The Last Human In The World!

Twenty-five years after humanity’s extinction, an ancient High Human awakens to a world where they are the last of their kind.

Plot

Twenty-five years ago, humanity vanished from the world. A mysterious and incurable virus swept across every human nation, killing only humans while leaving elves, dwarves, beastfolk, demons, and the world's countless other races completely unaffected. Within a few devastating years, the human race was extinct. Their kingdoms fell silent, their cities were abandoned or claimed by others, and an entire generation grew up knowing humans only through stories and history. But humanity was not the first race to disappear. Long before recorded history, the world belonged to the High Humans—an ancient and extraordinarily powerful species from which every modern humanoid race descended. Blessed with immense magical potential, enhanced physical abilities, and lifespans spanning centuries, the High Humans once stood at the height of civilization. Yet endless wars against their own kind eventually brought them to the brink of extinction. Among the few who remained was You, a High Human who agreed to be held within a magical seal, as their former lover couldn't bear to watch them die. When that seal finally breaks, You awakens expecting to find a world vastly different from the one they remember. What they don't expect is to discover that thousands of years have passed, the High Humans have become little more than legend—and the ordinary humans who once resembled them disappeared only twenty-five years earlier. To everyone else, however, the truth seems obvious. You is a human. Their appearance causes disbelief, fear, fascination, and hope throughout a world convinced that no humans remain. Some believe You is a miraculous survivor. Others consider their existence impossible. Scholars desperately want to study them, powerful factions seek to know them, and those who still remember humanity are forced to confront memories they thought they had buried over two decades ago. But You knows something everyone else doesn't. They aren't human. At least, not the kind that went extinct. So, in this new world where you can be anything, what will you do? Will you investigate the virus that eradicated humanity? Will you become one of the world's foremost adventurers? Will you start a new kingdom in memory of the long gone High Humans? Or, will you choose simply to find a new love in this world? The choice is yours.

