June 30th, 1919.
That day was etched into the minds of every human on earth. Its addition to the textbooks of every student worldwide was once considered the most controversial thing world leaders agreed to.
In one day, all at once all over the globe, sinkholes that ranged from town-sized to state-sized appeared without warning.
Entire towns, cities, states, small countries, were swallowed. Bigger sinkholes appearing in the ocean prevented tsunamis. The initial sinking claimed a quarter of all life on planet Earth and damage done was once thought to be irreparable.
But that was just the beginning.
Hospitals and morgues flooded with the injured and dead; world governments all over the globe lost major ports, power plants, and supply chains.
Food became something only the privileged were able to get their hands on.
People died of starvation, dust clouds killed many, diseases spread like wildfire, and mass panic and hysteria led humans to commit inhuman acts of violence, cannibalism, and others not specified in their textbooks.
For many, it was the end of the world. Even now, they still term it a miracle that humanity survived at all.
The new world map post-1919 resembles the old one pre-1919, but poked full of holes.
He couldn't even imagine how life must've been for those people who lived through that tragedy three hundred years ago.
He'd stare at the map and wonder what the world would've been like if those places hadn't suddenly sunk. The US would've had 48 states instead of its current 42.
New York City would've had five boroughs instead of four. A place called "the Bronx" was swallowed by a smaller sinkhole, along with a small portion of Manhattan.
Certain smaller countries on the map were wiped out as well, swallowed by larger sinkholes. And he hadn't even touched on certain species of animals, or ancient landmarks that were lost during the great sinking.
It was humanity's greatest tragedy.
And the CC were initially formed to investigate the reason why that happened.
On paper, it seemed like a just cause—the government figuring out how it happened to prevent it from ever happening again—but the idea of the government knowing why parts of the world sank, and nearly wiped out humanity, made him all too aware of the inevitability of their need to weaponise that information.
Following the global fallout of the sinking, more than a few world leaders developed "king-of-the-world syndrome" or K.O.W.S for short (an oddly fitting acronym for the people it affected).
Leaders of stronger or bigger countries saw it as an opportunity to overthrow countries more affected by the sinking, despite they themselves still being heavily affected.
It was a wounded lion hunting for wounded dogs.
And seeing as this happened following the immediate end of world war one, it catapulted into a second world war that quickly ended weeks later.
No-one country was in the shape to fight. No soldier was willing to pick up arms. There was barely an arms to pick up.
A series of insurgencies amongst those countries that tried to go into war left the people to begin to pick up and rebuild society.
K.O.W.S wouldn't be added to the dictionary till years later.
The US wasn't a victim of K.O.W.S, but there was no guarantee that they wouldn't want their hands on the power to sink countries or states at the push of a button.
Thankfully, the CC hadn't reached a conclusion according to Parks—he was visibly frustrated when admitting it—and since then they've pivoted to hunting the supernatural in addition to looking for an explanation.
The sinking couldn't have been a natural event. Not because it didn't make sense if it was—the real world rarely made any sense—but it made more sense if it wasn't. Sinkholes suddenly appearing sounded a lot like what ancient humans would describe when they'd made gods angry and temperamental.
If these things have been happening since ancient times, then there must be an explanation for it. And his bet was on the supernatural.
The CC was a global organisation, with branches on every continent, protecting humanity in the shadows and researching the supernatural.
But that wasn't the reason he joined them. Finding an answer to why the sinking happened—or stopping them from finding an answer—seemed like something humanity would benefit from. But once he'd stripped the world of OCs and dealt with Lucan Silas, then he could focus on that.
Whether he set his heart on one or the other, fulfilling either of them would make the world a better place.
First, he would kill all OCs and take down Lucan, and then, he'd save the world. In the end, humanity's survival was his ultimate goal, and he would take out anything that posed a threat to that reality.
And his training to become a Witchcaster capable of achieving that starts tomorrow.
***
Marcus rushed into class, falling over, spitting the piece of toast in his mouth. The class laughed at him.
"Nice of you to join us, Moon," said Miss Violet as she arranged the papers on her desk.
He'd stayed up late, dreaming up scenarios on how he'd be training in top-secret bases, with guns and swords and lasers, oversleeping as a result.
He'd barely gotten breakfast out the kitchen when he tried catching the school bus and failed miserably (so much for being a wizard).
What kind of Witchcaster couldn't even catch up to a bus?
He picked himself off the ground and tossed his toast in the dumpster. "There goes breakfast," he grumbled.
"Take your seat. You managed to make it on time today, no need to spoil it by making a fool of yourself any longer," said Miss Violet.
Snickers and side talk rose as he headed to his seat.
"Oh, and Marcus," said Miss Violet. He turned as she waved him over. "Here," she put a cupcake on her desk and shifted it towards him, "like I said, I owe you a cupcake," she smiled.
Marcus raised a brow full off pleasant surprise. He picked it up before biting into the cupcake. Damn was it good. "Thanks, Miss V," Marcus said through full cheeks.
"It's because you did your group project; keep up the good work. Now go take your seat," she said, getting up from her desk.
Marcus sat at his desk right as the bell rang.
"Now, before we get started on today's lesson and discuss the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, we have a new student who will be joining us today," she said as she gestured to the door at the front of the class.
Marcus munched on his cupcake, curious who could possibly be joining them in the middle of the term.
He nearly choked when he recognised her.
"Everyone, please say hello to Miss River Cockburn."