Gods Absent: History Chapter One
Mana did not originally exist in this world, just like the demons. Demon Lord Amon still remembered all of this, including her former surname, Song. She hated humans, even though she was once one of them in the distant past. Centuries of traversing this world had caused enough memory erosion for her to forget most things, but upon seeing the humans before her, she could clearly recall everything she faced that day. What drove her was the same as what drove the humans before her: “hatred”.
The familiar feeling, whether it was the smoke in the air or the crumbling architectural debris around her, was incredibly similar to that day. Perhaps the only difference was that what pointed at her then wasn’t cold weapons, bows and arrows, or magical artifacts, but automatic rifles.
Before that day, she had always believed she belonged to humanity, even though Earth faced such a catastrophe, and she was affected by it. Although the surroundings were lands soaked by excessive mana, buildings destroyed by immense impact, and all around were humans and beasts who had painfully fallen, not having passed the “Divine Selection”. Under the impact of excessive mana on biological deoxyribonucleic acid (I don’t study biology, so I don’t know much, please forgive me), only organisms with sufficient adaptability could survive.
However, these humans posed little threat to the current situation; she could turn them into atoms dispersed in the air with just one strike. What Amon was actually waiting for was a far more important presence. Although it seemed she had always been ignored no matter what she did, it was different now. She was certain that the “Gods” would arrive soon, perhaps in the very next second. Amon had prepared for this day for centuries; such an opportunity might only come once in a millennium, and she had to succeed.
At this moment, Amon recalled her past life. What was the meaning of so many things she had done in her long life? To resist the Gods? Or perhaps not so grand, just to survive? Although she might have become the longest-living being on Earth, she knew clearly: she hadn’t actually achieved any of it. All civilization seemed meaningless; thousands of years of accumulated history lost their value after the arrival of the “Gods”.
During the Old Civilization era, Earth entered a period of extremely rapid development. Just over a century after the Industrial Steam Age, it entered the Electrical Age. Another century passed, and computers had already entered ordinary homes. From the popularization of information technology to the emergence of artificial intelligence, it was only twenty or thirty years. This era was also considered Earth’s golden age, at least for humanity. No one had ever imagined it would end so abruptly. There was no warning, because the “Gods” who brought down the “Divine Punishment” did not belong to this world.
Song, as an ordinary high school student in a city once called Beijing, had never considered these things. Because she was in a high school where management was gradually tightening but was still considered the most liberal in the city, she was interested in current affairs, often commented on news and policies, criticized current events, expressed dissatisfaction with information blockades, and mocked the North Korean general, among other things. Song had also once debated online in the school forum with someone called “Primordial Limitless Heavenly Venerate” (self-proclaimed). This Heavenly Venerate advocated extreme gene screening, which drew dissatisfaction from others. But she never imagined that, due to the “Gods”, all of this would become reality, lasting for a millennium after her death. This was also why Song, even after forgetting most memories from the Old Civilization era, still remembered this vividly.
As a student who chose history, Song was greatly influenced by her subject. She clearly understood that productivity determines production relations, grasped the essence of the ruling class’s behavior, and comprehended the immense impact of human subjective initiative. She believed that the “Heavenly Venerate’s” political views would not succeed precisely because of human subjective initiative. And indeed, it was true. Although she couldn’t see that day, suppressing human subjective initiative, even the “Gods” would not escape calamity.
After that day, everything ended.
The “Gods” came from another world, but no one truly understood Their origin, Their lifespan, or Their experiences. They only knew that They brought a massive amount of matter not belonging to this world that could generate magic, later called Mana (unit M, 1M=1J/M³, which might be used frequently later). Song only learned all of this later. She felt how ridiculous these deluded people were.
A massive amount of mana was detonated at one point on Earth. In the old era, there was an internet meme about North Korean ruler General Kim, calling him the sun. And that day, a light comparable to light nuclear fusion appeared in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea (General, please don’t invite me for seaweed egg drop soup).
