Chapter 280: Despair for the human race
In the southern lands of the part of Pangea once known as South America, within the regions of Brazil and Argentina...
Corruption zones littered the plains as the dark vile essence of corruption thrived. The stormy clouds swirled dark, and the winds howled ominous songs of death and sorrow.
And despite how turbulent and violent the lands had become, humans still survived against all odds. Evolvers had still thrived.
Humans had picked their nations from the scraps it had become. They had seen the world quest, they knew what was coming.
Their lives, the loves of their loved ones, and their species as a whole lay at stake. They had to win this war no matter the cost, no matter the means.
They were ready... at least they thought they were...
A sea of evolvers lay in wait at the borders of the safe zone, waiting for the inevitable — a war that would have no mercy.
The type this planet had possibly never seen before. Evolvers of various ages, of varied professions, all rallied for this confrontation.
Some were once teachers, some were mechanics, there were even a few students and former homeless individuals, but they had all abandoned these identities.
Today there was no class, no ethnic differences — only humans!
The crowd held a silence that was meant to be impossible for their sheer numbers, but they held it regardless.
They fastened their weapons as their muscles clenched, and the winds howled with songs of battle. Their eyes shone with determined glints.
And then their enemies appeared — four specks of dots in the distant tumultuous skies. They didn’t know what it was, but the direction and speed made them understand clearly that this was coming straight for them.
Had their enemies mastered flying technologies? After all, the only ones that could still traverse the sky were the great Uncle Sam, the leader of the allied nations.
So did that mean reinforcement was here?
But the battle had barely begun, so that assumption didn’t make sense.
Confused, the commanders heading the numerous human evolvers held their hands high, signaling for the others to wait.
No one spoke, no one moved. Their eyes trained up to the sky, glued to whatever was heading their way in bathed fearful breaths.
And then they heard it — like thunder peeling against the skies, rumbling with a great primal savageness that commanded reverence.
Their ears rang, and their hearts shook. Grips tightened over weapons, legs trembled, and hearts palpitated in strong erratic rhythm.
That... That was no thunder... that was no jet noise... that was unmistakably the roar of a predator!
One their blood remembered, one that drew visceral fear from the depths of their hearts. Wills faltered, determinations crumbled.
Whooooom!!!!!
With a heavy wash of stormy gales, the first of the four arrived... close enough for the human eye to register what it was!
"God have mercy!" a commander croaked with a trembling voice, his legs going weak as he collapsed to his knees.
A wash of primal predatory presence swept through the surface of the earth, the temperature rising at the mere presence of this creature.
The human evolvers’ fighting spirits crumbled. They didn’t even register the cloud of dust that rose in the distant horizon, signaling the arrival of more foes.
There was just this hopelessness they felt — the type that put a rat under paralysis the moment it found itself before a cat.
The type of fear a prey felt when it came before an apex predator.
A hopelessness that quenched the belief that they could win this war, and left only despair to thrive in their hearts.
No one screamed, no one ran. Their eyes just went dull, and their grips over their weapons weakened.
Sure, there were a few outliers that still tried to hold onto hope and rally the others. But that was the most dangerous thing about demoralization — the reason war waged against the mind was so effective.
Was the fact that despair was so contagious!
Three more dragons coated in scales of gleaming fiery streaks of ruby red, eyes burning like bright golden lamps.
Their vertical slits lined by obsidian rims that held together the darkness within, focused on the sea of human prey.
Wrath, glee, and hunger burned in their hearts... The maws parted in sync as an earth‑quaking bellow reverberated out of their throats.
"Humans! Die!"
The roar clapped against the skies, and the winds howled with a more fervent intensity.
Their words were understandable to all, and all the humans understood deep in their hearts then and there that this wasn’t a mere chant, nor was it a furious bellow — it was a declaration.
The dragons wanted them all dead, and dead they would be!
