The Moral Era
The Mortal Era
My new cage, however, came with three meals a day where the water was safe to drink, not to mention a soft bed. But the biggest boon was the library. Books filled to the brim with lost knowledge. They only needed someone who would read them, and I had all the time in the world. For once, I had no desire to leave this keep that belonged to the Cabbala Amartia. Yes, a strange name, but it was the name the Elf had given me, or perhaps it was the name of the town, she never elaborated on it and frankly, while her beauty was stunning, I still felt that she would eat me alive if I became a bother. Thus, I dived into this wealth of knowledge I found myself in, immersing myself in it and keeping my head down, hoping I would be released soon.
Prior to my capture, I had been pondering what would mark the end of the Golden Era for the ancient humans. What tragedy would be devastating enough to bring such a mighty civilization to its knees? The answer lies not in a single event. Rather, it was many small events that culminated in a cataclysmic event.
Of course I don't expect you to just take my word for it, the library of the Cabbala holds many secrets. Secrets that were once censored by the Puritans that eventually did take over Helheim. But first, I believe I have found the event that closed the book on the Golden Era and started what the ancient humans referred to as The Mortal Era.
And thus their Gods left them. One may be inclined to believe that these Gods merely left their creations, thinking it was about time for them to fend for themselves, but based on the account from above, it’s all to clear to see that the Gods grew bored or tired with their creations and as Gods are wont to do, they left to create or meddle in the affairs of mortals. I do however still feel sympathy for these ancient humans. They must have felt a chick that was kicked from the nest, left to fend for itself.
The Empire would survive, however. This much I have found evidence of in the vast volume of books the Cabbala have at their disposal. And so, with the utmost certainty, I say that the Empire survived for another five hundred years or so, but without the Gods to guide them and unify them, they became corrupt and slid into a state of stagnancy. Their Senate was more concerned with filling its coffers with gold, and with a royal family that did not have the ability to unify the people like the Gods did, the unified vision they had under the Gods gradually faded. Yes, the Empire was dying a slow death and mages, I believe, were the ones that landed the killing blow.
We both remember the First Law, the first lesson the Gods taught the humans:
‘Do not misuse this gift that we share with you, use it with a clear mind and pure heart.
A selfish mind and dark heart will destroy you.’
Over the centuries, younger generations started to challenge this law and each time a student was nullified for breaking this law, the outrage grew, which eventually would lead to a coup that wrestled control of the Imperial magical colleges from the Senate. The only way to avoid a civil war was for the Imperial Senate to willingly relinquish the power they held. That moment, when that treaty was signed between a rebellious youth and old men who were too tired to keep fighting, that is the death blow in my educated opinion.
All of this I have learned from an ancient tome with missing pages. It described a fifteen-year-long war while also questioning the importance of the First Law, which was abolished, and, along with it, the nullification of students who did not obey it. The passage below is from a scroll that serves as a keyhole from which we can take a look into the past.
While some may be reluctant to blame everything on the Empire's mages, the behaviour described above goes against the First Law in every way possible. Necromancy truly is dark magic, and it is likely not the worst that these now free mages participated in. While freedom is an admirable goal, what is described above is closer to anarchy with no oversight and no one to police them. It is my firm belief that breaking the First Law on such a grand scale must have had some consequence, but what?
That is something I shall explore soon, and once I have concrete evidence to support the theory about why the ancient empire fell, but for now, I will end this chapter here.
Jiro Nakayama - Date unknown
In the clutches of the Cabbala Amartia Somewhere in the bowels of the very earth