Song was jolted awake from her sleep, finding herself buried under architectural debris. She found herself lucky; her body wasn’t pinned. She thought it was an earthquake and waited for rescue workers, but after only half an hour, she felt intense pain all over her body, especially in her head. For a while, she couldn’t even open her eyes.
After recovering from losing consciousness due to pain, Song found that she had instinctively crawled out of the ruins. The once bustling streets around her had long turned into ruins, surrounded by shattered fragments. Most building structures were still relatively intact; only the old residential building built in the 1970s, where she lived, which hadn’t been renovated for years and hadn’t even had elevator installation approved, had collapsed. The glass of parked vehicles was shattered, and thick smoke billowed in the distance, which was actually aviation fuel from a crashed plane that hadn’t yet extinguished. The surrounding plants were also much worse than before. Evergreen plants, which were resilient even in winter, had turned grayish-yellow and withered at the turn of spring and summer when everything was supposed to revive.
Song looked at this dilapidated world and quickly understood that this was not an earthquake. Her first reaction was: that day had still arrived. At the same time, she finally realized her vision felt off; everything around her had a low-saturation filter feel, and she even found she could look directly at the sun. After realizing something was wrong, another discovery made her dizzy and see stars: behind her, like an atavism, was a tail with a sharp, scorpion-stinger-like tip. In front of a puddle, Song finally saw her own appearance: her eyes were as deep as black holes, seemingly absorbing all surrounding light, and her pupils, dim, showed a slight reddish hue. A pair of curved horns had grown on her head, their tips pointing straight forward—most likely the culprit behind the intense pain in her head earlier.
After Song finally calmed down, she clearly realized that she might be the last one left here. The usual melodious birdsong, the meows and barks of cats and dogs, had all vanished along with the sounds of the city’s bustling traffic. Most plants had withered; not even an ant or other insect could be found in the soil. The only things she saw that were still thriving were probably some fungi growing under trees. Although in her original life, she was not particularly keen on interacting with others, in such profound silence, she felt loneliness for the first time in her life.
At that moment, she looked up and saw an object that did not belong to this world: a massive celestial body, occupying a larger portion of the sky than the moon. It was clearly not naturally formed, floating in Earth’s orbit. It was eventually called “God’s Domain” by later generations.
But for Song, all of this was still too distant; she had no opportunity to consider it. For now, she still needed to worry more about water and food. And after observing the withered plants, she began to worry about food production, then remembered that humanity seemed to be extinct, and there was no need for her to consider the future of humanity at all. The only thing to do was to survive herself.
Song entered a supermarket, stepping over several gruesome-looking human corpses—blood continuously seeped from their eyes, noses, mouths, ears, and other crevices on their faces—this was the fate of those who could not withstand the mana. Picking up food from the shelves, Song was grateful that she didn’t have to eat human flesh, like the humans exiled to Australia in The Three-Body Problem. Song found a spacious backpack and filled it with as much long-lasting food and drinks as possible, also instinctively reaching for her phone. After preparing all the supplies that would allow her to survive, she headed due south, beginning a aimless journey.
…
Just a few hours later, as Song passed through a ruin, she heard cries for help. Although she was unwilling to risk being buried by collapsing ruins, the child’s cries for help, with a sense of helplessness, conveyed despair to Song. Ultimately, she couldn’t bear it. Despite the cost of a scratched arm, she rescued the child from the ruins. While trapped, the child had been constantly trying to call for help, exhausting a lot of energy, and was at that point barely breathing. Like Song, she had also mutated, developing features different from humans: a pair of beast ears and a furry tail as long as her torso.
“Hello, how are you feeling now? Does your head hurt? Let’s get some carbs first.”
“Who are you… your eyes…”
“My name is Song Yuelai, and I don’t understand what happened here…” At this point in her recollection, Amon finally remembered her original name.
“On your head…”
“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I just rescued you.”
“My mom and dad, where are they?”
Song fell silent. After her subsequent questions yielded no results, the child suddenly turned her head and ran back into the ruins, some parts of which even Song could tell had a risk of collapse. Song tried to pull the child back but failed. After searching until she lost all strength, the child finally sat down on the ground and burst into tears.
