1 Prologue

Author's note:

I fixed it! I did it! Prologue, edited and corrected for potential plot errors and grammatical mistakes! Hope you enjoyed reading :D

****

When the universe began it's first attempt at Transitioning, all the intelligent races on Earth were united to fight together against the monstrous hordes of monsters. Species, race, allegiances, none of that mattered when facing the possibility of seeing their home planet destroyed and ravaged.

And not only did they have to fight against the sudden appearance of monsters, but they even had to endure the siege of alien forces such as Heaven and Hell, two forces seemingly holding limitless power as their soldiers fought against one another for the position of overlord of Earth. They weren't even fighting against the Earthlings but their battles caused an uncountable number of casualties just from the energy fluctuations their strikes created, and the natural disasters their weapons of war manifested.

When the leaders of these two sides fought it was if a calamity struck the Earth itself. The Earthlings knew their names only because their soldiers took whatever free time they had from fighting to spread the benefits of joining their side like it was some sacred gospel.

The Virtues from Heaven, and the Sins from Hell.

Gods.

Who dared to think that they could oppose a force as powerful as them?

Faced with such an ultimatum Earth made the only choice that meant that they'd survive and that was to remain neutral. After all, they had other problems like the monsters manifesting on Earth to give a shit about about rather than invest some of their non-existent reserve forces in supporting either side.

It's a little saddening to think of this time as the happiest time on Earth, but that was the reality. The people were free to do what they wanted, but they didn't have any other choice but to respect their fellow countrymen because making enemies of your only allies was a suicidal decision.

And the result of this great battle, this war for control over Earth?

Death and destruction. The only race that survived were the Humans. They were forced to watch as monsters devoured their allies, their loved ones, and had no other choice but to endure. The specifics were lost to history leaving historians grasping at whatever texts and evidence they could find to discover the result of this war.

****

My Virtue Procural Foundation was created to bring the Fallen races back by manipulating time. Although the end result of the war remains a mystery we have no other choice but to try and bring the Virtues back.

According to the stories, while the Virtues remained neutral to us the Sins were the ones who took pleasure in ravaging the Earthlings.

The Elves were the first to get corrupted by the Sins and their powers. Their dead, filled with Envy, rose up to torment the remaining Elves in an endless cycle of jealousy. It only stopped when the last Elf fell.

The remaining races tempered themselves against the corruption, but it was no use. They weren't Gods, and so were susceptible to the Sins. Their technology hadn't advanced far enough to provide them with even the simplest of protections.

Wrath tore them apart, Sloth delayed their rationality, Lust drove them mad, Pride prevented any from cooperating, Gluttony led them to self-destruction, Greed tore down entire civilizations, and Envy rose the dead to fight again.

All the races except for Humans went extinct. I wish I could say that it was for a glorious and justified reason, but Humans survived because we were lucky enough to be able to endure. We weren't the most powerful, that'd be the Elves and their natural affinity with Mana. We weren't the most intelligent, that'd be the Dwarves and their metallic constructs that drew in wonder and joy. And we weren't the most willful, that'd be the Beastmen and their natural instincts.

But by the Heavens, Humans could endure like nothing else.

The monsters disappeared with the Sins, seeing nothing more worth fighting over. Our civilizations were destroyed, our people ruined. We never discovered where they went nor did we want to. Our people were too busy with slowly recovering our people and civilization.

The idea of bringing back the Heavenly Virtues was what drove my research, my organization. The Virtue Procural Foundation worked to bring the monsters and the Fallen races back, and prepare Humanity for that time.

What was the reason why we had to do something that might cause a second extinction event? It was because of the most simple reason there could be; our planet was dying. We needed a God to stimulate the Earth's Mana so that living beings could survive and our time was running out.

We sought to reverse the flow of time in a controllable method, in a way that brought back the Fallen races and monsters. Knowing that even if we succeeded that impossible task the world would need protection from the monsters, we devised a plan. Cities would be built, bunkers hidden, and weapons of war stashed away for the time that our plan would succeed.

We planned and schemed for the Succession. To save our planet, and to break past the limit imposed on our people from the lack of magical energy.

Of course, our plan would not benefit every human on Earth. Rather, it would benefit the majority. We needed sacrifices, people rich in energy to act as conduits. Their survival wouldn't be guaranteed, but even if they died, the world would not lose anything significant compared to the survival of our people.

