Chapter 43: Chapter 43 : Understanding The Board (Part 3)

Caelus' accomplishments as ruler of Velusia were both high in number and spectacular in nature. He wasn’t one to shy away from radical change, and with his ultimate power, he moulded Inis into his desired shape. Big projects came one after the other; his One Language project being one of them. Using the power of his kingly decree and advertising Valerian as the language of the Gods, he implemented the project.

Radiant World, Jewel Rush, Miasma Wall; while there were many, none stood out more to Rei - or anyone else really - than the Common Blood project.

Unity and equality, these two things were front and centre on Caelus’s agenda.

Regardless of their shape, sex, status, age, intelligence, eye colour, hair colour, skin colour...all humans were equal in Caelus' mismatched eyes.

In the Concordia of Humanity, a document he penned, he outlined this notion clearly.

The concept of ‘race’ was one worth mentioning. Since the Divine Year, the idea of multiple human races had become nestled in Inis’ common sense. With it, a hierarchy of sorts had seemed to slip into the minds of many. It wasn’t at the level of systematic racism, but interactions were clearly coloured by these ideas.

During his travels, Caelus had repeatedly seen this phenomenon play itself out. He hated it, and in the Concordia of Humanity, he made these feelings very clear. He outright banned the very notion, and went as far as to label it ‘supreme treason’.

This did much to deprive the oxygen the flame of racism needed to survive. But Caelus didn’t rely on words alone. They were flimsy. He needed something more concrete. And that was where Common Blood came in.

‘I wonder which head he used to think up this genius plan with,’ Rei couldn’t help comment as he went over the details. ‘No with those numbers, it was closer to hell than heaven. Poor guy.’

Caelus's mismatched eyes saw both close and far. Wanting to further the sense of unity between humans, he ‘sacrificed’ his body. The numbers weren’t clear, but it was believed that he impregnated thousands upon thousands of women, from all across Inis, and bore as many as five thousand offspring.

Caelus's idea was to act as a common point, a common ancestor, that would further humanity’s sense of connectedness. At the same time, he too bought into the idea that talent resided in one’s blood. He felt it would be a waste to not spread his prodigious talent to future generations.

Two thousand years later, much of humanity had the True King’s blood running through their veins. A study by the Society of Learning tracking the lineages from Caelus downward…or upward estimated that half of humanity were his direct descendants. Common Blood had worked as intended.

‘The Undefeated, the Invincible, Raiken’s Apostle, the King of Kings, True King…’

Running through Caelus’ many titles in his head, Rei couldn’t help but feel admiration for the man. After said admiration passed, a question naturally arose in his heart.

‘I wonder how we stack up? These stories reek of embellishment, still, there's no doubt that he's extremely capable. So, how would I fare against him?’

This question didn’t linger in Rei’s mind long. Even taking in all of Caelus’ accomplishments, he liked his odds.

In his mind, no one could stand above hi-

‘Hmm, I guess, he does. What a cocky bastard, no doubt, that’s all Ralf’s personality.’ Face souring, Rei rushed to take a sip. Not wanting to linger on the thought, he dove back into the annals of world history.

Velusia continued to thrive under Caelus’ rule, reaching higher heights with each passing year.

But, the batteries maintaining this radiance weren’t infinite. At age fifty-three, Caelus fell ill. An unknown disease afflicted him, leaving him bedridden. His condition grew worse and worse, and two months later, Caelus the True King passed away.

September 1st, Year 8054 of the Divine Calendar.

The world mourned his loss. Friend or foe, all felt the weight of his death crash down on their shoulders.

With his death, the fall of Velusia began.

Though, this wasn’t a knock on Caelus’s inability to see past his own death. While he didn’t expect to die as early as he did, he did prepare in case. He had many detailed plans for the future and had already laid out the groundwork.

After his death or retirement, Velusia was to cease being an absolute monarchy and become a representative democracy. This was his plan all along. Despite having many lovers and offspring, none were given royalty status. He desired to be the last monarch. He didn't believe anyone else could take his place. It wasn’t a matter of arrogance or trust. He had many in his circle he could trust to take his place, but would the world accept them? No, they wouldn’t.

Leaders would be elected by the people and only after passing the standardized testing he had set up would they be allowed to hold any power. He devised a thorough system of the different branches and how each one would monitor and affect each other.

However, no matter how perfect an idea was on paper when put into practice, it could turn out horrible. The human element had thrown a wrench in Caelus’ plans.

‘When the cat's away, the mice will play huh. It was unfortunate, but that’s the reality.’