Song could understand her current feelings and knew what was most important to do at that moment. She stood quietly by, waiting until the child stopped crying. Then, she handed over a bottle of mineral water.
“Have some water…”
“…”
“The best thing you can do now is to survive. Don’t let your mom and dad down.”
“…” Although still silent, with dried tear stains, Song was certain that a hint of a smile had appeared in the child’s expression.
“It’s hard to overcome all of this, especially for a child, but I truly don’t want the tragedy to continue. After such a damned disaster, I don’t want to see anyone die, and even less do I want to let others die because of my own reasons, please, I beg you.” Song was surprised that she could utter such calm, rational words. She thought that perhaps it was the potential of humanity, sparked by the need to protect a child, that had been unleashed within her.
After several attempts at guidance, the child finally spoke: “I’m still scared… I’m scared of losing my family, and now I really have lost them, truly lost them… Why did I lose them… I…” After managing to speak, the child became incoherent again.
“When I was about your age, I once had a nightmare where all my family, friends, everyone I knew disappeared without a trace, leaving only me, alone in a confined space, feeling even more suffocated than now. Later, I heard a voice, calling to me. No matter how I searched, I couldn’t find the source of the sound. The voice felt incredibly distant, yet I could hear it clearly. It was like a lifeline in my despair, and I wanted to grasp it as much as possible. Then I woke up from the dream, finding tears streaming from my eyes. This feeling lingered in my ears. As a result, when I truly experienced all of this, I didn’t feel very desperate, or like I was completely heading towards death. And that’s why I want to help you get through this.” Song recalled that after waking up that day, she cried to her parents, constantly trying to find that voice. Eventually, her parents took her to a psychologist, who told her that it might be psychological trauma caused by some negative factors in her daily experiences. But Song was certain that it wasn’t as simple as that.
After saying all this, Song clearly noticed that the child’s complexion had improved significantly. Finally, after taking a deep breath, she spoke: “My name is Shao Xing, thank you.”
Afterward, Song and Shao walked south together. The landscape along the way showed a sense of oppression; almost all glass was shattered, and there was hardly a single surviving plant or living animal along the way. It felt like a cobalt bomb had been detonated, killing organisms with radiation but not significantly damaging building structures. But Song was also certain that a cobalt bomb wouldn’t cause people to mutate into such strange appearances.
At the same time, this desolate jungle of reinforced concrete reminded her of a novel she had once seen in the forum where she intensely debated with the “Heavenly Venerate”. It described a civilization that built an extremely authoritarian “isolated city” after being destroyed by a global nuclear war. Although the writing style was old-fashioned, a rare commendable point was that the novel did not use AI at all. However, after finishing the seventh chapter, the author began a long period of procrastination, and now there was no chance for the eighth chapter to be published.
“I have a dream, though it might be a bit fanciful, that everyone can live happily in a world without any war or suffering.” As she spoke, Shao tugged at Song’s clothes.
Although Song was certain in her heart that such a thing was indeed fanciful for human civilization, especially for current human civilization, she still said to Shao with a comforting tone: “What a grand ideal! For a child your age to have such awareness… Never mind, let’s not talk about such profound things. Anyway, I believe that one day all of this will come true.”
Shao’s face showed a smile for the first time: “I hope we both get to experience that day!”
…
Song found a mobile phone in a ruin by the roadside. Although its exterior seemed intact, pressing the power button yielded no response. She tried several more, but none successfully turned on.
“Why do you keep running around? I’m so tired.” Only then did Song realize she had forgotten Shao was following her, panting.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Song quickly apologized. “But I found that the internet seems unusable, and all electronic devices seem to be off.”
“No, look there!” Shao pointed to the sky, where a small object was floating: a civilian drone.
Song was overjoyed that there were other survivors here. Then, she made a move that she would regret for thousands, even tens of thousands of years, right up to this recollection. She ran in front of the drone and waved, completely unaware of how things would unfold.
