10,000 years ago, humanity changed.
It began without warning. People started living longer. Growing stronger. Some could bend metal with bare hands, ignite flames from nothing, or leap across buildings with ease. These were the first Awakened Ones, and their emergence threw the world into chaos.
Nations scrambled to understand this evolution. Governments hunted them. Scientists dissected them. Wars broke out not over land or oil, but over bloodlines and power. Nuclear weapons were rendered obsolete. A single awakened soldier could level a city with a blade or a scream.
Then came First Contact.
They descended from the void — aliens of myth made real. Tall, ancient, and armed with knowledge that dwarfed Earth's understanding. The awakened were sent to repel them… and were humbled. For the aliens too wielded power, but theirs was precise, refined, ancient. Humanity had stumbled upon a much vaster stage — and they were the newcomers.
But war never lasts forever. Peace, uneasy though it was, followed.
From these beings, humanity learned of Qi — the invisible force that flowed through stars, stone, and soul. They discovered the Celestial Vein, a vast spiritual network linking habitable worlds across galaxies. With cultivation, humans learned to mold their bodies, minds, and spirits into living weapons.
But humans are not good students.
They turned their knowledge back upon their teachers. The first interstellar war began — Earth's forces, now cultivators, struck with unrestrained fury. They shattered alien armies, burned cities among the stars, and took what they wanted.
Fear became ambition. Curiosity became conquest.
Earth's governments dissolved. Empires rose, ruled not by kings but by cultivators whose strength eclipsed that of nations. Universities became war academies. Children were raised not for peace, but for power.
A thousand years later, they left Earth behind — reaching into the void, seizing worlds, hunting legends. Colonies became provinces. Star systems became warzones. They called it progress.
Now, 10,000 years have passed.
Humanity stands tall — feared, powerful, proud — a dominant force among the stars. But the Celestial Vein hums with forgotten secrets, and the universe remembers what even gods try to forget.
And somewhere, deep in the black, an echo stirs.