So, Humans Were GODS All Along?

"We've been cornered by the Gods." One of the Elders, an old man with a bark-like skin said. His voice felt grating to the ears like two pieces of rotten wood had rubbed upon each other but none of the other elders paid any heed to his voice. His statement carried too much impact.

"This hasn't been the first time they've cornered us. Ever since they had recovered their strength, they have been hunting us down." Prakash said in a calm calculating voice. His tone was cold like the artic frost that sent a chill into the spines of the other Elders present in the council. Prakash currently had a demeanour that was the exact opposite of when he had been telling stories to the children.

"If they dare invade us, I don't mind giving them a slaughter of their brethren," Prakash said as the air surrounding him became bloodthirsty. The very air around him morphed into thousands of vicious creatures that gazed with killing intent and seemed to want to devour all creation.

"Dear, calm down." The murderous air instantly became calm like a peaceful meadow on which grass grew and gentle winds c.a.r.e.s.sed along its stalks.

"Can you afford to move now?" Prakash inquired in a tone full of worry as he held the pale wrinkled hands of Anita.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't have woken up from my slumber if it were not for the severity of our situation. The others are waking up too. They should be here soon." Anita said as her face further wrinkled with her smile.

"And, moreover," Anita began with a sigh, "You don't need to further waste your 'Karma' trying to maintain that appearance. Let these kids look at the real you."

"You aren't in your real appearance either." Prakash retorted.

"Oh, I can still afford the expenditure to look like this," Anita said as she flashed him a smile.

By 'These kids', Anita actually referred to the council of Elders seated in the 'Elder's Dome'.

The current council of Elders were an entire generation younger than Elders like Anita and Prakash, i.e they were born after the world had changed and humans had become small.

There were many aspects of information and facts in which they were kept in the dark.

'Boom' 'Boom'

Followed by a series of loud footsteps, a burly man entered the 'Elder's Dome'. He was 8 centimetres tall and had thick sculpted arms and sturdy legs. His face looked slightly on the feminine side but his burly mustache instilled in him a sense of manliness.

There were a total of 16 people who had followed after the burly man, each one possessing an aura that wasn't the slightest bit weaker than Prakash.

The younger generation of Elders got a scare as they gawked upon such formidable experts who they didn't even know existed in their village a few seconds ago. One common fact the Elders observed in them was the fact that each of their eyes held wisdom and viciousness formed from the perils of life that weren't lacking in any aspect as compared to either Prakash or Anita.

Moreover, just the aura that they released into the air when they breathed out almost suffocated most of the Elders.

As Prakash gazed at the looks of incredulity on the faces of the council of elders, he couldn't help but try to educate them. His eyes reverting back to the soft demeanour he carried himself with in front of the children as he addressed the council of Elders.

"These warriors are from the same generation as myself and Anita. They mostly hibernate to conserve their 'Karma' exhaustion and increase their remaining lifespans. Only in the cases of absolute importance would they appear such as now."

The council of Elders had an immediate change in their attitude as they gazed with worship at the 17 people with powerful auras who had just entered.

"Hahaha Prakash, you are still so soft on your juniors. After this meeting is over, leave them to me, I'll give them some elderly love." The burly man arrogantly shouted as he sat beside Anita and began to make some small talk with her.

The others who followed after him gave some slight pleasantries to Prakash and sat in their respective seats.

There was a simple hierarchy in the Elder's Dome; there were the Elders who took charge of the operations of the entire human village and then there were the Grand Elders who stood above the Elders and only acted when the Elders couldn't solve a situation on their own. Only Prakash who usually mingled with them and Anita who rarely shoved her face were the only two Grand Elders known to the elder's council.

The position of the Elders and Grand Elders weren't based on any age factor, but they relied on a significant achievement in combat ability and 'Karma Comprehension'.

A warrior gains the right to be addressed as an Elder when he achieves 100% Karma Comprehension for a single creature. But, to be addressed as a Grand elder, one needs to be able to become a 'Chimera'. Each chimera had enough power to wipe the floor with the Elder's council, warriors who stood at the peak of humanity.

