Angel Monarch-Chapter 403: North-America’s History

"O-one… One billion?… So many managed to survive?!"

This news shocked John to his core, while everyone else in the room looked confused. They had no clue how much one billion was. Only Amayeta and the lead scientist, Migsi, had some idea about its enormous size.

Sera just continued smiling kindly but proudly, while waiting for John to calm down. Eventually, he took a deep, shuddering breath and spoke while suppressing the tears in his eyes.

"I see. That's really fortunate… I hoped the other continents fared better than us, but I never imagined anything on this scale… For 28 years, I waited for anyone to contact us. I started to believe that nobody's left out there… Thank you for bringing me hope, Ms. Sera!"

The angelic woman nodded with appreciation. She gently patted the elderly man's wrinkly hand, and asked the question that's been bothering her all day.

"I'm also happy to see other humans managing to survive, but I must ask why are there no Evolved here? Also, what happened in North-America during the Apocalypse?… As you know, every electronic fried after the Apocalypse, so we lost all communications!"

John looked confused when hearing the word 'Evolved', like it had no meaning in his vocabulary. He began thinking for a while, before finally realizing what Sera was referring to.

"Ah, you mean people with those abilities! They all died when the great trees and monsters appeared. Some managed to survive for years, but eventually all of them died out, and nobody showed signs of power afterward."

Sera nodded silently in understanding. A lot of people became Evolved when the Apocalypse happened. However, afterward only people born from Evolved showed any powers.

It's very strange, and Sera always wondered why no new Evolved are born from regular humans. Neither she, nor Mary or anybody else could figure out how or why it happened.

Even Harold deemed it an unsolvable mystery. At least, that's what he said to Sera while torturing her. He often times talked about his research, but Sera couldn't really focus on his words while suffering from immense pain. freewёbnoνel.com

But the more Sera thought about John's words, the more confused she became. In Europe, they managed to survive the initial hordes of monsters, but this wasn't the case for North-America.

"I get why there aren't any Evolved here, but I'm curious. What happened 28 years ago? What caused this mass extinction? North-America had a few billion humans, but now there are only thirty thousand!"

John sighed with exhaustion and motioned for his granddaughter. Without question, Pakwa rushed off and brought a chair for her grandfather. His knees cracked loudly as he sat on the chair.

"I'm unsure where to start exactly, but I guess the day when the Gates opened would be the best. I fought at the Martian Frontline near its moons, but just before the Apocalypse, they sent me back to Earth… That day was worse than anything I saw during the Last War…"

He rubbed his sweaty, trembling hands against each other, while keeping his gaze on the wood floor.

"It started off normally, people living their lives, news coming from the frontlines. There were no signs, at least nothing for us regular folk. We were enjoying the day, when suddenly these Gates began opening, and monsters poured right into our city centers!"

The room stayed awfully quiet while John talked. Most of them were alive during Apocalypse, but they were all children. They might've remembered the fear, but they couldn't recall exactly what happened.

"The military could barely react… After just a few days, around ninety percent of North-America ceased to exist! Billions died, devoured by monsters!… However, something even worse happened afterward…"

The old man reached down and gently touched the great tree's wooden trunk.

"A few weeks after the initial destruction, the survivors managed to build resistance against the monsters. We fought them and killed them, but one day, while hiding behind our walls, we heard a strange sound… Like the breaking of chains…"

"By the next day, the Great Forest grew into existence. Some say it started in the middle of North-America, but we never received confirmation. These trees didn't care about any infrastructure. They grew through buildings, destroying any surviving cities!"

Sadness showed clearly on the older council members, since while they couldn't fully remember the Apocalypse, they had clear memories about the Great Forest's appearance.

"The forest destroyed all our makeshift defenses. We had to leave our cities, because they became an easy hunting ground for the monsters! But the forests weren't any better. Each day, we lost thousands from our already dwindling numbers."

"We marched through the endless forest for months. At first, a million of us managed to escape the city. However, that large number soon led to starvation, culling the weak and old… After the first month, only half of the initial number remained…"

John stayed silent, again struggling to hold back his tears. Amayeta slowly rolled up beside his chair and held the elderly man's hand, supporting him.