She was still immersed in the excitement of having the chance to communicate with more people, fantasizing about learning the truth behind all that had happened. She saw a Ford Transit van driving towards them. She excitedly jumped up and waved—this was actually a popular gesture in her middle school. Until two burly, fierce-looking men got out of the car. Song quickly realized that these two were different from her; they looked no different from ordinary humans, unlike her and Shao, who had undergone some mutations. This sparked a sense of foreboding in her heart. More importantly, both men were holding 5.8mm caliber Type 03 automatic rifles, one pointing at her, the other at Shao.
“We mean no harm, I have no weapons on me, we are both…” It was Song’s first time facing a gun barrel. Even though she kept telling herself that only by staying calm could she increase her chances of survival, her hands still trembled uncontrollably. Her accelerated heartbeat felt like opening Xinglifang after a midterm or final exam and seeing that the scores for the first day’s test had already been released.
“Hands up, abnormals.” These words came from one of the men. Although the tone was restrained and there were no overtly insulting words, they sounded particularly harsh to Song’s ears.
“You brought the disaster. How dare you speak so ‘nicely’, you beasts.”
“???”
The man’s emotions also gradually escalated. No longer suppressing his feelings, he began to utter a torrent of crude and offensive language.
“It’s a misunderstanding! Why do you think that? It really is a misunderstanding! We were originally human too! Really…”
As Song tried to explain, the other man disengaged the safety on his gun. At that moment, a voice came through the car’s communication device: “Don’t rush, bring them back and deal with them together.”
…
Song’s arms hurt badly. Just now, she and Shao had their hands pulled behind their backs, handcuffed, and were roughly thrown into the back of the van. On the way, Song overheard some of the reasons from the two men’s conversation. She was certain that they had been incited by some person or entity, like fanatical religious believers. In her heart, she sincerely began to curse that existence.
“What are they going to do to us… I’m so scared…” Shao began to sob.
“I don’t know either, but if it’s the worst outcome, I hope we can change all of this.” Song whispered, too softly for the two men to hear.
Song suddenly thought of something. She moved closer to the driver’s cabin and shouted inside: “Since you say we caused the disaster, then what about that thing in the sky?”
“Shut up and get back, or I’ll shoot you right now.”
…
Not much time passed. Just as Song felt herself drifting off to sleep, a sudden hard brake caused her head to hit the wall heavily. The sharp pain instantly banished all drowsiness. When the back door opened, despite the extensive damage, the iconic buildings still allowed Song to recognize it instantly as Beijing’s former Central Business District. Straight ahead, the building across the street, even with its skybridge collapsed, still faintly showed its original outline. The “CCTV” sign with four capitalized English letters at the entrance further confirmed this. As the commercial district of a superpower’s capital, the impact resistance of the buildings here made it easy to guess why the survivor’s base was located here.
Song and Shao were both forced forward at gunpoint, like prisoners being escorted. The wide street was being used as a plaza. Song saw that there wasn’t just their vehicle; a light container truck was parked less than twenty meters away from her. And then came another event that, despite all the forgetting she had experienced, remained unforgettable for life: many people, mutated by the disaster just like her, were driven out of extremely crowded cargo containers like livestock, their painful screams rising and falling. In comparison, Song almost felt fortunate about her own situation.
After being forcibly taken to the most iconic building, also Beijing’s tallest—CITIC Tower—Song recalled how she had always wanted to climb to the top of this building as a child to overlook Beijing, but for some unspoken reasons, the highest floors had never been open. But now, what caught her attention was not the building itself, but a being reflecting white light, standing on the building at a height of more than ten stories. It looked like a person, but in this world already ravaged beyond recognition, for someone to be wearing such strange attire was truly extraordinary. And this figure would become an indelible shadow for her, and an object of revenge she must personally deal with.
“Who is that person standing on the building?” Although her hands were cuffed behind her back, she still pointed with her head, trying to make the person pressing her understand what she was asking.
“That is our ‘Savior’, kid. It is He who, after we faced the disaster, used His power to help us restore civilization, allowing us to use networks and electronic devices again. He will lead us out of the disaster caused by you, and rebuild human civilization!”
