Chương 1: Prologue
"Ragnarök, the great war of the gods, the Armageddon, the end times... for the so called 'gods' that is..."
As he looked towards the battlefield, the last surviving 'god' in this war mumbled as he tasted the bitter and metallic flavor of his blood that dripped from his orifices. He has used all the abilities he had, all the skills he learned since time immemorial. But in the end, everyone and everything perished. His father, his siblings, his country, his people... all gone in this one great disaster.
The Valkyries under his father, who once rode their Pegasi in the airs of the battlefield to find worthy warriors and bring them to Valhalla, were now just corpses ready to become fertilizer. Valhalla, oh such a wonderful place to go to after a glorious death in battle, now just ruins.
He smirked, "I guess... there's no place for those mortals anymore... heck... even immortals have no place here anymore..."
"Hahahahahaha... cough... cough..."
He laughed at his own immortality. He has lived thousands of years already, immortal... yes. Invulnerable... no. When an ice spear plunged into his immortal core, his death was certain. He felt it funny... dying from his own element. Though that being who threw that spear at him died first, there was still no use contemplating and debating about it. He would still die in the end. It didn't matter who was first.
The goddess of rebirth also perished in this war, and the soul stream was lost in the void. Maybe the only one who survived in this calamity, was that guy from the netherworld who was going to be busy with all the death that happened recently. But then again, with the soul stream lost, there was no point for the netherworld. There will be no reincarnation... no rebirth... no samsara anymore.
He reminisced about his life; he was labeled as the mischief incarnate. Wherever he would go, people would always be wary of him, of his deceptions, of his pranks, and of his so called 'evil' nature. He also thought of his cunning one-eyed adoptive father. He thought he was the deceiver but remembering all the things his 'father' taught him, he felt like he was the one at the other end of the deception, the deceived. He never thought that the time his thoughts was the clearest, was also the time he was about to die.
"Take care of your siblings, he said...". And he did. He took great care of his siblings to the point of taking the blame for all the mischief they did. Whenever his adoptive family went out to do bad things, he willingly accepted the blame and became infamous overnight. He took on their transgressions so that people will target him instead of his siblings. In the end, those foolish mortals believed he was the 'god' of evil and mischief where in fact, he was just the scapegoat.
But all was well since he was able to develop his right eye, the "Eye of the deceiver" which enabled him to last till the end of the battle.
Even though he knew he was deceived and brainwashed by his adoptive father, he was still happy to have his siblings. They were like an open book to him, so easy to read. They were the only people who accepted him for what he was, even though most of them are vulgar, brash, uncultured and self-serving.
He especially liked his brother Baldr... who was shining brightly wherever he went. During nighttime, whenever he is around, no one could sleep because everywhere was brighter than the day. He was like the sunshine in the midst of a dark storm, unlike him, who was treated as the storm.
In the end, he was killed by that old blind sword immortal from the lower planes. When that sword Mysteltainn plunged into Baldr's heart, he felt that the morning became a shade darker. Although he and Baldr were always at odds with each other, he still liked the chap, his source of amusement in their boring political and barbaric world.
At least he died before this war. Maybe he reincarnated as a mortal somewhere in the universe... or maybe a firefly since he always shone brightly... or maybe a pig... because he was a pig-brain teammate.
In the end, he was still blamed by his father and everyone for his death and got labeled as his brother's murderer accomplice.
"Sigh" a deep sigh escaped from this mouth.
He had become a nagger now... even nagging himself to death.
Maybe it was time... maybe his final breath is nearing its end.
His sight became gradually dimmer as he lost the painful feeling from his body. He felt cold, he felt weak, and he felt helpless.
He died.
From that moment on, the immortal beings of the higher plane of the universe all perished.
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Davao City, Philippines. Year 2075 A.D.
A family of three went out of a building together with other families who were in a celebratory mood.
Louie Monteazul, a 16-year-old teenage boy graduated from high school this today. Together with his parents, they just went out of the event building where the graduation ceremony was held.
"Your batch is lucky. I heard the department of education is planning to add the senior high school curriculum again." a parent of one of his classmates stated to the celebrating graduates.
"Yes, they are indeed lucky. I belonged to one of those batches who suffered from the long pain of high school back then. In the end, I still didn't get a job after graduation because most of the jobs required a college degree." another parent replied.
"Well, at least our children are done with high school now before they implemented it again." Louie's father said.
"But your son is really something huh? He got most of the awards." a parent said to Louie's father.
"Hahaha! of course. He is my son." Louie's father laughed as he looked at his son with great pride.
