Megan again found herself drifting in an abstract vision of darkness. But this darkness was anything but warm and empty. No, there were memories here, Megan did not recognise them as her memories as those came back first but did not cover anything close to what these new invasive memories were doing.
The first impression she felt was that the memories had a will of their own. A will that was completely subservient to her. If she felt she was not ready, she could easily put aside the message that had been left for her race. She felt that if she was in an unsafe environment or unknown circumstance, she could delay the memories although now that she knew of their presence, she was on a timer and eventually if the memories felt it was necessary then she would be given this information whether she wanted it or not.
Knowing where she was it seemed like a good time to take them on as she felt no threat to herself from Harpy Queen Jessa or the Jamos Brent so allowed the memories to drift over her and take hold in part of her conscious mind.
Megan saw visions, memories and surprisingly audio and visual footage of events from the past. Where this information originated from and how it was hidden in her mind was a complete mystery to her and she realised that the last conscious recollection she could remember was fighting scorpions and snakes as she ascended what she now knew was called the Pyramid of Purification.
A brief history of Humanity was first. Planet Earth, seeded with the blueprints for sentient life, eventually giving birth to the first of Humanity. Time progressed as Humans found their place first on their own planet, as despite its flaws and transient nature. Humanity eventually found its way into the void of space after only two catastrophic apocalypses and one accidentally self-inflicted accelerated ice-age they finally established viable ways to leave their home that had supported them through its infancy and was now overcrowded and abused to the point of no return.
Humans had almost no advantages over other species in the universe at first. Thought of as being primitive warmongers and only acting on base desires Humans were not very well received by other races that thought they should have never been able to unify enough to escape their planet of origin.
What was determined later as being the most successful thing about Humans, was their adaptability. No matter what Humanity faced or how many times their race was knocked down by external or internal means they never lost their ability to face adversity, whether unified in purpose or divided by conflict Humanity was able to adapt and overcome. No obstacle appeared that was able to suppress them or keep them contained. They expanded, they conquered, they were suppressed but they always found a way.
This adaptability, this drive to succeed when anyone else would have given up and the ambition to be the best worked in Humanities favour and when other races perished together in unity, Humanity was able to spread out and take over for itself and before the universe knew what had happened Humans were everywhere, getting into everything, delving into secrets and hidden mysteries to find answers, always moving, always questioning and never satisfied with the answers.
Humanity strived and step by step, inch by inch rose to be a respected race, then a revered race until most in the universe worshipped them as Gods. In fact, some of Humanity had become all powerful, able move galaxies on a whim, create and destroy life and even surpass physical existence to become pure thought, concepts and abstract reality breaking new ground and warping the boundaries on what was once thought impossible and making it probable.
Once Humans had reached this point, they now took upon themselves to do what Humans do. Make the universe into a bastion of Humanity and forcefully bring the rest of the universe for the ride.
So, this is what Humans did. They systematically and with much conflict both internal and external subjugated the rest of the universe and brought everything under the control of Humans, only passing out limited resources to the races that pandered to the desires of Humans. Desires that may not always conform to 'normal' Human wants or needs.
It was Humanities adaptability that allowed them to take control. But this very same adaptability was also a flaw causing more conflict. If it is one constant in the drive to succeed of Humans, was their curiosity. Sometimes the cause of catastrophes, sometimes the catalyst for innovation, if it one thing Humans never seemed to be able to do, is leave the unknown as 'unknown' for a good reason.
So it was that Humanity pushed and prodded at the mysteries of the universe like a loose baby tooth and to no one's great surprise managed to delve too far and discovered... well no one knows what they found but everyone soon learned that Humanity had released a great evil, the antithesis to our reality. The formless beings of pure energy that would not communicate, negotiate or even seemed to be alive. These unliving entities used methods of energy manipulation that was light years ahead of anything ever theorised within the universe and despite their weak bodies they dominated Humanity and brought them to the edge of extinction. The only anomaly in the whole situation is that the Enemy as they were later termed did not target anything that was not somehow related to Humans. They left alone every other species, including humanities subordinate races and only targeted Humanity or anything that tried to prevent them from destroying Humans. Once Humanity was brought low of course the rest of the universe would take advantage, there was a time that Humans were completely unknown and there were always conflicts with a rapid rise to power the likes that Humans had so they had their fair share of enmity with others who although not allying with the Enemy directly certainly did not feel like doing any favours for Humanity as a whole to help or protect them.
With no Humans being seen in the universe for many millennia now most current races in the universe do not know or even want to know about what is now considered ancient history.
The ones that did know were either indirectly working for the Enemy or in hiding from the Enemy. Neither the Enemy nor Humans had been seen for a very long time.
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Megan came back from her internal musings slowly. Her head ached in a dull throb, her mouth was dry, and her cheeks were wet with tears.
Megan's mind was in turmoil as she contemplated her latest revelations and parsed her memories, some her own, some from elsewhere.
She didn't know what to feel. Was she the only Human left? Where had the Enemy gone? Should she be worried? How did she end up on Barbeedo II?
