The pas

"There is no need to worry Lord Adam. It's me, Sigmund, and I have brought my daughter and an acquaintance. They too wish to hear what happened so long ago and what will happen in the future."

The man, Adam, visibly relaxed.

"You've returned, my child. Where is the mischievous saint?"

"He is copying down what you have told us so that all of humanity can know of it."

'I apologize but what in goddesses' name is going on here?'

"I see you are hungry for knowledge, young one."

I was quite certain that he couldn't be much older than me, two lives and all.

"I'm Adam, the last of my kind, a human. Or to be more accurate high human as the mischievous one suggested since a new generation of humans has been created."

'So those three Aesir didn't create humans from scratch.'

"No, I'd assume my presence within the borders of the empire had some influence on them. But still, to think humanity was brought back from the brink of extinction..."

'And what brought you to the brink of extinction?'

"The same thing that wreaked havoc upon the rest of the world, an invasion by outsiders. Beings of a higher realm opened a passage into our world and marched their armies in. We thought ourselves superior due to our leaders being demigod magi and we even had divine beasts as our backing. However, none of us could have known the horrors of the higher realms.

"They called themselves mages, came with flying fortresses, deadly arrays, and divine beasts as their mounts. Even the weaker ones could combine their powers to unleash spells of horrifying dimensions. They were well organized and systematically took down the capitals where our strongest forces were located. Atlantis was sunk, Sparta burned, Olympus broken, Troy invaded and even paradise was ravaged by them.

"All races united and fought but we only barely managed to hold on. Then their leader entered the fray and all hell broke loose. He wasn't particularly stronger than the others but he never ran out of power. Even after killing multiple divine beasts, he was still capable of casting large scale spells and keeping up his domains. I tried to fight him but a single spell reduced me to this pathetic state and forced me to remain in this cave to this day. There is no way we can ever defend against the upper realm invasion!"

'How come you aren't enslaved already then?'

"I'm not sure but not long after I landed here I felt the world itself stir and lash out. I can only presume that the world drove them out and sealed the gate connecting our worlds. But this won't last, the seal will eventually crumble and the outsiders will return. Only that this time the world won't have the strength to save us and we won't have the strength to resist."

'When will the seal break? How many years do we have?'

"This isn't about years. We have centuries of time before the seal breaks."

'Then why don't you use the time to prepare and try to face the invaders. You could win!'

"No! We can never win. They are too strong!"

As he said that the putrid fluid leaking from his wound increased considerably.

'Let's leave, there's nothing else for us to do here.'

I was already halfway out of the cavern when Sigmund hurried to stop me. He wore a pleading look and spoke in a low voice.

"Wait for a moment. You have tremendous healing powers so please, heal lord Adam. With him, things won't be looking so grim for this world's survival."

'I already told you, there is nothing left for me to do here. I can't heal someone who is already dead!'

"He's not dead! Look at him he is still breathing but the injury is keeping him here!"

'He is a demigod magus, isn't he? No way an injury would last this long. He has given in to despair, his fear consumes him and now he has stagnated. Someone who doesn't even dare to fight an enemy simply because he was beaten once, I consider that a dead man. That injury could have healed a long time ago but the fear and despair wreaking havoc in his mind tear it open ceaselessly. Unless he overcomes this demon plaguing his heart he might as well be dead!'

"I couldn't agree more! So let me take him off your hands so he may benefit another!"