A short rewind at history
“As all of you may know, we’ve been at war with the race we call demons for a very long time now. But how many of you know details about when exactly the war started or what the reason was?... So few? Well… I expected that. Not many people care about these facts anymore. They think that it is more than enough to know that we are at war with the demon race. Well… I wouldn’t really say that they are wrong, they’re simply a bit too ignorant for their own good. What good is it, to fight a war without purpose? What good is it to have no cause to fight for?! I ask you… what good is it, to blindly charge into battle and maybe even die there… and not knowing what for?!
Well my dear young ladies and gentlemen, that is why I am here today. To teach all of you about the precious, exciting and yet dramatic tale, that is our past.
To state when exactly the human-demon-war started is something that is nigh impossible, as there exists no known records of that time. What we do know though, is that it began roughly 1500 years ago. Back then, before the war even began, Humanity lived their lives without having anything to do with the demonic races, just continuing their days filled with peace.
Then suddenly the war began. Though the reason is not known to mankind, one day the demons started invading our lands, taking away our homes, families and even our lives. Without any warnings, the peace of humanity’s civilization was destroyed and many of our technologies were lost to the wave of destruction, brought upon us by the demon kind. It was at that time that the most advanced countries decided to form an alliance in order to save humanity from extinction.
Now that we’re already on the subject – who of you can tell me what a country is?”
“Yes, that’s correct! A country is similar to the many different states we live in today. And while I say similar, there are still quite a few differences between the two. First of all is that each country was on their own in regards to who governs it, the currency used and most importantly – all of them had their own language and culture. I believe that all of you know that while there are supervisors in each state, they only exist to enforce the laws and rules set by the “Mankind Prosperity Organization” or “MPO” in short, the Organization that’s responsible for protecting and governing our Civilization.
But enough with the digression and back onto the main topic. As I’ve told you, when demon kind started their invasion, humankind formed an alliance. They had to come together as one in order to be able to fight back. To drive back the demons that were already on their doorstep, they chose the best of the best out of all their soldiers. I can’t tell exactly how many of them they send to the frontlines, but they barely managed to drive them back after several confrontations. Though this brought another problem with it and I guess all of you can tell me what exactly that problem is right?
I can see confusion in all of your faces… *sigh* well… let me rephrase the question a bit. Why are we forced to wear special masks while we are walking around outside or even in publicly accessible buildings? The answer is: because of the magikules, or miasma how it’s commonly called, that a demon releases. It does so simply by being alive and the stronger a demon is, the more magikules does a demon release. And when a demon dies, the magikules it releases increases several fold for a short amount of time. Now, that war has been going on for so long, with the demons wishing for our extinction and us humans defending against that, the world has been contaminated with magikules. In some places the contamination is worse than in others. A very good example of a place with a very strong contamination, is the battlefield. There, countless demons die and release all their magikules, putting our soldiers in a dangerous situation. But since all of them are wearing specialized protective gear, they are somewhat protected from them… at least for a time. Now, the soldiers back then didn’t have such protective gear and since that’s the case they breathed in the magikules, which in return contaminated their bodies.
I can see that a few of you have questions, but please wait until after I’m done with my explanation until you ask me something because I think most of these questions will be answered as we go on.
You probably all know what happens when we inhale those magikules, even if you’re not aware of the fact that you know it. To say it in a single sentence: nothing happens! Nothing at all… if we don’t pass a certain threshold that is. If a person breathes in too many of these magikules, there are only three possible outcomes for that person and neither of them is a good one. And it is important to note that the complete contamination isn’t instant, even if one breathes in to many magikules it still takes some time for anything to happen. The first and most common outcome that happens if too many magikules enter a human’s body is quite simply this: death. Ignore the safety rules, inhale the magikules and that marks the end of your life.
Now be quiet and continue listening! I am nowhere near done ladies and gentlemen! Even if this is shocking for you, let me continue with my explanation!
The second outcome, which by the way, is also the second most common one, is that the magikules completely contaminate your body and afterwards your mind. To say it in other words: a human in this state turns into a demon himself. But compared to other demons, this one is just a mindless beast that slaughters every living being around it. This is probably the cruellest of all the outcomes, as someone who was a human being before, will attack loved ones and probably even kill them.
And the last and rarest outcome is basically the same as the one before. But instead of getting completely overtaken by the magikules, they keep their minds, making them a human-demon hybrid. Those are the ones we call “Assimilated” since the process of their change is basically them assimilating the magikules and they are also one of humanities more powerful weapons.
And to answer the question as to why they are such a powerful weapon, we have to explain the difference between humans and demons first, or at least the most obvious difference, since I am not exactly an expert when it comes to demons. Firstly, is of course how they look. While there are many different kinds of demons, one can easily tell them apart from humans. Most of the time they look hideous though there are exceptions to that. And secondly, demons are capable of using magic. Things we can do with science today, demons have been capable of doing from the very beginning through magic. Overcoming that difference was a major turning point in our history.
Well now let’s get back to the main topic. I may have been digressing a bit too much but it was needed to completely understand what I’m talking about.
Where were we? Ahh, yes… the soldiers who got contaminated by the magikules… well one after another they either died or turned into mindless beasts. And just like that, humanity lost their greatest warriors after only a single battle. At this point, what happened is a bit unclear as not many records of that time exists. Most have probably been lost to the flames of war. But what we clearly know is that humanity was pushed to the brink of extinction and they barely held themselves there. That is until they had some sort of breakthrough that helped them overcome the threat that magic and magikules posed to them. And of course assimilated were also quite useful weapons in holding back imminent demonic threats.
Bit by bit humankind managed to push back demon kind and regain the lands they lost. And while they were still advancing, they started to rebuild civilization wherever they could. Humanity began winning the war and re-establishing their position in this world. And this leads us to where we are today. Thanks to the efforts and desperation of our ancestors, most of us can live their lives in peace without ever encountering a demon. And even losing someone to the contamination of the ever-present magikules has become a rather rare occurance. And while the demons haven’t yet been eradicated from this world, they aren’t as much of a threat to our survival as they were back when they first attacked us.
And now that we’ve come this far… if you have any question please raise your hands so I can answer them in order.”
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Uhhhhh... starting off with exposition. Not the best idea in general. But at least it is a well-made exposition.