Darks adapted to radiation, grew through it, and evolved, and the entire ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere changed considerably. Fogs did so the most, giving rise to a Radiation Fog, and the entire long-term investment in human settlements and survival changed.
However, it had been a long time since those nukes smeared the land. It made no difference and left the portion of Earth scorched for decades until it eased and changed again. By people. By Walkers, who soon began to spread their wings.
People couldn't help themselves, yet many continued to survive. The rest was history that William wasn’t very familiar with. He had materials for that. Stuff. Books. Diaries. Notebooks. One was even in his home, looking crazier by the day.
Following the nuclear events, known as Tomorrow Dawn, was the first generation of Walkers, who paved the way for the future and new kinds of struggles in this era. The remaining nations and people worked with them as their leaders, followers, or, in some cases, tools.
Leadership and ideas about changed human babies were kind of tricky, as many people at that time assumed Walkers were the offspring of devils. Rare ones considered them like pawns, a new kind of Dark that mixed with people, then little children with far too heavy gifts for humanity.
That time came with retaliations, and first proper pokes into what Darks were truly about. Their nests, weaknesses, and so on, soon came to a much brighter light.
Many discoveries were made every day, but due to the scattered nature of humanity, sharing wasn’t very easy, even within the same nation and continent. Humanity discovered what they had done, what to do, and how this world had changed over the years.
Everything was destroyed. Be it New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and its famous buildings, or those humongous conglomerations of people in Tokyo, and next... What was even right for anyone?
Nothing major survived the last century, so new places developed instead. Such as much better-protected lands, cities, and bunkers that would have been otherwise impossible before. It was necessary to think outside of the box and humanity, and it was a time of change and hope that worked its wonders.
William was both impressed and terrified by this history. The sheer amount of dread he had seen from pictures and scrolls was immense. It was as if the Darks were converting the Earth for themselves, yet they forgot to finish the job midway through their insanity.
Why? Because they were fucking mad and batshit insane and fought between themselves after humanity turned to rats.
Mi-Yung showed the world map of the present major crevices and chunks of their nests. William correlated it to the knowledge he had and how many of them were connected, and figured it wasn't so bad. Walkers actually worked their ass off and that was one of many reasons Canadian camps weren’t completely wiped out.
The worst part was the corrupted soil, which was much spread out than the nests and various dwellings.
Standing around the map, Celeste inspected her former home. Australia had a couple of crevices as well, looking like lines and wounds on a piece of paper, or like rivers or wounds on her hand. She didn't believe such a small drawing could be her home. It felt different, as it wasn't very deeply explored.
There, the Darks were unleashed beasts with insatiable hunger for power and pride. Their homes weren't as important for those reasons. Territories and pride were more than righteous, and Celeste knew about it. That was why she was alive and here, learning and getting better, and aware.
Pictures of mountains of bones barely skipped William's mind. Not many Darks actually process bones, so a lot of them remained all over the place, or became part of their nests and Dungeons.
Digestion systems were like a perfect engine to keep their insanity going and fill them with energy, which puzzled scientists for a century.
The internal structures of Darks weren't too fascinating. Dead Darks were excellent Darks. That was a consensus even Outside could get behind, where living was rash and conscious. The further mark was that Darks started deteriorating quickly upon death, so getting their secrets was better done when they were alive.
That lowered the efficiency of research and answered Mi-Yung’s question about their demise and parting with Fogs, or turning into that weird decay.
However, since ancient times, understanding the enemy from the inside out has been desirable, and the structures of those monsters have been one way to gain a deeper understanding of everything. Perhaps only a madman or a weirdo would obsess over them, yet they existed.
These people were scientists, followed by odd black sheep among Walker societies. They weren't in large numbers. Each was crucial for their society, or for themselves, and a few people here and there saw them as a necessary evil and a drain on resources, time, and workforce.
The Federation was different; its search for people, science, Walkers, Emblems, and Darks was tremendous and rooted in history. That idea had originated from lost nations, which were closest to the pre-Dawn era, and where a deep sense of science helped development.
Still, it wasn't as if one could find reasons for world peace in the picture without the strokes of the brush. When it was so full, it might as well be all black.
Research and science turned out to be an endless pursuit of perfection and knowledge, all of which had no end in sight. Emblems were unusual, while Darks were not simply wrong, but also beyond crazy. They were just bizarre, and the worst stuff was still that sick Corruption and deep, senseless Dread and their Arcana.
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As for the places that Mi-Yung mentioned with a healthy dose of expertise, the Federation and Academy were the greatest parts of this hemisphere. No other comparable or close places were around, as they had been part of the Federation for a long time.
Outside of this hemisphere was Asia with its Xian Dynasty in China, and Japan, which was one of the rare places in this period with relatively closed-off travel and sharing. It was internally stable thanks to the solid Walker structure and people who were under one singular leadership. It seemed that locking up everything for decades created a very sturdy people and nation when shit hit the fan. The reputation and culture of Japan were on a similar scale as before, unlike North America, and a close China, which held a tremendous amount of resources and influence over Asia.
When Mi-Yung said it, William had trouble believing it. Japan seemed very different, for sure. Beside them, India had the closest thing to a fortress of humanity. It was close to China in some respects, known as the Tibetan Plateau.
Mi-Yung talked about most of them for an hour. The Xian Dynasty was not a singular formation, but rather a spread-out network of bases across large areas of China. Hundreds of thousands of people lived in multiple underground cities, or various mountain ranges that were cut or pulled into immense formations with many protective layers. Both via conventional military means and through Walkers, they survived in vast numbers and lived and fought for their safety.
