Returner? Villainess? SSS-Class? Saving the world? I want to take a nap. (Patreon)

2.2

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Commissioned by Ichypa

Word count: 2500

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Interlude: Seo Yeon, The Returner

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“Lady Prophet.”

“Holy Seer.”

“Blessed One.”

The New Spiritualist church’s followers and clergy bowed their heads in my presence while I made my way to the transport site.

What awaited me there was something common to the present, but a rarity bordering on the absurd in my time.

It was a transport shuttle, and a single glance at it filled me with astonishment. It was covered in lightweight alloys and sensors my people had never been able to remake on an industrial scale. One sensor and the wiring connecting it to the machine’s main computer would secure a week of ration cards for the common person. There were dozens all over the single machine. The lightweight metal alloys upon it would catch a similarly handsome price per pound, too.

However, it was the four engine pods that drew my attention the most.

The few shuttles that existed after everything fell apart had one at most. They went back to old designs centuries ago and supplemented them with wings or even propellers. Only a few were kept in prime configurations with four modular thrusters, each one capable of safely guiding the shuttle down if the other three were lost, while offering unparalleled speed.

If someone found an intact thruster module, they would easily get a decade’s worth of rations depending on its condition. Even ones that needed the Aetheric core replaced commanded such a price, and those that were in mint condition would allow someone to give someone all that they needed to live in the safest of enclaves.

But as I looked upon the vessel that I would ride, I heard the lifting off of my security force in two other shuttles. Ones covered in stronger armor, carrying weapons, and with defenses against missile and magical attacks. Those were all lost trying to fight against the end of humanity, and it was their sacrifice along with so many others and much of the military that allowed us to persist despite the fall.

I felt as though I was walking into a treasure trove disguised as transportation while I was to be guarded by whispered weapon platforms that held the line against the end of the world.

Finding the inside of my transport to be spare and utilitarian was a blessing.

Especially with the person who accompanied me.

Emile, the Last Cardinal, had been a wizened man in the future who led what remained of humanity spiritually for decades.

Or, for what felt like decades.

Stress and scars from combat had aged him and weakened him over many decades.

He had looked ten years older than me, but the opposite had been true.

So, now, I was eighteen and he was eight.

However, he had not risen to his rank and become the last figure of religion holding it all together by being normal.

“Holy Seer, it is good to see you well.” Emile was slight in frame and had neck-length curly blonde hair and blue eyes framed by a beatific visage. He wore a black cassock altered to permit armor over his chest, forearms, and legs. A visored metal helmet was close to his side, and on the seat next to him was a polearm taller than himself. “I pray that all shall go well and that my strength shall not be needed today.”

“All shall go well. The one we seek out today was one of humanity’s last champions.” The shuttle lifted off without any rumbling or sound reaching us. Small screens showcased what was outside. The city passed by in a blur. A car ride to our destination would have taken two hours to get there and two hours to get back, especially with all the checkpoints. With this, the trip would only take ten minutes and only require one checkpoint, which we did ahead of time. “I will need your aid in securing his freedom, however. That may require a showcase of your strength.”

“Holy Seer, if I must harm mortal lives to prevent the future you have witnessed, I shall. However, I will pray that it is not needed.” Emile bowed his head and did exactly that. I gave him a nod and waited for him to finish. It took him the remainder of the trip. We stopped in midair, and he frowned before putting a hand to his ear. All our radios in my previous life were like bricks. “It seems that the landing zone is not clear. Unknown whether those down there have malicious intent.”

“It is most likely a play for power. Open the doors. We will descend.” I told him simply, and he relayed my orders without a moment of doubt.

The winds outside were being beaten into submission by the engines still as the shuttle stayed aloft. I ignored them and stepped off the ramp. It was barely ten stories high. With a meager amount of energy, I landed in front of the crowd gathered at the landing strip without upturning any dust. Emile landed with a crash beside me, and he had his helmet on and weapon at rest on his shoulder. I forgot that I had not taught him yet.

