Book 7, Chapter 61 - Doomsday s.h.i.+ft

Cloudhawk dreamed .

They were visions of chaos and peculiarity .

He imagined himself as another species, living in a place of miracles and illusions . These creatures came to this dreamcape from other worlds, all possessing great mental powers . With a flick of their wrist mountains rose and fell . With a thought clouds parted and rain fell . All were like G.o.ds .

They were a miraculous people whose reach extended to the stars . With no limit to what they could accomplish, they built a vast cosmic empire .

Yet for reasons unknown, this great society which had lasted for countless generations fell into decline . For all the pride they had in their mental powers, they began to fade . Their immortal bodies began to wither .

He watched as this magnificent species teetered on the edge of extinction . All living things lived and eventually died . All things waxed and waned . Even the universe would eventually pa.s.s into oblivion . Birth and death, creation and destruction – they were twins born of the same source . Two sides of a mirror .

There was no living thing that was immortal in the true sense . Nothing was indestructible . Societies – like people – aged and went into decline . Just as the young robust man cannot escape the march of time, neither could a species . It was the way of the universe .

Fear took them . Panic . Their civilization came under threat from outside forces . The desire to live was a basic part of any creature or society, so with their incredible potential the species began a terrible experiment .

An experiment that, once started, could not be stopped .

Living things were inherently selfish . From the tiniest microbes to the largest civilizations, they were built on the destruction of lesser creatures . Cows ate gra.s.s, a disaster for the sprouts of green . Lions ate meat, and thus brought an end to the beasts of the field .  

Following this principle, humans did all within their power to build a better life . They cut down trees, cultivated the land, raised and slaughtered animals, fished the seas and so much more . Everything that humanity created was erected on a foundation of exploitation .

With this in mind, what the grand civilization did next was understandable . As one of the greatest species in the universe, in order to preserve itself, it saw all other living creatures as a necessary sacrifice . Indeed, to them lesser species were akin to how humans saw cattle . Even smaller, for the gulf between these societies was so great . Those of inferior evolution were merely resources to be used for the higher purpose of continuing their dominance .

Thus, the cataclysm of untold civilizations began .

Cloudhawk wasn’t able to see all the details . These visions came in fits and starts, like a fever dream . After what seemed like only a short period his consciousness returned and his eyes shot open .

“Hey, you’re awake!”

The voice caused Cloudhawk to shoot up into a seated position . He patted himself down, finding serious but no life-threatening wounds . Nothing that his const.i.tution and a few good nights of sleep wouldn’t repair .

Dawn was seated beside him, concern on her face .  

When Autumn and the others brought Cloudhawk back, Dawn couldn’t believe what she was seeing . What was left on this earth that was such a threat to him? He wasn’t just strong, he was unbeatable, achieving heights no human ever had .

Dawn had begun to worry that Cloudhawk had fallen into a trap laid by Belial . The artisan was a demon Elder, after all, and they were known for their cunning . Only that thought disappeared when she saw the other body they were carrying . Belial himself, wounded even worse than Cloudhawk . She didn’t have any explanation .

After coming to, Cloudhawk was quiet for a long time . His encounter with the G.o.d King had gone very poorly . But as fatal as it had nearly been, it was a priceless wake-up call .

Lately Cloudhawk’s strength had given him an inflated sense of confidence . Since there was no one on this planet who was his equal, he had no metric to compare himself to . That turned into conceit . His vicious defeat at the G.o.d King’s had was because he went in c.o.c.ky and unprepared .

What’s more, he learned quite a lot from the exchange . Now it was time to plan his next step .

After a little while he brought his mind back to the present . His loss didn’t appear to affect him much . Cloudhawk had a st.u.r.dier ego than that . He’d already shed the shame of his defeat when he looked at Dawn . “Where’s everyone else?”

“Outside,” she answered . “What you found was amazing . We’ve gathered enough evidence to prove what the G.o.ds were up to . The news has shaken Stormford to its core . ”

To its core? Well no s.h.i.+t . The secret base had a thousand G.o.d corpses lying around now, which alone was a fact that would blow the average citizen’s mind . Beyond that there was also a Source crystal the size of a city . All of this would shatter everything the Elysians thought they knew . The perfect societies they cultivated were nothing more than cattle pens, and humans were the livestock .

