"O-one… One billion?… So many managed to survive?!"
This news shocked John to his core, while everyone else in the room looked confused. They had no clue how much one billion was. Only Amayeta and the lead scientist, Migsi, had so idea about its enormous size.
Sera just continued smiling kindly but proudly, while waiting for John to calm down. Eventually, he took a deep, shuddering breath and spoke while suppressing the tears in his eyes.
"I see. That's really fortunate… I hoped the other continents fared better than us, but I never imagined anything on this scale… For 28 years, I waited for anyone to contact us. I started to believe that nobody's left out there… Thank you for bringing hope, Ms. Sera!"
The angelic woman nodded with appreciation. She gently patted the elderly man's wrinkly hand, and asked the question that's been bothering her all day.
"I'm also happy to see other humans managing to survive, but I must ask why are there no Evolved here? Also, what happened in North-Arica during the Apocalypse?… As you know, every electronic fried after the Apocalypse, so we lost all communications!"
John looked confused when hearing the word 'Evolved', like it had no aning in his vocabulary. He began thinking for a while, before finally realizing what Sera was referring to.
"Ah, you an people with those abilities! They all died when the great trees and monsters appeared. So managed to survive for years, but eventually all of them died out, and nobody showed signs of power afterward."
Sera nodded silently in understanding. A lot of people beca Evolved when the Apocalypse happened. However, afterward only people born from Evolved showed any powers.
It's very strange, and Sera always wondered why no new Evolved are born from regular humans. Neither she, nor Mary or anybody else could figure out how or why it happened.
Even Harold deed it an unsolvable mystery. At least, that's what he said to Sera while torturing her. He often tis talked about his research, but Sera couldn't really focus on his words while suffering from imnse pain.
But the more Sera thought about John's words, the more confused she beca. In Europe, they managed to survive the initial hordes of monsters, but this wasn't the case for North-Arica.
"I get why there aren't any Evolved here, but I'm curious. What happened 28 years ago? What caused this mass extinction? North-Arica had a few billion humans, but now there are only thirty thousand!"
John sighed with exhaustion and motioned for his granddaughter. Without question, Pakwa rushed off and brought a chair for her grandfather. His knees cracked loudly as he sat on the chair.
"I'm unsure where to start exactly, but I guess the day when the Gates opened would be the best. I fought at the Martian Frontline near its moons, but just before the Apocalypse, they sent back to Earth… That day was worse than anything I saw during the Last War…"
He rubbed his sweaty, trembling hands against each other, while keeping his gaze on the wood floor.
"It started off normally, people living their lives, news coming from the frontlines. There were no signs, at least nothing for us regular folk. We were enjoying the day, when suddenly these Gates began opening, and monsters poured right into our city centers!"
The room stayed awfully quiet while John talked. Most of them were alive during Apocalypse, but they were all children. They might've rembered the fear, but they couldn't recall exactly what happened.
"The military could barely react… After just a few days, around ninety percent of North-Arica ceased to exist! Billions died, devoured by monsters!… However, sothing even worse happened afterward…"
The old man reached down and gently touched the great tree's wooden trunk.
"A few weeks after the initial destruction, the survivors managed to build resistance against the monsters. We fought them and killed them, but one day, while hiding behind our walls, we heard a strange sound… Like the breaking of chains…"
"By the next day, the Great Forest grew into existence. So say it started in the middle of North-Arica, but we never received confirmation. These trees didn't care about any infrastructure. They grew through buildings, destroying any surviving cities!"
Sadness showed clearly on the older council mbers, since while they couldn't fully rember the Apocalypse, they had clear mories about the Great Forest's appearance.
"The forest destroyed all our makeshift defenses. We had to leave our cities, because they beca an easy hunting ground for the monsters! But the forests weren't any better. Each day, we lost thousands from our already dwindling numbers."
"We marched through the endless forest for months. At first, a million of us managed to escape the city. However, that large number soon led to starvation, culling the weak and old… After the first month, only half of the initial number remained…"
John stayed silent, again struggling to hold back his tears. Amayeta slowly rolled up beside his chair and held the elderly man's hand, supporting him.
