After their successful prison escape, Ray, Emma, and the other Grace Field children above the age of five venture out into the new world that they know nothing about.
✦ What will they possibly encounter in this world ruled by demons - and demons alo...
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"Please, tell us. What happened to humanity thirty years ago? What's going on with the world?" Emma's voice resonated with curiosity, her eyes locked onto Sonju. The room seemed to hold its breath as they all silently waited for his answer, the air electric with anticipation.
"Nothing." Sonju's voice was calm and measured, his expression unchanged as if he were discussing the weather
Their eyes widened in disbelief, pupils dilating with a mixture of shock and bewilderment. It was as if reality had just been shattered, replaced by a truth they had never fathomed. This was not the answer they had anticipated, and yet, it was the conundrum they were handed.
"Nothing in particular. 30 years you say," Sonju's words unfurled slowly, like tendrils of smoke curling through the room. "I've no idea how you came up with that number, but... the world has been like this for a long, long time,"
"What do you mean?" asked Emma. Her fingers clenched unconsciously, as if seeking reassurance in the tactile world around her.
"Could it be that..." Ray's voice trailed off, "This isn't Earth at all?"
"Huh?" Emma's brow furrowed, her confusion tangling with the complexity of Ray's assertion. The atmosphere shifted, a sense of disorientation settling upon them as they grappled with the possibility that reality was far more indefinite than they had ever imagined.
"If this planet isn't Earth, it would explain the absurd biology we have been seeing," Ray explained.
"Nay," Sonju's voice was definitive, cutting through the speculative air like a blade.
"The calendar, then? The dates were a lie, too? We're not in 2046 at all, but much-"
"Nay." Sonju interjected, his voice steelier this time, "We're on planet Earth, yes, and precisely in the year 2046. Well, according to a certain human reckoning, at least. If you have no idea about anything this world had to offer, then I shall tell you the stories of old. When the world was much bigger than it is today."
It was a great wild world indeed. Back then, there were no "plantations." The land was huge and full of humans... and the "demons" could just prey on them and survive. The "demons" were the hunters... and the humans, the hunted. Some humans feared those beings and worshiped them. Others grew vengeful and they themselves became the hunters. In fear of being eaten, these humans ended up killing large swathes of "demons"... who, in turn, started to actively begrudge the human race, too.
Endless massacres ensued. Both sides lived in terror. Finally, when neither one could bear the destruction any longer, a proposal came from the human side.
