Chapter 56: Destroyer of Worlds
A child? Corrupted? Marcus felt hurt twice over but the faces of the sisters were filled with anger and something else. Disgust? The diplomats quickly tried to get the situation under control but the translator answered “There is no excuse to corrupt a child. The burden must be carried by a grown person?... It is a complex topic, I hope I’m getting it right.” The woman added.
The discussion continued and the sister was talking heavily while the diplomats tried to understand exactly what the problem was. Sure Marcus was young but he was not a child anymore and the choice was his own. Azaa watched this deep in thought, looking at Marcus and then back at the other humans.
With a wide gesture Azaa stopped the discussion and talked to the two translator while the rest was waiting for the reason for the disruption. “For how long have the monoliths been on our world?” Was the question she wanted answered. Grace and the diplomats looked at each other and Grace said “Roughly 20 years.” The translator did their work and the faces of the two ginghi women changed completely into utter disbelief. Twice they repeated the question and got the same answer.
The sisters started to talk quickly with each other and after a minute turned back to the humans with deeply concerned faces. “How do you become chosen?” was their question and Marcus gave the answer “You just apply, in many countries you need to be an adult tho.” he understood where this was going and a dark horrible thought started to creep up in his mind.
After getting the okay from Grace the translator gave the answer and the reaction was shock and terror on the women’s faces. They discussed again and it was Azaa who stepped up saying something with great importance. The translators worked hard and eventually agreed, their faces had turned white and Marcus knew in a moment they would hear something they would not like. “The monoliths are not your friends. They have come to your world to destroy you.”
That hit hard. Of course they knew the monoliths were dangerous and they did things following their own agenda but destroy us? How and why?
The conversation continued slowly, but the information they received ripped a hole into their view of the world. The monoliths and their powers are like poison, they corrupt not the individual but the people as a whole. Their gifts are too great to be ignored but the price was the downfall of civilizations. “You need to restrict monoliths, slow down the poison or you will succumb to, ...we do not know what IT is but IT is something very bad.” The translator said, looking exhausted.
For some reason Marcus remembered the paintings on the wall on a different planet. A black cloud and red eyes over a destroyed world. “I think I understand what they are talking about.” It was Carmen who spoke. “We from the scientific community have already pointed out that the amount of new students in the various fields of science have dropped. Engineers see the same problem. Young people want to become class holders, it is much easier and more rewarding than studying.” She said and Marcus had heard some rumors about this, but had not given it much thought. “The long term effect of the monoliths on society are unclear but from what they say it must be devastating.” Carmen said after everybody was in thought. But was that really enough to destroy them, Marcus wondered.
Another question came from Azaa “How many ,ehm... carrier of corruption? I think it means class holder, How many do we have?” The translator said. “Shall we tell them?” Carmen looked to Grace and she nodded “Tell them over a million.” The news caused more dismay in Azaa’s face and she formulated a new question. “Do we walk through portals a lot?”, “Tell them yes, all the time.” Grace said and her face looked as worried and dark as Azaa’s. The answer came quick but Azaa was also working on one of tablets, scrolling through words and lots of pictures. “She said, we need to stop or our world will die.” The female translator looked like she was in distress and Marcus could not blame her. He could feel something important was happening here. Azaa stopped her search and enlarged a picture and showed it to the humans. It showed a giant snake wrapped around the world trying to consume it. It was an artistic depiction of Ragnarok.
The room went quiet until Carmen spoke. “Marcus do you remember the paintings in the bunker on our last expedition together.” Marcus nodded. “I thought the same.” Carmen quickly brought Grace up to speed but it only made her expression darker.
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The other sister slowly spoke with the exhausted translators while the humans tried to come to terms with the news. Translation was a difficult task, even with modern technology and methods, it had been only a day since they started to learn the language of the ginghi. “I will try to paraphrase..” The male translator started. “We, the ginghi, were once a great people. With much knowledge and technology. We walked on many worlds and called them home by our own strength. But then the monoliths came and we could not resist their corruption. We fell, slowly over many generations and eventually the calamity found us, the ...we do not have a proper word for it… maybe dragon? It killed our world and shattered our people. We are all that is left now, we and the Wildlings? They have lost all reason and only know the way of the monoliths. You need to control the monoliths or your world will fall soon.” The man stopped and sat down with sweat on his forehead.
