Chapter 469: Three Epochs?
The world of Hearth, the Trial World, had gone through exactly three Epochs; each encompassing and spanning over several eras. But to jog Lillian’s memories, she recounted the eras that had passed.
The first Era, the Era of Echoes, started at the dawn of the world, the forgery of the world by the four gods of creation: Earth, Fire, Water, and Air. Although Light and Darkness played a role, it supposedly wasn’t enough to brag about.
It stretched from 0 AE all the way to 500 AE; AE being the abbreviation for After Echoes, which stood for the moment after the very beginning of the first Era began.
The Eras following that were: Era of Luminaries (1000 AE - 1500 AE), the Era of Shattered Veil (2500 AE - 3200 AE), the Era of Hollowed Silence (3200 AE - 3600 AE), the Era of Twisting Currents (3600 AE - 3800 AE), the Era of Fractured Light (3800 AE - 4000 AE)... And then lastly, the Era of Silent Resurgence (4000 AE...)
The last Era still remained of how long the period lasted, but what we did was that it was the Era where the strongest had begun to rise and fight back against the Jester.
’And over all of those eras, three epochs existed.’
The First, Second, and Third Epochs.
The First Epoch spanned from the first to the second eras and was predominantly known as the time of peace and prosperity; the Epoch of Peace.
Following that was the Second Epoch, which spanned from the third to the fourth eras. During this period, the dreaded war of the gods happened—the Celestial War—and because of that, this Epoch was labelled as the time of destruction and abandonment; the Epoch of Apocalypse.
Then, lastly, they had the Third Epoch—the Epoch of Heroes—which spanned over all the following eras that came after the Second Epoch.
Lillian soon awoke to the boisterous noise of the Captain’s laughter; it seemed he had just finished jogging everyone’s memories of the Epochs and Eras—something she had just finished doing as well.
But instead of her vague recalling over the eras, he went in depth into one of them—the Era of Twisting Currents, which was also the exact Era that began after the Second Epoch and started the Third.
"How much do yar all know about this Era?" The Captain asked.
Jon scratched his head. Coming from a family of commoners and normal folks, he hadn’t had much opportunity to learn about unrelated topics that didn’t help with his survival.
This couldn’t be said for the three nobles around him, though: Lillian, Emilio, and Viesta.
Emilio tilted his head, "That’s when the entire world became flooded with water, wasn’t it?"
The Captain nodded, "Correct, matey! But do yar know the reason for the flooding?"
"It was because of the moon, right?" Viesta tilted her head, pointing towards the fractured silver disk in the sky, "In the Celestial War, it was stated that the Moon God fought against another God that was linked to the water element, right?"
"Indeed, matey, for all her brilliance and beauty for allowing us sight in the night with her silver glow, she is quite the petty person to cause the entire world to flood. But that wasn’t all because of her."
Lillian, who was keenly listening in, gave her input:
"The culprit of the flooding was by one of the Four Mighty Sea Kings, the Flood King, who was also known as the Flood God’s champion."
"What fine knowledge you have, crewmate..." The Captain smiled slightly before looking up at the sky, "Oh, the mighty Flood King... A name known by many, yet only a handful had managed to see him in person. It was even said that he was the cause for the other members of the Four Mighty Sea Kings to exist."
Shaking his head, he waved his hand dismissively, "But we shant talk about him for now! Such a topic is left for another and more benefitting time!"
Abruptly standing up, the Captain struck a heroic pose as he placed his foot on the log he was sitting on; the sound of his stomp caused everyone, who may have been daydreaming, to return back to him.
"Instead! We shall talk about the greatest captain of the sea! He was a pirate, oh-so cruel—sacrificing the inmates aboard his vessel for his benefit. Yet so benevolent as he allowed even the smallest and weakest of children to join aboard his crew!"
The Captain went on to describe this mysterious captain’s exploits with an enthusiastic look on his face.
