Modern World Warlock

After Dante got knocked out by Baba-Yaga, he slept for a mere half an hour, and during that short time, he had quite a vivid dream.

In this dream, Dante saw himself as a teenager, not older than thirteen years old, standing in an open field where the grass and tree leaves grew purple.

Standing beside Dante, Xander looked at the horizon with his arms crossed, gazing down at his pupil and urging him to "go again."

Right after the teacher spoke, the young Dante raised his palm and aimed at the horizon, where nothing but grass could be seen ahead of him.

With one deep breath, Dante's glare became intense as he seemed to produce a vortex of flames on his hand, shooting out like an arrow that traveled almost 20 meters before dissipating.

"Alright, you are slowly getting the hang of controlling mana," Xander commented with a slight smirk.

"Teacher, what's the point of learning this when I can do something similar with umbra?" Young Dante asked.

It was a good question, and Xander seemed eager to answer. "For warlocks like us, umbra is just not enough…" he said.

"Like us?" Dante pondered, not truly seeing the difference between them and other warlocks.

Xander patted his head and turned around, stating that he was going back to the house and telling Dante that he could keep practicing if he wanted, which he did.

Still, his words lingered in his mind for the rest of the day, and as Dante opened his eyes and found himself sleeping on the witch's bed, those words echoed once again.

"How are you feeling?" Megan asked, sitting right beside Dante and softly clasping his hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" he replied, letting out a sigh of exhaustion as he stood up from the bed.

"Good. It seems you are calm. Now, we can keep talking about your reason for coming here," Baba-Yaga loudly interjected.

"I suppose Nekxis tried making a move to get you," she continued.

"Uhh, what?" Dante pondered.

"Did you encounter a group of soldiers who could wield magic while not being able to control mana themselves?" the witch asked.

"I did, but they weren't the reason we came here…" Dante replied with an arched eyebrow.

"Huh, that's funny…" Baba-Yaga said, turning around and going back to her seat in the living room.

'Funny?' The trio thought in unison.

"I've always been one to deny the existence of fate, but it seems it's getting harder to deny it…" The witch continued, inviting the warlock to sit on the couch before her.

Baba-Yaga explained that she wasn't actually a mage from Terra, which the trio found strange since she mentioned that she was good friends with Dante's parents and Xander.

Yaga, as the people referred to her back then, was part of a group of mages who wanted to study forbidden magic, spells that could break through the fabric of their reality.

Of course, the idea of traveling to another world using magic didn't spring out of thin air. Instead, Yaga's group had traveled all over the world to search for ancient ruins that told a story thousands of years old.

"Kid, do you know the story of Terra's creation?" The witch asked, fixing her gaze on Dante.

"I mean, history says that God Arkanos and Goddess Discordia were the ones who shaped the land. Though I'm not sure how much of it is true…" Dante replied.

Yaga nodded, explaining that the two gods of creation did indeed shape the land. However, history never talked about how these gods even appeared in their world.

"You don't mean…" the warlock muttered, getting interrupted by the witch.

"Yes. Arkanos and Discordia were humans from this world."

The words of the witch left the trio in silence, their eyes widened in shock as they processed the information.

"You kids really don't know anything, huh?" The witch continued, and Dante realized it was the same sentence that Netherius spoke to him in his last moments.

Megan decided to interject in the conversation, explaining that they were shocked since most people in the world weren't even aware that magic was real.

Even though mana and umbra were abundant, most people didn't perceive their existence, so they weren't wrong for being skeptical about the gods being humans from their world.

"Hmm, well, it is a pretty long story. You guys didn't come here for this, but I might as well tell you…" Yaga said.

While God Arkanos and Goddess Discordia were originally from Earth, they weren't the same kind of humans that currently roamed the world. She called them "High-Humans," and she revealed that Earth was full of people like them over 14,000 years ago.

Two of those individuals managed to create a spell that could open a portal to an "empty world," which they could then shape how they saw fit.

"I feel Paige would love to hear this…" Megan muttered.

"But, why? What's the point of creating an entire new world?" Dante pondered.

"Because this world was nearing its end…" Yaga replied with a much serious tone.

When she elaborated, she explained that 15,000 years ago, there were numerous advanced civilizations in the world.

Their cities used a combination of technological advancement and magic, similar to the "Spellcore" that the Jade Dragons encountered.

All of the nations in the world were allies. There were no wars, and almost no crime—a world that could have been considered a utopia.

Every "High-Human" was capable of controlling all types of magical energy, such as mana, umbra, and ether, but none of the millions of people ever aspired to use magic to hurt others.

People worked for the betterment of humanity as a whole, not for their own self-gain or satisfaction.

Still, even though the whole world was working together, they weren't able to stop their impending doom.

"Have any of you ever heard of the 'Younger Dryas'?" Yaga asked, prompting the trio to shake their head in denial.

The witch sighed with slight annoyance, repeating the line that they "truly didn't know anything", so she stood up and decided to give the trio a detailed account of what transpired on Earth over 14,000 years ago.