Chapter 230 - 230: The Last Human

"Not all knowledge is a blessing. Some truths are heavy enough to crush a god."

The air in Terralia's hallowed sanctuary was thick with ozone and the metallic tang of divine blood, a grim testament to her brutal battle with Mainu. Slumped against a massive, crystal column, her immense, radiant form bore heavy marks. Deep gashes leaked golden ichor, and the very light emanating from her scales flickered, unstable and dim. The great doors of the temple slid open, and a portal shimmering behind them, as three figures strode in: Loki, followed by the archdemon Lucifer and the archangel Gabriel. They knelt before her, the stolen dragon egg, still encased in its obsidian crystal, floating gently before them.

"My lord," Loki said, his voice a rare mix of reverence and concern. "We have retrieved the egg. It is secured."

Terralia's weary eyes opened, her gaze settling on the pulsing orb. "Yes, thank you, young warriors." Her voice, a strained whisper of its former grandeur, was laced with exhaustion. Loki and the others watched her, their own relief overshadowed by the sight of her injuries. In this state, they knew, she could not survive another encounter with Mainu, let alone emerge victorious.

A new figure then entered the temple, a transcendant in a flowing white robe whose small, neatly-trimmed goatee shimmered with ethereal light. He was a half-human, half-Lemurian hybrid, and his form radiated a serene, powerful energy that soothed the chaotic atmosphere. "Yeshua," Terralia said, her voice laced with relief. "You have arrived."

He bowed slightly, his movements deliberate and graceful. "Yes, my lord. I came as soon as I felt the disruption."

Terralia continued, her eyes fixed on the egg. "I'm afraid we only have a short time. We must get this done now, before he returns."

Yeshua nodded, approaching the egg. He placed his hand on the obsidian crystal, closing his eyes as he channeled pure, incandescent light energy onto it. Terralia, gathering what little power she had left, channeled her own fading light as well. For a tense moment, the egg shimmered, the dark chaos energy and the pure light energy fighting for dominance. But it was only for a moment. To their horror, the chaos energy began to devour the light, spreading like an ink stain across the shell, suffocating the nascent glow until it vanished completely.

Yeshua sighed, a look of profound disappointment on his face. "My lord, it would seem your child needs to be maintained with light for a very long time. I do not have the strength alone, and you…"

His words trailed off as a new portal opened behind them, its surface a familiar, unsettling green. Lucifer and Gabriel immediately stood at the ready, their weapons drawn, as did Loki, his hand on a hidden blade. The hooded figure from Atlantis—the one who had activated the bomb fragment—stepped through. "I apologize for the intrusion," he said, his voice low and devoid of emotion. "But there is nothing wrong with your child, oh lord Terralia."

Terralia, confused and angered by the interruption, snarled softly. "Who are you, stranger? And what do you know of my child?"

Loki, recognizing the mysterious figure, quickly interjected. "Oh, right. My lord, I apologize, but he is the child that Hephaestus found. His identity is… a bit of a mystery."

Terralia's weary gaze was piercing. "Is that so? Then answer me again. Who are you? And what do you mean by nothing is wrong with my child?"

The hooded figure paused, then slowly reached up and unfurled his cowl. His left eye was a glowing, ethereal blue, and delicate, flowing circuits were etched onto his left cheek, as if an advanced technological implant was fused with his very flesh. "Let me introduce myself," he said. "I am Lethunia XIV, the five-thousand-four-hundred-sixteenth emperor of Mankind. I am the last human alive, sent from the Richardian Age, 407,815 years from now."

The gods were stunned into a frozen silence. Loki's jaw dropped. "Wait… what do you mean, 'the last human'? What happened?"

Lethunia's expression was unreadable, his gaze cold and distant. "As of now, revealing specific information might change the course of history, I might only share the general information, so I apologize if I withhold some information. But sharing the information about your child's state is vital to the current timeline. Nothing is wrong with Mersillia."

Terralia's breath hitched, her immense body trembling. "Who is Mersillia?"

Lethunia did not answer with words. Instead, he raised a hand and a holographic projection shimmered into existence between them. It was a vast, breathtaking image of a dragon, the largest any of them had ever seen, its scales a beautiful mix of dark purple and golden stripes. It was over 1,500 feet long, swimming peacefully through the endless expanse of space, its face a picture of serene contentment. Terralia watched, transfixed, as tears, each a brilliant droplet of light, fell down her face. Her massive form instinctively approached the holographic image, a deep, maternal instinct overwhelming her.

"Is… is that her?" she whispered, wiping away the tears with a shimmering claw.