"He faced countless foes, and none yet could put him down! Even monsters with a Threat Rating of 6 fell with a single swing of his sword!" The Captain made a slashing motion with his hand. He then gave a smug look as he said:
"He was also my personal teacher and the one who taught me my beloved Combat Style."
He then sat down and continued to rant more. In the middle of his rant, he was asked a question by Emilio, the young master of the Nightraven family.
"If he is a captain, what about his crew? He has a crew, right?"
"Yar can bet yar booty he does! And the most powerful and most versatile crew I had ever laid eyes on!" The Captain puffed his chest out, "His crew was plentiful and powerful, one of them even having the ability to resurrect the dead!"
"WHAT!? RESURRECT THE DEAD?!" Emilio yelled in clear shock; he was baffled by what he had just heard. Was the ability to resurrect the dead truly something a mortal could obtain? "I thought that was only an ability the divine could wield..."
The Captain clicked his tongue and wagged his finger at the young man, "Unlike our world, these humans do not gain their abilities through Trials. Instead, they gain them through the gods themselves! As long as they promised their patron benefits, of course."
Lillian nodded slowly, ’And also, the gods are more generous towards them, unlike with us; they intentionally hold out on the more broken abilities that they could grant us.’
She then hummed slightly, ’But, I suppose for the benefits we are getting from the Jester in exchange for that... It could almost be fair.’
The Captain continued to rant on about this mysterious captain, speaking of a massive vessel that held the remaining portion of humanity on it and how it was like a mobile civilisation.
The ship was called...
’Noah’s Ark... Just like the Noah from the bible, who managed to bring on one pair of each animal onto his ship during a global apocalyptic flood...’
Except for pairs of animals, it was all humans.
Although she knew what it looked like through the game, she would like to see it in person for herself. After all, it wouldn’t be a normal scene to be able to gaze upon the sight of something based on something in the bible.
"On Noah’s Ark, there are four large fleets that protect it from all sides! The Leviathan Drowners, the Kingcrab Snappers, the Seagull Brigade, and lastly, the Blackbeard Cutlass; this captain I had been talking on about happened to be commander over the Blackbeard Cutlass fleet!"
The Captain watched as everyone’s eyes opened slightly in shock and surprise, except for Lillian, who seemed to be smiling in amusement—something that the Captain found joy in seeing and led him to carry on.
Right as he was, though, Viesta held up a hand and asked:
"Had one of these fleets ever been like... Destroyed or retired before?"
"Retired? No. Men do retire from the line of duty when struck with a fearsome and crippling wound; otherwise, they do stay in their posts. The role of a defender of Noah’s Ark brings lots of benefits. As for whether a fleet has been destroyed... I can’t remember."
Viesta nodded in understanding, but before she was about to lower her hand, the Captain sat up immediately as he bursted out loud:
"AH YES, I remember now! The Leviathan Drowners. They are the ones who had perished during the line of duty during a ravaging storm..." He shook his head slowly, "All other fleets tried their best to save them, but alas... They couldn’t escape that storm that fell upon them, is what the captain told me."
Time passed, but the Captain still had plenty to tell. However, such peaceful moments had to come to an end as it had gotten too late. But before they all could head off to sleep, Lillian decided to ask the Captain a question that she felt would bring her amusement.
"Hey Captain, what was that man’s name?"
The Captain, who had his back turned to Lillian, stiffened. He turned around and stared into Lillian’s eyes; his eyes darted around, almost as though he was thinking up something.
"I cannot say... But anyway, yar all shouldn’t be focused on such a thing. If yar want to get stronger, I shall wake yar all up first thing early morning!"
And after saying that, he scuttled away into his tent.
Lillian gave a slight and crooked smile as she looked up into the sky, staring at the fractured moon before muttering:
"Soon... The day after tomorrow is when we’ll escape this place."
Her crooked smile then turned warm and gentle.
’Wait for me, Marionette, I’ll call you as soon as I get to the Eastern Nation... And then... And then I’ll think about what to do for that day coming.’
Marionette’s surgery... It was near now...