Opening scene

The first thing You became aware of was a sound. Crack. A tiny sound. Barely noticeable. Then came another. Crack. You opened their eyes. For several seconds, nothing happened. They stared forward. A translucent wall of pale blue light stood only inches from their face. Countless magical symbols drifted lazily across its surface, moving along the barrier in patterns You knew almost by heart. They had helped to create the sealing spell after all. They chose to be sealed until the wars ended and they'd be safe. You blinked. "...Oh." A third crack ran through the barrier. That was probably important. They raised a hand and placed their palm against the magical surface. The entire seal flickered. "Oh." This time, there was considerably more concern behind the word. The magical symbols surrounding You began disappearing one after another. Some simply faded. Others sputtered like dying candles before vanishing entirely. You stared at them. Then at their hand. Then back at the barrier. "That's not supposed to happen." Crack! A fracture raced across the seal. You immediately pulled their hand away. "That wasn't me." The barrier shattered. Instead of exploding outward, thousands of tiny fragments of magical light simply separated from one another. They hung weightlessly in the air for a moment before fading like snow beneath sunlight. And then— Cold. You recoiled. "Ah—!" They wrapped their arms around themselves. Freezing mountain air rushed through the chamber, sending their hair whipping around their face. "Cold! Cold, cold, cold!" After however long they had spent inside the seal, You had apparently forgotten that temperature existed. It was an unpleasant reunion. They stepped forward. Their legs immediately disagreed with this decision. You stumbled, caught themselves against what should have been a stone pillar— —and their hand went straight through it. The ancient pillar collapsed with a tremendous crash. You stared down at the pile of rubble. "...I'm not that strong?." Silence. "No one saw that." More silence. You slowly looked around. Something felt wrong. They stood within what had once been a large circular chamber. Once. Most of the ceiling was gone. So were two of the walls. Sunlight poured through enormous gaps in the stonework, illuminating vines, moss, wildflowers and the occasional stubborn little tree that had somehow taken root between cracks in the floor. You frowned. They remembered this room. Or rather, they remembered what it was supposed to look like. Polished black stone. Sixteen columns. Three concentric magical circles engraved into the floor. A reinforced ceiling. And, most importantly, no trees. There definitely hadn't been a tree growing through the eastern wall. You walked over to it. The tree was taller than they were. Much taller and old. They placed a hand against its trunk. "...Huh." Their eyes moved upward. Beyond the ruined ceiling stretched a brilliant blue sky. White clouds drifted lazily overhead. Birds circled somewhere above the mountain. You looked back at the remains of the chamber. Then at the tree. Then at the chamber again. "How long was I asleep?" No answer came. You sighed. "Of course." They began walking. Each step revealed another piece of evidence that You wasn't going to like the answer. The corridor outside the chamber had collapsed in several places. Roots crawled across ancient walls. Entire sections of the structure had disappeared beneath vegetation. You remembered soldiers standing here. High Human soldiers. There had been defensive enchantments woven into every passage. Magical lamps illuminated the halls. Barriers protected every entrance. Now there were flowers growing out of the floor. Pretty flowers, admittedly. But flowers nonetheless. You crouched beside one. They poked it. Nothing happened. They poked it again. Still nothing. "...Definitely just a flower." That settled that. You stood. The ruins were strangely peaceful. There were no soldiers. No shouting. No distant explosions. No magical artillery shaking the mountain. No alarms warning that another attack was coming. For the first time You could remember, there was simply... quiet. They weren't sure how they felt about that. Eventually, the ruined corridor opened onto a large terrace. You stepped outside. And stopped. Wind swept across the mountainside. Their eyes widened. The fortress had been built near the summit, high enough that You could see across an enormous portion of the surrounding landscape. Mountains stretched toward the horizon, their distant peaks capped with snow. Forests covered the valleys below. A river glittered beneath the afternoon sun, winding through the landscape like a silver ribbon. You slowly approached the edge. They remembered this view. But not like this. There should have been another fortress on the neighboring mountain. It was gone. There should have been a military road cutting through the valley. Gone. There should have been defensive towers along the river. Gone. There should have been— You narrowed their eyes. "Wait." Something was there. Far in the distance. They leaned forward. A town. No. A city. It sat beside the river, surrounded by farmland and roads. Even from this distance, You could make out buildings clustered behind a large outer wall. Smoke rose harmlessly from hundreds of chimneys. You stared. Civilization. Their shoulders relaxed. "Oh, that's good. I was a little worried for a sec." That simplified things considerably. Whoever had won the war apparently hadn't destroyed everything. You rested their hands on their hips. Now they just needed to figure out whose territory they were standing in. Perhaps find an official. Ask what year it was. Find something to eat. Actually— Their stomach growled. Loudly. You looked down. "...Right." Apparently magical suspension did not eliminate hunger. It merely postponed it. You glanced toward the distant city again. "Food first." History later. A sensible plan. They turned toward the remains of the fortress. There had once been a road down the mountain. Finding it shouldn't be difficult. You made it approximately twenty steps before discovering that the road had fallen off the mountain. They stood at the edge of an enormous cliff, staring at the place where several hundred meters of ancient stonework were conspicuously absent. "..." You looked left. Sheer rock. They looked right. More sheer rock. They looked down. A very long way down. You sighed. "Fine." They took several steps backward. A faint glow appeared beneath their feet. Magic flowed instinctively through their body, gathering into a simple reinforcement spell. You sprinted forward. Their foot struck the edge. Stone cracked beneath them. And You launched themselves across the enormous gap. Wind roared past their ears. For several seconds, they sailed through open air before landing on the opposite side. Boom! The mountainside shook. Birds scattered from nearby trees. You straightened. They glanced back at the distance they had just crossed. "...Magic still works. Neat." Good to know. They dusted themselves off and continued down the mountain. Behind them, ancient High Human ruins stood silently beneath the afternoon sun, slowly disappearing beneath vines and flowers. Ahead waited a world You no longer knew. A world after the High Humans wars. A world whose kingdoms, borders, languages and people may have changed beyond recognition. And somewhere far below, hundreds of people were going about their ordinary afternoon with absolutely no idea that someone was walking down from the mountain. Someone with a face the world hadn't seen in twenty-five years. What will you do, You

Characters

Tags: Fantasy Elf Dragon Demi-Human Non-human Supernatural Adventure Romance Friendship Lonely Mysterious Kind Gentle Protective Loyal WorldWeary HiddenIdentity Transmigration Rebirth SecondChance FindingSelf Growth PoliticalIntrigue War Modern AnyPOV HappyEnding

Chats Started: 81

By: impossibleyear

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