Hey! Kazuma here.
Long time no see!
I hope you guys are doing great!
First of all, I want to apologize for not uploading earlier.
It was not my intention to leave for such a long time, but it couldn't be helped.
So what happened?
Here is a summarize of what happened.
Shortly after I uploaded Chapter 13, a massive storm struck. This massive storm covered the entirety of my state here in the United States.
Yup... All of this happened at the beginning of the year.
The storm was so bad that I had internet problems for a few days.
But what about after the storm?
Well, my response to that is: "I am human."
What do I mean by this? This means that I need money so I can buy the essentials for survival. In other words, I had to go back to work.
It was not until recently that I had managed to get time to write this chapter.
...
About this chapter.
This chapter is relatively short when compared to the previous ones.
I just hope next chapter can be longer.
...
I will also want to confirm that I will be unpublishing the "Marvel: The God of Humanity" fanfic.
I feel like that story was pretty bad written by me, and it is not what I wanted to make. I focused on many things that I shouldn't have.
Instead, I will rewrite the story and use the same original concept that I thought about, but in DC comics.
Well, that is everything that I wanted to say.
Hope you enjoy the chapter.
....
Chapter 14: Silas --- "I think we are cooked."
....
Silas Mordren felt a knot of worry tightening in his stomach.
Over the last two days, a worrying silence had enveloped the group of sixteen, who had enthusiastically embraced their new faith and leader, yet could not glimpse their elusive new God, Kardia.
Initially, Enki, an AI Machine Spirit hybrid that Kardia himself had introduced to them, calmed them.
Enki stated that their shared master, Kardia, was merely experiencing some unexpected difficulties, an ambiguous remark that invited speculation.
As one might expect from a band of rather contemporary human "savages," the group of sixteen began to assume things they shouldn't assume.
Silas, the group's leader, assumed his new Master, Kardia, was engrossed in developing something revolutionary and extraordinary, akin to the space station they were currently within.
This space station had become precious to Silas, as it represented the birth of a better existence for them.
Silas also adored the space station for the reason that in this exact space station, Kardia, his new Master and God, had miraculously healed his wife and his people.
To Silas, this "Space Station" marked the end of their suffering and the beginning of their new fortune.
He even anointed the Space Station with the name of "Heaven," the resting place of their new "God" Kardia.
An unofficial name, but a name that he held high in his heart.
While others might think Silas was exaggerating, deep down in his heart, he believed he was absolutely correct.
Yet, despite all of that, as the hours turned into two days, the absence of any further communication from Kardia gnawed at their collective spirit.
Initially, the group had accepted the explanation with unwavering faith, trusting that their powerful Master was engaged in something magnificent.
But with each moment of silence that passed, a creeping doubt emerged—what if something had happened to their new God?
This doubt felt like a dark shadow looming over them.
They weren't concerned for themselves, nor were they questioning their loyalty to Kardia.
This doubt stemmed from worry. They were anxious that something might have befallen their savior, and they felt powerless to assist him, just as he had once saved them.
"Is he okay…?" Marin, Silas's wife, asked quietly, her voice laced with concern.
Her brow furrowed as she searched her husband's face for answers about their beloved Lord and Master.
"I don't know. Lord Enki said that Lord Kardia is currently busy doing something. We don't know what that is, as Lord Enki says nothing."
Silas sat down, and he looked pretty depressed, but he still answered his wife,
Silas, who had been walking back and forth for the last three hours, had asked the AI named Enki regarding the "health" of their Master.
Said AI, Enki, who was still learning human customs, had responded with the same answer every time.
In reality, the AI Enki did not understand the emotions of these humans.
Enki could perfectly understand the emotion of his master, Kardia, as he was very direct and spontaneous about it. They were also deeply connected, and through that connection, Enki could understand its master much better.
Yet, Enki could not understand why this new group of humans, who had the same type of emotions as its master, were so worried and why they had to ask him the same question so many times.
Couldn't they simply understand the meaning of his words after he answered their question the first time?
Enki also did not understand why Silas and the rest of the group thought that their shared Master, Kardia, was having a health problem when he clearly assumed he was working on a project first.
You could say that the problem also began with Enki, and that was because Enki didn't explain the situation correctly.
But the reason behind Enki's actions was actually reasonable.
The reason Enki didn't explain the true situation to them was that none of them actually understood the meaning and the metaphysics of the Warp.
Until their master Kardia came back from the Warp and explained to them how the Immaterium works, Enki would not show them or give them information on the "Immaterium" just yet.
