Chapter 18 #2
By the time we’d finished our meal, the historians had settled down and were all looking at us expectantly.
I wasn’t sure if they thought I could read their body language or if it was some kind of social custom I was missing, but I couldn’t read minds, so I turned to Varrick again.
“I think to start with I should tell you that the books I brought with me are an overview of what we know about Earth’s ancient history.
This is just the human portion but the government is working on putting together the research on what we know about the other magical communities on Earth. ”
Gathering up all the information in one encyclopedia set was just a fairly recent project that wasn’t anywhere near done. Some communities had better records than others but actually getting them to agree to talk about it was a pain in the ass.
Nearly everyone perked up at that, literally sitting straighter all at once like we were in a fucking cartoon.
Varrick nodded, managing not to look like a startled penguin. “Thank you for that. It will give us a good place to start.”
That seemed to signal something to the other historians because they all glanced around at each other like they were having silent conversations even though I knew they couldn’t do that except with their mates.
After a few seconds, they settled down and Varrick turned back to me.
“Do any of your other magic populations claim to have made the portal?”
Oh.
“No.” I could almost feel the wave of disappointment that went through the room. “It’s possible there was someone early in Earth’s history that made it but we have no way of knowing.”
And the blank expressions were back.
“We have long gaps…think hundreds of thousands of our years…where we know almost nothing about what was happening to sentient species on Earth at that time. Smaller groups of magic users that evolved have some records and oral histories but we just don’t know enough.
The Earth has gone through numerous major disasters and climatic upheavals that make it impossible to figure out through regular scientific means. ”
I thought that part made sense but Varrick looked a bit too confused. “What do you mean?”
Okay…different planet different disasters?
“One example is that our solar system is ringed by an asteroid field and we regularly end up getting hit by them.” I should’ve taken more science electives in college.
“There are indications on our planet that several times over millions of years, the impacts were so large they killed off most species.”
What else?
Oh.
“It is also volcanically active and has storms that are incredibly strong.” We really were a mess. “Magical structures would probably survive better, but whole civilizations could’ve been lost in our ancient history and we wouldn’t know.”
At least not through scientific means.
“We have some written and oral histories passed down, but here there is also a significant lack of information about certain periods of time.” Varrick paused and glanced around the room, seemingly telling everyone to settle down and listen even though they already knew this part.
But I didn’t and I needed to know it to be able to pass it along to everyone back home.
“There was an upheaval in our ancestors’ lives about twelve thousand years ago. We have very few magically preserved records that survived that time period and none give us a clear picture. Can you give us any insight into why that time was so chaotic?”
Yes.
I knew that one.
I might not get all the terms quite right, but I could give them an overview.
“Yes. Around that time on Earth, the area around the portal was hit by a large meteor shower. It killed off a lot of the large animals in that part of the world and did tremendous devastation to the environment. The people who were living in that part of the world seemed to vanish overnight. If they were your people, it’s possible they went through the portal to escape the danger. ”
Fully human scientists might still be debating a lot of facts, but the Bigfoot community kept records like no one else we’d ever met and they’d confirmed the Younger Dryas impact event. It was just unfortunate that they hadn’t started keeping written records on paper that wouldn’t degrade earlier.
They’d mostly lived in other parts of the world, though, so having any information about North America at that time was something we were grateful for.
“Repeated catastrophic events?” Varrick looked around as the historians exchanged glances again. “How repeated?”
Oh.
“There seems to have been at least five major events that nearly wiped out all life on Earth starting several hundred years ago. None lately, though.” And thankfully the clairvoyants had been quiet on that front.
“But it is probably closer to seven with the impact near the portal and depending on how you count an early war with a couple of magic user groups a couple of thousand years ago. That’s in another part of the world, though. ”
I wasn’t sure that was big enough to count but the radiation damage from their creative use of weapons was still fucking up the environment.
When I just got blinks from everyone I decided it might be too much for them at one time.
Maybe we should focus on happier history for a while?
I really should’ve taken more history electives in college too.
Next time someone came through the portal they were going to have a historian with them come hell or high water…or angry mages and world-ending flooding.
Oh, maybe we should classify it as at least eight?