The Earth After Rebirth

"That\'s right," He answered taking a break from his smoke. "You remember the cave you found on your way to the capital?"

"The one that gave true blood potions as rewards? Yes."

"The writings there weren\'t all lies, just stretched out bits of truths. Our Lord is in a deep slumber right now, but before, he thought it would be helpful to give humans power to fend for themselves."

Chronos didn\'t have to explain anything further, he understood how humans were. He understood how they could get once they were drunk in power. But still...

"I can\'t believe it..." He murmered to himself.

He never once imagined that their world was in ruins and more than half of it inhabitable because humans couldn\'t behave with that much power given to them.

"The powers you see in game, those were the kind our Lord adorned them but they took his kindness and spat it in his face." His voice was bitter, rightfully so.

Kiro was about to say something when Chronos violently coughed, this time it seemed to go on for a lot longer.

"Are you okay?"

"Nothing you have to worry about. I think it\'s best if I show you the events of the past, what your kind are capable of."

"Show—you can do that?"

"I\'m not a time god for show."

\'Right!\' He thought to himself, for a second he\'d forgotten he wasn\'t just a man like himself. This was all still very new for him, it would naturally take him time to get used to it.

"Now this isn\'t going to be painless, maybe prickles?"

"Wha—"

He couldn\'t finish his complaint before the world around warped into nothingness—his body following suit.

He felt like he was being stretched beyond his limits, at some point he felt like he exploded in the process. The pain was unimaginable, he almost lost consciousness.

Kiro witnessed his body go through various stages of life. Merging and disintegrating at the same time—death and rebirth.

A new place was finally coming into view, he fell flat on the hot asphalt road. He didn\'t feel like getting up—he didn\'t want to.

"You call that prickles?" He shouted at the man standing besides his corpse-like body.

"Ahh, I may have downplayed it a little bit, I\'m a god you see—"

"A little bit?" He cut him off. "If you are done swinging your d*ck around help me up. My everything hurts." He had no regard of whether the man could snap him out of existence, he was just beyond pissed.

"I think it\'s best if you laid there for a few minutes, it\'ll wear off eventually." He advised.

"Fuckin gods man!"

He was starting to calm down, that allowed him to hear the noise all around him. Without moving too much of his muscles, he strained his eyes to look around. Nothing about this place was familiar, it was simply too different from the earth he knew.

There were people everywhere, cars too. Chatter, car honks and clearly very polluted air filled the atmosphere. He noticed slight differences, the biggest one being height.

Evolved humans were a lot taller and muscular. The people walking past them seemed very fragile in his eyes, this made him fearful. Scared that these beings managed to ravage the world as they knew it.

"Okay. Let\'s set out now."

Kiro tried getting up, it was still painful but he was damned if he proved what little the god thought of them right. With his legs shaking, he managed to stand on them. Taking steps forward was a bit difficult but he made it work.

"Can\'t we just fly or something? Use your powers, let\'s travel with style?" He suggested.

Chronos simply scoffed. He was content with travelling like this, nobody could see them but he didn\'t want to use his powers unnecessarily, he had bigger things to worry about.

"This is just when they\'ll be bestowed powers."

As if on queue, a thunderous voice could be heard talking in the sky. Causing panic and screams, the voice was so loud it made everyone cover their ears. Chaos ensued in the streets, as cars crashed one after another.

"My children, don\'t be afraid. You face great danger ahead, I\'ll give you gifts to fend it off yourselves. Prove to me you\'re worthy as my creation."

That was the start of it all, the nightmare. Humanity wasn\'t bestowed a gift, it was a curse—a curse that would destroy the world.

Like a page from a book was turned, another scene showed itself. It looked to be a meeting amongst important people in that world.

"We should work together."

"Of course you think that, your powers are next to useless."

"Discrimination now isn\'t going to get us far."

"Maybe it will, maybe it won\'t. It\'s the law of the jungle now—the strong make the rules and the weak follow them." The man said with a sneer.

Kiro knew before his name was called out, who the man was. The resemblance was uncanny.

"Blakeson, hold your tongue!"

Kiro shook his head, "just when you think maybe something went wrong down the line only to find out this shitty attitude of theirs runs in the family."

"Why should I do that Mrs. Waynworth? The world has always been run by the rich, this is no different." He looked at the woman with disgust.

Kiro moved faster than he intended. He couldn\'t recognise the woman because there was nothing on her that resembled his. Not the blue eyes, not the brown skin, not the curly hair. He surmised she must\'ve married into the Waynworths just like his mother.

"Why\'s this woman even here? Percival should be. She\'s as useless as those who received lesser gifts." Another man chimed in.

"I\'m still in the room, you know? And I won\'t stand for your insolence."

"Or what? Gonna send your husband. Percival is strong but he can\'t take on all of us."

The woman shrunk in her seat. She knew they were right. She was one of the 1st percentile that didn\'t get any powers, but because of this her husband was blessed with terrifyingly strong powers.

"Tsk. How dare they talk to my great great times hundred grandma like that!"

Chronos didn\'t answer, he instead changed the scene to something else.

And Kiro couldn\'t believe his eyes.