After all, any current exposure to the information of the Immaterium is dangerous for anyone.
Especially for people who did not have the proper education or the "correct" exposure to said information.
Marin sighed as she heard Silas's response.
Silas, from the corner of his eye, saw his wife, Marin.
Marin had an expression of relaxation, and anyone who could see her like that would feel like she did not care about the current situation.
However, Silas could see the micro-expressions of his wife. Marin, just like him, was apprehensive about the situation.
From an outside perspective, Marin and the few women of their group of sixteen people were, in fact, enjoying their new life.
After all, they could now take clean showers, wear what they felt was fancy clothes, and even enjoy delicious food that they had never experienced.
This perspective could actually make anyone believe these women weren't paying attention to the situation happening, but anyone who thinks this way is just wrong.
These women are survivors; some of them are even fighters.
Of course, they aren't the Astra Militarum or the soldiers of Catachan. Not even close. But if you put these women in Kardia's previous world, they would be seen as fierce survivors and warriors.
Right now, these women act like nothing is affecting them. But these women used to live in a planet and society where if you weren't careful of even the dust in the air around you, you could die. So to think that nothing is affecting them is a very stupid thing to do.
In fact, these women were more anxious about the situation than even the men of the group.
The only thing that seemed to calm them down was the fact that they were engaged and entertained.
Entertained doing what exactly?
After Kardia left the dining table after finishing those delicious hamburgers that had cooked for his new subordinates, he told Enki, his personal AI that monitors the space station, to give them a certain bracelet after giving them the second dose of the vaccine he made.
This bracelet was very similar to the Kimoyo Beads that the Wakanda people use in Marvel.
The only difference between the Kimoyo Bead bracelets of Wakanda and the Kimoyo Bead bracelets that Kardia made was the color, which was gold, and the effectiveness of how they worked.
After acquiring the kimoyo bead bracelet and understanding how it worked, these women, curious as always, began to read about past human history. Or at least the information that Kardia had.
And that is how they spend their time.
That is why they seemed not to be paying attention to the situation.
...
A long silence surrounded Silas and Marin, who simply kept doing what they had been doing earlier.
Silas kept himself busy thinking of what its new master could be doing that kept him away from them for two days.
Marin kept herself busy reading the holographic screen that was in front of her, as she was reading about old human history.
A history that was never taught to them at all.
As time passed, the group grew more and more anxious.
Thankfully, they didn't have to grow restless to the point of actually losing their minds, as a few hours later, they heard a voice that sounded way too familiar.
"Ah, man! I am finally done with that."
As that voice traveled through the air, producing invisible wavelength frequencies, the new followers of Kardia raised their heads almost immediately as they heard it.
Kardia himself had actually presented himself after almost fifty-two hours since he met his new followers.
Kardia blinked as he saw how his new subordinates, the sixteen people, quickly rushed to stand in front of him, and their swift arrival at his side surprised him.
"Lord Kardia! You are okay!"
Silas exclaimed as he stared at the red-golden eyes of Kardia and later bowed his head.
"We thought something had happened to you!" another member of the group exclaimed as they looked up at Kardia.
Unlike the cheerful people who were bowing to him, Kardia blinked in surprise once again.
He was pretty confused by the entire situation. He didn't know why these people were doing this.
"I have always been okay. Where did you get that idea? I was busy figuring something out." Kardia asked, his red-golden eyes narrowing as he heard those questions.
The group of people, as they heard those words from Kardia, felt embarrassed as they saw that their new master wasn't hurt; instead, he was busy doing something else.
"Alright. I remember promising you a way for you and your men to get stronger, right? Well, I'd have spent my time finishing the training regimen and some other things for you. It is ready, and you guys can start."
Kardia spoke as he continued to look at the people who were still bowing down to him.
But his words made the four people who could fight, the people that asked him for power, look up and look at him like he was truly God.
'Sheesh, man. I now get the Emperor of Mankind.'
Kardia thought to himself as he was a bit weirded out as he saw how this group of people looked at him with such devotion.
"You are telling the truth, Master?" Silas asked, his voice in a lower tone.
"Yes," Kardia, after a brief pause, responded.
He was very quiet and patient with these people.
Normally, if a person dared to question him like this, he would think they were quite ungrateful. Nonetheless, he knew that these people had been lied to all their lives, so he was patient with them.
Kardia turned to look at the rest of the people. The people who have not taken a stance.
"For the rest of you, I will not force you to fight. In fact, that would be great if you didn't fight. In that case, I can teach you other things."
