1. A Speedrun of Human-Empyrean History: An Introduction of Sorts

The faction of the divine knew it was too late to close the Origins, for it would have taken another thousand years to seal them all. Instead, to remedy the hostility and make up for their wrongdoings, the celestials posited an alternative solution allowing humans to survive and coexist in a more beneficial and permanent manner with the Empyreans. As much as they wanted to create changes, they were also imperfect themselves. The celestials were selfish in that they still wanted to keep contact with their beloved humankind, addicted after their first taste of being with those they have put on a pedestal for thousands of years.

To ask for forgiveness from the humans of the planet they barged into, and to give them a fighting chance at survival, the Empyreans proposed the Champion Contracts.

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Prior to becoming disillusioned with the true vulnerable nature of humankind, the divine factions had adored the way they were able to evolve and adapt to their surroundings. With the Champion Contracts, Empyreans strongly believed that humans could regain their strength, numbers, and confidence. Eleven years since they made their presence known and after a short but eventful decade of fighting alongside humans, they proposed the covenant between the two races.

The Champion Contracts were a somewhat simple mechanism. For the celestials, it commanded that the large majority of the Empyrean population had to find a human to give their essence to, which people dubbed Deus, by a certain deadline. Empyreans who became connected to a human came to be called Patrons.

Were Empyreans not able to comply with the commands by the deadline, which was precisely one year after both races agreed to the proposal, those with no human partner (or Champions as they came to be called), would face dooming consequences: one would be forced to descend to the Realm of the Beasts. It was a terrifying penalty for most, as it was the realm that conjured the monsters that came out of the Origins… and a place where they would most likely perish. Only a small percentage of Empyreans, those who were the most vital to their societies, such as their scholars, would be given a choice to be Championless. The Championless would remain in their divine realm as there still had to be some celestials that would keep their essential institutions running.

For mankind, the Champion Contracts gave them more benefits than the Empyreans that provided the agreement. There was virtually nothing to keep them in check, no oath to send them to their version of Hell were they not to comply with the wishes of the Empyreans. Their side of the agreement was more amicable, giving them a one-sided and unequal treaty that was in their favor.

On their side, the covenant stated that those particular humans who would be given the Deus of the Empyrean that showed interest in them would instantly gain unique supernatural abilities and skills, inheriting the power of their divine partner. Humans also had the choice to either accept or reject the offer of an Empyrean's Deus. As long as humans used the powers given to them for good, such as fighting the monsters that destroyed their homes, they would not have it taken away. It seemed that there was nothing else after those conditions. Pure power in exchange for protecting the human race and fighting the monsters they were already going against.

On the day of the proposal of the agreement, the Empyreans began to speak to the entirety of the human race once more.

“We have done wrong, but we cannot leave. We propose a covenant, for your peace and ours.”

In their quickly dwindling numbers and after a billion human deaths, mankind became compliant after hearing what the Champion Contracts offered. They had become desperate for change and a resolution to the massacres happening daily due to powerful monsters emerging and running rampant in their cities.

The Empyreans and humans immediately got into action after the formalization and acknowledgment of the agreement. The celestial beings immediately began sifting through the billions of people, proposing their power to the strong and moral youth that they felt would be able to fight well.

The year became known as the Great Descent, the year that the Humans and the Empyreans became one.

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The first generation of Champions fought off the monsters with surprising lethality. They were efficient and brutal at wiping out the hostile beasts that destroyed their skyscrapers, buildings, and homes within another year after the Great Descent. Empyreans found that by becoming Patrons, their powers were amplified by the bond that they had with their Champions. Champions found themselves accomplishing the feats that they had only heard about in their ancient mythoi. It was as though both races were creatures made for each other, perfect halves separated for so long.

Since their integration and the placement of the Origins, every decade or so, there would be a catastrophic monster that would emerge; a monster so deadly and damaging that its inception from the Origin it came out of would exhaust the portal of its mystical energy, rendering it sealed and dormant for at least an entire year. The Japanese, who created a monster-ranking scale to communicate how potentially deadly a beast would be, classified them as S-class monsters; beasts so calamitous that the single creature alone would be able to cause as much damage as a severe natural disaster.