They stared at the sky with slacked shoulders, as four maws parted facing various directions, their throats visibly pulsing with a disastrous current.
Ashes of darkness billowed from their snouts, as the jagged teeth gleamed in full display, highlighted by the glowing charge undulating from their throats.
Their eyes burned with fervent light, and they heaved!
It was a simple action, but the world itself reacted. Winds halted, the skies turned even darker grey, as the temperature rose to stifling intensities.
It was as though everything vanished, and then a pillar of red blinded all. Embers of fury scraped against the earth, decimating the human army who couldn’t even put up a form of resistance even if they tried.
There was no time to scream, as they were turned to ashes in an instant. The pillar of flames pouring from the throats of the monstrous entities spread damage far and wide, leaving nothing but a trail of billowing ash and earth turned obsidian in their wake!
The evolvers shivered seeing what was becoming of the front‑line troops. Their conviction crumbled as they panicked and ran, fear filling their veins, cries of panic and despair filling the air.
There was nothing they could do! There was no way they would win against dragons!
The dragon flames calmed as the beasts snapped their maws shut, their eyes pulsing as they prepared another charge to eradicate these insects.
Humans? How dare they claim to be hegemons... How dare a monkey claim to be king of the forest?
What utter ridiculousness. There was no way noble creatures like them, divine flames made flesh, would bow to such a lowly race.
Today was the day they would remind the human race as a whole of the true terror of the Flame Dragons!
Their eyes spilled golden currents of fervor, as a charge of crimson climbed up their throats, snarling as ashy smoke steamed out of their snouts. Their maws parted.
Behind the dragons, armies of a race once called the Fae people — a dominant race that once ruled this land in times of ancient past.
A race said to thrive in the spirituality of nature, and this time they were back to claim what was theirs.
These scourges called humans had inhabited their ancestral grounds for long enough, and today they would feed the spirits of the ancestors with rivers of blood for atonement!
Furious war cries quaked as they marched forward in orderly formations, numbering so much they dyed the entire horizon dark!
The dragons would destroy the human frontiers, and they would finish the rest. That was the plan!
Unlike what the humans would have thought, this war wasn’t going to be fair. All myriad races had entered a temporary alliance between themselves.
All with the sole goal of seeing to the extinction of the human race!
There would be no chaos, only a strategic and cohesive mix of enemies that would grind at the human race’s edge till they triumphed!
The ground shook as the sea of Fae marched with murderous but controlled and disciplined intent.
While the dragons wreaked rampage across the fleeing humans.
This wasn’t a war. It was nothing but a pitiful and unfair genocide.
And it was meant to end that way. The humans’ fates should have been sealed.
Both the Fae and the dragons were so sure of victory, another alternative never crossed their minds.
After all, what was to be expected when superior beings marched with a unified purpose to destroy a lesser race?
Then what was this feeling?
The vanguard leader of the Fae soldiers suddenly felt a thick sense of foreboding, and his heart palpitated.
What was this feeling? Why was a sudden wave of aversion overwhelming his senses?
He would have doubted these feelings, but his race was so in tune with nature. Senses like these weren’t to be taken lightly.
Even the dragons in the skies suddenly felt something wasn’t right.
Not literally, but it was as though the world itself was reacting to a looming presence, and they picked up on it.
They snarled harshly, as their wings swept backward. Piloted by pure instincts, they carried themselves further back.
Their eyes glowed with wariness, but the plain still remained relatively normal. A second passed, then ten.
But it all remained the same, save for the commotion of fleeing pathetic humans. Nothing... so
what—
Thought processes halted abruptly, as a rift tore in the distant space of the human side. A gaping tunnel into the void bled into reality.
And the worldly reaction they felt grew more palpable, almost... almost as though the world was welcoming a presence.
The enemy races halted their advance and watched in nervous stances, breaths held as the void warp fully formed, and a foot coated in deep silver metallic gear stepped out.
And the world essence quaked...