With Caelus absent, the many factions that hadn’t dared to breathe loudly began stirring up trouble.

To maintain a kingdom as large as Velusia across Inis, which Rei likened to a slightly enlarged Eurasia in size, in a time where communication was done through birds and horseback was a nigh-impossible feat. Caelus and his mythos acted as superglue. With him gone and no one comparable to take his place, the fracture was inevitable.

Many tried holding it together and making it work, but it was useless. In fact, more harm than good was done. It was like a reverse Chinese finger trap; the closer they wanted everything to be, the further apart everything became.

Twenty-three years after Caelus' death, Velusia officially dissolved. Worse yet, chaos followed.

Caelus had a tremendous influence on the world. The way people spoke, their thought patterns, gestures, phrases, clothing; even in modern times, the supreme ruler's influence could be seen in the people of Inis. However, it wasn't all positive or neutral, his existence and story had produced a lot of negativity as well.

With his success story, there were many who sought to recreate it. Individuals far less capable and far less lucky had aspirations of becoming mankind’s supreme ruler. Their attempts resulted in great bloodshed, misery, and chaos. The conflicts that arose, for this reason, were collectively known as the Unification Wars.

Such foolishness was exactly what Caelus wanted to prevent. While he could see more of the board than others, he failed to see the entire board, and this cost humanity dearly.

‘No one can see the whole board. And those that claim they can are either bluffing or fools. One can only play the best move using their limited information, and hope that the parts of the board they can’t see don't overturn their calculations.’

The next thousand years were embroiled in conflict. And the millennium following it shaped up to be more of the same, but seven hundred years in, things suddenly switched up.

The Zenki Era arrived.

Year 9701 of the Divine Calendar, the Zenki Ripple passed by, affecting all life on Earth.

How did it feel like being hit with this wave of cosmic energy?

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It varied wildly, but in short, everyone was forced to experience some form of hallucination. On the light end of the spectrum, people reported feeling slight chills run through their spines and hearing voices. On the other end of the spectrum, people reported bizarre happenings like the sky changing colours, the moon enlarging, and the ground splitting. This collective hallucination was brief though, lasting only a few seconds before fading away.

Even so, the event sent an unprecedented wave of shock throughout the whole of Inis. The conflicts of the day, the wars… everything was put on hold as an explanation was sought for this global phenomenon. Naturally, humanity looked towards its long-standing pillar, the Radiant Church.

Their answer: the event was Raiken's doing.

This was the official answer, but it didn’t satisfy anyone. With people still hungry for answers, one Archbishop’s lips loosened a bit too much.

Rapture.

The end-time event where Raiken would descend from the Heavenly Plane and take his faithful believers up with him, leaving those behind to live in what would become a hellscape of sinners and demons.

As soon as this notion hit the streets, it took off like wildfire, prompting collective chaos and frenzy. The people of this time were still extremely religious and the thought of an end-time event made them very anxious.

The Radiant Church’s Rapture had two phases. Those worthy would essentially be teleported up directly to the Heavenly Plane. At the same time, their existences would be erased from the minds of those left behind on Earth.

To the people of Inis, the Zenki Ripple they experienced was this beaming up process.

Knowing they weren’t worthy caused great guilt in people, but it wasn’t hopeless. Those left behind had the opportunity to prove themselves worthy in the short but unspecified tribulation period that existed before Raiken made his descent. All they needed to do was follow the Radiant Church’s Bible to the letter and they could still gain entry.

This idea, these attitudes, the hyper religiosity of the time; all had come together to form the perfect storm. But that would come later; first came the calm.

Years passed by, and the initial panic and fear around the notion of Rapture slowly faded.

Tribulation was said to be a period where hardship and misery were everpresent, but none of that had been seen in the passing years. In fact, with so many on their best behaviour, the world entered a very peaceful state

But then it came, just over twelve years after the Zenki Ripple had occurred, the first batch of humans awakened their psionic powers.

People again looked to the Radiant Church for answers. And their response couldn’t be worse. Using the Rapture framework, the psionics were labelled as demons, creatures that rose from hell that would bring about the tribulation’s strife and hardship.

The Radiant Church’s then Pope, Rico Ravee declared that these demons must be purged from the world with extreme prejudice; that they were spawns of hell, with only chaos and destruction in their hearts, and that while they appear human, one shouldn’t be deceived into thinking they were. He added only by firmly standing against this evil would one gain Raiken’s favour and a spot in the Heavenly Plane.

And thus began the Demon Hunt.