It would be during the presence of those kinds of beasts when mankind and the celestials created an even stronger and closer bond between them. Empyreans and their Champions would fight and defeat it together. They mourned each other’s losses. They would cheer and celebrate together the fall of each of those powerful cataclysmic beasts, for both races knew that they would have never been able to hurt even a hair on the monster without the other. Fighting alongside each other spawned the capability, trust, and spirit that both sides needed so badly.

As the Empyreans predicted, humans evolved and adapted alarmingly fast becoming Champions and living with the Empyreans. However, because of the new way of existence, humanity itself was changed as well. All societal standards were rearranged and took on a new meaning, successfully integrating the Empyreans and humankind into a shared body. Due to the Empyrean population being only around a third of the human population, societies structured themselves around the power that was granted to the Champions by having a Patron and the Champion Contracts. Humans, as they do, also capitalized on the Deus given to them.

Gone were the days when the rich and politically powerful were the rulers of the world, the era that had subsequently arisen consisted of those with authority getting their positions from either their intelligence and cunning (for those without a Patron), or how powerful they and their Patron were together. Champions were granted fame, luxury, and riches. They became considered to be the créme de la créme of all human societies, nearly being treated as gods themselves due to the protection they granted by fighting with the evil creatures that sought to harm the Empyrean and human populations.

One thing remained constant and was put into a brighter spotlight with the creation of the Champions: the powerful would remain reigning over the weak.

-End of Excerpt-

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That was the history that mankind knew, the history that was taught in schools and told to children.

However, there was still more for the Empyreans; the deeper side of their story was one they did not dare tell the humans.

After the Champion Contracts were put in place, the Empyrean who led the divine factions, the one who had begun the entire ordeal between the humans and celestial beings and proposed the treaty between the two races, suddenly disappeared.

He left a strange message with his beloved companion and comrade that stated his intentions. The Empyrean, because he still felt guilt from his evil and greedy deeds despite the great peace brought on by the Champion Contracts he designed, left the divine realm to atone on Earth.

He swore on his Deus that he would make things right, that he would commit no more acts of evil for as long as the Empyreans were in harmony with the humans. He vowed to roam the Earth and heed the call of the human that needed his help the most, giving them his Deus and making them his Champion. A great sacrifice of the Empyreans to show their devotion to the humans was what he planned to do and hoped to accomplish.

To help accomplish his Herculean aims, the great being left his home in the depths of the divine. The determined celestial being roamed the Earth for a little under two centuries, taking on a humanoid form granted to him by his comrade, the Empyrean famously known as the Mimicker, before she took a Champion.

From his journeys, he was able to see what humanity had to offer. He explored their cities and towns, experienced their festivals and holidays, and made friends wherever he went. He saw humans and their anger, sadness, euphoria, frustration, and excitement. He listened to their music and stories. He experienced their wonderful food and technology, marveling at how the little creatures were able to tinker and create themselves. The wide-eyed Empyrean was able to see the beauty that humans were, and the beauty that they created. Even after he encountered a few exceptionally annoying and evil humans, he still became impressed and happy in his travels. With each step he took with his clumsy earthling limbs, his Deus became more and more fulfilled.

Yet the sorrow and fury that he yearned to call him had not come yet, making him always feel as though he was missing a part of himself. He became melancholic despite the earthly wonders he saw, for his mission was not moving forward and he could not achieve what he needed to do.

And so, he roamed and was left wandering in a world he could not truly love; not without knowing that he had done everything to repent for his sins against the Earth and its perfectly flawed inhabitants. He became almost hopeless that he would never be able to accomplish his goal of helping the most pitiful human on Earth.

Until the call that he had been waiting for, for what seemed like his entire existence, wailed across the skies of the Earth…

… And summoned him right to where he needed to be.