"As a ruler, you are also one of the saviors of humanity."
The deity's explanation began there.
"The event you humans called the ascension, 50 years ago. The first appearance of magic. The people awakening powers and abilities.
It didn't come from us.
Magic's arrival in this world was forced upon us.
Something that we, Earth, refused to accept.
But the force was older, more ancient, countless times stronger than we are.
We couldn't do anything other than to protect small parts of our land, the ones like this forest, to create our own fighting force.
Using the magic it brought upon this land, we developed our own way of manipulating magic.
We integrated magic into the fruits of our advancements over the past millennia before the arrival of the ascension force.
Then filled these protected lands with different advancements that we were able to save and develop.
And there were also people, people like you, whose bodies innately refused the forced change.
The unknown force was unable to coercively inject you and other people like you with their aberrant power.
And that's when we found out.
We can make our own leader. Rulers. The one who will be able to fight against this force that is forcefully changing the Earth.
If people like you, the ones who are untainted by the ascension force, completed the trials in these protected lands, then they are eligible to receive our full support to become the new leaders of the new Earth."
The deity, the manifestation of Earth's will, stopped for a second, letting Ash take a deep breath and continued,
"And you, Ash, are now the ruler of this protected land. The land that protected our advancement of flora and fauna.
The power you receive is the power to continue their development. An advancement that was left behind due to the appearance of the ascension force.
Your existence gave all plants and animals the strength to fight against the ascension force.
You will be their savior."
Earth's will went silent. Ash also took some moments for himself.
He finally got the answers to his questions.
And the load on his mind suddenly overfilled. Making him think that maybe he shouldn't have asked the questions in the first place.
However, after some time, things began moving into place, and Ash nodded his head.
"I understand. The Ascension event 50 years ago was brought upon by an unknown being and Earth was forced to comply.
Then you, Earth's will, created the fractured zones as a way to fight back against the forced changes.
There were also people whose bodies innately rejected the ascension. And that is me, and other nulls.
If the nulls came to the fractured zones and completed the trials, then they would be the ruler of said fracture zone, and also receive the power that the fracture zone holds, becoming one of the saviors of humanity.
And now, my question is, how do I save humanity? Do I need to kill every single human who was compatible with the ascension?
I mean… Genetically, it would work. If there were only nulls in this world, then their child would also reject the ascension power."
The deity answered,
"Yes to your first explanations, but no to your last preposition.
For other saviors, we only gave them the mission to keep advancing the power they received.
Making sure it wasn't buried in the depths of history and keeping its presence known on the surface of Earth."
Ash looked at the lush forest around him, then to the mutated deer beside him, and then to the adorable, but whinny raven above him.
"So I just need to do more genetic engineering to more creatures and let them populate the Earth…"
But Ash realized something about Earth's words.
"Wait, what do you mean by other saviors? That doesn't apply to me?"
Earth's will then waved their hand, changing the landscape entirely from the Verdant Necropolis back to the ever-changing scenery Ash had seen before the first time they met.
But now, every time the scenery changed, certain parts of them remained.
And those parts were the ones where a foreign rot and disease invaded Ash's memory.
"Unlike other saviors. Another power, different from the ascension force, one that was as strong, or even originally stronger than we are, was present inside you."
The poisons, venoms, the melting acid, they all came to Ash's mind.
And it all went back to the moment when he was lying on the Verdant Necropolis' ground.
His body was half-alive from the wolf's venom and the berry's poison.
His mind almost broke down from the hallucinogenic mushroom.
There's a voice in his head, one that didn't belong to him.
Ash only knew it as the benevolent god before.
But as the Verdant Seed and the silvery green aura of the Verdant Necropolis filled him, Ash unlocked the knowledge hidden inside him.
"I have the Plague God's Blessing…?"
Earth's will nodded.
"We were lucky to have found you before the blessing transformed your soul.
There were only minor alterations so far, and you are still you.
In fact, these were a literal blessing for you and for us.
The plague deity's blessings were compatible with the power residing in this protected zone.
And that deity's original power was most likely as strong as the ascension force.
The plague deity was able to steal, or take control over the people that were chosen by the ascension force.
If we modify the still weak blessing in your body, then we could make it into your own power.
You, Ash, can spread your own power and have your own followers, and save the people from being touched by the ascension force."
This time, it took a whole minute for Ash to process the whole thing.
He scratched the back of his head.
"So, what I need to do now is to spread this new power to everyone?"
"Yes." The reply came short and quick.
Ash thought about his goals so far.
His real goal, the one that wasn't brought to him by the plague deity, was to give the city a very nice, warm hello after kicking him out.
And nothing Earth's will said so far went against it.
In fact, he would be very happy to share his genetic modification, venoms, poisons, and even more diseases in the future into the city.
So it was a no brainer decision.
"I accept my role as a savior."