Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!

Chapter 98: Chapter 98 - After the Great Mystique War

Before Eieneos fell during the great mystique war, the empress of Eieneos at that time had an audience with the deity form of the world tree. Both higher beings are able to see a glimpse of what the future holds so since it was something that they could not avoid and they are not allowed to meddle with the natural order of things or the free will of beings, they can only plan the best course of action that will result to the least number of possible negative consequences for the things that will happen next.

For the preservation of the future, the world tree chose to put his soul and a small fraction of his life essence and mystique mana inside a new golden world tree seed that is set to be planted in the new realm in the future. He left the remaining 90% of his mana and life essence on the tree body that stood at the core of the world tree realm at that time. This sacrifice made his soul incredibly weak but he hopes that with this, he can at least maintain the state of the existing world tree realm for as long as possible for the races that are still living in it. The empress and imperial consort of Eieneos even tried to stop the world tree from giving up too much of his life essence but he said that he still wants to take care of his people till the end even if it leaves him weak for an indefinite amount of time when he revives in the future.

As for the Eieneans, they started their plan to preserve their lineage by first having the only heir of the royal family, the princess, moved to a distant world via soul transfer. As for the four heirs of the founding families, they were hidden inside the palace while being preserved in an indefinite sleeping state. They also made sure to place the new seed of the world tree for safekeeping within the safest point inside the palace. They then set up an empire-wide magic circle to sacrifice the life force of all the remaining Eieneans to close off the realm of Eieneos indefinitely and in secret, place a harsh penalty to the mystique races that will be left behind. It’s just that they didn’t expect that the spell was too strong that it spread even to the humans and the rest of the world. The spell that they have released was so strong that it resulted to their bodies dissipating and their souls forcefully included in the cycle of mortal reincarnation.

As the war ended and with Eieneos closing its doors to the world, it resulted to the disappearance of the ruling family of Rosenoir. The elves who have renamed themselves as ”high” elves and the heralds who deemed themselves as the messenger of the gods proclaimed themselves as the new owners of the world. They held festivities left and right for almost a month as if celebrating the massacre that they have just committed. The only thing in their minds was the power they finally received and the fact that they were victorious in the last war. It never crossed their minds that they killed and oppressed others to gain what they currently have.

They included even the human realm as part of their ownership since they always thought of humans as the weaker and less fortunate race, maybe even the weakest among all races so they simply assumed that somebody has to rule over them and make sure they don’t die off as if it was their god-given responsibility.

The elves went from one racial territory to another imposing to everybody in this world that they are the new owners. They started forcing their authority on all the other living beings by using a mix of promises, rewards and threats. When the first plan did not work for some of the races and territories they approached, they used force by showcasing what a living being that has an almost infinite mana and lifespan can do by killing off some humans as an example to future rebellious ones.

Once the other races have accepted their rule, they started requiring offerings and tributes like imitating some kind of a god or king. If this was done against another religion, they would have been excommunicated due to the blasphemous things that they have claimed themselves to be and all the things they have done to other beings till now. They came as if assuming that humans did not have their own laws, rules and governing families.

As for the humans, what can they do in the face of sheer power and numbers? It was definitely degrading but they had to choose the option where they can survive and keep the peace even for just a little longer.

Due to the almost immortal lifespans of the mystiques and throughout the years of their forced leadership, they were able to successfully breed their puppet leaders by putting families that are obedient to them as leaders of human territories. By doing this, they can control the territories and monopolize certain resources that they needed for their own kin at the expense of humans and other races.

The humans’ role in this world became similar to slaves or even livestock to the elves and heralds. The anger and fear that humans felt in their beings were so deeply rooted in their minds that the story of the cruelty and the very tough times the previous generations experienced were passed on as stories from one generation to the next even until the present time.

Even up to now, most humans try to veer away from mystiques in general due to their fear even though the only ones that sinned were the elves and heralds. On the other hand, some humans will still put benefits over the danger to their lives so they would still gladly get close to mystiques as long as they can get what they needed out of the relationship or the deal.

The relationship was complicated and toxic. Elves hated humans because they think that they were weak but had to keep them since they are still useful. Humans hated elves because they were cruel and greedy but they still found them generous and alluring. Each simply lived playing the game of using each other to gain something.

The visions sped up for some time until it stopped when the time that the people who have personally joined the war got sick one by one. Nobody knew what happened and how an immortal body can just gradually die, their previously high health recovery rates totally halted.

After the death of many individuals, mana gradually decreased in the world and at the same time less and less children are born every year. Those that were luckily born were sickly, weak and have very low talent in using mana. It came to a point that no child was ever born even after several years. The races lost their ability to keep their disguises as humans and most can only keep their original countenances.

Eventually, they noticed their lifespans shortening and the resources in the world tree realm are not that plentiful anymore. The races that have been used to having infinitely renewable resources now have started to experience droughts, starvation and even epidemics that used to only affect humans who have mortal bodies.

The visions sped up again and this time it showed a more desolate world tree realm. Some of the outer areas that are farthest from the core of the world tree has gone back to the time when the realm was just formed. Those farther areas became dark, desolate and a place that could not support life. The different races had to move to the inner parts of the realm to survive.

As for the elves and heralds, they have already occupied the innermost part of the area which was farthest away from the phenomenon that they called ”decay”. Other races that did not have any areas left to stay in have decided to leave the world tree realm with as many resources as they can bring with them and look for a place in the human realm where that can create a sanctuary for themselves.

Being the weakest of all races, the beastmen and the fairies were the ones that were booted out first from the realm. As revenge for the other races that did not care for the life and death of the beastmen and fairies, these races made sure to take every single thing that was useful in the territories they left behind. They don’t want anything to be left for the elves and heralds to plunder after they leave. Just like the continuous decay of the outermost parts of the realm, the resources that were harvested did not replenish like it used to but instead turned as part of the decay after just a few days. This mindless and greedy harvesting of resources have further increased the pace of the spread of decay.

While all these things were happening, the world tree was quietly watching as if everything that was happening has nothing to do with him. He has already seen in his visions what will happen next so he doesn’t see the need to do anything. Gone was the fear and panic he felt when the races were fighting for power and resources. The more that the end of the realm he created was closing in, the calmer he felt. I guess calm was not the right term as I assessed the emotions I am receiving from the link that we shared.

It started with a sense of relief that he doesn’t have to provide for these ungrateful beings anymore then it was followed by the sense of anger and the strong want to punish them for all the hardships that he has gone through only for the realm he painstakingly created to be destroyed by a petty need to be in control of power.

After the extreme high and low of his emotions, as if doing a quick clear cache on all these, all I felt was numbness and complete indifference on the welfare of everybody left in the realm. The last scene was a view of a cold and indifferent face of a true deity staring from a higher ground gazing towards the other races and everything that was happening in the world.