Louie just smiled in response.
He looked very calm and composed, but deep in his heart his was leaping with joy. He was finally done with basic education. Finally, away from those stinking brats who calls themselves his classmates. Finally, away from that stinking classroom that was similar to prison or reformation center. Finally, away from those stinking little girls who sent him love letters everyday which caused the stinking boys to hate him, which made every day a stinking competition for him even though he wanted to stay 'Low key" and avoid all the stinky people.
He could finally gain a little bit of freedom once he goes to college. Well, there was still that two-year military service, but that was way easier compared to the 10 years of basic education.
They boarded their family car and drove off going to a restaurant for his celebratory dinner.
"Sunday, which route has the least traffic going to 'Goco's Restaurant'?" Louie's father asked the Artificial Intelligence Assistant installed in his car.
"This is the fastest route to your destination sir", the AI replied. "But you will have to pass by near the border of Gate N7-32 portal" it continued.
"Dear, I think we should go to a safer route far away from a Gate. Those areas are very dangerous to us civilians." His wife commented.
"Hmm... I think those gates have been pretty stable these years. Most of the attacks recently have come from those major gates in Russia, Africa and Central America. Minor gates here in the Philippines have been dormant for a long time." Father Monteazul replied.
"Yes, I know dear, but it's not the gates that I'm worried about. It's those "Rogue Avatars" that are terrorizing the country is the problem." Mother Monteazul said.
As Louie's parents were talking about the so-called 'gates and avatars', he was contemplating about the history of this world.
Years ago, when this world was created, it was a peaceful and beautiful place. The beings that lived here were called Human Earthlings. A peaceful group of simple-minded people who took care of the land, and in return the land took care of them. They were beings of pure mind and heart whose only thought was to live happily with each other. Until the so-called 'gods' as the Human Earthlings called them, descended from the heavens or so they thought.
These 'gods' were actually beings who came from different various realms who discovered that a new planet, a new star, a new world, was created. And this world seemed to be so perfect and had the potential to evolve into a world that would be the center of the higher plane in the future.
Therefore, these beings came and tried to colonize the world. They mingled with the original inhabitants of this world and taught them many things.
The Human Earthlings, who saw these beings as deities, started worshiping them. They were given knowledge and wisdom, of good and of evil.
Their peaceful nature then changed. They became like their 'gods'. Some were good, some were evil. But in general, their nature started to become corrupt. As 'Pandora's box' opened, the 7 greatest sins; lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride corrupted their hearts, as the once peaceful world, turned chaotic.
Wars between those 'gods', became wars between the Human Earthlings as well. The once united people became divided as they formed their own factions, their own religions, their own beliefs.
Then suddenly, a calamity hit the higher plane. The worlds of those beings was dragged into a great war with unknown origin. Maybe it was the natural laws of the universe punishing them, or the great karma of the heavens stroke down in tribulation for the things they had done.
Some of the beings from the higher planes went to Earth to escape from Ragnarök. But too much of their presence invoked the natural laws of the Earth to purge and cleanse the world of their presence. They were tagged as invaders by the laws.
The heavens and depths of the earth opened and brought forth the waters of the netherworld and flooded the whole world. It would have been fine if it was normal water, but then again, it was the waters of the netherworld, the yellow springs, that had corrosive nature even to souls and spirits.
Those beings who escaped to Earth where instead killed in contrast to their expectation of surviving the calamity of the higher plane. Even the Human Earthlings who were the original occupants or Earth were wiped out from the face of the planet, except for a few who survived that could be counted by ten fingers.
There were also descendants of the beings from the other realms, who were the product of the union of 'deities and mortals', the demi-gods of great fame and power, that survived the great flood. But in fear of invoking the natural laws of Earth again, they hid their presence and remained incognito up till the present day.
The Earth depleted most of its energy to bring forth the great flood, and upon creating an invisible barrier that hid the world from other realms. Turning it into a lonely planet, severing its connection from the others.
For Millenniums, Earth remained like this, until the year 2025.
Space Ox, an organization founded by Felion Dusk, in cooperation with the Sahara company, the world's top courier and shipment services, launched the first space exploration project going to the nearby neighboring planet of Earth, the planet Mars.
During this time, the energy used by their spaceship broke the thinning barrier that the laws of the Earth once created. Thus, exposing the world to the eyes of the other realms again.
After years of recuperation, the Earth was once again at the prime of its potential. Catching the greedy eyes of those from other worlds from the new higher planes, to occupy this energy filled world.
