Chapter 3: Of Course...
Alec, noticing my shock said, "This isn't much compared to what you're about to see."
Before I could even ask what he meant I already got an answer, in the sky was a big bird? Nope it was a lion? Not that either….it was what is commonly known as a griffin. It flew straight down landing in front of Alec. It bowed its head to him, being met with a head rub.
"...Huh", Confused, I couldn't help but let that out.
Alec answered my confusion saying, "He's my familiar."
Why wouldn't he have a griffin as a familiar...makes so much sense.
"Seems you're not shocked anymore…I'm impressed Asher."
"I'm still processing that there's a forest in a sewer."
"Oh…"
Alec looked at Vince who nodded before grabbing me. Vince threw me onto the back of the griffin which Alec jumped onto the neck of.
Vince saluted towards me with his index and middle finger before jumping onto a tree which he jumped from onto another tree, repeating the process until he was out of sight.
Before I could voice a complaint Alec exclaimed, "Hold on tight!"
Which was followed by the rise of the griffin into the sky. The griffin flew across the entire forest close enough to the ground for me to be able to see into it but far enough to not be stopped by the trees. In the forest I saw glowing mushrooms, walking lizards, men with the lower bodies of horses and butterflies the size of the average human head. It felt like what I imagined a trip being like. The griffin started flying downward towards what looked like a village. After landing the griffin bent its neck towards the ground signaling us to slide off. Off of the griffin I looked at my surroundings trying to process everything.
Each house was shaped like a cube and had two glowing white orbs on each corner. The houses were made of what appeared to be a light birch colored wood. The people in these houses walked out looking at the three of us.
Speaking in a foreign tongue Vincent looked at the villagers. To me it sounded like pure gibberish but Alec didn't seem to hear the same. From the monstrous physical feats, and stature of the two coupled with the recent fantasy elements and now this, I began forming my own suspicions. And it seemed as though they'd be soon confirmed as I saw who appeared to be the head of the village give a knowing nod while looking at me. She then pointed at a building not so far away with her roughly crafted wooden cane. Exchanging the nod with her, Vincent turned to face me.
"Your questions will be answered soon kid." He said with a smile on his face trying his best to calm me down.
It was useless since I wasn't freaking out, I was confused at first, definitely. However, that doesn't translate to anxiety, not for me. Rather…I was excited. For the first time since I have crossed into my teens I had felt excited, rightfully so. After all, how else could I feel after seeing things that only existed in novels or webtoons, it was amazing.
Keeping my emotions hidden behind my mask, both literal and figurative, I nodded. Alec stayed silent as me and him followed Vincent into a building. The building unlike the others was made of what appeared to be metal, or similar to metal. It was white in color from what I could tell. It was shaped as a cylinder around 4 meters tall and approximately 2 meters in length and width. The door was made of a material that was vanta black in color. The door itself was around 2 meters in height.
Vincent pulled the door towards him, opening it as he bent down a bit to fit through the door as he walked in. Following him was Alec, and then it was my turn. I looked at it before entering trying to figure out what kind of room I was walking into. What I saw however, wasn't a room full of furniture or whatnot it was simply darkness I couldn't even see Vincent or Alec who walked in. It seemed I wouldn't be able to know what I was walking into in advance. Though that didn't stop me from walking in anyways since I rather enjoyed the mystery.
What I was met with was not what I expected in the least, though neither was this entire situation. Inside the "room" was a much bigger space. A ceiling that was for whatever reason 40 meters high I think and 60 meters wide and long. What was inside this space; an empty white room, the floors and walls had grid patterns on them.
"Hello Asher Clovis." Snapping me out of my analysis was the voice of a woman.
