“In the old days, while the four essences were still limited, it was far more plentiful than it was now,” began my father, as he looked into my eyes. It almost seed like he was trying to figure out how much of his words I understood.
said Felix, as he watched the ‘story’ through my eyes.
I said.
Before Felix could reply, my father sighed, and ruffled my hair. He smiled at .
“Back in those days, we hadn’t been #($* from the continent yet. Instead, the world existed in a constant state of #$*&. The flying islands were made to serve and morialize the heroes, rather than to serve as living spaces for millions of people. Every ti a hero #$*&#@, if they wished, they could retire here with whatever n or won agreed to join them as #%*#&..”
Felix asked.
I asked.
I thought about the incredibly abnormal state of the people in this world - no matter what, every single person here seed attractive. I was inclined to agree with Felix’s assumptions.
I asked.
Felix said.
I thought about what Felix had seen last ti a maid had taken him outside of his ho to observe the world. When he had looked at our surroundings, all I had seen below us was a layer of writhing, oddly sentient mist.
Had this world’s planet turned into that? That was… horrifying. But it also made so amount of sense. If the creators of this world had set up the ‘Heroes’ from the Market to have an overwhelming advantage of so sort, then it made sense for people of this world to fail without that advantage.
“Papa! Banish?” I asked, hoping he would elaborate a bit.
“Yes. They say that a long ti ago, we lived down below, in a giant, flat world. As far as the eye could see, it was endless soil, with blue skies above us, and the #*$&#$ confined to the #*$&#$@ beneath our feet.” My father sighed. “But too many years passed, and no new heroes were born. Nothing worked - and eventually, the ##$*&@# escaped. At first, it was manageable, but the outbursts grew worse and worse. Eventually, those that survived fled to the skies.”
“World gone?” I asked my father, hoping that he would fill in the blanks.
My father laughed.
“Yes, you’re right. We can’t survive there anymore. You’re so smart for soone who hasn’t even turned four yet, Miria!” My father stroked my head, before he sighed. “The world still exists, but… well, it would be better if it didn’t, honestly. At least then, there would be no more raids where #($*#@ fly to our islands and try to kill us.” Then, he ruffled my hair. “Not that it matters much for you. I wish you could have been born before these tis, back when heroes were still common. But… well, life isn’t so bad these days, either. There is always hope, even after the end of @#*$&#@.”
said Felix.
I said.
Felix’s voice sounded uneasy.
I also scrunched my face up in frustration. This situation was far less stable than expected. The good news was that our deaths didn’t seem imminent - but I couldn’t help but feel that if the hive-mind on the planet ever wanted to, we would all die within a week.
My thoughts wandered back to the ‘maintenance needed’ I had seen in my first Status Screen after reincarnating. I shivered. Now that I thought about it, there was also so chance that sothing ‘outside’ of this dinsion had interfered, sprucing up the power of the enemy. I really hoped that the weird hive-mind monsters were part of the ‘original design’ for this world. If they weren’t, we might be in even more danger than we thought.
said Felix.
I blinked. I hadn’t actually noticed that, but Felix was right. Having natural essence regeneration was a huge benefit - but it seed odd that heroes were so significant in this world’s history. How would essence regeneration help against the massive monster that had swallowed a whole planet?
“Papa! Heroes?” I asked.
My father blinked. He seed to be starting to realize I was a bit more… thoughtful than most children. I decided that should be my final question for the day. If I kept asking coherent questions at my age, my father might realize sothing was up.
“Long ago, heroes were constantly born into this world. They were born better. Stronger. Each of them had a ‘blessing’ that allowed them to regenerate at least one type of essence #(%*#, without any need for external supplies. Only this allowed them to survive the long, difficult journey into %*#&$#, where the could collect #$*#&$#@. Combined with #%*&#$, this allowed the world to stave off the threat of %*#&$,” said my father.
Felix sent the ntal equivalent of a frown.
I sighed. Not knowing the whole language was frustrating.
“When heroes go?” I asked, forgetting my earlier resolution not to ask any more questions. This one was on topic, at least, and my parents seed like very loving parents so far. I felt I could push a little more.
“The heroes stopped appearing over 7,000 years ago, give or take a few years. Historical records of that ti are a little unreliable, because during the flight to the sanctuaries, a lot of #*&$# got lost. But as far as most @#($*&@#$ can tell, that’s the ti heroes stopped appearing.” My father gave my mother a look, and she smiled knowingly at him. My father cleared his throat.
“I think that’s enough storyti for now, sweetheart. Look, your sister is already sleeping,” he said, as he gave Anise a kiss on the forehead. True to his words, Anise was already happily drooling onto her side of the pillow. “I love both of you. Sleep well.” With that, my mother and father left the room.
After my parents left, I sighed. At least we had confird a few of our earlier ideas now. We knew how the market had handled things in the past, how things had changed, and even had a rough tiline when the Market had disappeared from this world - about 7,000 years ago. I wasn’t sure exactly how ti worked from one dinsion to another - the soul fragnt we had t in the last world had briefly ntioned that ti passed at different rates in different worlds. However, it still gave us so context for the fall of the Market, however limited that information might be. My father’s bedti story had also told us that heroes were, for so reason, inextricably linked to the rise and fall of this world. I wasn’t sure how the Market had accomplished that, but we would need to investigate that in the future.
For now, the information we had gained would have to do.
Felix and I spent nearly an hour bouncing ideas and theories off of each other, before my own eyelids started to droop. Before I knew it, I also fell asleep.
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