It had been hours since the talk started but Marcus felt like years had gone by. The impact of this news was beyond reason. It changed everything. The monoliths destroy societies and using the portals too much draws in some eldritch horror that consumes your world. Corruption… Marcus looked at his hand and remembered the day he touched the monolith. It changes you, gives you powers but it also makes you depend on it. He himself had fallen for the lure of the monolith and now? Marcus looked up and saw Azaa’s eyes, they were filled with a strange emotion. Regret, pity?
They ended the meeting to think and discuss things. This news was too big and people of far higher ranks needed to learn about this and make decisions.
As everybody moved apart Marcus grabbed the translator for one last point. He stopped Azaa and said “I’m not a child.” he tried to look very confident and the translator told her. She gave an answer and the man in between looked surprised for a moment. “I’m 141 years old. To me you are a child.” She left before Marcus heard the translation.
Marcus thanked the translator for his hard work and slowly walked back to his quarters. He was already emotionally drained from the day but hearing 141 years was crushing. And yet it made sense, how else could she be this powerful, did Marcus think that power just fell into her lap? Of course she must be much older than she looked and that explained why everybody obeyed her so easily. Azaa was not just some Blood Mage she was a freaking living legend. He needed to be far more polite in her presence, he decided.
Back at the quarters he gathered up his clan and slowly explained to them what they had learned. Their reaction mirrored his own. It was so absurd and gigantic you wanted to ignore it, but it all made sense if you thought about it. “If that is true, why have they not stopped using the monoliths?” Achara asked but her boyfriend gave a simple answer “Because you can’t. Not only because other people use it and they can easily kill you but also because of the portals and monsters.” Marcus nodded and Janette looked angry. “You know what pisses me off the most? That I can already tell how this will work out. The big shots will ignore this and things will go on like always until one day all hell breaks lose and then nobody knew nothing. It is like fucking Climate Change all over again.”
She was right, Marcus thought. “Not only that, before the monoliths showed up CC was all over the news all the time, my dad told me, but afterwards nobody talks about it, but it is still going on. My own family had to move because the sea water was eating away at our town.” Kou said and Achara reached out to hold his hand. “Sports died too. I still remember sports being a big thing as a child but now it is basically dead. Why train and build up skills if some class holder can show up and outplay you like it is nothing.” Janette said. “That kid over there of course, would not know about a stadium filled with people cheering on 22 guys running after a ball.” Janette added some extra salt to lighten up the mood, on Marcus’ cost.
“By the way. Azaa, the Blood Mage, is whooping 141 years old.” Marcus said with a calm voice and enjoyed the reaction of his friends. It was all too ridiculous and too much for one day. They decided to eat and to play games until they fell asleep.
-The following conversation happens in the language of the ginghi but is translated into English to save you the hassle to learn it. You are welcome.-
In the palace of the city, Azaa treated her father with the blood of Marcus and told him about the things they had learned about the humans. “They just encountered the dark stones. They are so young and naive. But their world is still intact.” She guided the blood slowly and watched her father getting better again. Every treatment recovered years of degradation.
“The boy, Marcus, he is only 20 years old and I nearly killed him.” She said in a grave tone after a while. “I nearly murdered a child.” It was true and there was nothing she could do about this fact. Her father put his large hand on her head and padded her. “No matter how old we are or how wise we believe to be, we still can make mistakes. Your emotions made you blind and caused you to make a mistake. But no real harm was done.” She looked up to him and nodded in silence. The treatment was nearly done. “It is such good fortune that a Titan has come to our doorstep. He is still weak but if he grows strong enough we might be able to fully heal you.” She smiled and finished the treatment. As she walked out, her father looked after her and wished her mother was here right now. She would have been able to handle these kinds of things much better than him.