But there was a catch. Due to the natural laws of the earth that formed after the great flood, no beings from the higher planes could enter Earth again, without causing its laws to invoke heavenly tribulation. Anyone of them who will forcefully enter will get repelled, and in the worst case, be destroyed by the remnant nether energy that surrounded the world.
Therefore, they sent their subordinates from the lower planes to invade, colonize and rule this tempting planet. Thus the "Gates" were formed.
Portals called Gates suddenly appeared throughout the Earth. From them, came out other beings and creatures that tried to invade the planet. Some were peaceful, some were hostile. Some came to create friendly relations, some came to enslave, and some came to destroy.
There were 2 types of Gates. The Major and the Minor gates. The Major gates were permanent gates that appeared. They were the stable connection between the Earth and the other world. The Minor gates, however, were unstable. They appear and disappear randomly anywhere in the world. Those who come out of the minor gates were creatures of lesser intelligence, similar to the animals of the Earth, that are either docile or aggressive.
At first, this caused great chaos to the people of the Earth. Death and destruction were everywhere. Gigantic monsters, destructive armies and random creatures were causing chaos left and right.
But the Human Earthlings had two great blessings. The first one was their ability to adapt to situations, greatly enhancing their capabilities to cope up with the current threat through scientific progress.
The second one was more magical and unscientific. Some chosen people were able to use great powers from the 'gods' of myth and legends. These people were then called to be "Avatar of the gods" or just Avatars for short. Using the powers they gained from being an Avatar, they started to fight back against the invaders.
But not all was good and well. Some people called rogue avatars started causing problems. They used their newly gained powers and abilities to cause havoc at their own amusement.
To counter this, the different countries and organizations of the world, created schools for the purpose of educating new generation Avatars, preventing them from going rogue. Even so, it can never stop the corrupted minds of other people.
Back to the present.
Louie Monteazul and his parents were on their way going to a restaurant to celebrate his high school graduation.
Due to their previous discussion, they avoided the gate and used the longer route. But suddenly, there were caught in a heavy traffic.
"What's going on? Why is this traffic taking so long? Where are the TMCs? (Traffic Management Center)" berated Father Monteazul
"There must be an accident in the front. Else traffic would not be this heavy at this time of the day." Mother Monteazul commented.
"By the way Louie, what course will you be taking in college?" Louie's mother asked.
"Do I really have to go to college? I don't plan to be someone else employee, a.k.a slave." Louie said. "We have our family business, the snack bar. I don't think I'd need a degree to manage that."
"Well," Louie's mother commented. "Having a college degree doesn't necessarily mean you need to work for others. It will just be for your own self-satisfaction. A title to call yourself. Similar to your grandfather. He had 2 different degree titles. He was a Registered Nurse, as well as a Licensed Teacher. But in the end, he built the snack bar we currently have now." she smiled as she was recalling her late father.
"I guess you should go to Beijing Universal Academy. Maybe you'll find your passion there. That school is famous for its outstanding graduates." Louies' father said.
Beijing Universal Academy, one of the worlds schools that was built to nurture avatars. But aside from having Avatars, they also have normal students, so that the Avatars can blend in with the society. It was one of the 2 Avatar schools in Asia. The other one was built in Turkey, a country that borders Europe and Asia.
"Hmm... I suppose well never know when the time comes. I just graduated from high school, so I want to cherish my short freedom first. Hehehe!" Louie laughed.
"Yes... yes... I guess you deserve this respite after your..." His father's sentence was cut short when a large truck was flying towards them. Well... it was more like thrown towards them.
Before they could think, before Louie's mother was able to scream in horror, the truck fell and crushed their car and several others.
A great incident occurred.
And the cause was, ahead of them, a rogue avatar and some enforcers where fighting. The rogue avatar seemed to be using the strength of Hercules. Thus, making him an Avatar of a minor god.
There were different levels of avatars. Namely, the Minor gods, the zodiacs and the Major gods.
There were only a few Major god Avatars, as these avatars are only manifested by a single person at a time until death, causing the power of the Avatar to transfer to someone else. Similar to this was the Zodiac Avatars. But unlike the Major god avatars, the zodiac's powers can be shared to disciples who are accepted and worthy of the zodiacs mark. Meanwhile the minor god's avatar can be manifested by multiple people as long as they are chosen to be the avatar.
Today was the day a rogue avatar received his punishment. He was being transported to a prison for avatars, where he will be contained, preventing him from using his powers, and imprisoned till he dies.
