After the return of the immortals to Iberon...
The world was still unable to comprehend the change that had taken place.
The return of the immortals was not merely the appearance of beings who had transcended the boundaries of mortality.
It was the return of entire generations from the past to a world that no longer knew them.
And as the days passed, those immortals began to realize a truth that had never crossed their minds when they first awakened.
They had returned...
But the world they once knew no longer existed.
The cities in which they had lived were gone.
The bloodlines they had known had branched and evolved.
The names they had once carried had become part of history.
And most importantly of all...
Their descendants were still alive.
Descendants who had never seen them.
Descendants who knew of them only through ancient records, obscure legends, or names engraved upon relics that had survived for thousands of years.
And so, some of the human immortals began to move.
Their initial purpose was not domination.
Nor were they seeking authority.
It was something far simpler.
They wanted to know...
What remained of the humanity they had once left behind?
In one of the ancient regions of the Upper Continent, dozens of human immortals stood atop a mountain peak.
They gazed toward the horizon.
An elderly-looking man said,
"We have spent weeks searching."
Another man replied,
"And we have found nothing."
A woman standing behind them intervened:
"That is not true."
Everyone turned toward her.
She said,
"We have found traces of humans everywhere."
Then she looked toward the horizon.
"But we have not found our descendants."
Silence descended.
That was what pained them the most.
They had returned to the world...
Yet they had no idea where their descendants lived.
One of the immortals said,
"Perhaps our bloodlines have gone extinct."
Another man immediately replied,
"No."
He looked at him.
"How are you certain?"
He answered,
"Because humanity has not gone extinct."
He pointed toward a distant city.
"We have seen them."
Everyone's expressions changed.
"Where?"
He said,
"There are human cities throughout the continent."
He paused.
"Many of them."
Then he added,
"But they no longer live the way we remember."
No one said anything.
And moments later...
The journey began.
Weeks passed.
Then months.
Throughout that time, the immortals traveled across human territories.
They entered cities.
Crossed plains.
Passed through mountains.
And saw thousands upon thousands of humans.
Yet one thing continued to astonish them.
Humans were no longer as they remembered them.
Their civilization was different.
Their systems of governance had changed.
Their cities had become far more expansive.
Their methods of agriculture and trade had evolved.
Even their farming techniques were different.
But despite all of that...
There was something that had not changed.
The faces of humans.
Their laughter.
Their emotions.
The children running through the streets.
The elders sitting outside their homes.
The mothers calling out to their children.
All of it was painfully familiar.
One of the female immortals said one evening,
"They are still like us."
Her companion looked at her.
She smiled sadly.
"Everything has changed..."
She placed a hand over her chest.
"But this has not."
After several months of searching...
The news finally arrived.
There was a vast central city where an enormous number of humans gathered.
A city unlike the others.
A city governed by a council representing the various human powers and bloodlines.
And it was known as...
The Human Central City.
When the immortals heard that name, their expressions changed.
"Council?"
His companion answered,
"Yes."
"And who rules humanity?"
"The council."
The man remained silent for several moments.
Then he laughed softly.
"Strange."
The other asked,
"What is amusing?"
He said,
"In our era..."
He gazed toward the horizon.
"The strongest person was the one who ruled."
Then he smiled.
"It seems our descendants have learned something we never did."
Several days later...
The immortals arrived at the city.
The city was enormous.
Its walls stretched across vast distances.
Inside, buildings and structures of countless designs rose toward the heavens.
Hundreds of thousands of humans lived within it.
But the moment the immortals entered the city...
They stopped.
For several moments, they could not move.
It was not because of the city's power.
Nor was it because of its beauty.
It was the humans.
They were everywhere.
Men.
Women.
Elders.
Children.
Farmers.
Merchants.
Warriors.
Young farmers carrying their tools.
And children running through the streets.
Humanity...
Was alive.
After millions of years.
It was still alive.
One of the immortals lowered his head.
He closed his eyes.
Then took a long breath.
He said quietly,
"I thought..."
He stopped.
Swallowed his words.
Then said,
"That we had lost them."
A woman approached him.
"But we did not lose them."
He looked at her.
She smiled.
"They were waiting for us without even knowing it."
That same day, word of the immortals' presence reached the Human Council.
The news spread with astonishing speed.
Immortals had appeared within the city.
At first, no one believed it.
Then the auras began to spread.
At that moment...
There was no longer any room for doubt.
The members of the council gathered.
And they went personally to meet the immortals.
The first encounter was tense.
The two sides stood before one another.
The Human Council on one side.
The immortals on the other.
No one knew what to say.
Until one of the council members stepped forward.