At this crucial juncture, the Radiant Church had chosen this stance. This stance was undoubtedly the biggest blunder in all of history. The Demon Hunt would kick off the most chaotic period in all of Inis’ history, the Great Scramble.

*Crunch*

The milkshake crumpled up as Rei’s hand clenched tightly. As the details of this time period flashed through his head, anger began surging in his heart. The Mental Space was made to ripple.

'The Radiant Church had a clear way out. Caelus’ magical powers were attributed to being an Apostle. These children could have just been Raiken sending Apostles in mass. However, they chose the most foolish, most destructive interpretation and ramped up the chaos and bloodshed far beyond what it would have been.’ Rei clicked his tongue. ‘Truly foolish.’

Thirteen-year-olds, confused and scared by the sudden changes they had undergone, naturally looked to their parents, siblings, and loved ones for answers, only for these people to turn on them by reporting their existence to the Radiant Church, and even attempt to kill them outright.

And if not them, it was their neighbours, and if not them, it was the Radiant Church’s Knights who swept every settlement with extreme scrutiny and prejudice. Valen, the starstone's special property was discovered at this time. It was immediately put to use to suss out the hidden psionics among the populace.

All over Inis, under the banner of righteousness, psionics and teenagers believed to be psionics were slaughtered in mass. The accounts depicting this period were difficult to read, even for Rei. It was a thing of horror. The tales were numerous. Children were persecuted for an entirely natural process and were made to bear the hatred of the world on their tiny shoulders.

Death wasn’t the worse fate though. The especially zealous believers, in hopes of gaining greater favour from Raiken, carried out various torturous acts on these teenagers before killing them. The stories recounting these acts were stomach-turning.

The psionics didn’t just roll over at this treatment. They fought back and managed to deal a lot of damage. These incidents were used by the Radiant Church to illustrate that psionics were indeed dangerous and justified their continued slaughter. A cycle formed, with each revolution filling the world with more bloodshed.

In the battle between the psionics and the world, the latter held a firm advantage...at least initially.

The psionics’ young age, the fact that most had to go through the Consolidation Phase, the fact that psionics didn’t start off powerful, and the learning curve one had to go through to properly use one's powers; these reasons combined to give the non-psionics the advantage. But three years later, the inevitable turn came.

The psionics who had survived the ordeal had managed to get a handle on their powers. With hearts boiling with anger and hatred, they struck back. As individuals, as groups; they struck. Their target, all who had wronged them.

The Radiant Church, humanity’s long-standing pillar and strongest faction had bitten off more than they could chew in making psionics their enemy.

The difference between a normal human and a psionic was massive. One need only look at Rei’s sparring match with Jeff to understand. Even with a superhuman body, incredible martial prowess, trickery, and being a psionic himself, Rei remained Jeff's inferior, and the C-Rank Adventurer wasn't even a real fighter.

The Radiant Church stood no chance. Everything Radiant Church-related was destroyed. Buildings, statues, insignia, and believers. Church sites became stages for mass slaughters to play out on. Hundreds of bodies would be left in sliced-up chunks. The psionics didn’t stop there. Should one be caught wearing any insignia on their person, one's life was forfeit. Their anger burned hot.

The Radiant Church had no answers to the psionic attacks and were forced to tuck their tail between their legs and go into hiding in Luxen. No fall had been greater than the Radiant Church’s. They had shot themselves in the foot.

The great irony of this situation was that the Radiant Church did have all the answers. Had they checked their library more thoroughly, they would have been able to understand everything perfectly. As humanity’s strongest and oldest faction, the Radiant Church had accrued the most knowledge. After the mass exodus, their libraries were raided by the Society of Sages who desired access to this information. While searching, they found a certain book dated to the Divine Year called, Dramen's Journal.

It was written by a man named Antonella Dramen. He was obsessed with the Five Divines and wanted to record their every word. He made it his mission. From his writing, only Raiken gave him the time of day. In a free-form style, he recorded Raiken’s musings. His random musings were interesting, but the important part came near the end when the origin of Raiken and the Divines’ power was brought up. Raiken didn’t shy away from the topic and gave a long explanation.

Things like the Great Aether, Mental Energy, Ascendants, Origin Energy, Zenki Ripple, White Zenki, the terms used in modern times originated from Dramen's Journal. In this work, Raiken even alluded to the possibility of humanity awakening this power sometime in the future.

When this book and these facts were brought to the attention of the Radiant Church’s higher-ups, their faces were said to twist like a whirlpool. Had they chosen differently, instead of hell, they could have had heaven.

Their actions prompted the once highly religious world to take a sharp turn into secularism.

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