But something happened on the way. The prisoner transport vehicle met with an accident. Another car crashed into it, causing the rogue avatar to escape.
The enforcers chased and tried to detain him. But the rogue avatar manifested his powers and became Hercules Avatar. Using his superhuman strength, he fought the enforcers using the other vehicles around them as weapon.
One such vehicle flew towards Louie and his parents, crushing their small car to smithereens.
Shocked and panicked, the other people exited their vehicles and ran to the back for safety, as so they would not become like those cars who got crushed.
As people were running away from the crushed cars, a few meters away, a young boy sat there while hugging two unconscious adults. It was Louie and his parents.
His parents where not unconscious due to the accident, but rather, Louie pressed a few acupuncture points that caused them to faint.
He looked at his parents who were safe in his arms. A thought flashed in his mind.
A long time ago, in a previous life, he remembered his biological parents rejected him as their own, for growing up differently from their race. His adoptive parents were also not that close to him. His adoptive mother was indifferent while his adoptive father was scheming. His only source of warmth and amusement was his siblings. Though he deemed them idiots.
But the present day was different. His mortal parents were loving and kind to him. He experienced familial warmth in his sixteen years on this world, compared to the thousands of years he experienced before.
Seeing that his parents were almost hurt, in fact, if not for him, they would have already died, unspeakable rage was building up in his heart.
He didn't want to lose what he had now. He didn't want to experience another Ragnarök.
"I was supposed to just keep silent and live a peaceful life in my humble home..." Louie said as his eyes were darkening.
"But some people just won't let me live in peace..."
Louie saw the enforcers being defeated.
"And the enforcers are just a bunch of idiots..."
After taking his parents to a safe place, he stood up and gazed at the rogue avatar and the enforcers who were still fighting.
His emotions suddenly became calm, and there was show of indifference in his face.
Meanwhile, the rogue avatar was finally able to knock down the two enforcers he was fighting. He was about to laugh and berate them when he suddenly felt cold behind his neck.
He quickly jumped and looked behind him. What he saw was a teenager who was still on his graduation robe. The boy had an cold and indifferent look on his face while looking at the rogue avatar.
"Oh... it's just a kid... you made me a little jumpy there. Hahaha!" the rogue avatar laughed.
"Oh, really now?" Louie replied.
"Kid, I'm feeling a little generous today. I'm just gonna chop a few of your fingers as souvenir for my freedom. Hahahaha!" the rogue avatar roared in laughter. "To bad kid, you could have stayed intact if you only ran away earlier. But now, your presence here annoyed me for thinking that there was some venerable foe behind me. So... I'm going to teach you a lesson!"
"Oh? Can't I just turn back and run away now?" Louie titled his head a bit and asked with an innocent expression.
"Hahahaha! Too late kid. The great Dante, the finger collector has decided to collect your fingers." the rogue avatar boomed.
"Why do you wish to collect my fingers? Why not collect your own fingers?" Louie asked as he raised his hand holding what seemed to be a few fingers. It was still dripping in fresh blood.
"What the..." the rogue avatar shook. Then he felt pain in his hands. He looked to see what caused the pain. But what he saw shocked him greatly. His hands were missing a few fingers and was dripping blood all over.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the rogue avatar shouted in pain. "Y-you... what did you do?"
"Ah... I was just doing what you wanted to do... collect fingers." Louie replied with an innocent look while smiling. But what the boy said next shocked the rogue avatar more. "Ah... how about I also collect one of your eyes?"
The rogue avatar suddenly realized that he lost one if his eyes... while the boy was holding one on his hand.
"Or maybe a leg?"
The rogue avatar suddenly fell down and saw that he was missing one of his legs.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" the rogue avatar cried in agonizing pain. His mind was in chaos, not understanding what happened. What he knew was, he was in great pain and lost a few body parts to this demon kid in front of him.
"Be honored... you're the first human to ever experience the "Eye of the Deceiver's" Eternal Pain." Louie said as he was grinning wickedly at the rogue avatar.
Meanwhile, the people around were watching the rogue avatar trembling on the ground and crying in pain. The surrounding bystanders didn't know what happened. The rogue avatar was screaming about losing his fingers, eyes and legs. They thought the rogue avatar must have gone crazy... because in their eyes... he was talking to no one, and his body was intact contrary to what he was shouting and screaming about.
But in the eyes of the rogue avatar... it was different. What he saw was the devil in the form of a teenage boy, smiling evilly at him.
"W-who... A-are... Y-you?!" he asked.
The teenage boy stared down at him and replied.
"I am Loki."
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