The gathered group of miscreants had colored bandanas and tattoos and wore ragged clothes. More important were the weapons and armor that they had. Scavenged from monsters, they had claws tied to makeshift handles as swords, clubs covered in fangs, and crossbows loaded with poisoned arrow heads. Many had Aether crystals embedded into their skin in a systemic manner, which I recognized as rudimentary shielding.

They were all very dangerous individuals for this time, and it would have taken much effort to gather them all here as a show of force.

Right now, however?

They were a convenient way for me to practice my strength, especially since out here, force is what is most clearly understood.

“Stand back, Emile. If I need you, I shall call.”

“I shall do as you bid, oh Holy Seer.”

I gave him a nod before pointing towards the crowd.

“One at a time if you don’t wish to die or be crippled. Come at me all at once, if you want to risk it.” I walked towards them, and they hesitated and looked to one another. However, soon enough, from their number emerged those willing to take on the challenge. I stretched as I approached the foremost one. A man in thick trousers with a club over his shoulder. His feet and chest were bare and heavily muscled, and he sported many scars. The others who went forth to meet me slowed their step for him.

I stopped and so did he.

“May I have your name?”

“Clive. 3rd Lieutenant of the Vermillion Raiders. You know how things work around here, despite being city folk.”

“My name is Seo Yeon of the Neo Spiritualist Church. I am a prophetess who experienced a vision of the future for the next eighty years. It is one of total suffering where humanity hangs on by a thread. I am here to gather capable individuals and give them a chance at fighting rather than simply dying.” These people were not the sort to believe in anything easily. They were fed too many false promises, and many oaths to them were broken. This place with ramshackle huts, web-like assemblies of electric wiring, and so much detritus… felt more like the home I’d known all my life than where I now lived. “I worked with your people in the future. I lived amongst you. So, I know your ways.”

I raised up a thumb his way, and his brow furrowed as he watched me bring it to my neck and across.

A simple and old signal, which showcased that I was willing to put my life on the line on my words.

And that if anyone wanted to contest them, they needed to be ready to kill me to call me a liar.

Clive grunted but gave a thump over his chest to acknowledge my commitment before raising up his weapon and charging at me shoulder-first.

He was spirited, respectful, and brave.

All of that would take him far as a young man.

Still, I did not hesitate to punch him through the nearest wall.

…

“Almost there.” Clive guided me and Emile through the narrow footpaths between the buildings. “Word should’ve gotten to him now. Probably why no one’s tried anything.”

Half the buildings were made of harvested lumber, and the other half were prefabricated buildings modified over time. Beyond the walls of the city was the sprawl of those who refused to adhere to the rules of the city or were too deviated from the human genetic line to allow in.

It was mostly the former, but the latter moved on insectoid legs and had eyes that glowed beneath their hoods. Some were more fortunate and were avian or reptilian in nature. Still, all non-mammal full mutates were kept away. Their children were always stillborn if not amongst their kindred, so they gravitated towards one another for that reason.

That will change soon, thanks to Aetheric manipulation techniques that I brought back.

Their fully transformed forms can be undone. It had taken much sacrifice on those who remained after the collapse, as we desperately tried to find more people to ensure no slow death by inbreeding. They subjected themselves to deadly tests, braved unknown rifts, and more. It was an instinctive talent that they needed to learn how to manipulate but also needed to be supported by certain materials and rituals to first accomplish.

After training and the rituals, they could return to being fully human. Not only that, but all training that they did in their human forms was amplified by their transformed physiques. That they could permanently switch back and forth between forms thereafter made them fearsome combatants indeed. Without them, even in their small numbers, we would not have survived.

Seeing so many of them alive here made my heart race.

There is an army waiting to be called upon here that can save us from what is to come, and they will be indebted to us.

But first the people here needed to be marshalled to our cause.