Snapping my head towards my right to look at the source of the sound I saw Alec and Vincent standing next to a woman. Her hair was silver, not like the silver you'd normally see for hair but rather silver as the metal. It was as if somebody had melted silver and carefully made thin strands of thread with it somehow. And rather than be stuck on that hill, what amazed even further was her eyes that were red in color, the type of red you'd compare to a sea of blood. Not to mention her pupils weren't circular; they were slit pupils, ones that you'd see in cats or snakes. While the logical part of me wanted to believe they were contacts or something I knew they weren't. There was no way they were. Her skin tone was close to limestone and free of any blemishes. She wore a black dress shirt that had two unbuttoned buttons and black pants to match. On her feet were black flats with a rounded tip.
She had her arms crossed as she looked at me with a smile on her face. The smile however instead of giving me a friendly feeling shook me to the core.
"...Hello" I responded to her as soon as I could, worrying about what would happen if I didn't.
Alec had a visible smirk on his face as he noticed the hint of fear in my eyes.
"Take a seat." She politely asked me.
I looked around confused as to what she meant since there were no seats anywhere. Though that didn't last long as I blinked and was now sitting on a luxurious chair. This was one of the eight chairs surrounding a circular table. Opposite of me was the woman and on her right was Vincent. On the left of the woman was Alec who was resting his chin on his fist.
See what confused me the most was that I was sitting, changing locations was one thing as we had done it multiple times in the last two hours. However, changing locations and manipulating my body without me noticing were two different things.
"I understand that you must be confused. And the answers to those questions will be given in due time." She spoke with a comforting and understanding tone.
"That's understandable." I replied to her not really worried about it.
"Thank you for understanding. If you want I can answer a few questions you have." She looked at me sincerely.
"Rather than a question…can I say conclusions I've reached and you just validate them?" I requested of her as I had reached quite a few.
With her eyes squinted and filled with confusion she nodded. Sharing that look was Vincent and Alec.
"Firstly…you're a dragon aren't you?"
This was the only logical conclusion I could reach after meeting her. Supernatural abilities that were on the threshold of being godly. Along with slit eyes that resembled reptiles. Coupled with the natural pressure and beauty that emanated from her, it was the only thing I could be certain of.
Vincent leaned back in his seat with his arms and legs crossed as he began scrutinizing my every move. That along with Alec's stupefied expression I was certain I was right.
"What led you to that conclusion?" The woman questioned me leaking out a bit of pressure.
"Well…" I explained to them my thought process hoping they'd understand.
Vincent looked at me with a slight smile as he mumbled, "Smart kid…"
"Too smart…" Alec retorted with an expression of clear suspicion..
"You are correct, I am Olivinum Cor, or in English-" She couldn't finish due to me cutting her off.
"Olivine Heart, right?"
She replied with a nod and a smile before continuing, "And yes I am a dragon, or dragon kin. I descend from a line of dragons but the blood had been diluted due to many generations of mixing bloodlines."
"Ahhh understood. Also may I continue my different conclusions?"
Olivine nodded while on her right Vincent looked at me with an expression full of expectation. And on the left was Alec who was glaring at me.
"By the way I'm assuming that there is a war between different sides or something which is rather obvious from that idiot's constant glare and suspicions so I don't need you to confirm that." I bore my annoyance on my sleeve this time not letting the constant glares from Alec go.
Vincent nodded with a smile and Olivine held in a slight laugh by covering her mouth with her hands. Alec's glare only grew stronger as he tried his best to figuratively pressure me unlike Olivine who literally could.
"So here's my actual conclusion. You guys aren't very secretive about this whole thing. I'm assuming a select few know about this such as Alec's family. The reason I believe this is due to this group not popping up in the information available to congress level authorities, when a second generation rich teen adventuring into a sewer would be rather known in normal circumstances. Only way to avoid being known is to control the media and information circuits which is only possible via the heads of families such as my father or his mother. Meaning that many elites are involved with your group, or…multiple groups. As for how I noticed the multiple groups is Alec's buddy Noel. Noel speaks the exact same as Alec which is odd because Alec even admitted that act was just that an act. That would mean he too was probably acting otherwise there was no reason for Alec to associate with him. Also, while they're friends they didn't come here together even though they seemed so close at school. Along with that and their idiotic rivalry it was obvious they were playing different teams." I looked at them to confirm my suspicions.
