01

Icy cold winds ravage the land as a lone figure slowly walks through the snow making a path for his companions behind. Each of the figures were wearing thick clothes made of fur and stitched together with leather straps.

White mist escapes their mouth by every breath they take. As the leading figure, wearing only a meager amount of fur, leads them to a cave deep down in a valley. As the man reach a certain point into the cave he reaches out and pushed a seemingly normal block of rock and with shaking movements and scratching of rocks a door appeared beside the switch.

Slowly he led each of his companions and grunted instructions speaking in a language that is considered to be primitive. The group of men numbering 50 including women and children knelt and bowed, praising their savior in the time of the catastrophe. The man simply grunted and ordered the group to hurry up and move in case they will not make it to safety.

As the last member of the group entered the doorway he pushed the switch once more and the door closed with a thud. Seeing all of his companions in safe hands he slowly walked away to the entrance of the cave and slowly disappeared into the raging icy winds far from any comfort.

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"Quick! They are near the walls." A light armored infantry wearing a leather vest shouted to his companions below. Other similar soldiers moved around with haste.

"Guards! To your posts." Shouted a man clad in steel as he frowned upon the ever increasing amount of enemy soldiers beyond their first line of defense. Being the commander of men amounting less than a hundred against thousands of enemy troops filled himself with hopelessness yet he steeled his heart for the worst.

"Archers, fire!" The commander ordered, raising a hand and swiftly lowering it down.

Shots were fired along the skyline and flaming arrows flew towards the oncoming horde of enemies. The soldiers below raised their shields and a transparent wall appeared before them garnering roars and shouts of heightened morale. The wall blocked all of the flaming arrows taking some damage in return.

"Mages, attack!"

Huge flaming balls of fire flew towards the transparent wall and stuck to it as it slowly melted affecting the ground and troops beneath it. Cries of pain were heard but none of the incoming invaders stopped their charge.

The commander raised his hands and began to chant. Seeing him do so, his subordinates also raised their hands began pooling their mana toward their commander.

"Flame, form and dance within the ranks of my enemies!" The commander shouted and his subordinates fell one by one deprived of mana. Mana from the surroundings also moved in formation of the spell. A gigantic flaming ball measuring to 10 meters formed and continued to grow as mana is being continuously poured into the spell. At a critical moment the commander threw the spell at the incoming invaders.

Flames from the spell ravaged the land where the enemy stood. It turned the land inside out and everything was burned to an indescribable mess. Slowly each of the fallen soldiers stood up and help the others who had trouble getting back on their feet. They gathered towards their commander and saw the gruesome features their commander had taken as backlash of the advanced spell he threw to the enemy.

The commander's face was torn, his skin is peeling off his face. His eyes were bulging as his red flesh oozed blood soaking his armor and giving it a red tint. Many soldiers threw up on the sides and puked their guts out. Some of the braver ones approached the body and laid it down to the floor properly. A soldier covered his face with a cloth along with the rest of his body. All off the remaining soldiers bowed their head and knelt towards their fallen commander.

" A father, brother, friend and martyr. Your name will not be forgotten." The soldiers whispered under their breaths as the wind started to pick up.

Thick dark clouds roll into the place and thunder sparked in the air threatening to fall in any moment. Cold winds creep into the fortified walls as the soldiers cleaned up the place and started to prepare for another day of defense.

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Endless streams of bubbles rose up inside a transparent cylindrical tank filled with green substance that seemed to be alive in its own. Contained within is a body of a young man, 17-20 years of age, floating in the center inside the tank without any sign of suspension holding the body in place.

Sigils and rune markings covered the room where the tank is placed. Men in white robes held objects which radiated countless emissions of light waves and holds a sense of pure mana within it. Each of the men were chanting in unison.

One by one they started to raise the objects held in their hands and each object is being absorbed into a runic circle in front of the cylindrical tank. Slowly, the men then being started to be absorbed into the circle, as if the objects were not enough.

Panic and confusion can be seen on the men's movements. Some started to move away but was immediately held down by chains appearing from the ground at their feet. Some men that were already bound was being absorbed into the circle.

After consuming and absorbing the last man alive, the orb then started to cover the cylindrical tank. The cylindrical tank is being consumed and the body inside began to assimilate the orb and began to move.

The man opened his eyes. He walked out of the now empty chamber into another room similar to the one he just walked out to. A chair made of stone sits at the center. The man walked towards it and sat. While being naked, the man did not show any signs of being cold.

"Gather and converge, assimilate and retract, from all ends to the other. It shall end with me at the center." As the man spoke, tendrils of blue white translucent mana gathered around him.

Each tendril moved and formed a 20 layered sigil and runes then imprinted into the man and down to the floor. In an instant, The world outside the room broke into silence as the world met with an absolute absence of mana. Mana and other forms of magic instantly disappeared. All things and beings that relied on mana began to wither and die. Slowly, the world shook and began to cool rapidly.

Continuously the world began to heat up and cool down and thus resulting in countless different phenomena that occurred over a course of millions of years and was named years later as the Great Filter.