The Fall of an Empire

Finally, through many trials and errors, I have the answer! Though, it almost cost me my sanity. It wasn’t an easy task, as for many days and nights, I looked through stacks of old and almost crumbling books, and then I found it: a book I believed was written in the very last days of the Empire. The contents of the book, while fascinating on their own, was not my motivation for identifying this book. Together, with the Elven lady who purchased my freedom and the monster that experimented on my companions, we devised a ritual that was part magic, part alchemy. The alchemical part, thanks for the fox monster, though I hate to say it, was brilliant - if not for her terribly rude manners and mental instability. Luckily, I did not have to work with her long. The memory of my first encounter with her still haunts me.

The aim of this ritual? To connect me to the author of the book that I mentioned earlier, to live what he or she lived. That life was out there and I intended to make a bond with it, as dangerous as it was, and I wouldn’t be deterred. Such was my devotion I braved the sands of time and came back with knowledge and experiences I’d rather almost forget.

In the span of what my Elven patron assured me was only hours, I lived a full life. I experienced being a child again, growing up, making friends, earning an education, living in a time that was not my own. I saw all of the wonders described in the books and beheld them for what they were - magnificent, beyond my imagination. The ancient human Empire eclipsed the Jade Lotus Empire in every way: food, culture, architecture, art, music, education. Even with the civil war taking a toll on this already struggling Empire, it still dwarfed anything I had laid eyes on till this day.

But even with a civilization as advanced as theirs, there was still the usual unrest that any society will experience and struggle with, like protests and outcry calling for increased regulation. The royal family’s inability to establish the same unity that had been present with their Gods had certainly also taken its toll, but even with all of these strikes, there was always a solution and is the reason why the Empire was so advanced as it was.

Something we touched upon earlier in this book was that Magitech kept the empire afloat. Although, we never understood what it was exactly, just that it was integral to the ancient human Empire. Now, we finally understand what Magitech actually is. Magitech wasn’t just one thing, it was a broad range of mechanisms, powered by magic. If there ever was a problem that needed to be solved, a Magitech-based solution would be made. As an example, stoves needed no firewood. They simply turned a sort of knob and then a flue, and a magical flame would appear that heated their food. Among some of the more common Magitech were small eggs made of glass that shined as bright as the sun lighting up their homes, and small book-like devices that allowed the people to communicate across vast distances immediately.

Perhaps the most impressive, to my eyes at least, were these giant suits of armor guards “piloted” - armored giants with blades of fire, a sort of flintlock pistol-like device that didn’t need to be reloaded! Shot after shot, able to outrun even the fastest of horses, and truthfully, if anyone got their hands on such military might, they could topple nations in just a single night.

The only drawback of Magitech was its reliance on power from the leylines that run across Sincadere. Some also refer to the power of the leylines as mana. Whatever the name given to it, Magitech relied on it and that very fact is what spelled the ultimate doom for the ancient human Empire.

Early in the morning, in the year 1520, an event occurred that I could only describe as the wrath of Gods. It descended upon the Empire’s outskirts where every citizen woke up to explosions, smoke, death and fire. Every city of the Empire was brought low in a sea of blood and destruction. It was nothing short of an Armageddon that resulted in millions of deaths; all snuffed out in a matter of hours.

Refugees began to flood into Helheim. The caravan of broken people from the fringes of the Empire had started their march and by the time they reached Helheim they had formed into a tidal wave of anger and sadness, whipped into a frenzy by the group known as the Puritans. The one I had formed the bond with was among these refugees. The Puritans were religious zealots at worst, but with a mass casualty event like this, and an angry and broken people that were looking for someone to blame, the refugees quickly turned to them. In turn, it created the perfect environment for the zealots.

The cataclysmic series of events were seen as the wrath of the Gods, destroying foul Magitech, punishing their creations for using it. It wasn’t an outright lie, but it was a perversion of the truth. There were those that tried to bring the truth to the public, that Magitech was the cause of it, but there were no Gods behind it, just human arrogance and a failure to heed a simple warning. The leylines that every piece of Magitech drew power from had grown unstable, very unstable, and I believe this is what may be the cause as to why magic feels strange and odd to some in this realm.

Leylines are normally a calm river of magic we draw upon, but something had caused the leylines to become torrential waters rather than the calm river most of us know. The change was sudden, like the snap of a finger, and the aftermath of this sudden change was that almost every piece of Magitech exploded. A whole Empire, a society, that was built upon it, the very foundation exploded.

However, this information was never brought to the attention of the public, at least not in the way that made any difference. The blame was laid upon the people for using Magitech and the vile mages that had broken the First Law. The Puritans gave the angry mobs scapegoats, blaming the mages, lynching them in the streets, hanging them from trees, imprisoning and mistreating them. The guards who were tasked to maintain order could not keep the mobs at bay, and the city was packed to the breaking point by this time.

Thus, the royal family and the government had to work hand-in-hand with the Puritans and a High Priest was named. The common man had someone to unite behind and all was well, as long as you were not a mage. Any magic user was placed under strict scrutiny and anyone caught using magic without written permission from the government was punished harshly, even by death at times. Magitech was rounded up and destroyed as it became illegal to own even the smallest piece of it. It was now seen as an affront to the Gods with the very word Magitech becoming outlawed.

From the ashes of a once-great imperium, the Puritans, a leech that latched onto the royal family, grew fat with power and wealth as they were behind the disbanding of the government. Ministers that were old and corrupt were swept aside and it was declared that the royal family that had been chosen by the very Gods would lead the people, as it was meant to be. This was the truth that was fed to the public at large… but in truth? The Puritans held the strings of the royal family.

That was all that I could learn soon after the announcement by the High Priest, and then the life of the one I had bonded with ceased. She had met her ultimate fate at the end of a dagger between her ribs as a desperate child held the hilt. Hunger had driven him to desperation. I had lived a full life in a matter of hours, but my mind could barely handle it. If it weren’t for my patron, the Elven lady, I would have lost my sanity entirely.

I came close to losing my temper just as much as my sanity, and perhaps I would have lost both when my patron told me that she had seen it, or rather, the aftermath of it all. The ruins of the once great cities and the scores of refugees that had fled towards Helheim... she had born witness to it all, she and her master, who had made his lair in one of the ruined cities. My anger turned to joy at that revelation! It may be ruined, but I am at this moment sitting inside a piece of history and speaking with a piece of it. For if what my patron says is true, she and the master of this underground city are the first two creatures not native to this realm to actually set foot on it - which would certainly go a long way to explain as to why there was never a mention of other races, let alone magical creatures. Something, or someone, must have prevented their travel to this world. Perhaps it was the creators of Sincadere itself, but with leylines growing so unstable, whatever ward they fueled was removed and thus, the realm was open to all. Friend and foe alike, invaders as well as simple travelers.

For now, I shall postpone my masterful escape, for I believe my patron to be a wellspring of information, and I believe she is willing to share that knowledge. If not, then I shall pay whatever price she deems necessary.