[Fshback – Final War of the Ancient Era]

  Fshes of ether-charged weapons lit up the sky as fortress after fortress fell. The Orythian captains—the final seven guardians of humanity’s hope—fought in their respective battlefields against the rulers of the world:

  In the sky: Captain Eira and Captain Izel fought side by side against Deva Aeralith, Ruler of the Skies—the only deity that required two captains to face.

  On nd: Captain Harn, "The Thunder Maw", confronted Titanus Gaiorh, Ruler of the Earth.

  At the cliffs: Captain Velhart, "The Iron Fist", held the line against the Divine Fissure Lord within a narrow rocky crevice.

  In the mountains: Captain Rhyne, "The Mountain’s Edge", battled in a molten rift against Volkharn of the Peaks.

  In the forest: Captain Thorne, "The Verdant Fang", cshed with The Radacina Queen amid a storm of poison.

  In the sea: Captain Cael Ardyn, "The Silent Fang of Orythia", withstood the final assault of Nyldros, Ruler of the Deep Sea—who was supposed to require more than a single captain.

  Some were victorious, but their triumph came at a steep cost.

  Their bodies shattered. Their energy drained. Their souls erased.

  Meanwhile, at Orythia’s main headquarters, panic spread among the scientists. One by one, the life signals of the captains vanished from the monitoring console. The st was Cael—his signal disappeared without a trace.

  “If this ends here, we all die,” said one of the scientists, his face pale.

  “Boost the power! Open the Nucleus Forge to maximum level..!”

  “But that—!”

  “It’s that or extinction.”

  The Nucleus Forge, the first and st ether reactor, roared violently. Ether particles were forcefully pumped into the atmosphere, into the earth, into the water, into the living and the dead.

  Ether went wild.

  The forests, mountains, and cliffs—once battlefields of the Orythians—became breeding grounds for monsters that now roam across Aetheria.

  The gods who survived the war ravaged all remaining Orythian bases, leaving none behind. They even moved on to other nations—despite their primitive technology compared to Orythia—fearing the same uprising could happen again. The surviving humans did everything they could to stay alive amidst the chaos, where mortal creatures began mutating due to the thick ether particles in the air caused by the ether core explosion, triggered by the Nucleus Forge forcing the core to produce massive quantities in a short time.

  Humans who managed to adapt decred themselves as a new kind of humanity, surpassing the Orythians. Over time, survivors began referring to the Orythians as the ancient humans.

  ——————————————

  [Expnation: The Difference Between Orythians and New Humanity]

  Orythians possessed the ability to absorb ether on a massive scale, but had poor control over it. They were the result of imperfect boratory experiments, which gave them extremely high capacity to process ether particles.

  Meanwhile, the new humans had retively lower capacity but far better control. They evolved across generations, adapting more toward efficiency and regution rather than raw power.

  ——————————————

  [Captain Cael Ardyn]

  A young soldier who had lower ether capacity compared to other Orythians but possessed far greater control. Because of this, he could move like a shadow—fast and precise.

  [Note: His capacity was still significantly greater than that of the new humans.]