“Here’s the place.” Clive spoke again after a few more minutes of walking. There was no sign that it was any different from any of the other shipping container prefabs. However, Clive went to one window and gave it three taps before moving to another and giving it four. Seven total taps, then he simply stood before the door. It opened after ten seconds; two men came out covered in old, surplus military equipment wielding heavy rifles. Clive raised his hands, and another person came out to pat him down and take his weapons. “Not going to do much good to take their weapons. That girl right there tossed me fifty feet and through a brick wall.”

His words drew the attention of the armed guards, but before they looked my way completely, another figure stepped out.

“Then, I’ll just speak with them out here for all the world to see.” Smart, ruthless, and cautious. Those three words described Gutter Rat perfectly. He was a slight man with gray hair, narrow eyes, and a permanent scowl. He died thirty years ago for me, so it was a surprise to see him now. He had been a living legend that led multiple retreats with civilian baggage traits to safety. Many owed him their lives, including me. He walked with a cane, though I knew it was a poisoned stinger hidden within a tube. “So, the future, huh? What happens to me?”

“You die in an evacuation of a settlement. Too slow, since you were quite old.” I told him simply, and he grunted. “Not sure if there are any details I missed regarding your death.”

“You think I might’ve lied about being alive to keep other people alive? Fat chance. Even at my oldest, I’d have done my best to live.” He straightened his back and stood with both hands on the pommel of his cane. He noticed my glance at it and gave a nod. “You know about the cane, too. Two clear points in your favor. Can you give me a third?”

“There’s a girl in this area who becomes a lynchpin of humanity’s remnants. Her name is Booth. She should be nineteen.” I informed him, and his face remained calm and impassive. “I have training regimens and techniques that she will make use of and hopefully progress once she masters it.”

Gutter Rat looked at me placidly for a long while before speaking.

“That technique you used on Clive. It’s the fruit of our labors, isn’t it?” He deduced the origin of my technique after just a moment. “We pull it off and finally give ourselves leverage. It just so happens everything goes to shit before we can use it.”

“Correct. The methods of Aether manipulation that I use are derived from the techniques developed here, which Booth masters and spreads to even our chances once civilization collapses.” They developed most of the basic techniques that I’ve used most of my life to arm themselves. Harvested weapons and crystal embedding could only do so much. Before they could finish the techniques and spread them across their lands, gaining a massive force, humanity was brought to its knees, with most of the population dying off. The worst part? The techniques that they developed were key to protecting people against what was to come. “The knowledge is already spreading. It is needed to keep hundreds of millions alive. Even the basics alone will change the future.”

So many people were below a thirty percent conversion rate of Aether. When it cascaded across the world, so many were transformed into monsters in an instant because they were overwhelmed. The techniques developed here, the training methods they’ve devised, increase one’s resistance to Aetheric energy while also allowing them to manipulate it, as being able to resist it is the very first step to shaping it, accelerating it, and more.

“Tch, that’s it then? We worked for decades in secret, and it got spilled for the good of the masses sitting safe behind walls.” Gutter Rat spat out and leveled a glare at me. “Not only that, but you’re going to take away the woman who refines it from us to make it even better for yourselves.” He leaned forward. “You’re not giving me much reason to help you, Seer.”

Thankfully, Booth had foreseen this and instructed me on what to give her foster father to gain his allegiance.

I withdrew a map from my satchel and tossed it his way.

“What is this?”

“The sanctuary, which housed all who survived for decades until the very end, after the walls fell and everything broke.” He froze. This was what they truly wanted. A place to call their own away from the cities. “Your efforts in the future will save the cities now. So, you can have what saved and kept humanity alive for decades for your people.”

He opened the map steadily, but his hands trembled when he read the name of the place.

“New Shenzen.”

A name of the province across the seas from which his ancestors came and could never return to.

So, they sought to make it here instead.

His people gave the present a new chance, so I thought it proper that his people be given what the future used to stay alive.