A History Lesson

The world was once filled with lots of divine entities, gods, spirits, monsters and the like, all living among the mortals on their plane with no intention of ascending. Above them all sat the Okami.

The Okami was the strongest, and the balance was maintained as no one dared go against his words/commands, but that won’t last forever; after all, these are gods we are talking about, rulers in their own right.

Destiny cannot be avoided or delayed; the Okami knew this well, hence why he believed Ragnarok was undoubtedly coming. The gods wanted the throne upon which he sat; they wanted the title of ruler of the gods; they wanted the world for themselves. So they plotted.

The gods divided into three categories: there were those who sought to attack and kill the Okami; the little who sided with the Okami with the sole aim of gaining his favour after the first group lost – they won’t hesitate to switch sides if the Okami starts losing; and the rest who couldn’t care less – they were the smartest of the lot.

The battle is said to have lasted for ten years before it came to a conclusion, with the winning side being that of the Okami, although many of his “supporters” had died.

The only thing the rebellion got out of the battle was the left hand of the Okami in return for the death of most of their members. It was the first record in the history of the world where the scales almost toppled over.

The Okami, sensing the imbalance and the impending doom of the world, used his powers to stop the divine energy of the dead gods from disappearing from the mortal plane.

He then gifted them to the mortals and made it so the divine energy never disappears from the mortal plane unless it is countered.

Even so, he believed his efforts were only temporary, as the cycle may repeat, and without someone on top, the balance would entirely vanish.

He appeared to have left the rest of his problems to the scales to balance themselves because he disappeared sometime after Ragnarok.

***

“So what you are saying is, the world itself isn’t normal.” 'Hubris,' he said as he chomped on a chip.

“I’m very sure there are more points than just that.”

"I more or less get it; you want me to help in maintaining the balance of this world," Hubris said. “It’s what I’m ‘destined’ to do, right?”

"Yes, you have nothing better to do after all." Natoru said

"What if I decide to refuse?"

"Then I will just keep you here until you change your mind. Trust me, you will love it here."

He is really determined to make me do this. Hubris then received a revelation: I am already too far from being normal in the normal world, but what if I just become a normal person in this world instead? I mean, I could just be the average guy with mediocre abilities and no impact in the grand scheme of things. Hubris looked up. Now if I can just get him to back off. Hubris unconsciously smiled. I'm on fire.

"Ok, I will work with you on one condition," Hubris said. He was trying to sound intimidating, but he could tell by the smile on Natoru's face that it wasn't doing him any favours.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Make me the leader," Hubris said with a smile. Now that I have made such an absurd demand, he will have no choice but to—

"Done"

"What?"

"I said it's done; you are the leader now."

What did he just say? Wait a minute... did my plan just backfire on me, and so hard too? I don't want to be the leader of this any more than I want to be part of it.

"I-I take it back," Hubris said hastily.

"Ok then, welcome aboard." Natoru said, taking Natoru's hand and forcibly shaking it, "That's one down."

"What have I been dragged into?" Hubris whispered to himself; he was in denial.

"Okay," Natoru said as he stood up. "You can get to know my apprentice while I get things ready."

"Get things ready? Get things ready for what?"

Natoru looked directly into Hubris's eyes. "I just want to show you what the job implies."

"Wait!" Hubris still did not understand a lot of things, but he could only watch as Natoru simply faded away, leaving only his voice. "Be back in a bit," he said.

Hubris tried to come to terms with what just happened. He had been kidnapped and forced into joining a group he had only just heard about. Is this bad? This is very bad. What did I just get into? Surely there must be a way to get myself out of this. He kept conjuring up different ways he thought would help him out, but they all led to the same outcome. There really is no way out of this.

Hubris exhaled deeply and said, "Plan B then."

"Who are you talking to?"

Hubris was a bit startled. "myself."

"You do you, I guess," she returned to writing in her book. A book having the word “magic” on its cover written in cursive.

Come to think of it, what is this girl's story? . He thought it would be best to just ask her, but he stopped himself, realisingthat isn’t exactly the most polite thing to do.

