There was a curt transition from his dream to reality as if his mind had been splashed with boiling water—he was burned awake.

A concerned Voice burst into his thoughts.

"This is not what I envisioned! Please—find peace!"

Vin shot upright and clamped his hands against the side of his head as he grimaced.

He'd already hated the intrusive discomfort of when that entity attuned to his mind, so its yelling was unbearable.

"As promised, I have provided! There is plenty—so spare your new human brothers and sisters!"

'Spare?'

Vin lurched to his knees and clawed for the journal.

"Speak to me! We can resolve your differences without the murder of innocence!" the Voice continued.

"Cease this needless bloodshed!"

The broadcast thundered across more than just humans.

The entire planet was hearing this plea.

Vin flipped open the journal, breathing hard.

[Time:] 2:03 am

[Date:] 1/2/300 A.D

[Population:]

[Elves:] 2.1 Billion

[Ravenours:] 1.3 Billion

[Rivanians:] 620 Million

[Churus:] 1.8 Billion

[Humans:] 5.4 Billion

He froze as his heart skipped a beat.

It had been 8 billion that morning.

It wasn't just the population shrinking. The borders on the map that illustrated human territory were being pushed inward in real time from the North, South, and West.

They were being invaded.

Slaughtered.

"Fuck you…" Vin breathed. "This is our world now too!"

[Humans:] 4.4 Billion

"They're trying to drive us extinct, do something!" He roared at an entity that wouldn't hear.

[Humans:] 3.9 Billion

He vaulted to the cell door, seized the bars, and shook them violently. "Let me out! LET ME OUT!"

The Warden stood at his desk—head bowed, hand pressed to his heart.

He wasn't ignoring Vin.

He was mourning.

"My family is out there!" Vin barked.

His mind painted the worst possibilities—humans chased down by armies, their unfinished villages burning down.

Macy running for her life.

His mom and dad swallowed by chaos.

He felt sick.

His high emotions, and something about how his brain was rewired, disclosed a signal of sorts from the Warden's mind.

Vin took aim at it and stabbed the man the same way the phoenix and the Body of Auroraan did when talking to him.

"Please!" He shouted internally.

The older man's head flinched up, and he pressed his fingers into his temple.

He glanced at Vin—heavy, regretful—and then communicated through a fragile connection without verbally speaking, "Sorry."

The words registered in Vin's mind.

He begged again to be released, but the man turned away.

Vin gave up on them and prodded his mind for another presence, "I know you hear this! You helped when it suited you—why stop now!?"

The phoenix remained silent.

Then the Body of Auroraan spoke again—voice different now. Hardened.

"I vowed not to intervene in mortal affairs… But you have forced my hand. If this continues, I will swallow your armies with greater bridges and plunge you into the Archival Dimension."

A threat.

And a reminder.

The Archival Dimension was the same place Vin was destined to go...

His jaw tightened, and he returned to his journal.

He needed to know who was attacking.

-North-

Elves: Known for their connection to nature, they are skilled with magic and possess a deep connection with their guardian spirits.

[Discovered By:] Geralds Leclerc

[Discovered On:] 1/1/300AD

[Name:] Elves

[Notes:] The Elven guides assigned to our settlement told us their kind was the first and original inhabitants of the planet. There are many of them, but only about ten thousand Elves are devoted to the Body of Auroraan. The few I've met have been very patient and kind.

[End]

[Updated: 1/2/300AD, 1:20 am]

>The Northern Nations of Elves are merciless villains with no morals for any creature aside from themselves!

[End]

Vin's grip tightened on the page and moved on.

-South-

Churus: Resourceful tribal hunters with keen senses and the ability to hunt just as well at night as day.

[Discovered By:] Savana B. Patel

[Discovered On:] 1/2/300AD

[Name:] Churus

[Notes:] I'm all alone now.

Goodbye.

[End]

Vin swallowed a spike of nausea.

He already knew about the East—the Ravenours. Understood those brutes were more than capable of genocide.

The West was the only region that didn't attack humans, but Vin wanted to know what kind of people they were.

Rivanians: Inhabitants of both land and water. The only people who have a method of communication with creatures of the vast oceans.

[Discovered By:] Viviana Laurentino

[Discovered On:] 1/1/300AD

[Name:] Rivanians

[Notes:] I fell into a lesser bridge a year ago and was dropped into the middle of a sea. I was pretty sure I'd drown out there, but a Rivanian saved me. They're like… Water people with gills, I suppose. Anyway, I've been living with them for a year now and have grown rather attached.

[End]

[Updated: 1/2/300AD, a minute ago]

>I know what the other races are doing. DO NOT mistake the Rivanians for the rest of those monsters! Rivanians are also constantly being attacked by the Churus and are victims just like us!

[End]

Vin slammed the journal closed. Rage tremored through him, but there was nothing he could do from a cell.

He forced himself to breathe, to think—

A loud BANG tore him from his thoughts.

There was a series of heavy knocks against the outer door. Vin dropped his journal and rushed to the bars.

The Warden looked uneasy.

He grabbed his sheathed blade and stepped toward the entrance, shouting something in his tongue.

Silence answered him.

A second series of violent bangs rattled the metal.

Vin's skin prickled, and he yelled. "Don't open the door!"

The Warden glanced toward him, tense, then called out again at the unseen visitors.

He received nothing back.

Keys jingled.

A cold sweat rolled down Vin's back.

He dashed back and eyed his cell for something to use for protection.

Nothing.

He tore the coat's fabric, wrapped it around his hands and wrist for support, and tied the rest around his waist.

Maybe he was overreacting.

Maybe it was nothing.

But after today?

After a global massacre?

After almost dying a dozen times already?

Caution was the only thing keeping him alive.