In the end Megan decided there was nothing that could be done right now. Yes, she was Human, a long time ago there were many Humans, now there was less so and a danger that she would be killed if found and identified. But really, how was that any different from the dangers that normally revolved around survival? Megan would just need to be vigilant and take precautions for the time where she may be discovered. She knew there was more info, a lot more. But she also knew that the knowledge would not be released to her unless certain conditions were met. This was a protection measure more than an obstacle to advancement as she was currently too weak to protect any secrets or uncover any conspiracies, she really wouldn't be able to do anything about that yet anyway.
A light clearing of the throat startled Megan as she realised she had been in quiet contemplation for a while and she looked up into Jessa's eyes and nodded, "I-I remember now, more than just me I have these... thoughts not my own, they revealed themselves to me. I am Human, I honestly didn't know before but, now I do."
Jessa nodded thoughtfully and replied, "Yes dear, I've known you were Human from the first moment I laid eyes on you. My most pressing concern with your appearance here is about who knows you are here and who may suspect you are Human." Jessa leaned back in her chair, "So Megan, now your memories have returned, tell me about yourself and what you recall after entering this place."
So, Megan did, she left nothing out. Starting from her earliest memories of being under the heel of Markus, the training, the beatings. Moving on she then talked about arriving in Faren City, being taken in by the Zafreen Brigella who asked everyone to call her Mam, her daughter Jorka and her friend Tau. The learning she had done with the aquatic Kroa'tal Professor Ayn'welk and the kitchen work then the training with Master Zanik. She went on to describe her core awakening and subsequent change to being a cultivator and meeting the Dralithian Doctor Harroc. She talked about the changes to her training and other schedules, learning abilities and augmentations then Master Zanik's absence and the subsequent request to clear out the dungeon. Finally, she finished by describing her time in the dungeon, the rainforest controlled by Golden-Haired Apes and losing all memory from about when she was about to enter the altar at the top of the Pyramid of Purification after fighting both scorpions and snakes to get there. The last thing she could remember was smashing a scorpion and snake beast core together on top a pedestal on the pyramid.
Jessa sat after Megan had finished her story, tapping her chin absently with a long delicate finger as she contemplated Megan and the implications of being here, at this time. Was the wait over? Was Megan what Humanity was waiting for? Only time would tell.
Coming to some kind of decision Harpy Queen Jessaleanna Marylin Goldenfeather rose to her dainty clawed feet and knelt down beside Megan, she then gestured to Megan's hand, "Give me your hand Megan, I am going to investigate your current cultivation and body tempering if you don't mind?
Megan held out her hand and Jessa encompassed it between both of her hands and closed her eyes. Megan felt something akin to someone knocking on a metaphysical door to her mind, gently seeking permission to enter. Megan, who didn't think she had anything to hide, released her unconscious shields she had spent so much time developing at Master Zanik's instruction to allow Jessa full access.
A soft glow could be seen through her clasped hands covering Megan's hand as Jessa appeared to go into a light trance and Megan could feel Jessa's energies tracing her pathways and investigating her core. Megan hadn't had the chance to investigate her internal structure since appearing in Jessa's garden, so she followed along with Jessa's investigation.
Megan was stunned! This body! Those pathways! If Megan didn't instinctually know this body was hers, she would have thought that someone had taken her mind and placed it in a body belonging to someone else!
Everything about her previous body had been changed, adjusted and perfected. The structure of her cells which made up her being were all aligned perfectly, every blood vessel, every vein and all her organs were streamlined and efficient and they were glowing! Not a sickly radiation glow, no. They glowed with a golden vitality she had never seen before arriving at Jessa's garden and seeing this colour for the first time. Megan's heart had obviously grown as well and was strongly pumping golden tinged blood throughout her body. Megan's pathways before were decent considering what she was working with at the time. Now, those pathways were lined with a reflective crystalline substance that was flexible but held great energy conservation properties well ahead of what was previously there.
Megan turned her attention to her cultivator core and was stunned even further as she was almost blinded by the powerful golden glow of her core which now resembled a large golden ball emitting azure lightning which would quickly flash across its surface as if the core could just not contain them. No longer a dull grey erratically spinning number eight on its side but a bright and full solid mass of powerful spiritual energy. The last time she had checked her core was being inundated with scorpion and snake venom energies and had stalled at the top of Core Compression. Her core now looked like it was on the verge of Focus Formation, ready to be moulded into a Cultivator Focus and grow with the cultivator, that means she skipped the Core Forging stage!
Often in Focus Formation stage one was able to meld their Cultivator Focus with tech that was designed to administer the core on behalf of the cultivator and take care of things internally to make sure the cultivator was safe from their own powers. Without the tech a focus could still the moulded but most likely would be an inanimate object with no moving parts or intricate electronics that would assist cultivation and the cultivator would need to do everything for themselves including manual preventative measures to ensure progress and survival in situations where the cultivator would be helpless, incapacitated or even suffer from a cultivation deviation or heart demon.
Eventually the glow from Jessa's hands faded and she stood up, stepped back and sat down on the other chair with a very thoughtful expression. Jessa was silent for so long Megan couldn't help but start to ask questions but was presented with Jessa's hand indicating she needed more time to process what she had discovered.
After a while Jessa let out a sigh and started to explain, "Megan, you may not know this, so I will need to explain some things about myself and this dungeon and why I am a prisoner here before you may understand."