Song suddenly felt a jolt like an electric shock, and instantly realized something. It was clear to onlookers that she trembled: “Then… is there a possibility… that the disaster was caused by it, and then it packaged itself as a god…”
Slap!
A crisp-sounding slap landed heavily on Song’s face. Although it didn’t hurt as much as in her memory, Song could still feel that it was stronger and harsher than when her father slapped her for saying something wrong as a child.
“Beast! How dare you disrespect the great ‘Savior’ and even attempt to sow discord!” This only made Song more certain that her guess was correct.
Song instantly felt a strange urge, wanting to break free from her shackles at that moment, rush upstairs, and personally tear that “Savior” to shreds. Unfortunately, it wasn’t her turn yet.
“By order of the ‘Savior’, bring up the first batch!” Song understood what these words meant. Her body began to tremble uncontrollably, but there was an even worse outcome than her own death.
Several mutated individuals were pushed forward, followed by several “executioners” who disengaged their safeties and loaded their guns. Song had seen gunfights in movies and videos, but she had never experienced the feeling of firearms being used in reality. “Bang!” It was a loud noise, and the surrounding ground vibrated. Then a crisp “Clink!” like a coin dropping to the ground, came from a shell casing. More gunshots followed. Song turned away, not daring to look. After the gunshots ceased, she heard faint groans, followed by another shot.
“By order of the ‘Savior’, bring up the second batch!” The familiar voice spoke again. Song didn’t understand why those people were gathering them for execution, and making her endure such immense psychological pressure. She stared furiously at the bastard on the building, feeling as though she should have a gun in her hand, ready to unleash a barrage of bullets at it. But then, something even more shocking happened: Shao Xing’s figure conspicuously appeared among the second batch of people being brought up.
“You shameless lunatics!” Song rarely swore, but at this moment, she finally couldn’t hold back, screaming hysterically: “She’s a child! You don’t even spare children, you’re not human at all, you…” Then someone behind her took a shovel and heavily struck Song’s head. However, Song was not like ordinary humans; she did not pass out. Falling to the ground, Song watched with her own eyes as the gun was pointed at Shao’s head. She saw Shao, facing death, indeed give her a smile, and from her lip movements, Song could tell she was saying: “Thank you.”
Song seemed to hear no sound, only feeling the ground shake. The smile on Shao’s face vanished, and like an angel with torn wings, she fell to the ground. In her ears, it was as if she heard the words: “I hope everyone can live happily in a world without any war or suffering. I hope we both get to experience that day!”
Although Song and Shao’s time together was not long, the feeling she brought to Song was truly incomparable. Her ideal made Song feel less burdened. However, this world, after creating something beautiful, would destroy it in such a cruel way. Although Shao’s voice still echoed in her ears, Song felt only despair.
At that moment, she felt a strange sensation. The shackles binding her suddenly loosened. Opening her eyes, Song saw terrified people, their guns not as steady as when they had just shot the innocent. Song clenched her hand, and a red lightning bolt shot towards the person who had just held a gun to her. She felt as if time slowed down. Then the lightning struck that person, and in a brief moment imperceptible to the naked eye, that person’s body turned to ashes, like someone attacked by macro-atomic fusion in Ball Lightning, leaving only the rifle to free-fall and drop to the ground. This attack also reminded Song of the Blackwall attack in the bad ending of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty that she had played before, except her current attack was even more powerful. Song didn’t know that this was the first time magic had been cast in this world, and it proved that creatures capable of adapting to mana possessed the ability to cast magic.
At this moment, the “Savior”, who had been standing expressionless on the building, finally smiled.
Universe Safety Statement:
This work was not assisted by AI technology.
This work is purely fictional. Any resemblance to real events or persons is purely coincidental.
Any questions from readers will be addressed in future updates.
Names are self-created, not real names! Not real names!! Not real names!!!
This time, I’m truly burnt out!!!
Author: Novice 1919810 (a good-for-nothing).
Special Thanks: To Primordial Limitless Heavenly Venerate for providing the theme inspiration (non-subjective), and to a classmate who wishes to remain anonymous but provided significant help with my ideas.