"..."
"..."
"..."
All three of them had clear shock on their faces even Olivine who was probably an extremely experienced individual.
"So…was I close?" I leaned forward resting my chin on the palm of my hand feeling the metallic mask.
"...Very." Olivine stated as she looked into my eyes.
"You're not trying to read my mind are you?" I asked her in a very sarcastic tone.
. Olivine's right eye twitched a little, making my own eyes widen.
"There's no way…Isn't that fictional? How the hell do you even read somebody's mind? "
"Okay let me explain things one at a time…" She paused for a moment before looking at me in the eyes again with a cold expression.
"Firstly, you are correct that there are different sides and teams. However, what you've gotten wrong is that they're the same thing. While yes Alec and Noel are on different "teams" as you've worded it we're on the same side at the end of the day." She corrected me with her overflowing elegance.
"Hm?" I tilted my head not expecting to be corrected.
"Let me explain from the beginning first of all, we're called descendants but there are different kinds of descendants. This stems from the fact we descend from a certain group called the pioneers. The pioneers are from around 300,000 years ago during the age of the first homo-sapiens. The reason they're called pioneers is because they ventured into different universes." She explained while keeping her gaze on me who looked shocked.
Actually shocked is an understatement for the first time in who knows how many years I was shaken to the core. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It wasn't a matter of hadn't processed but rather a matter of couldn't process. Sure had I seen amazing things suddenly like walking through a sewage wall or a room changing around me hell I even flew on a griffin. But universal travel 300,000 years ago? That's unbelievable to a different degree, Hell the concept of A universe wasn't even a thing let alone the multiverse. How am I meant to believe that?
Brushing over my expression she continued, "One day a giant hole opened up in the ground it was the size of the average country. Different early humans got sucked into the hole, and the hole or rather abyss took them to different universes. After that we can assume the hole closed leaving some early humans remaining. But the humans that were vacuumed into the hole safely "landed" . It was more like they floated but that's besides the point.
At the bottom of the giant hole were different entrances, from what I know there were hundreds of doors. And there were different floors with ten doors in each and curved stair like things on the walls of the hole climbing up to the floors. There are different answers for how many floors different saw but the most we know is roughly 30. It isn't precise because the intelligence of early humans wasn't at the point where they'd know how to count at that moment especially.
But instinctively the early humans went into the doors. Most of them went to the bottom floors because early humans worked off of instinct more than intelligence or even curiosity so they chose the ones closest. Of course there were outliers, maybe around 10 at most. And the early humans through those doors arrived at different universes. In these universes were already made civilizations, some of them medieval europe, some of them in ancient china, some more indigenous and forest life based. However, the most important thing is these civilizations were many times more advanced than early humans. And with the doors being nowhere to be seen in these new worlds the early humans or as we call them Ancestors now lived in these worlds. Some of them were killed for being different while some were allowed to live and were taught the language of the world they were in.
After learning the language they talked about their experiences and that's where we got the details of the hole and the doors and even the numbers, since those civilizations obviously had a numerical system. The Ancestors even learned the supernatural aspects of the world though we can talk about that in a bit. Then the Ancestors reproduced with the natives of the world. This spreads what you can consider the "passport".
Thousands of years later the doors reappear in four universes. These doors were investigated and many even tried to go through them. This is due to the stories they had heard and passed down from the Ancestors. However, this was for nothing since they couldn't even touch the door. They then looked even closer and saw weird characters on the doors. Though, nobody could read these characters besides a few. Especially since it was written in an ancient Earth language, Akkadian. Through these characters they found out that only a certain few could enter through the doors, these few are the ones with certain DNA and a certain percentage of it. The people in question being the only ones that could read the characters.
After those few walked through the door they appeared not in the hole but in different countries across the world in vacant fields. And mystically so as soon as they appeared on Earth they acquired the knowledge they'd need to "survive" if you will. This was around three hundred years ago. And with their abilities surviving wasn't hard, some used their abilities to mind control, intimidate, and gain influential roles across the world. They then found out about other people who did the same. They then shared their knowledge of their worlds, their ancestors and whatnot.
