After the destruction of Earth, humanity’s best minds found a new planet to live on, becoming the founding fathers of Terivarius.
The Terivarius became a splendor of human thought. Each city was a work of art, and the inhabitants settled according to their interests. There were cities — merchants, cities — craftsmen, cities-entertainment. Each city had its own settlements in which people lived and developed their economy.
Mindful of humanity’s mistakes, the founding fathers sought to fill each city with wealth and resources. The cities were equal and the people had no need for anything.
Most people lived in happiness and harmony, but the worst manifestations of human qualities were the only thing the founding fathers failed to overcome. They created ideal conditions for life, but there were also those who were willing to rob, to not work and to use their power with the worst intentions.
Such people were few in number, but they were there. To maintain a thriving society, in each city the founders built temples — cultists — where they sent these people. The idea was simple: the bad people were isolated from each other, and for every bad person, there were 10 of the most honest and good people who surrounded him every day. They ate together, slept together, and worked in the temple. The goal was to re-educate people and get them back on track. Sometimes it worked.
As the years passed, the Terivarius flourished, and people discovered more and more interests and hobbies. This is how alchemy developed. The extraordinary natural minerals and deposits of unexplored stones and metals of Terivarius attracted the attention of alchemists from all cities.
It was an amazing time of new, incredible discoveries.
Alchemy became very popular, with more and more cities of alchemists appearing every year. Millions of experiments and new scientific discoveries saw Terivarius.
Rejuvenating water, an ointment that instantly heals wounds, and many other amazing discoveries were made by alchemists. However, they believed they could do more. The effects on the physical body were only a small part of their abilities. Alchemists believed that they could destroy temples — cultists — overnight and make people better. A robber would be honest and a murderer would be righteous.
The work did not stop even at night, many became obsessed with the idea.
The founding fathers sincerely believed that the wizards of Terivarius, as the alchemists were nicknamed, could help people and make Terivarius even better. They allowed them to conduct experiments on cultists in the hope of a speedy “cure”.
And then one day it was found — the potion “Freedom” so called by its inventor, the best alchemist of Terivarius.
After drinking it, the cultists were instantly “cured” and returned to society. The first experiments were conducted with caution, the former cultists were carefully monitored, and only a few temples were allowed to use the potion.
However, time passed, and in the past, robbers and murderers led perfectly honest and decent lives. Once they were convinced that the potion was healing, they distributed it to all the temples.
Thousands of people filled the cities; it was a Great Feast in Terivarius, for the cultists were finally being reunited with their families.
The years went by, the temples were empty, and the Terivarius was bathed in abundance and harmony. To get rid of crime once and for all. The founders decided to give a “Freedom” potion to every newborn. The secret of the potion was revealed, now any alchemist could prepare it and exchange it for something useful for the new-born parents.
The children grew up completely normal, and it would seem that now nothing would interfere with the prosperity of Terivarius…
Thirty years later, after the invention of the “Freedom” potion, the Terivarius was once again plagued by murders and robberies. Everything happened unexpectedly. On a cold morning, a wave of brutal robberies and murders swept through the cities of Terivarius. People were unprepared for such atrocities, Terivarius had no army or warriors. For 30 years, people had forgotten what it meant to fight or defend themselves.
The situation was getting worse and worse. The number of crimes was getting higher and higher every day. People were thirsty for blood, as if the demon inside them woke up that had been sleeping soundly. The founders convened an urgent council of alchemists. The potion did not help; it only made the condition worse. The best alchemists of Terivarius tried to create a countermeasure that would stop this madness, but all was in vain.
The Terivarius was drowning in blood.
People have taken to the path of war and murder to protect themselves and their loved ones, thereby creating more crime. The friendly and prosperous Terivarius turned overnight into a bloody and violent world.
The founding fathers were too old to change anything. They decided to find the creator of the Freedom Potion and seek answers from him.
They found him in the main temple - cultists. What he told them threw them into shock: “The Freedom Potion is a very delicate matter. Unfortunately, I realized it too late. When making a potion, it is very important to create it with good thoughts and intentions. The first batches of the potion were created by me, so they successfully accomplished their task. However, when you declassified the recipe, too many unscrupulous alchemists’ minds created it with lust for profit and greed, and as a result, the potion became “poisoned”. Millions of infants drank the poisoned potion, which worked gradually, year after year, poisoning their minds. Now there is no stopping them, they are not just driven by the worst of human behavior, but by the potion, and thus by the power of Terivarius.”
-What to do?
-As soon as the crimes began, I understood everything at once. Unfortunately, we cannot correct this monstrous mistake. For months now, I have been working on an absolutely horrifying thing, but it is the only thing that will help under the circumstances.
The old man went to the wall, pushed back the stone flap, behind which you could see a lever: “This is the lever of the “End of the World,” it will activate the irreversible alchemical mechanisms associated with the Terivarius. All living will perish, all cities will be wiped out, all that was created will be destroyed. This is the nullification that is needed now. However, there are only a few temples in which salvation can be found. One of them is where we are now. You must find 40 people who have not been poisoned by the potion and bring them here, they are the ones who will begin the new history of Terivarius.”
The next few days passed in search of the right people, and when everything was ready, the founding fathers locked them in the temple and gave further instructions on how to activate the “End of the World” lever. The creator of the Freedom Potion stood beside the founders and watched as the temple door closed.
-You were supposed to be with them!
-I can’t. Alchemy has destroyed the Terivarius. This knowledge… It must be lost.
A momentary flash and the Terivarius was in darkness.
A few hours later, the doors of the main temple opened and people cautiously began to come out. Absolute emptiness. This was how the founding fathers of Terivarius had described it when they first came here. The people were unaccustomed to looking at what had once been a prosperous land. It was a terrifying sight. Suddenly, other temples began to open and people began to come out from there as well, the alchemist was right, some managed to escape in other temples and among them were still “poisoned” by the potion…
No one knows what will happen next.
Some will stay in the temples forever and become cultists. And some will create a settlement and try to revive the old prosperous land. But the “poisoned” will always want blood and war.
Only the lever of the “End of the World” will be able to stop them.
How will they all get on with their lives?
