A Dreamer's Knight

Chapter 4 - Old Wounds

Once Mikaen and Elduran were comfortable (or in Mikaen's case, as comfortable as he could be on a couch made for a significantly smaller person), Mikaen took a deep breath and spoke of his past.

"I'll have to start with the Devastation, the war that nearly destroyed my world. No one's sure who started it anymore. All that we do know is that it left the world in ruins. The United States, the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China ... every superpower was decimated. The nuclear exchange would've killed everyone, if not for the Rebirth."

Mikaen let his gaze fall as he continued, "Huge rifts opened across the globe, spewing this strange energy out into the air. People who were directly exposed changed physically, becoming entirely new species or subspecies or whatever the scientific term is. Those who weren't changed or protected gained magical abilities. More importantly, the energy seemed to nullify the radiation. How, I don't know, but the Rebirth negated the nuclear winter."

"Still, the world was destroyed. Three-quarters of the population were dead, all major governments were gone, and what cities managed to avoid the nuclear missiles were torn apart by the formation of the Rips. There were a few groups that formed to help the survivors. In the old United States, the biggest were the Ranger's Collective and The Restored Earth Alliance. The Rangers helped rebuild settlements and utilities, and the Restored Earth Alliance was the government and military. The two groups seemed to be cooperating right up until the Restored Earth Alliance turned on the Rangers, pretty much destroying the entire organization. Soon after, they released the Doctrine of Humanity, calling for the segregation of the non-humans and magi from the so-called pure humans. They abandoned the hybrid magic engines in favor of traditional fossil fuel engines, which is why we call them 'Revs'."

Mikaen snorted. "They called us phreacs. I'm not sure if it's short for anything. I always thought they were stupid enough to think we wouldn't notice they spelled 'freak' wrong. Communities finally getting back on their feet were culled without warning, the non-humans taken from their homes, sometimes even from their families. That's about the time I woke up in the remains of a city we now call Bridges."

"I woke up alone, my clothes in tatters beside the rift that pretty much bisects what's left of the town. I had no memory of who I was, or how I got there. I wasn't a complete blank slate; I could read, do basic math, drive a car ... but information on who I was before the Devastation, how I came to be there, or how I managed to survive literally three feet from the Rip ... nothing."

"I ended up living in the local supermarket. There were still some supplies left, so I scavenged for a while. Didn't see a living soul until Jyle stumbled into my store, Revs hot on his trail. He's an elf, an illusionist, and a former Ranger, so he was pretty much a massive target for them. We managed to elude the Revs and escaped to the west. We ran into Jade, a Rev deserter who could bend the light around her so she and anything close to her was invisible to the naked eye."

"We continued running, the Revs close behind us until we reached what we now call Misakren. It was an old redwood forest before the Devastation, but close proximity to a Rip mutated the trees, making them even bigger, with foliage that blocked out the sun. Surrounded, we finally made what we thought would be our last stand. We did well, but there were hundreds against us at that point, with more on the way. That's when Syrin saved us."

"She's a dryad. Don't know if you have those here. basically, she's a living avatar of the woods. We were scared out of our minds when the treeB started swatting away the Revs, but we managed to press our advantage and send the Revs running."

Mikaen allowed himself a chuckle before continuing, "After the fight, we spoke at length and decided that something had to be done. That was when the Knights of the Star were born."