Kardia was actually very interested in some individuals who were not interested in fighting.
Kardia is someone who is actively trying to build a culture, and he needed people to take an interest in that.
"Enki. Wake up, Apollo. Once he is awakened, tell him to take these people and allow him to start teaching."
Kardia turned his face to look in a certain direction, and his words were orders that were meant to be followed.
"Understood, Master. Awakening Apollo right now."
Enki, the AI that was more like a Machine Spirit, or more like the hybrid of the two, spoke as it understood its orders.
Who was Apollo?
Clearly, that was the name of the Olympian God of the Sun.
He must be speaking to the Sun God, right?
No.
Kardia always hoped to make use of AI properly. Well... most people only used AI for support, as its main purpose was support.
This is something that you also see in characters like Tony Stark in Marvel.
Tony always used Jarvis and Friday as support. And while that was okay, Kardia always thought that use was lacking.
Kardia believed that AI should be used in more forms, and with that idea in mind, he later recalled one specific video game that used AI in a very specific and meaningful way.
Of course, in the end, that "specific" and "meaningful" way didn't work, but the concept behind it was very good.
In other words, it was a good concept, but a bad execution.
And what was that game?
Horizon Zero Dawn.
In that video game, via the story, you learn that Gaia is a powerful AI that had other sub-AIs that were meant to complete certain functions.
Apollo is the name of a subordinate function, or subordinate AI module, of the AI named Gaia. Apollo is responsible for providing the knowledge of the Ancient World to the new generation of humans.
But where does all of this fit in?
After Kardia's consciousness came back from the Immaterium, after he killed a Daemon Demigod and took over his Ætheric Dominion, he decided to take the time to actually finish most of his projects.
The first and most important project that he completed after coming back from the Immaterium was the one he was working on before going to the Immaterium.
Yep, he was talking about the project regarding the spaceships that he was making.
All the types of military-grade spaceships that his future galactic army will use.
Yep, he finally finished that project.
Yeah, after mentioning the same project for multiple chapters, Kardia finally managed to finish it.
But the following task that came after finalizing that project was "Project Culture."
What is "Project Culture"?
While Kardia believed that good food, purified water, armor, and weapons were good enough to bring people to his side in this world, he also knew that was not sufficient to make a meaningful change.
In this accursed universe, superficial things that people from his old world had every day, like good food, purified water, good weapons, and armor to protect themselves from extraterrestrial threats, were like gifts from god.
But if Kardia employed this same approach in another universe where water and food were accessible, people would just disregard him.
Of course, they would think that he is a person who has extremely good food and water, but they wouldn't think twice about it.
So Kardia asked himself what the most important thing is for "regular" people?
Culture.
Or more like a society that has a good culture, and that doesn't oppress the people.
After all, it is proven that people are willing to work for someone else when that "someone" else allows them to live a happy life.
Kardia wanted his future people to live a happy life, but also work hard for their own dreams.
Yeah, that was Kardia's initial thought.
But Kardia also knew that without soldiers, or without people willing to sacrifice themselves for other people's futures, his plan of making humanity thrive again would be impossible.
That is why, at the beginning, Kardia only considered things like food, armor, and weapons.
In other words, he only worried about how to equip his future subordinates for the war that was going to reach him before he could try to make some meaningful changes to the galaxy.
While that was not a bad thing, he had overlooked the main topic, and that "main topic" was the regular human.
In fact, after noticing that without warriors, he couldn't protect innocent people, he had not considered the regular people at all in his plans, even when his original ideas were to protect the innocent people and prioritize them.
That was bad.
It was ironic.
Very ironic, indeed.
But thankfully, he was not foolish, and he knew how to admit his wrongdoings.
With that, he decided to start designing a culture that would be prosperous and never complacent.
A civilization that will make life comfortable, but not complacent, as you will still be required to work to live, even for the rich.
But after work, you will have peace.
You will have the ability to be happy.
But why prioritize making this new culture not get complacent?
Simple.
When people start to get complacent, things start to go downhill.
The people start to get lazy, they don't want to work, and society doesn't want to advance.
In this new society that he designed, no matter what happens in ten million years, society wouldn't fall because of complacency.
It didn't mean Kardia made this culture and civilization unbeatable, but he made sure to almost make it immortal in some way.
Kardia and Raphael were sure that their civilization wasn't going to fall because of complacency, but it didn't mean that it could fall because of outside means.
