Crystal Clouds: Ad Astra

Almost 7000 years ago the end of the archaic and savage global system would be marked to make way for progress and the current order.

The holy war for the rings had ended a couple of years ago, leaving desolation and death in its wake. The world tried to reorganize itself but it was impossible because of their ignorance. The results were not the desired ones, between the miscegenation that spread for the salvation of certain ethnic groups and the decline of beliefs. They were forced to create two factions: those that despite the fact that these "gods" played according to their wishes with the lives of the people of this world, continued to believe in them above all else and those who chose to cut ties seeking their freedom by cursing them, and that they were seen as mere puppets at the mercy of the puppeteer.

The former remained faithful and were blessed by their "gods" who only took all beliefs about them as a joke, but the latter were literally abandoned and disowned by every minor god and condemned to not being able to free and maneuver their mana freely. They were called Nightcrawlers, since their "magic", as they called it, was blocked at the root, to be thrown into the now-extinct continent of iron.

Faced with such a scenario, a primordial being did not tolerate the course that events would take and looking for more fun, he embarked on the task of creating chaos at its best. None of the lesser gods could interfere and less go against this being, since they would end up being his food. Therefore, they all chose to give the green light to what would come next. The primordial being did not warn the nightcrawlers about him or the most dangerous power he would be giving them as a gift, he simply gave it to them: The Wisdom of the Worlds.

Everyone made fun of the nightcrawlers, not knowing that they would be the alpha and omega of their world in the short and long term. The nightcrawlers awakened divine curiosity and began to create from simple objects for daily use to the most complex artifacts. Centuries passed and their fame as wise craftsmen and engineers grew ever greater to the point that they were called to every corner of the planet to intervene in public and institutional order, the construction of infrastructure and machinery or to start commercial businesses. But all perfection has its counterpart.

The new countries greedy for that wisdom wanted to obtain it for their personal gain and they forged how to capture them permanently on their continent. By not being able to use "magic" they could not deal with the invaders, ending up as slaves manufacturing non-stop for them. While this was happening, the son of the primordial being came out to play in this new playground as he had successfully finished his task in another world. Taking the avatar of a nightcrawler he set out to prepare for fun, fomenting hatred and destruction.

Luciano Nikola, as an electromechanical engineer excelled in almost all industrial areas and quietly vice the minds of his peers with futuristic visions of a way out of his nightmare. To show that his theories were not wrong, he contributed to conceiving the key to his jail; mana blockers. Seeing themselves liberated, with Nikola's guidance they organized against their enemies creating weapons, shields and technology that exceeded expectations in the war that broke out and would not last more than a year in favor of the nightcrawlers. Despite having their files and experiments looted by unknown organizations, they went ahead without looking back.

Almost 1000 years had passed since they were isolated on their continent of almost 33 million km² and which they christened Crystal Clouds. There they concentrated on creating outrageously and expanding underground. Neighboring continents whose countries barely preserved some artifacts and machinery viewed with suspicion and envy the abundance in which the nightcrawlers lived and wished to take over the continent. The nearest continent Murums, had the courage to attack Crystal Clouds, while the others would be waiting to enter this war as allies or scavengers.

Crystal Clouds was not stupid, as it had under constant surveillance the 3 continents that used them as toys since Nikola had given them the guidelines to follow in case someone decided to attack them and they created the ultimate weapon that they would use to give the warning to those deaf ears and the perfect threat for anyone who dares even want to go beyond their limits. Murums, believing he could lead the attack, deployed his army but could not leave their continent.

A voice echoed around the world to introduce itself as the Republics of Helium and Jupiter. Then images like on a split screen of the entire Murums continent and Crystal Clouds surrounded by a semi transparent dome were made visible in the sky so that anyone who did not believe in the words of Crystal Clouds would be a witness to what the enemies would bring. . A global scale earthquake between 7 and 9.5 degrees was generated followed by tsunamis on the coasts.

The numbers of lives lost and infrastructures were enormous but what caused the most horror was the visualization that the epicenter was Crystal Clouds and that it was floating on the ocean and continued to rise towards the skies. The continent had become an ultra defense megastructure. The inhabitants had worked day and night for years to make it, and from the base stood inverted citadels with antennas and gadgets with bright lights with a tower of around 500 stories in the middle.

Once it reached the mesosphere at an altitude of almost 90 km, the voice was present to give the final warning and make its position clear before the unwary who wished to enter or attack his new world: The Ray of Sun. Day became night and like the brightness of a star, the brilliant Crystal Clouds was visible to the naked eye. Light began to form from the tip of the inverted tower, emitting a beam of particles that pointed directly at Murums.

Murums received the shock wave and like a dream, the iridescent light swallowed the entire continent leaving a hole in the ocean of 19 million km² followed by aftershocks of other global cataclysms; hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions with landslides from neighboring continents and countries. The blast wave was over 200 megatons and had stunned the world with terror and panic in less than 14 minutes.

The day of judgment had arrived and whoever carried the scythe of death said goodbye to this uncivilized world. That day 2 continents disappeared from the face of the planet. The event would be recorded in history as the "Dawn of Silence" and would be the restart for everyone.

Where once there was the trace of two continents, it was clogged with the ocean forming the "Twin of Destiny" sea trenches and the surrounding southern islands were uninhabited and avoided to forget the memory of their stupidity. The area became inaccessible over the centuries to date. The world knew horror and never wanted to see it again. The nightcrawlers were still being born but they were no longer equal to their predecessors and as a revenge for the damage caused, they were labeled useless, ignorant and disposable. They were attacked and violated. Almost none of them passed their childhood or adolescence due to suicide or murder.

Crystal Clouds never stopped watching over the inhabitants of the world at their feet, as they counted on that one day they would have to make themselves heard again and due to certain information left by Nikola, who claimed that outsiders to this world would come to take revenge and purge that damn vermin-infested place. For millennia they waited patients for these characters, preparing everything for their arrival. And as if it were a self-fulfilling prophecy, they just kept creating artifacts and technologies. That motivation made them conquer the moons and reach the stars.