He glanced at the doctor's hand, and saw the silvery bracelet with the whitish-green gemstone, gently glowing. There was a deep curiosity evident in his gaze, but instead of asking questions, he continued with the story.
"Our modern weapons died down one-by-one, while our ammo count reached zero. After a few months, only the few Evolved could stand against the monster hordes, but they also began dying out…"
"When we began losing hope, we found this Tree. Monsters didn't co close usually, and they always attacked from the ground. We made this place our ho, and founded the Village… Sadly, less than a hundred thousand humans made it here…"
As John finished the story, Sera began walking around thoughtfully, while glancing at the room's walls, ceiling, and foundation.
While the story gave Sera much insight into North-Arica's state and history, she couldn't shake this strange feeling in her gut. Like soone was constantly watching her… Soone she couldn't see…
However, the bigger issue was the Village, or more like the Tree it occupied. Monsters don't just ignore places for no reason. They only avoid areas, if it's a much scarier beast's territory!
Confused, she knocked on the wood, but it did nothing. The wood felt ordinary, maybe a bit too robust, but normal trees couldn't grow hundreds of ters tall, without strong support.
After a few minutes of silence, during which everyone stared at Sera with either confusion or suspicion, the Angel finally smiled kindly and turned back towards John.
"Thank you for the story! I'm sorry you had to go through sothing so awful, and I'll help the Village survive… No, I'll help you thrive!"
John, Amayeta and Migsi, the lead scientist, all looked excited, while Pakwa, the lead scout; Kaliska, the lead cook; and Aponivi, the lead engineer, all looked bored.
Kangee just continued staring at Sera's voluptuous chest, and the only one with anything to say was Whakan, the lead guard.
"And who the hell decided we need your help? We don't even know anything about you! Are you even human?! Because the wings behind your back are telling the opposite! How do we know you aren't a monster!"
Sera already had a feeling there would be at least one dislikable person within the council mbers. Humans were inherently selfish, so soone with the title of 'the strongest fighter' didn't want an even more powerful person near him.
Luckily, she knew how to handle these people. Generally, she could recall two ways to solve this problem.
First, she couldn't beat the shit out of Whakan, which would break his high ego. It would also prove how little his title ans, which would further crush him.
The second thod was more diplomatic and fun. She would tell everyone here her story. While this thod wouldn't work with a regular person, Sera's life was the farthest from easy.
She was certain, just by telling them her tale, Whakan would back down and she would even gain more people's trust!
With an annoyed sigh, Sera grew a chair from her silvery tal… Actually, it was closer to a throne, which was strange since she ant to summon an ordinary chair…
Sera sat down and gazed into everyone's awed eyes with a cunning smile. Most of them, other than John, couldn't recall how powerful Evolved was, so this little convenient magic trick already grabbed everyone's attention.
"You're perfectly right, Whakan! You don't know ! None of you have any clue if I'm lying or not! I could be a monster, or sothing else entirely and you couldn't even tell!… So, let share my story with you all, and afterward you can decide if I'm human or not!"
Everyone, including Whakan, nodded at her proposal. They all got chairs for themselves, then sat in a circle, waiting for Sera to begin.
The Angel thought for a mont, unsure where to begin exactly. Should she tell them about Europe's history? Or, just starting from the fall of Newber?
Eventually, she decided to begin with the most obvious starting point… Her birth!
However, before she began speaking to everyone, Sera leaned forward and whispered to the wooden ground…
"Pay attention, whatever you are! I'm sure this story will interest you too! The tale of the Last Angel!"
The floorboards suddenly croaked below Sera's chair, which caused the angelic woman to chuckle silently. Her guess was indeed correct… The Tree was sentient!
Sera straightened herself and leaned back in her chair. She glanced into everyone's eyes with a small smirk as she began telling her own story.
"Roughly 22 years ago, in a place far away from this Village, a child nad Seraphine was born. This child was quite special, you could even say… She was a little angel!"
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