It was a noble sacrifice that they should feel pride in doing.

The world would also need soldiers. Humans who could protect the now young and revived Fallen races as they began to settle on Earth from the return of the monsters. Disposable Guardians to help the Earth prepare until the forces of Heaven came back for our second chance.

Groups of young and bright humans, collected from all across the world, manipulated until only those with the will to survive remained. The youths that survived until then would receive training until they were capable Guardians. After that point, their path depended on them.

The process itself should take years, but with the discovery of the Rifts and the space that laid beyond them, only a day or two would be necessary on Earth. Although time dilation was a new concept, it was promising enough for our Foundation to deeply imbed ourselves into the Void.

The preparations were nearly done. The Virtues of Heaven will return to Earth. No matter the cost.

****

A young and well-proportioned man walked alone on a modern and well-kept street, the streetlights illuminating his long and lithe figure. At the end of the road was a massive building with an abundance of lights still on despite the moon shining high in the dark sky.

Approaching an iron door, he inserted his ID card into the slot and entered the lobby full of the world's brightest and most powerful people, many of them considered geniuses in their respective fields. None of those fields or even the individuals themselves were known to the public, of course. The discoveries regarding energy and magic couldn't be shared no matter what.

"Master Urok, may I get you anything? Perhaps some water?"

A well dressed man expertly appeared before the man, bowing at the waist.

"No. Thanks for the offer, but I didn't come to the facility for a tour, Nick, I have business." Urok pinched his well-formed nose, feeling a headache coming on just by thinking about the long list of tasks he needed to get done. "Tell the people in the Developmental Zone that I'm on my way, and to excuse my lateness. Oh, and get me Maria. I should at least get prepared for the meeting."

"Of course, sir."

Nick bowed before quickly leaving to perform his Master's orders.

"Why's he here?! Oh god, I need to go back to work.…"

"Is it time already? I thought it wasn't going to be ready until next month!"

Members of the organization stared in awe at the imposing young man, before quickly scattering to perform their duties. After a while, no one remained to gawk at his figure.

In the chaos of the fleeing crowd, a brunette woman wearing a long sleeved white shirt and jeans limped towards Urok. She quickly fixed her glasses before standing up straight in front of the Foundation's leader.

"Well." He acknowledged her presence with a single word.

"Hm?"

"You know why I'm here Maria. We're already behind schedule, and you tell me there are even more delays? And don't give me more bullshit like, 'its an unknown field, we're still learning,' because we've all had years. Years." The last word he jabbed into her head using his finger, expressing his discontent. A spark of red energy crackled from his fingertip and showed his displeasure.

"George, I-"

"Urok."

Maria nervously pushed up her glasses.

"What?"

"You don't call me George. None of you do." Urok sneered. "People only called me George when my father was still alive. Now that he's passed on, you will all call me Urok. You're free to do whatever you want behind my back however."

The woman broke out in sweat at the memory of her coworkers calling Urok by his given name. The amount of physical energy spilling from the powerful man in front of her almost made her pass out. Resolving herself, she pushed up her glasses again and started explaining, desperately trying to resolve Urok's discontent.

"The delays were unpredictable. You know that Urok, despite all the bureaucracy. We're barely compensating for the drain on our Mana the spaces are taking, but to create facilities within them? The process will of course have some delays!"

"I know that."

Maria exploded at George's monotonous statement.

"I know that you are aware of that! You don't have to tell me that! Just tell me what you want from me, because I've been dragged around like a rag doll the past couple months!"

As soon as her angry words spilled from her mouth she immediately slapped her hands on her mouth and stepped back as the blood drained from her face.

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine. You're exhausted anyways, and I can't reprimand the Director of the Guardian Program in the middle of achieving the Foundation's dream." He sighed.

George patted Maria's back, careful with his actions so as to not trigger another outburst while guiding her to the Guardian Development zone underneath the facility. Despite his harsh words, he did care about the Foundation and his people.

Even when angry, he knew enough to not push her too much. Being responsible for so much of the Guardian Program, of course he had to let her outburst slide. But with so little time left, they both knew they couldn't afford to do much else besides working.

Underground, surrounded by research equipment and Mana formations of undiscernible quality, was a black tear. No, not black. Urok tried to find another word in his vocabulary to describe the tear's appearance, but none could aptly describe the color that lacked all colors.