In hindsight, William figured people were hard as fuck anywhere. Camps around Canada sounded like a child's play in comparison, or straight-up fishing for troubles, but that was fine. Federation was behind them, even if it didn't seem that way all the freaking time. All places had their ups and downs, probably.
China was the largest proper land, so finding a place to hide came with numerous compromises. Thankfully, there were the most extensive cave systems in the world, so exploring natural habitats and fortifications aided their cause. With seals and monitored underground, it was impressive how such places survived since Darks loved them.
Celeste, Ellie, and William listened to her lesson and took them as a narrative of someone who dealt with them on a personal level. Well, one of them did not, but that was fine.
Mi-Yung was working with foreign efforts, after all, so her words carried significant weight and even more credibility that aimed at the entire world.
***
A couple of hours later, she stopped. “That's about it. Humanity is vast. Darks are bigger. Most crevices would dwarf over the Federation, and we aren't going around crying about it.”
“Yeah. I can tell. Fogs, dark places, and so on. It is like a horror story, apart from the fact that it is a dreadful reality.”
“True. Let's wrap this up. Who is hungry?” Mi-Yung clapped and looked at three people and one beast before her. One was more fervent than the other, but she wasn't planning to give those eyes any privilege. It was a problem for Dreadus to deal with.
“I wouldn't mind that,” Ellie said first.
“You too?” Mi-Yung looked at her, wondering how much she would stick with her. A lot, it seemed, but it was far from shocking.
“Can't I?”
Mi-Yung lost her words and looked at others. She forgot what she was dealing with in Celeste. She promised to take care of her only under specific circumstances. In this library, to be specific. Outside of it, she shouldn't care about her needs, so what's up with her?
In the end, time wasn't that bad, and she still offered Celeste an irresistible idea. Any meal was bliss! It was more precious than something wet and slippery.
Hopping on the spot, she hugged Hound, who whimpered and expected a meal that would never come.
“What about you?” Mi-Yung pointed at William, who had been silent for a while.
“Not like I live somewhere else. It’s getting late. I am also hungry.”
“Great! So let's go eat out.”
“Thank you very much for today,” William paused, and bowed, making this right for himself and Mi-Yung. As he guessed, she liked this sort of attention. Oddly enough, Celeste did the same thing, but without the thanks. Ellie could only sigh at how easily impressionable she could be sometimes.
Taking their shoulders, Mi-Yung twisted both of them up. William grunted, managing to moan just a little. Celeste barely twitched.
“I did this talk to make things clear, and I wished to make it bigger. Maybe I could do it more. Who knows? Celeste, you have Dreadus. I want to do this the right way. William is precious to me, as you are to Dreadus. If you have any questions or worries, you might count on me or William. Ellie, too... perhaps, but Dreadus is more personal. As for the future and what it holds, I won't be able to be with you. Dreadus is the same, Celeste. There is a choice before you. William has the same thing. And that is what kind of Walker you wanna be and what it will bring you.”
Making the last lesson right, Mi-Yung sounded like a motivational speaker.
Celeste frowned and nodded. “A choice? Walkers. What choice? I walk!”
“Awakening is one of them,” William suggested to Celeste. “Organizations and their recruitments are also important, and you are a young, insane Walker. We are meant to follow at least some lead. Being alone isn't right.”
“I... know.” She believed Dreadus said the same thing, but what was a choice? That wasn't an option for most of her life. The biggest one so far was when she met Dreadus.
Now, there were other people before her, and it seemed her future could widen even more. Great. In some sense, Celeste found it terrifying, comforting, and challenging at the same time. Like a great hunt, she played her game and decided to hunt along.
Clutching her fist, her choice shifted a little, and her learning time pivoted forward. She acknowledged her lacking parts thanks to Ellie and Mi-Yung, so today ended with a very steep harvest. She learned lessons that should shake her life very soon.
“It isn't so bad,” Ellie said, clearly aware this topic was moving towards the upcoming Examination. “Choice can be a promise or a time-limited deal, if you would call it like that. Is it fine to talk about it now?”
“It isn't so simple, Ellie,” Mi-Yung argued. “I can't be a teacher or mentor because of my position. But I can become a proxy for William in a heartbeat. Having this sort of backup is good, and even better, responsibility like having assurance or a helper in this world.”
“You?” Ellie muttered in confusion. “Are you planning to...”
“Especially from me! It is an advantage in retaliations against the Pillars and leadership of the Division and most organizations. Why? Because I know them and I get how these people work. Of course, when it comes to the Federation, things are more personal. If Celeste wants to go somewhere else, she is free to do so. Our Examination is here, but it's also important for other places. China, Japan, and even Tribes from Africa will come and send their appropriate recruits to Awaken and reach political deals. Having this change comes with positive arrangements.”
“Proxy? What does it mean?” William looked at her serious face and didn't want to think about politics. Celeste was the same, gazing at those blazing eyes with curiosity.
“I will become someone between you and those looking at you, William. It is not like being a guardian, or someone like that. I would just hop and talk, and deal with words and control the narrative. It's not a big deal. Many do the same thing. Awakening and Examination are two separate yet linked events. Any young Walker has to think and decide what's best for them, and if they won't... well, it isn't that hard to decide. Some places and offers are indeed better than others.”
“As those results, right?”
“Yes. Affinity and backing can determine many things, such as the same promise, friends, or even family. The Emblem is still a number one priority. I want to care about your imminent future, William, so I figured becoming your proxy is the best thing I can do for you. What do you think?”
