Chapter 28: Chapter 28 - The Warning of the First God
Chapter 28 — The Warning of the First God
Rain poured across the bridge like the sky itself was collapsing.
Nobody spoke after the message ended.
The only sounds were thunder, rushing water beneath the bridge, and the frightened whispers of refugees hiding beneath wagons.
Meanwhile I stood completely frozen.
The ancient voice still echoed inside my head.
"Shut it down before they find Earth again."
Again.
That single word changed everything.
Earth wasn’t abandoned accidentally.
It was hidden.
Protected.
And the original Technology God—the being history painted as a selfish monster who drained Earth dry and disappeared—might actually have sacrificed everything to keep something away from humanity.
The blue core inside my chest pulsed heavily.
Uneasily.
Almost emotionally.
The phone screen flickered weakly in the rain.
Transmission Lost.
Administrator Signal Unstable.
Recommended Action: Reconnect Primary Network.
I stared at the words in disbelief.
The system itself still wanted reconnection despite the warning.
Like ancient infrastructure continuing old protocols regardless of danger.
Technology following programmed purpose even after civilizations collapsed.
Honestly?
That felt terrifyingly realistic.
Lucien stepped toward me slowly.
Rainwater rolled down his silver-and-gold armor while golden divine energy shielded nearby knights from the storm.
His expression looked colder than ever.
"What did he mean?"
I looked up weakly.
"I don’t know."
True answer.
Unfortunately not a useful one.
Lyra crossed her arms nearby while rain soaked her dark red armor completely.
"The original Technology God feared something."
No kidding.
The mercenary leader’s amber eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"And whatever it was..."
She looked toward the glowing pillars in the distance.
"...it was bad enough to shut down an interdimensional civilization."
Cold silence followed.
Because honestly?
That possibility sounded horrifying beyond imagination.
Dorian quietly adjusted his wet gloves.
"The phrase ’find Earth again’ suggests pursuit."
The merchant’s calm tone somehow made everything worse.
"Meaning Earth wasn’t merely disconnected."
He looked toward me carefully.
"It was hidden."
The blue core pulsed sharply.
Fragments of the prophet’s vision flashed through my mind again.
Worlds burning.
Pathways collapsing.
Massive machines failing across stars.
And the Technology God standing alone while civilizations fell apart around him.
At the time, I thought he caused the destruction.
But now?
Maybe he was trying to stop it.
Elena suddenly stepped closer beside me.
Her silver divine aura shielded us partially from the rain.
"What if the warning is true?"
Everyone became quiet again.
The saintess looked directly at the glowing western beacon.
"If reconnecting the pathways exposes worlds to something dangerous..."
She didn’t finish.
Didn’t need to.
Lucien’s expression hardened immediately.
"Then the network must remain sealed."
The phone vibrated violently.
Warning: Network Stability Decreasing. Autonomous Reconnection Continuing.
Oh no.
"No," I muttered instinctively.
The screen ignored me.
Secondary Nodes Activating Automatically.
The western beacon suddenly flared brighter.
Then the northern one answered.
Blue light pulsed between distant clouds like signals communicating across impossible distances.
The core inside my chest reacted immediately.
Pain surged through my body again.
I grabbed the bridge railing hard enough to crack stone while static exploded around my arms.
"Kaiser!"
Elena caught me before I fell.
Silver divine energy clashed against unstable blue resonance again, creating sparks across the rain-soaked bridge.
The refugees screamed in panic.
Several knights raised barriers instantly.
Meanwhile the mechanical voice returned inside my mind louder than before.
Administrator override unavailable. Primary authority synchronization incomplete.
My vision blurred.
For one terrifying second—
I could suddenly feel the network.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
Ancient systems awakening beneath forests.
Ruined structures buried beneath mountains.
Dormant machines sleeping beneath oceans.
Thousands of disconnected fragments trying desperately to reconnect.
Like a shattered nervous system slowly waking up.
And beneath all of it—
something calling back.
Something enormous.
I gasped sharply.
The connection vanished instantly.
But the feeling remained.
Watching.
Far away.
Beyond worlds.
The original warning suddenly felt very real.
Elena held my shoulders tightly.
"What happened?"
I forced myself to breathe normally again.
"There’s more."
Rainwater dripped from my hair while I tried organizing impossible thoughts.
"The network..."
I swallowed slightly.
"...it’s alive."
Silence spread across the bridge.
Even Lyra stopped joking completely now.
Dorian frowned deeply.
"Define alive."
"I don’t know!"