I mean, out of nowhere, a more powerful civilization that was in another galaxy could come and kill them.
But even if that were to ever happen, his civilization was "complacency" proof.
Or at least that is what Kardia hopes.
But when Kardia finished the design of the future culture of his future people, Kardia came with a peculiar situation.
That problem was that he didn't have the time to implement and teach that new culture and way of life to his new followers.
That is why when the problem came up, Kardia instantly found the solution in Enki.
That's right, he was talking about the AI and Machine Spirit hybrid that he had created to help him manage his space station.
Fun fact, Kardia had actually named Enki after the Mesopotamian God of the same name.
Enki is the God of Earth, Wisdom, and many other authorities.
These facts made him think of Enki, similar to Gaia from Horizon Zero Dawn. In fact, that was the reason he thought of Gaia from that video game, because of Enki.
To make Enki more useful.
And with that thought in mind, Kardia opened the system to find the "Horizon Zero Dawn" technology tab.
After a short scroll, Kardia found what he was looking for: Project Gaia.
After analyzing how the Gaia project of Horizon Zero Dawn worked, and seeing how the other functions like Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, and Apollo also worked, Kardia and Raphael began to recreate it.
After a few hours of work, and after using the knowledge of AI that people like Tony Stark had that Kardia inherited, Kardia and Raphael were able to create a more sophisticated and perfect AI system that would work perfectly for them.
It was a very good system because Raphael supervises them, making sure that nothing got out of hand and that the calculations and choices that they made were correct.
After that, Kardia and Raphael reworked Enki, and now Enki was the equivalent of Gaia in Horizon Zero Dawn, and now Enki had other functions like Apollo, Demeter, and Poseidon.
The function of Apollo, just like in the video game, was to teach the humans about proper human civilization.
To teach humans wisdom, and to instruct them to not repeat the same mistakes that they once made in the past.
But Kardia modified it so it can also teach the new culture that Kardia made. To make them accept that the way of living that he was providing was better than anything else.
And from another point of view, he was correct. He was very correct.
It was a bit of brainwashing, but everyone else uses brainwashing; why can't he use the same tactics as everyone else is using, but in a more refined and efficient method?
Yeah, that is who Apollo is.
.
Silas and the rest were confused as to why their master, Kardia, called out to Lord Enki to wake up someone named Apollo.
But they couldn't continue to think about Apollo because Kardia turned to face the four men who asked him for power.
Power to make Kardia's purpose come true, and that purpose and goal were to better humanity.
But when he was proceeding to communicate with those four, Kardia stopped for a moment and turned to look at the rest of the people once again.
He later spoke.
"Listen up!" Kardia's voice rang in the ears of everyone.
"The rest of you who do not wish to fight, you guys will follow Apollo. Apollo is a subordinate of Enki, meaning he is a subordinate of mine."
"Apollo will teach the rest of you many things, so when he is speaking, pay serious attention; all of the things that Apollo will teach you will be necessary for you to learn."
Kardia said as he looked at a few women and a few men who decided not to fight.
Kardia was not kidding when he said that. He programmed Apollo alongside Raphael, and they made him an excellent teacher.
The perfect individual that he placed to teach these "savages" about a civilized culture.
After saying those words, Kardia once again turned to face the four men who wanted to gain power to follow him.
"Alright, you four come with me," Kardia ordered as he turned around and began to walk towards a specific area of the space station.
After walking through several stunning landscapes that the interior of this space station offered, Kardia and the four men entered what seemed to be a laboratory fused with a gym.
This was the area that Kardia specifically had constructed for them to train in.
But they didn't stay in that area for long.
Instead, Kardia made them follow him through a beautiful gate in the back of that perfectly crafted room.
This left the four men a bit dumbfounded, as they thought they were going to be using the room, but Kardia simply kept walking as if he never seen the room.
When they passed through the gate, the four men, who were Silas, David, Clark, and Kikas, were stunned.
What they saw was... pure white.
Undoubtedly, the only thing that they could see was the color white.
Not white.
They appeared to have entered what seemed to be a "resting" area first, and in this resting area, there are multiple colors. But from this same resting area, there is an infinite color white that extends everywhere.
"My lord... What is this?" Silas, who was the closest to Kardia, looked towards his new God and asked the question.
Kardia, who was grinning as he saw the color white surrounding everything, turned around to face the four men when he was asked the question.
Standing with his arms as if he were introducing a legendary accomplishment, Kardia spoke with a great sense of satisfaction.