"Yes," Lethunia said. "That is your child. And as I said, nothing is wrong with her."

Terralia's voice trembled with a mix of awe and desperate confusion. "What do you mean? Why has she not hatched?"

Lethunia's reply was calm and precise, as if reciting a technical manual. "She is the first of her kind. A transcendent-draconian. The strongest one, born from chaos and light. She is not a normal draconian. A transcendent-draconian needs at least five hundred thousand years of incubation before it hatches."

The revelation hit Terralia with the force of a cosmic hammer. Five hundred thousand years. The fighting, the suffering, the sacrifices—all for nothing. Her hope turned to an unbearable horror, which quickly boiled into a volcanic rage. "Why did you only tell us now?!" she roared, her voice rising to a thunderous wave that shook the very foundation of the temple. "Our family wouldn't have been torn apart! There wouldn't be a war! All those lives—they didn't have to be sacrificed! Why didn't you say anything?!"

Her immense form slowly rose, towering over the diminutive figure of the human. A furious gaze, burning with the light of a dying star, burned down from two hundred eighty feet above. For the first time, Terralia was truly angry, not at her enemy, but at this placid, unfeeling messenger. Loki, Gabriel, and Lucifer, sensing the immense fury of the Light Dragon, slowly stepped away, their fear palpable, while Yeshua tried in vain to calm her.

Lethunia just stared back, unmoving, the blue light of his eye glowing steadily. "To stabilize the projected timeline, a great sacrifice must be made. A great change in humanity must occur to meet certain criteria."

Terralia's fury boiled over. "A great cost?! A small price?!" she roared, her foot raised and ready to crush him. "Millions of lives! Trillions of souls! Planets destroyed! Is that just a footnote in your plan?!"

"The hardest choices require the strongest wills," Lethunia replied, his calm breaking through her rage with the cold clarity of a knife.

Terralia charged, her foot coming down to crush him. Loki and the others recoiled, certain of the man's fate. But they were shocked. Even Terralia was stunned. The figure was protected by a barrier, shimmering in the same light-green energy as Lethunia's eye. He smiled, his gaze still fixed on Terralia.

"That's impossible," Terralia whispered, backing off, her anger replaced by a chilling terror. "Who… are you?"

Lethunia replied, his voice unchanged. "Like I said, I am Lethunia XIV, the last human and the last emperor. Ahh… I forgot. I'm also just a messenger sent by the founders."

The word hit Terralia like a death knell. She paled, her immense body trembling, her rage instantly shattered. The others didn't understand the full weight of the word, but the terror on the Light Dragon's face was unmistakable. The unique energy signature of his barrier, the cold, powerful light, confirmed his claim—he was a messenger of the founders. She recoiled, her head lowering in a gesture of profound submission. Her voice, once full of thunder, was now a fragile whisper. "I-I... I apologize. I was just... I had no idea."

Lethunia nodded. "No problem. Anyway, as I was saying, to further clarify, the humanity in the future where I was from… they were born as transcendents and trained their energy from a young age. After five thousand years of evolution, humanity became a spiritually and psionically advanced civilization, a civilization of peace and harmony. They had transcended the petty squabbles of flesh and sought enlightenment through the perfection of the mind and soul. They achieved true utopia, a golden age of serenity and unparalleled spiritual growth." He paused, allowing the weight of his words to settle.

"That was until a civilization from a lower dimension ripped a fabric in space, and terrifying monsters poured out. Before the founders could intervene, it was too late. The fabric between this universe and the lower dimensions had reached the point of no return. Eventually, I was the only human left."

"Everything was just pure chaos and slaughter."

"That was when Mersillia came to build a sense of hope in the galaxy. She and I explored planets, hoping for an answer. That was when we came across a ruined world. We found a dormant structure related to the founders. It showed me everything. Every question, every answer, every possible future. The future that you are headed towards now—the future where everything was okay, where your child's birth was normal—is the future I am from. And it is a future where everything eventually goes to ruin. It is a fixed time, a fixed point."

"And this… this is the nexus event. The future where everything will change is where everything must continue. You are to hide your child. The great flood will occur. A great change in humanity will occur, from a psionically advanced civilization of peace and harmony, to a scientifically and psionically advanced civilization of pure tyranny. A civilization born out of hatred and anger against the oppressors. A future of great endurance, a long, three-hundred-thousand-year galactic war with the dark dimension. A war for the galaxy's survival. It is the future with the highest chance of humanity surviving against the dark dimension. Peace collapses in the face of extinction. Only absolute control can silence the chaos."