A middle-aged man.
He bowed slightly.
"Welcome to the Human Central City."
One of the immortals raised an eyebrow.
Then said,
"Are you the ones who rule humanity now?"
The man answered,
"We represent it."
A brief silence followed.
Then the immortal smiled.
"Good answer."
But what happened afterward...
Was more important than the meeting itself.
The immortals made only one request.
"We want the records of the ancient bloodlines."
The council members' expressions changed.
One of them asked,
"Why?"
The immortal answered,
"We are searching for our descendants."
Silence descended.
Then another council member said,
"Your descendants?"
The man smiled.
"Yes."
The council's expressions changed.
Because they suddenly understood the meaning of it.
These immortals...
Were not merely legendary beings.
They were the actual ancestors of bloodlines that still lived among them.
And the search began.
Days passed.
Then the results began to emerge.
Bloodlines.
Families.
Ancient names.
Branches that had divided throughout thousands of years.
And finally...
Some bloodlines bearing traces of those immortals' blood were discovered.
When the immortals were informed...
No one spoke.
Some closed their eyes.
Some smiled.
And some could not conceal the trembling of their hands.
One of them said quietly,
"Then..."
He paused.
Then asked,
"Our descendants live here?"
One of the council members answered,
"Yes."
The man raised his head.
And in his eyes appeared something that had not been there since his awakening.
Nostalgia.
Nostalgia for an age that had died millions of years ago.
Then came the meeting.
A group of young men and women entered one of the halls.
They did not know why the council had summoned them.
Some were confused.
Some curious.
And some nervous because several immortals stood before them.
But the immortals...
Said nothing.
They simply looked at them.
For a long time.
In silence.
One of the young men bore an astonishing resemblance to one of the immortals.
Not merely in his features.
But in his eyes.
And in the way he stood.
And in the faint smile that appeared on his face without him realizing it.
The immortal's hand trembled.
He whispered,
"This..."
He took a step forward.
Then stopped.
He looked at the young man.
And asked,
"What is your name?"
The young man answered.
When the immortal heard the name...
His expression changed.
It was an ancient name.
A name once carried by one of his sons millions of years ago.
He lowered his head.
Clenched his fist.
Then let out a small, trembling laugh.
"Even the name..."
He raised his eyes.
"You kept it."
The young man understood nothing.
He said,
"Sir... do you know me?"
The immortal stared at him for a long time.
Then answered,
"No."
He paused.
A warm smile appeared upon his face.
"But I know your blood."
Some of the immortals could no longer maintain their composure.
One of the women approached a young girl.
She had been staring at her from the very first moment.
Then she slowly raised her hand.
She touched her hair.
Her fingers trembled.
She said,
"Your hair..."
The girl smiled shyly.
"What about it?"
The woman said,
"My mother had the same hair."
She froze for a moment.
Then laughed softly.
"No..."
She shook her head.
"Not my mother."
She placed a hand over her chest.
"My grandmother."
She looked at the girl.
"From a very long time ago."
Then she smiled.
"It seems blood remembers."
Silence filled the hall.
Even some of the council members felt the weight of the scene.
Those who had believed they knew nothing but power...
Were now standing before their descendants.
And for the first time since their awakening...
They no longer felt that the world was entirely foreign.
Because they had found something within it that belonged to them.
Something time had failed to erase.
Their descendants.
In the days that followed...
The immortals began mingling with the humans.
They did not treat them as followers.
Nor as subjects.
But as descendants.
They began learning about the new era.
About the cities.
The council.
Methods of agriculture.
Cultures.
And the history that had been written during their long slumber.
In return...
The human descendants began learning from the immortals.
About the ancient eras.
About the civilization that had existed before their own.
About ancient cultivation methods.
About battles.
About figures of whom nothing remained except legends.
But behind all of this...
There was a greater purpose.
Some of the immortals had begun to realize that their return was not a coincidence.
And that their awakening might merely be the prelude to something greater.
One of the oldest immortals said during a meeting with the humans,
"We should not regard our return as the end of the slumber."
Everyone raised their eyes toward him.
He continued,
"But as the beginning of our preparations."
One of the council members asked,
"Preparation for what?"
The man remained silent.
Then said,
"For the return of those who are older than us."
Silence descended.
He added,
"If we have awakened..."
He raised his gaze toward the heavens.
"Then we cannot assume that the Great Ones will remain asleep forever."
No one answered.
But everyone understood.
The return of the immortals...
Was not the end.
It was merely the first wave.
And deep within Iberon...
There were other things that still slept.
Things...
Even the returning immortals did not dare imagine the moment they would awaken.