And some were more friendly while others more hostile. The friendly ones all formed a group called Viators, since Latin was a very magical language to all of them.
Viators has four branches, one for each of the four universes they had come out of. And for three hundred it has survived existing in the shadows in order to not draw attention, and throughout these years branch names have been changed in order to fit modern times and a rivalry has been built throughout the four for whatever reason. However, never hostile enough for a full blown war since the motto of Viators ever since it was formed was to not make the supernatural disrupt the natural flow of this world. And since most members of the Viators had obtained powerful positions this was possible all the way until now. Instead we now have our own ''dimensions" where we operate. And for your information this is the Mana Branch. And Noel is part of the Qi branch."
"...Give me a second." I had tried my best to digest what I just learned.
"Hard to process huh?" Alec looked at me with a smirk.
"Shut Up…" I instinctively spit out tired of Alec at this point.
A few minutes passed after that, during which the three remained silent giving me time to process.
"I have questions…" I tried my best to calmly state as I looked at the three who looked back at me.
"Ask away." Olivine responded.
"First I'd like to know…are my parents involved in this?" I asked as I dug the nail of my thumb into my index finger.
"...Somewhat. Asher your parents are among a second group of people that aren't part of Viators, nor are they hostile. After your grandfather died and your father was around your age he chose to give up his supernatural identity. He was originally one of us, a Mana user. Your mother was a Qi user. Your father after meeting your mother during high school convinced her to quit as well. We call these people Settlers, people who give up their supernatural identities and instead settle on earth as normal people."
I sighed out of relief before speaking, "Thank god…I thought they'd be part of a war or something."
"No need to worry about that, any more questions?"
"A few more; firstly what are the four branches?"
"Mana, Qi, Chi, and Spirit."
"Interesting. How do each of the energies work?"
"Well Mana works by taking outside energy, filtering it through
your heart and exerting the energy via the bloodstream. As for the others I only know from books but from what I've read Qi works like mana absorbing outside energy. However, they then store that energy in their abdomen housing that energy in their body and physically nourishing it. This process makes them the physically strongest of the branch by average. Chi works by manipulating energy outside one's body without taking in though I don't know how. This makes them the most versatile of the branches. Spirit works by communicating with energy that gains a consciousness for this one I also don't know how. They're the rarest branch."
"That's very interesting...also my final question; Which branch is Ciel Cherith a part of?"
"I shouldn't even be surprised anymore…she's a part of the Spirit Branch, she is staying with us in the Mana Branch due to her special circumstances."
I didn't need her to tell me much more than that since I could figure it out from there. Her family was most likely slaughtered. Which explains that cold and closed off look in her eyes. Since Spirit users are so rare there must be a reason why and it's probably the same reason for most things in society, fear. Spirit users to me sound extremely overpowered. One, they can efficiently use energy without having to go through the absorption process risking their bodies and not having to mentally strain themselves like Chi users do. Meaning they can probably fight for much longer than the other branches could. Plus who is better at manipulating energy than energy itself? Also an entire branch made up of people that communicate? They're probably too passive to be used to battle as well.
Considering all of these factors I glared very obviously at Olivine.
Olivine who probably read my mind had her eyes widened, "...Asher you're a bit too intuitive for your own good. You're correct Ciel's family was slaughtered, but as far as I'm aware Viators had nothing to do with it. I did mention hostile travelers after all. We call those people Rogues. They're a similar group to the Viators but they seek control and domination."
Thinking about all the novels I read with a similar premise I couldn't help but mumble, "Of Course…"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
EverydayAuthor
EverydayAuthor This chapter in my opinion shows both Asher's intelligence and immaturity. This is also a chapter that shows off a decent amount of each character and their personalities. Also, this chapter is probably the last one I'll post for a while and the last one that'll end in the title. Since most of these chapters were prewritten in the first place.
(Sorry for the info dump btw)
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