“Let’s go take a look . ”

Cloudhawk and Dawn left the bedroom and where immediately met with the noise of a city in chaos . Hundreds of thousands of people were marching in the streets, separated into various camps . Conflicts big and small were everywhere he looked .

All the churches in the city lay in ruins .

The situation was as follows: Stormford’s leaders.h.i.+p had formally declared their independence from the G.o.ds . Many in the city supported their decision, but there were still many who refused to believe the wealth of proof shoved under their noses .

Dawn was indignant . “What the f.u.c.k is their problem? Isn’t it obvious by now?”

“I doubt it’s religion . They’re probably scared . We don’t even know what’s going to happen when war with the G.o.ds comes . ” Cloudhawk watched the tumult unfold and heaved a sigh . “We’re so far beneath them . ”

His defeatism took Dawn by surprise . “What’s going on?”

He didn’t hide anything from her, so he answered honestly . “The G.o.d King and I fought . ”

His revelation hit her like a ton of bricks . “What? You and the G.o.d King . . . ”

“Actually, it was the G.o.d King from a thousand years ago . That’s who I fought . ”

What the h.e.l.l did that even mean? The G.o.d King from a thousand years ago? Even if Cloudhawk was a thousand years old, the sentence didn’t make any d.a.m.n sense!

He walked her through the events within the Source crystal . She listened in shock, amazed that the G.o.d King could do what Cloudhawk claimed . Was he saying that their enemy knew what Cloudhawk would do a thousand years before he did it?

“This can’t be right . If the G.o.d King knew about you, why not get here earlier to make sure you weren’t a threat? If he knew exactly where you’d be, he should have at least left a few Supreme G.o.ds to deal with you, right?” Dawn was filled with skepticism . “IF the G.o.d King was really able to see that far in the future, there’s no way you could have gotten this far . ”

Cloudhawk scowled at the weighed the situation . “That’s the crux of this problem . I think it has to do with the Great War . It was more complicated than we understand . ”

“More complicated?”

“Even the G.o.d King’s power over time has its limits . I’m willing to bet it had to be in a certain place with a certain relic to access a time a thousand years in the future . But even if he can see and interact with the future, he can’t go there . Maybe it can’t even pinpoint the exact time things occur . ” Cloudhawk paused for a moment before continuing . “Anyway, there’s one thing we can say for certain . The G.o.d King knows about me and where I would be – but he didn’t kill me . It wants me to get stronger . ”

“Maybe it hasn’t had a challenge for so long and is looking for an opponent?” Dawn surmised . “A lot of the best run into this problem . ”

“You underestimate the G.o.ds . I’m sure there’s some deeper reason . ”

Whatever the case, if the G.o.d King wanted to kill Cloudhawk then he’d had any number of opportunities to do so . h.e.l.l, he could have been silenced as a baby . But the G.o.d King did no such thing . That could only mean Cloudhawk was worth something to it .

But he had felt it . There was definitely the intention to kill Cloudhawk in that attack . So Cloudhawk might be valuable, but also a threat . Probably that was the reason why the G.o.d King seems to be wavering between killing him and letting him live . He could tell from their exchange that the G.o.d King tried to kill him with a heavy heart . But even if it didn’t want to kill Cloudhawk, there was precious little time for him to save himself and his species .

Dawn asked the obvious question . “So what should we do now?”

“Move . ” He replied .

“Move? Move what?” Her confusion was clear .

“Everyone . ” After this conflict Cloudhawk saw their shortcomings clear as crystal . It was not yet the time to face the G.o.ds, and being forced into conflict would only result in mankind’s extinction . “The army of the G.o.ds will be here soon and we can’t fight them off . I’m talking about an exodus . From this whole planet . We can’t stay here . ”

Dawn looked at him with wide eyes, speechless . He wanted to evacuate everyone . Where? He was talking about a huge number of people!

The first thing that came to her mind was the city beneath the jungle planet . Why not? Maybe the Demon King knew what would come and prepared the place for them .

“But we can’t possibly transfer everyone . ”

“We have no choice… it’s the end of the world . ” Cloudhawk cast his gaze across the city and delivered the verdict in a low, sad tone .

Dawn believed him . An unprecedented disaster was on its way .

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