The New world: Part 1

Twenty years.

I had been inside the cocoon for twenty years.

That was more than a quarter the lifespan of an average living human being. 

The entire system had changed. The entire world had changed.

The Cor's had managed to reach the Tier's 6 and 7.

The spacial nodes had been destabilized, and the Cors were now free to invade both here and the living world as well.

This led to the military forces being heavily deployed in the living world. 

Before the world's expansion, any Cor in the realm of the living was just a result of a spirit and a heavily negative Da rich environment.

On average, there were a dozen or so Cor per day. A single spirit in every major city was enough.

Now? Every day, there were hundreds of them passing the dimensional walls, requiring a constant watch along with teleporters constantly ready for activation, waiting to deploy spirits as soon as a Cor was detected too far from any stationed spirits.

They couldn't be left alone because they would seek out any living beings in their vicinity and attack them, which would lead to more negative Da and newly released spirits, creating more Cors, forming a feedback loop.

A scenario that would attract more powerful Cors, eventually to a full-blown apocalypse scenario, which could very well bring about the collapse of the dimensional walls.

What would happen then? Nothing good.

I let out a sigh and rubbed my eyebrows as I finished recalling all the information that had been injected into my mind.

I placed my hand on the railing as I looked up at the fake sky above me.

The light from a thousand lights that looked like stars hit my eyes as I gazed at the glowing circle in the distance.

I had been left alone after a few checks and a few instructions.

I had to report to Numoral tomorrow, and it was well into the night.

I could not fall asleep.

No matter how I tried, I could not shut my mind off as I did so many times before my second change.

I could feel no fatigue, be it mental or physical.

I looked down at the empty road below.

After a second of consideration, I jumped over the railing and plummeted down towards the paved road.

The 'Hand' hotel had been destroyed by a Cor a few years back, and this one was much smaller in size.

Two seconds after I jumped, I landed on the ground, a loud thud sounding as I slammed into the ground.

I pushed down on my palms as I lifted my face off of the ground. I stood up and looked at the shallow imprint where I landed, then looked up the railing from where I leapt.

Why had I done that?

I didn't know.

I could have injured myself, but for some reason, I knew a fall from that height wouldn't harm me. I could have tried to break my fall, but I didn't want to do that.

I wanted to try what the fall felt like.

Why?

I thought about it for a few moments, but I could not explain my own behaviour.

It was just because of a sudden want, an urge.

It was fun, the sensation of falling, and I didn't feel any pain from the landing either.

I started walking around the city.

It was very, very different from what I remembered.

But that made sense; it had been twenty years, and for more than half of that time, every few days, there had been a Cor accidentally entering a spacial node and landing in the middle of the city.

Unlike the situation in the living world, the Cors heading toward the world of the dead could not be monitored.

You needed to be outside the world to monitor the traffic heading towards it.

The excess amount of living beings in the living world blocked almost all information due to the absolutely enormous amount of Da they released every day. 

And if a station was established in Noxtheīa, it would attract some very bad attention. Not to mention that it was unneeded. 

So the only traffic flow that could be observed safely and efficiently were the beings going from Noxtheīa to the living world and vice versa.

This led to the defense division being permanently deployed in the city.

"What are you doing so late at night?"

And now one of their members decided to stop me.

His badge told me that he wasn't even an officer, and his Da told me that he was new to his work.

I sent out a pulse, and the feedback I gained from it informed me that he was alone and that there was no other warrior nearby.

"Hey! Are you deaf?" He seemed to have taken offense to the fact that I ignored him and decided to shout at me.

I looked at him in silence, wondering about how I should deal with him.

I could ignore him and just walk away, but that would anger him further. I could use Raftaar and disappear from his vision, or I could knock him out.

I suddenly stopped my thoughts.

Why did I think about attacking him?

Unfortunately for the spirit, he chose to shout at me again.

"Hey!"

The next moment, he flew backwards as my fist struck him in his abdomen.

He landed after twenty meters, and I could sense that his shell had been cracked open.

The next instant, I was beside him, with my palm on his wound as I tried to patch him up.

A glow emanated from my palm and flowed into the cracks, fixing them.

I stood back up.

Why had I attacked him?

His raised voice had irritated me, but I had been irritated before and hadn't struck out like this.

Was there something special about this spirit?

I thought about it and decided that I should take him with me, just in case he did have something special about him.

I grabbed his leg and lifted, placing him on my shoulder as I continued my walk.