"So, you want to see some magic tricks," Trixie said before Hubris could ask any questions.

"Magic? "As long as I am not a test subject, I don’t see the harm," Hubris said.

Trixie flipped through her book, and when she got to a page, she let go of the book as it levitated in the air. The words glowed right before she snapped her fingers. The entire room turned upside down, and Hubris fell towards the ceiling, hitting it headfirst. This isn’t any better than being a test subject.

The furniture and Trixie didn't fall like Hubris did.

"Couldn't you have cast a spell that isn't so dangerous?" Hubris asked, expressing his displeasure as he lay on the ceiling-turned-floor while Trixie stood on the floor-turned-ceiling.

"It's gravity magic." Trixie said, ignoring Hubris's question, as she flew to the floor (ceiling). "For large-scale spells like this, I have to use my spellbook, but for minor spells, I can just chant, 'Although I can improve with practice.'"

"Why are you telling me all this?" Hubris said she's being awfully open with her powers: "I might just turn out to be an agent from the enemy sent to spy on this place."

"Why not? Natoru said you are part of this team now, besides..." She held out her hand, and the spellbook automatically flew over. "If you turn out to be a traitor, I could always turn you into a frog."

There it is; she's the scary type. Hubris nervously smiled. She is definitely a girl I don’t want to make angry.

Trixie gave another snap of her fingers, and the spell was negated. There was a large THUD. This time Hubris managed to avoid hitting his head; he fell on his back.

"To dispel a spell I cast myself, I do not need my spellbook or too much concentration."

"N-noted."

"I found our guy," said Natoru as he walked into the room. "Let's go." Natoru picked Hubris off the floor and slumped him on his shoulders. "Want to come to Trixie? It will be fun."

"I will pass," Trixie said as she sat down and kept writing in her spellbook. Besides, I have had my fun for today.

"We will be back in no time." Natoru left with Hubris still on his shoulder.

***

Natoru dropped Hubris when they had passed through the door and dusted him off. They were now in the middle of an alleyway; Hubris turned back, but there was no sign of the door they just came out of.

"It's spatial magic; only a select few can enter that space. It keeps the base safe and hidden," Natoru explained to Hubris. "It was made by yours truly."

"Right, so where is the place?"

"Aren’t you meant to be a little more impressed?"

Hubris didn't have time to be impressed; he was already plotting his next move. He thought of escaping but quickly dismissed that idea: 'No way I can escape from him.' He decided to go back to his original plan to become normal even in this world.

What’s he thinking about? Natoru watched as Hubris became hyped up all of a sudden.

"So can you fly?" Natoru said, pulling Hubris back to reality.

"What do you think?"

"Figures, I really have a lot to teach you." Natoru pulled out a vial from his pocket. "Here you go; it's one of Trixie's potions. I swiped it earlier."

"You're sure this won't make me implode or anything, will it?" Hubris said with a very concerned look.

"It's fine; it has been tested after all," Natoru said to wave off Hubris's concerns.

"Even with this, I still won't be able to fly."

"I’ll be the one doing the flying; it’s just a safety precaution in case I mistakenly drop you.”

“Sounds fun,” Hubris said sarcastically. He took the potion, and sure enough, his feet left the ground once more. This time, unlike the last, it was more stable; he wasn’t ascending aimlessly in the air because Natoru was controlling him.

While they went on their way, Hubris used this as an opportunity to get some answers out of Natoru.

"So how old are you anyway?" Hubris started with the most basic question.

"That's confidential."

"What are the two promises you said you have to keep?"

"You’ll find out soon enough."

This is getting nowhere. Hubris asked another question: "How would you rate yourself?" Hubris wasn’t expecting his reply.

"I’d say I’m the absolute strongest."

"The strongest?"

"Yes"

Such a vague answer; Hubris had more questions, but they suddenly came to a stop.

They had arrived in front of an abandoned bunker in the middle of a deserted town. Natoru snapped his fingers, and they were on the ground in front of the bunker.

"There’s another thing you need to learn," Natoru said as he led Hubris into the bunker. "There are two types of people who possess divine powers, the Nisekami and the immortals....