"Senior, we'll have to actually decide who gets the love of whom after we have a fight." The first elder, the one with the strongest combat strength among the Elders said as he gazed at the burly man. Even if he were to lose to the burly man, the first elder thought that the difference between them wouldn't be too much.

"Hahahaha, good lad. I like your spirit." The burly man laughed freely as he saw the elder who had challenged him seemed unfazed in the presence of his formidable aura. This showed that the confidence of the first elder wasn't entirely baseless.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. He's a chimera by the way." Prakash tapped his head and said in a nonchalant manner as if he forgot to tip a candy seller.

"H-How many stars?" The first elder stuttered as he inquired the burly man. Becoming a chimera was as difficult as ascending to the heavens; he thought only Prakash and Anita were chimeras in their village.

"8 Stars," The burly man said as a matter of fact and sent a provocative look at the first elder.

"Ahaha" The elder's council awkwardly laughed as cold sweat dripped down from their heads. An 8-Star chimera could easily fight toe to toe against a fully armoured God and win 10 out of 10 times.

"What about the others?" The first elder resolved his mind as he questioned Prakash.

"They all range between 3-Star and 7-Star Chimeras," Prakash said with a laugh. This was their village's greatest combat strength; the only deterrence against the Gods.

"...…." The first elder could no longer have the face to even look at their feet. Their predecessors were strong, insanely strong.

"Hahaha, kid, at your age, you are already a 4-Hill Awakened warrior. When we die, the fate of humanity will rest upon your shoulders. I can rest assured on seeing your indomitable spirit." The burly man said with a laugh but, his eyes concealed a slight look of despair. Even with all the power at his disposal, they would all have been for naught if he died due to exhausting his lifespan.

Their younger generation were young, too young to face the burden of protecting their race.

"Senior, I am still only 282 days old. There are still many things that we would want to learn from you." The other Elders nodded in agreement to the heartfelt words of the first elder. The elder's council was ignorant about many things that happened in the world; they had to occasionally seek advice from Prakash every time something unexpected cropped up.

The people from Prakash's generation teared up a little at this fact. They didn't have much time left to live and the strongest warriors of their village from the younger generation were all a little over 9 months old.

"I guess it's time we move on to more pressing matters. Just address us as Grand Elders for convenience." Prakash broke the gloomy atmosphere as he motioned for the Elders to address the severe issues that needed more than half of the hidden Grand Elders to wake up from their slumber.

The 6th elder immediately took charge as she spoke up, "One of the issues at hand is that 4 of our outposts had been discovered by the enemy. We had dispatched 3 battalions and some supporting squads to each location. The situation is currently under control but numerous ants from the enemy forces have been widening the channel as we speak."

"Good response. Continue with the other issues; we'll design countermeasures after all the issues have been addressed." Anita spoke up.

The 6th elder nodded and sat down while the 12th elder, the one in charge of the training nests spoke up next.

"Grand Elders, recently some of our spider nests have shown a lot of activity. Their actions have become more coordinated and they are reproducing at a quicker pace. We have dispatched some squads to curb the threat for now but were unable to find the root cause for their behaviour."

"Good. Next," One of the Grand Elders nodded in praise as she shot a worried gaze at Anita. They seemed to have exchanged many dialogues through their gazes and seemed to sport a solemn look at the end.

The 19th elder stood up next, the one in charge of construction and maintenance as he said, "3 hours ago, one of our Outer villages collapsed. Seawater suddenly seeped into it. Based on the reports sent in a timely manner by one of our scout teams, we had evacuated all personnel and resources from there and sealed off all the connecting passageways. But, we can no longer access 7 of our Outposts near the sea that were connected to the collapsed Outer Village."

"Next," Prakash frowned as he gazed at the Elders to continue.

This time, the 3rd elder, the one in charge of the water reservoir stood up, "Within the past hour, the water levels in the Dome of Life had decreased by 2 centimetres. The inflow from our underground water channel seems to have trickled down in capacity."

"What?" Most of the Grand Elders could no longer maintain their composure at this point.