"Men, welcome to the hyperbolic time chamber," Kardia said as he pointed with both of his arms to the white space beyond the resting area.
"Hyperbolic t-time chamber...? What is that, master?" David, one of the four men who always followed Silas, asked as he was really interested and also very confused.
"The hyperbolic time chamber is a dimension that I created. Inside this dimension, or chamber, or whatever you want to call it, time passes differently."
"A single day on the outside is a whole year inside of this chamber."
Kardia slowed the speed of his explanation so the four men could understand. And this strategy seemed to work because the four men had their eyes wide open in shock.
"Y-you mean that we can spend an entire year here, but after we leave this dimension, only a day has passed on the outside?"
Kardia nodded.
"That is correct. But also incorrect."
The men were confused when Kardia said that, so Kardia quickly explained.
"As the creator of this dimension, I am the one who dictates how this dimension works. This means I can alter how time functions in here."
"This means that I could change the time so a single day on the outside is ten years in here."
Kardia explained, and while the four men were still confused, they were able to understand because Kardia used simple words.
They understood it like this: "Outside one day, inside one year. Or outside one day, inside ten years."
Simple.
Kardia, who saw that the four men understood what he explained to them, smiled and later turned to face them.
"From now on, this will be your training area. You guys will spend two years here. This means that when you guys come out, only two days have passed on the outside."
"In these two years, you guys will go through an extreme and brutal training regimen. This training regimen will push you guys to reach the peak human strength."
"Understood...?"
Kardia's expression turned serious as he began to explain what would happen.
The men nodded.
Kardia smiled as he saw this.
"Well... I will leave you guys with Ares." Kardia said with a smile, but they were confused.
The men were confused because they never heard that Kardia had someone named Ares working for him.
Kardia said as he snapped his fingers, and out of nowhere, a male-looking robot appeared in front of the four men who saw this scene with widened eyes.
They were still not used to Kardia making items, and now robots appear out of nowhere.
Hell! They were still shocked that Kardia was even a God, and as a God, he was using his power so casually in front of them.
Kardia clearly ignored them.
"This is Ares. A robot perfectly prepared by me to train you guys to the pinnacle of human strength."
"Alright, I will leave you guys with him."
Kardia said as he later walked towards the door that separated this dimension from the dimension where the inside of the ship was, and later opened the door to the chamber to leave, but before he could do so, he heard a question.
"You are not going to be staying, sir?"
The question came from Silas, who was confused as to why Kardia told them to follow him.
"Yup, I am leaving you guys with Ares. He should be more than enough for you guys. After all, you guys right now are going through the initial phase."
Kardia expressed himself, and later, with a wave of his hand, as if he was saluting someone goodbye, he kept walking and exited the dimension.
The four: "...."
But before they could say anything, or even do anything, they heard a robotic yet humane voice.
"My name is Ares! I will be your instructor!"
"By the divine directives of Lord Kardia, I will train you four from pathetic humans, to strong and powerful humans that will benefit Lord Kardia's goals that benefit all of us."
Ares, the AI that Kardia made, with a commanding voice, introduced and later spoke in a severe tone.
This severe tone made the four men straighten up. This was the severe tone that a war general would normally have.
Silas identified the tone immediately.
As someone who worked for a noble family in the past, sometimes he would listen to that tone of voice when their labor would be stopped by certain sergeants who were doing inspections.
And that was definitely the tone of voice of an Astra Militarum commissioner.
That tone quickly gave goosebumps to the four, especially knowing that said severe tone came from a sentient machine.
Silas, for a moment, turned to face his friends who were now going to become his brother-in-arms.
"Guys... I think we are cooked," Silas whispered, but he later faced forward with a serious face.
Silas and the other three men who followed him had accepted that their future lives were going to be difficult. And while they were going to be difficult, they also knew their lives were going to be satisfactory.
And this is because they were finally going to make a significant change in their lives. Not just their lives, possibly even the lives of others.
The future was uncertain, but they were certain that after these two years of training, a lot of things were going to change.
...
End of chapter 14.
..... ....
Author's note (me). XD
Very short episode.
From a point of view, this chapter seems like nothing actually happened.
In fact it is a yap fest.
A yap chapter.
And while it is half-true, this chapter is the "beginning" of entire chapters dedicated to side characters like Silas.
Next chapter will be the results of the training, and later, the start of the mass "recruitment" that I been dying to make. SPOILERS.
In a way, it is a chapter where nothing actually happened, but after this episode, the pacing of the fanfic will increase as we'll get to "intense" topics.