After packing all my belongings inside a suitcase, I sat on the bed to take a quick breather.

“Status”

[Name : Reid Danquers]

[Race : Intellica / ???]

[Class : ???]

[Health Points : 100/100] (Avg. Human - 10)

[Stamina : 80/100] (Avg. Human - 10)

[Mana Points : 20] ( Avg. Human - 0)

[Skills : Waltz [Intermediate] , Calligraphy [Advanced] , Theatre [Novice] , Stencil Art [Advanced] , Advanced Calculus [Intermediate] , Chess [Novice] , Caricature [Novice] …]

[Combat Skills : ???]

[Combat Arts: ???]

[Mana Artefacts: ???]

‘Everything looks as it should have.’

“Hah…”

Sighing deeply, I went straight to bed. It was already past ten. I had to get up early tomorrow in order to catch the train on time.

***

Though I had designed this world to be almost identical to Earth. But there was one major alteration.

The [Mine]

In an era where minerals and alike resources were everything, the [Mine] became the most influential industry in terms of both manpower and finances.

Fifteenth century saw the rise of a renowned and revered group of scientists, The Herald.

The Herald was a group who were often seen as an enigma. They introduced various new technologies to the mainland of Galia. They were considered to have become so tech-avant that they were once thought to even predict the future.

At their peak, their prediction could make or break any kingdom or even an entire empire.

Before their abrupt disappearance, they had made the last prediction of the [Affliction]. And like all their previous predictions, this one too came true.

[Affliction] could mainly be divided into two waves.

The First wave of [Affliction].

During the first wave, a peculiar disease, unseen before, spread across all of Galia. Spreading like wildfire, it engulfed all the species that once existed on its earth impartially. And as one could guess it led to total devastation and chaos.

Kingdoms and Empires that had once overcome all sorts of problems fell within a short span of a month. People slaughtered their own cattle. Animals and Humans were slaughtered alike. The cost of a piece of bread was now worth greater than even life. And at last, all the technological advancements that had once taken place were now lost.

The disease was named the [Quietus].

[Quietus] came in wreaking havoc, but what it left behind was a deathly silence. It took [Quietus] just over a period of half a year to kill more than a fourth of the entire population of Galia.

But soon, a year later, [Quietus] left as silently as it had creeped in.

***

[All the passengers are requested to enter the train through the doors on the left.]

I entered the train and resigned in my seat in the First Class. An ordinary household in Intellica could have never afforded the cost of a journey in the First Class. This was a privilege that I could enjoy.

Father. Carrwen Danquers was a District Commissioner. [DC]

An effective administrative system had been put in place. Galia was divided into four major domains. Northern Domain, Eastern Domain and likewise. Four domains in four directions.

Based on the geographical size of the Domain it was further segregated into Districts.

A District was managed by the [DC]’s office with the District Commissioner at the top.

A Domain was managed by the [DGO]’s office. The Domain Governing Officer headed the management.

And a separate autonomous body known as the [Admino] would superwise the entirety of Galia.

If it weren’t for the setbacks that the world faced during the [Quietus], the technology could have been far more advanced and I might have been able to actually see some of those advanced stuff. A pang of regret knocked on my chest.

I laid back and soon with a little startle the train soon started moving.

Watching the racing trees and landscapes that raced opposite to the train were pleasing to eyes. Suddenly without any premonition, I suddenly felt something sliding down my cheeks. I was pleasantly surprised to find my reflection on the train window… Crying.

Alone in the cabin, I suddenly felt how lonely I was.

“Mom… Kristie…”

I tried to vocalise the names that relentlessly kept pricking in the back of my heart.

Looking at the beautiful scenery that reflected in my eyes, I was reminded of the small backside hill that was situated in my previous world.

After father, Mother took it upon herself to look after the both of us. I recalled. One fine Sunday morning, mom had literally pulled us out of our beds just to take us to a picnic on the hilltop.

I remembered enjoying myself, although reluctantly.

But now all that seemed like it had occurred an entire decade ago.

***

The Second Wave of [Affliction]

After [Quietus], one might think how were the people of Galia able to recover so fast. The reason was the Second Wave.

Reading the word [Affliction], some might think that it was all bad. But quite to everyone’s amusement it was not.

Though all the Waves of [Affliction] had brought along with it the demise of many. After the First Wave, the deaths were minimal.

Human bodies are objects of wonder and mystique. Faced with any calamity, they tend to change or accommodate. Thus, the same happened in the case of [Quietus].

[Quietus] wasn’t something that the current human body could defeat. So, it did the thing that it could do the best, Accommodate. Against such a deadly disease, a change occurred in the human body. A fundamental one at that.

The symptoms of [Quietus] included heavy breathlessness and reddening of the body. When the [Quietus] attacked the human body, it would start blocking off all the lymph nodes, responsible for the production of antibodies.

[Quietus] would regenerate its own cells and continue to block off all the blood vessels present in the human body. This resulted in the restricted blood flow and thus the reddening of the body.

No major change had ever occurred in the human body in a short period of time. For the human body or any other organism at that, it took thousands of years, even centuries for a change as simple as bending of finger to form a thumb.

For the first time in the evolution of Human Beings, the human body evolved vigorously. So, to fight off the blockage in blood flow, a new circulatory system was developed. Several thin tubular structures that functioned similar to the veins and arteries in our body. These new structures were now responsible for the blood transfer but with some tweaked properties.

But when [Quietus] disappeared from the face of the earth, the previous tubular structures were now useless. Or so we thought.

Because half a century later, these tubes were called [Mana Veins]. They were now responsible for transporting…

[Mana]

***