The Greatest Story Ever Written

Chapter 1

The story begins at the end of the world. Cataclysm struck in the form of magic returning once more. A new era unfolds as a vast number of humans succumb to death caused by magic. Chaos reigned amongst the remnants of mankind and many more perished. However, as the population of humans dwindles, other beings emerge from hiding and start to inhabit the world once more.

In the Philippines, there is an island called Negros. There's a city in this island called Silay. In that city, a teen by the name of Pacifico Severino woke up. He looked at his clock and found out that it is seven o'clock in the morning, yet his house is quiet.

He went down the stairs, thinking that perhaps his parents stayed up all night and are still sleeping right now after getting exhausted by their work. However, what he simply found the moment he arrived downstairs are the inanimate bodies of his parents and brother.

At first, he panicked internally. However, he soon calmed down the moment he noticed that the bodies had no wounds. It was as if they simply dropped dead wherever they were standing on. He tried to contact the authorities, but the cellphones don't have reception and the landline didn't have a dial tone either.

After hearing the screams coming from the surrounding houses, he deduced that the same thing happened to other people. He decided to then go and follow the plan that he and his friends devised if a crisis ever happens: get whatever useful things you can get and go to their old high school.

He ate a breakfast that consisted of bread and some cheese spread. He swiftly collected whatever useful things he could find. He took the various tools his father has, some clothes, canned food, cooking utensils, matches, medicine, a jug of water, a few books and some rope. He loaded everything to the car that they had and brought along his dog and four cats with him. After ensuring that his house was locked and secured, he drove the car towards his old school.

Almost at the same time as Pacifico woke up, his friend, Remuel Montinola woke up as well. He too saw the corpses of the members of his family and saw the bizarreness of the whole situation. He too decided to follow the plan that they devised and quickly packed up after eating a light breakfast of a pack of crackers. Since he will be using a bicycle to get to their old school, he packed lightly, only bringing some clothes, canned food, bottled water and some medicine. He quickly rode his bicycle to their designated rendezvous point.

Their other friends know of this plan and executed it the moment they saw what happened to their respective families as well. Each of them arrived at their old school at varying times with Pacifico being the first and the others following suite. It would seem that the houses surrounding the school did not have any living people and the guards seem to be dead as well, so they all went in through the open gate and gathered so that they can conduct a meeting.

Pacifico stood in front of the gathered teens. He noticed that some of his friends brought along siblings, cousins and friends. He noticed their expressions as well. Most of them are either on the verge of tears or crying outright and some – through sheer willpower – have a look of indifference.

He cleared his throat to gather everyone's attention. "Ahem. I know that all of us here have experienced a great loss today," he said. "However, we must all strive to survive, even if our loved ones are dead. We must live to ensure that we do not forget them and their legacy."

His words seems to have a profound effect as those who were crying no longer shed tears and instead have a determined look on their visage.

He continued, "Today, we start anew! Today is the day that we do our best to live for ourselves, our beliefs and for our loved ones!"

The gathered teens felt their fighting spirit ignite with the will to survive from their leader's words. He then decided to delegate various tasks to everyone. Remuel and some of their friends were tasked with the duty of gathering and organizing the food, water and medicine that everyone brought. Tasked with breaking into the certain classrooms are Alejandro Dimagiba and some other boys and girls that have great strength. Then there were people like Robin Guevara who searched for sources of water and some that built barricades like Zenon Magbanua. Pacifico himself helped with various tasks before taking some people to help him to cook the food that everyone requires to fuel themselves with.

By the time they all had their third meal of the day and as the sun sets on the western horizon, they had gotten a lot of progress done. Their food, water and medicine were all gathered and organized. They found tools in classrooms of various TLE subject teachers. Sources of clean water were found and marked. They even completed barricades that would give them more protection in case of an attack from hostiles.

They all found places to stay in and most of them slept through the night. The few that didn't are the people taking turns in guard duty and the ones that meditated through the night instead sleeping like Pacifico Severino, Remuel Montinola and Chesca Rivas.

As days pass, their small community became larger and larger. Unsurprisingly, no adult wanted to join the community led by a teen, so all of their new members were either teens or children. However, Pacifico ensured that no one was unproductive.

He gave jobs to everyone and made children assist with jobs that are safe and easy. Some tended the crops and became farmers. Those who were skilled with making objects became craftsmen. Those who were good at cooking took over the kitchen. There are those that trained their combat skills under the tutelage of Pacifico to either become a guard or explorer. The very few that cannot or did not want to do any of these other jobs became custodians, cleaning certain places and making sure that their structures and walls stay intact.

They became well-known for having food and good tools, weapons and equipment. Some communities traded with them. However, there are others that tried to conquer them but failed. The guards' training and good weapons and equipment allowed them to defeat hostile forces with little to no casualties.

Remuel, an occultist, discovered that magic has returned after summoning a low-level demon. Originally, he wanted to ask it about the state of the world at large, but was quickly distracted by it having a physical body instead of an ethereal one like the many demons he has summoned before. Of course, Pacifico, a Daoist, already knew about the return of magic but never bothered to tell him because he thought that his friend already knew.

In one of their meetings, Remuel brought up his findings to the group. Some were appalled by the fact that he summoned a demon and practices magic, but the majority, especially the first members of the community, simply didn't care. Among them, however, is a great mind that thought that maybe he can develop devices to harness the power of magic to help their community. This person is their resident scholar and inventor, Harold Justin Mana.

Harold then took some basic magical lessons from Remuel before devising his own way to use magic. He then started to theorize and design a machine that would allow their community to use magic to provide them with electricity. Remuel started to learn demonic magic from his familiar and teaches basic magic to those that wanted to learn in their community. As for Pacifico, he taught magic to his personal disciple, Chesca Rivas and to the guards and explorers that were already training under him.

After seeing the positive effects of magic in their community those that were outraged by it before accepted it and some even started to learn it. With the aid of magic their community flourished even more. More people joined them and they continued to expand until they controlled the whole territory of the former city, Silay. Seeing that they have gotten so large the leaders decided their community needed a name that would fit them. They ultimately decided on what Pacifico suggested after hearing his reasoning.

Pacifico stands once more in front of his people. He sees that they have grown and that they overcame hardship through determination and cooperation. He smile is practically ear to ear as he is about to tell his people the new name of their community.

"Everyone, we have gathered here today for a very special event," he said. "Today is the day that I, your leader, announce the name that fits our community."

Everyone cheered with excitement and joy. He motioned for them to calm down before continuing, "Today, we shall start calling our community Asylum for it is a community that provided refuge to those that required it!"

The cheers of the members of the community became even louder. So much so that he decided to simply use magic to amplify his voice before continuing his speech, "Today, we celebrate for we are no longer nameless!"

Everyone then had a feast to celebrate such a momentous occasion and enjoyed themselves with some songs and dancing. After the celebration, they returned to their duties with great vigor and enthusiasm.