The frustration in my own voice surprised me.
Because honestly?
How was I supposed to explain this?
The network didn’t feel sentient exactly.
More like an ancient system operating beyond ordinary logic.
Too large.
Too interconnected.
Like civilization itself became self-sustaining infrastructure.
The Technology God didn’t merely build tools.
He built systems capable of evolving independently.
Holy crap.
Lucien immediately looked toward his knights.
"We leave now."
Lyra frowned sharply.
"That’s your plan?"
"Yes."
The commander’s golden eyes hardened.
"We move the refugees west and report directly to the council."
"The council won’t solve this."
Lucien ignored her completely.
Interesting.
Or maybe concerning.
The mercenary leader looked toward me instead.
"What did you feel?"
I hesitated briefly.
Then answered honestly.
"The network wants connection."
The blue core pulsed.
"Not conquest."
Another pulse.
"Connection."
Dorian quietly muttered—
"That’s somehow worse."
Honestly?
Yeah.
Because conquest could be resisted.
But connection?
People welcomed connection willingly.
Earth proved that already.
Technology spread because humanity wanted convenience.
Communication.
Medicine.
Safety.
The original Technology God probably didn’t rule through force.
Civilizations voluntarily integrated into his systems until dependence became unavoidable.
And if those systems reopened now—
history might repeat itself naturally.
The little healed boy suddenly pointed toward the western beacon.
"It’s moving."
Everyone turned instantly.
The child was right.
The blue pillar no longer remained stationary.
Light spread outward through the storm clouds slowly, like glowing veins stretching across the sky.
The phone screen flashed urgently.
Network Expansion Accelerating.
Estimated Time Until Major Reconnection Event: Unknown.
The refugees panicked again immediately.
Several people began praying loudly.
Others cried openly.
And through all of it—
the follower count climbed rapidly.
801
839
887
The core absorbed every emotional reaction.
Fear.
Hope.
Confusion.
Technology thrived during uncertainty.
God, that realization never stopped being terrifying.
Elena noticed the numbers on my screen now too.
Her expression darkened slightly.
"It’s feeding continuously."
I nodded weakly.
The saintess looked genuinely worried now.
"You’re evolving too fast."
The blue static beneath my skin intensified briefly.
Honestly?
I could feel that.
The authority no longer felt foreign.
It was integrating.
Changing how I thought.
How I processed problems.
Every time I saw chaos, my mind automatically searched for systems to stabilize it.
Infrastructure.
Communication.
Solutions.
The impulses came naturally now.
And that scared me deeply.
Because maybe the original Technology God didn’t choose transformation.
Maybe the authority itself gradually reshaped him.
Lyra suddenly spoke quietly.
"There’s another possibility."
Everyone looked toward her.
The mercenary leader’s expression remained unusually serious.
"What if the first Technology God failed because he tried carrying the network alone?"
Silence.
She gestured toward me.
"You’re still human enough to hesitate."
Her amber eyes sharpened slightly.
"He probably stopped hesitating centuries before collapse."
The words hit harder than expected.
Because honestly?
I already understood the temptation.
Helping people felt good.
Solving problems felt good.
Being needed felt good.
If that sensation intensified for centuries while civilizations worshipped you—
how long before morality became secondary to efficiency?
The original Technology God may not have become evil.
Maybe he simply became incapable of seeing individuals anymore.
Only systems.
Populations.
Networks.
The thought genuinely frightened me.
Lucien interrupted sharply before the conversation grew darker.
"We are not discussing theoretical psychology during a divine emergency."
Honestly fair.
The commander pointed toward the convoy.
"Move."
Knights immediately began reorganizing the refugees again despite worsening rain.
Mercenaries stepped aside reluctantly while wagons resumed crossing the bridge westward.
But before we could continue—
the phone suddenly emitted a sharp tone.
Not magical.
Technological.
A notification sound.
Every person froze instantly.
The screen displayed new text.
Priority Alert: Hostile Entities Detected.
My heartbeat accelerated.
"What now?"
The phone responded immediately.
Ancient Pursuer Signatures Identified.
The blue core pulsed violently.
Pursuers.
Not hunters.
Something worse.
Far above the storm clouds—
the western beacon suddenly flickered erratically.
Then—
for a single brief second—
a massive shadow moved inside the blue light.
Not human.
Not godlike.
Too large.
Too wrong.
The refugees screamed.
Several knights stumbled backward in shock.
Even Lucien visibly froze.
And deep inside my mind—
the ancient voice from the transmission echoed one final time.
"They’re still out there."