He glanced at the doctor's hand, and saw the silvery bracelet with the whitish-green gemstone, gently glowing. There was a deep curiosity evident in his gaze, but instead of asking questions, he continued with the story.

"Our modern weapons died down one-by-one, while our ammo count reached zero. After a few months, only the few Evolved could stand against the monster hordes, but they also began dying out…"

"When we began losing hope, we found this Tree. Monsters didn't come close usually, and they always attacked from the ground. We made this place our home, and founded the Village… Sadly, less than a hundred thousand humans made it here…"

As John finished the story, Sera began walking around thoughtfully, while glancing at the room's walls, ceiling, and foundation.

While the story gave Sera much insight into North-America's state and history, she couldn't shake this strange feeling in her gut. Like someone was constantly watching her… Someone she couldn't see…

However, the bigger issue was the Village, or more like the Tree it occupied. Monsters don't just ignore places for no reason. They only avoid areas, if it's a much scarier beast's territory!

Confused, she knocked on the wood, but it did nothing. The wood felt ordinary, maybe a bit too robust, but normal trees couldn't grow hundreds of meters tall, without strong support.

After a few minutes of silence, during which everyone stared at Sera with either confusion or suspicion, the Angel finally smiled kindly and turned back towards John.

"Thank you for the story! I'm sorry you had to go through something so awful, and I'll help the Village survive… No, I'll help you thrive!"

John, Amayeta and Migsi, the lead scientist, all looked excited, while Pakwa, the lead scout; Kaliska, the lead cook; and Aponivi, the lead engineer, all looked bored.

Kangee just continued staring at Sera's voluptuous chest, and the only one with anything to say was Whakan, the lead guard.

"And who the hell decided we need your help? We don't even know anything about you! Are you even human?! Because the wings behind your back are telling me the opposite! How do we know you aren't a monster!"

Sera already had a feeling there would be at least one dislikable person within the council members. Humans were inherently selfish, so someone with the title of 'the strongest fighter' didn't want an even more powerful person near him.

Luckily, she knew how to handle these people. Generally, she could recall two ways to solve this problem.

First, she couldn't beat the shit out of Whakan, which would break his high ego. It would also prove how little his title means, which would further crush him.

The second method was more diplomatic and fun. She would tell everyone here her story. While this method wouldn't work with a regular person, Sera's life was the farthest from easy.

She was certain, just by telling them her tale, Whakan would back down and she would even gain more people's trust!

With an annoyed sigh, Sera grew a chair from her silvery metal… Actually, it was closer to a throne, which was strange since she meant to summon an ordinary chair…

Sera sat down and gazed into everyone's awed eyes with a cunning smile. Most of them, other than John, couldn't recall how powerful Evolved was, so this little convenient magic trick already grabbed everyone's attention.

"You're perfectly right, Whakan! You don't know me! None of you have any clue if I'm lying or not! I could be a monster, or something else entirely and you couldn't even tell!… So, let me share my story with you all, and afterward you can decide if I'm human or not!"

Everyone, including Whakan, nodded at her proposal. They all got chairs for themselves, then sat in a circle, waiting for Sera to begin.

The Angel thought for a moment, unsure where to begin exactly. Should she tell them about Europe's history? Or, just starting from the fall of Newber?

Eventually, she decided to begin with the most obvious starting point… Her birth!

However, before she began speaking to everyone, Sera leaned forward and whispered to the wooden ground…

"Pay attention, whatever you are! I'm sure this story will interest you too! The tale of the Last Angel!"

The floorboards suddenly croaked below Sera's chair, which caused the angelic woman to chuckle silently. Her guess was indeed correct… The Tree was sentient!

Sera straightened herself and leaned back in her chair. She glanced into everyone's eyes with a small smirk as she began telling her own story.

"Roughly 22 years ago, in a place far away from this Village, a child named Seraphine was born. This child was quite special, you could even say… She was a little angel!"