no new nations were created, as if the power of the eighteen would forbid it to happen.

All seemed good for a long time. Generation passed generation, and many truths had been forgotten. Not by the eighteen, but by most people who were just living their ordinary lives. Signs of new troubles were rising, but they had been ignored for a long time, and a blind eye was kept by everyone, until the time came when it became so obvious that it could not be ignored any longer. One of the nations was stirring badly again. None of the eighteen could say anything and didn't even know what to say.

The problem was coming from the nation of humans. Well, it shouldn't be called "the nation of humans," as in reality, the most distinctive emotion for that nation was greed. But "nation of greed" didn't sound very appealing, and no one wanted to use this name. So they called them the nation of humans, defying any logic by it, as each and every nation up until then was bearing the name of humanity. It was the nation of the very same person who initiated the plan to free this world from problems at the time of need.

And the leader was doing his very best to keep his nation out of harm and educate it, showing ways to a life without greed in it. But despite his best efforts, all was getting out of hand, and after a few centuries, no one could ignore it any longer. So-called humans, by now, were suppressing and exercising their power not only over their own people, but over people of other nations too. New gatherings were assembled by the eighteen, and new arrangements were made.

After not being able to cope with the uprising power of the humans, one by one, other nations started to leave the Old World, which they had been using together for so long. New worlds were created by the eighteen, using the power gifted to them, and nations left either on their own or in groups.

Until one day, even a nation of magic, that prevailed alongside humans the longest, said goodbye to the Old World and left to live in their own place, taking with them every creature and plant carrying a drop of magic and leaving the Old World stripped of this wonderful ability that humans were abusing and exploiting so badly. The Old World was left entirely to the human nation to live.