Although Urok had seen images of the tears through reports and related scientific research documents, seeing one in person made any opinion he had before disappear in a puff of red energy.

It was a rip in space and reality, blue electricity dancing around the tear. Personnel busily stormed around the tear, checking every possible reading, ensuring the stability of the Rift.

George looked at Maria, prompting her to begin explaining.

"This is R-001, the phenom written within our reports. It's the first stabilized rift we created, and the model we're currently using to create the other Rifts. This is currently the most stable Rift that we have."

"What's the total number of successful Rifts?"

"Uhm, give me a moment."

She started aggressively tapping her tablet, going through several documents before stopping on one.

[The Collection of Rift Data.]

"I believe that the latest created Rift is, ah! Yes, it's R-537. I don't believe we're creating any more. That number should be enough for the Foundation's needs. We expect enough space to train hundreds of thousands of candidates."

"Impressive."

"Indeed."

The two stood in silence and admired the Rift, gazing into the black void it contained. Black void licked at the surrounding space, but was held in place by the surrounding mana structures.

"....It's not much to look at, is it. A little creepy, but boring. " Urok chuckled slightly before continuing with a small grin. "When I first saw it I nearly pissed myself, but when you get used to it it's not all that bad."

"Ah, no, I guess so." Maria was a little flustered at his comment, the Rifts were the VPF's life work, reduced to mere attractions by Urok. She tried to understand by reminding herself that Urok was not his father, so he would obviously have a different reaction to the Rifts.

"Its looks don't hold back its performance based on our data, Urok. The time dilation is perfectly within our control."

"So, what's the issue with construction inside? I'll be honest, I didn't understand much of the words in the reports. I'm more of a fighter myself."

Maria sighed and answered.

"It's the time delay. Although it's a great boon to our work, it's also a major problem when considering the construction of the facilities inside. By the time we deliver the materials, it's already late. And it's not like we can wait and send it all at once. Some of the materials come with specific needs and instructions, and with the others we simply have no idea how it would react to the Rift's energy."

"I see. And the Guardian selection?"

Maria pulled up a list of names. Each of the names contained within the file were listed beside a percentage, along with information about their backgrounds that were relevant to the time they were about to spend within the Program.

"There's no issues with the candidates. We've already scheduled the date of capture for most of them. It's not that there's a lack of people with potential talent or other such qualities. Quite the opposite, in fact, unfortunately."

"Why do you say 'unfortunately'?"

"Well, we wouldn't have to create the Guardians in the first place in an ideal world." She pointed at the data values next to each name on the list. "Just think of what these kids could do if they were able to develop their talents to better society. Yet we're taking them away to become killers."

"Ah, yes. But don't you think that Humanity's benefitted at the same time, even with the setbacks that history has?"

"Sir? Isn't the purpose of this Foundation to remove the Sins influence from Earth and bring back the Virtues?"

George made a pained face and continued staring at R-001. He made a grasping motion with his hands and spoke.

"All this technology. It was created by Humans with the intent to destroy their enemies. However, it also benefited millions and helped them. The same could be said for many other things the Sins caused. If anything we should be grateful whilst also understanding the reason why we do this, to save our planet.

"But I guess we won't really know if it was worth it until after, right? Ah, but we don't even know how long we'll have to fight until our plan starts benefitting our planet."

George continued to muse about his plans while gazing into the beauty of the Rift. At his side, Maria pondered at his words.

"Taking people from their homes and tearing families apart. Huu, I understand that we must do evil things to enact the Succession. But where do we draw the line? I don't give a shit about us, but kids. They haven't done anything wrong yet." Maria pushed the issue.

"We draw it after we are free. How could we stop the plan after devoting so many unrewarding years into the Foundation? It'd be cruel to everyone else. Remember, this is what my father wanted."

"....Yes, I guess you're right. I'm just grateful that I don't have any kids..."

The pair stood in the glow of the Rift, shadows dancing in their eyes containing contrasting emotions. One of them contained fierce determination, and blinding faith towards Heaven. In the other, was doubt, appearing in the very shadow of their eyes.

One month later, the announcement reached every member of the VPF. The construction was completed. The only thing that awaited the Guardian Program was obtaining the candidates.