Chương 1331: 1330. Somewhere Else()

Urth, a supercontinent roughly divided into east and west by the central mountain range. While the people in the east and central somewhat managed to connect past the Apocalypse, little was known about the west of the continent. West of the central mountain range, the arcane cold of the mountains clashed with the heat of a vast desert, creating the raging Border Storm, cutting off any connection to Lambda and other districts of the west. Nobody who set foot in it ever returned. At least not people of Urth.

She, the Saintess of Kavala, and what was left of her loyal order of crusaders had done it. Not only had they moved past the treacherous storm that threatened to rip the flesh from their bones, they had also crossed the seemingly endless desert, stretching across the continent past it. Only when Delfaria and her people, exhausted and severely dehydrated from the crossing desert, arrived in a more moderate steppe landscape, could they finally relax a little.

Why did they torture themselves on this quest into the unknown? The saintess followed the oracles of her goddess in search of a new people, but she only truly understood the meaning of her arduous journey when the destination of their pilgrimage was laid out before her. After spending a month traveling across the steppe, they finally met people who helped them reach their goal, Lambda.

The center of the West was a district built right in the middle, at equal distance from the central mountains and the western coast. Like a crystal in the desert, it was a massive place of glass spires rising into the sky, The only district Delfaria had been able to lay her eyes on briefly, had been Delta, but Delta could not compare to this. She came from a world of magic, but even the great cathedral she used to serve in, seemed ordinary and simple compared to this place of wonder.

Was this truly a place people lived? It seemed more like a Utopia, a city of gods... But this was not their true destination. They had already arrived.

"Do not be blinded by the outward appearance. Look around you and see our new flock," the voice of her goddess brought her back to the present, shortly after she was charmed by the futuristic cityscape of Lambda on the horizon. The religious leader instantly understood what her goddess was implying. The people that led them here, albeit ori-humas of Urth, did not live inside the glorious City of Gods.

They were living in makeshift shacks and huts, build from mud, stone, and the little wood that could be found in the surrounding. How far these "modern" people had fallen in their quest for survival. She could feel the gloom radiating from these people. Hopelessness, suffering, depression, and poverty... Perfect. Just the right fertile soil to plant the seeds of a new religious order. But first, she had to properly understand these people before she could incite them.

"Arnold, what is that place?" she asked breathlessly, playing the innocent and unknowing tourist. Although she may have been unknowing, but she definitely was not innocent in her line of questioning. A city of crystals and beauty, like a paradise on earth, surrounded by people living in poverty and suffering. One didn't need to know a lot to make the conjecture that there was a situation, that caused this kind of rift.

Arnold, the man that had led them to this slum- settlement, looked at the city at the horizon, his face showing a complicated expression. It was like a mix of nostalgia, longing, grief and anger. Delfaria's heart fluttered in excitement. How could things look this perfect and promising? This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"That place used to be Lambda, one of the Districts of Urth. We all used to live there, until that damned central control system suddenly gained sentience... It... they.. we.. Sorry, it's not something I want to talk about," he struggled to speak about the days that followed their apocalypse. However, she was the Saintess of Kavala. Delfaria didn't need the man to get what she needed.

Using her skills like <Mind's Eye>, <Empathy>, and <Reader of Kavala>, she was able to witness the man's hurtful memories, share a fraction of his emotion, and extract the background knowledge connected to the memories. Arnold was barely lv. 50 and a simple warrior; there was no resisting her. He didn't even notice her intrusion. She got everything, but what she got was haunting even for her.

The Ascent of the Machine God, as it came to be called later, was an absolute massacre that had the whole population of the district flee their homes in despair, as the city itself turned against them. The fragmented pictures showed grotesque monsters, automatons built from metal and corpses. The pictures were horrifying, but what made it worse were all the foreign knowledge and concepts flowing into her mind and overheating her brain.

"Are you okay?"Arnold asked, seeing the saintess suddenly struggle to stand straight. He helped her sit down.

"Thank, you. I'm okay now. Although I don't quite understand what you mean by central control system is, I guess it conquered your home. Didn't you think of fighting back?" she asked, playing curious, after sitting for a moment and roughly processing the information that just flooded her brain." We tried, many died. Now... it's hard to even consider it, seeing how we depend on their protection..." he explained slowly, his visage twisted in disgust and shame.

Again, Delfaria received a wave of information, reading the man like a book. Lambda, or Cyber City as its new owners called it, now belonged to a group who called themselves the New Humans. Abominations originating from unholy experiments in hidden laboratories, somewhere in the bowels of Lambda. As a mix of human, machine and merman, they were a species with a semi-hive mind, sharing knowledge and information through a telepathic network.

This was not knowledge Arnold directly had, but something he had heard from a survivor of Theta. Apparently Theta was another district on a peninsular at the western coat. That one had been overrun by mermen, until the machines smoked out the whole place and brought people and monsters here. Armold's knowledge of that time period was sparse, but from what Delfaria could gather, the automatons used humans and merman to create new bodies for themselves.

The New Humans were the result of the and the advent also explained why Arnold was so full of shame and self-hatred. After gaining bodies of flesh and blood, the monsters that had hunted them, driven them away from their home, and captured them for experimentation suddenly started treating them with something akin to cold compassion. They provided protection tot he surrounding of the city and a minimum of food to the mix of refugees they had thrown out or brought here themselves.

The saintess had traveled these lands and knew that these people barely reaching lv. 50 was only possible because of this protection. The wild was overflowing with powerful monsters. The situation was similar to the time right before they fled their home world through a dungeon. Back then, the dungeon god had flooded their world with dungeons and monsters, in anger over Kavala's actions. Still, despite the modicum of goodwill they showed, humans were banned from entering Lambda.

They showed no hostility to the people, but that was not mutual. Even if someone didn't have reason to hate them, their presence was enough to make humans feel uncomfortable. Looking even deeper into the man's subconscious she also found jealousy and regret, after Arnold watched the new Humans, not just rebuilding Lambda. but also improving the base structure into what now looked like a geode of a city. Delfaria didn't care for the complicated past that Arnold was looking back on.

She had no interest in who was right or wrong, or who was evil. But it was clear who was easier to use here, and a religion didn't grow on love and forgiveness. Yes, she truly didn't judge, but nothing was better to grow a religion than a crusade against an obviously evil and unfair force. These people were oppressed and abused, a nd she would be the one to promise them a bright new future.