The greatest fault in all those engaged with magic and wizardry is Hubris. The arrogance to believe in the superiority of oneself, elevated above all natural and magical laws. Nowhere else was this truer than the land of Myricene, where the sorcerous arts were a way of life, with a plethora of disciplines ranging from the infernal to the agrarian. Magic was viewed as the ultimate tool, the perfect resource; after all it elevated users from normal people to the absolute masters of their domains.
This is where Hubris comes in. One of those mages, a renowned Thaumaturge, who shall remain nameless, had the arrogance to delve deeper into the intricate mysteries of Thaumaturgy. Naturally, he delved too deeply, and accidentally unleashed an scourge upon the land. It was one tiny error, a backed up essentia pipe, a broken jar; that’s all it took. In his infinite Hubris, this Thaumaturge believed that he could harness the power of this scourge, called Taint, and become the ruler of the realm. Untold devastation followed, until a council of the most respected in the land met and worked together to capture the Nameless and banish him to an eldritch prison dimension, far beyond the Overworld.
It is here where we come in to the story. The council continued meeting, attempting to figure out how to heal the realm. The arguments were bitter, because of the countless disheartening reports brought in by couriers: never-before-seen Eldritch abominations razing towns, a mysterious Crimson Cult springing up all over the world who murdered in the name of their horrific gods, purple-hued mutant animals attacking innocent farmers indiscriminately, and, the most troubling of all, the land itself slowly showing signs of a mysterious corruption, with webs of sickly purple and water turned to similarly-colored slime.
Eventually, a representative from the Elvish world of Alfheim, an envoy of the goddess Gaia, got up from the table in disgust.
“You are arguing about what is already lost to you. We will not watch our beloved people fall victim to human hubris and be destroyed along with you. We shall withdraw from your world. You will never see us again!”
With that, she turned on her heel and left the chamber. Over the next few days, the Elvish magicians constructed vast portals, the only trace left of them in our world, and left the humans to their Tainted Land.
“Clearly it is too late for us to save our realm. Our knowledge and legacy could live on, but it would require untold risk and sacrifice. Nothing like it has ever been attempted before.” spoke a shrunken old witch.
Her closest friend, a vampire and a warlock with tamed demons in his thrall, wondered aloud. “What do you propose? At this rate, there will be nothing left of our land to save.”
“Send some of our number to another dimension, place them under enchanted sleep, let them sense when it is time to reawaken and try again what we have failed to do. I am a strong believer of human resilience.” She cackled. “Just look at me! Pushing 300 and still as spry as when I still was only 99! If I can survive this long dealing with you lot,” she waves at the vampire and his posse. “Something of humankind will be able to survive in this terrible world.”
The vampire frowned. “But if we remain here, in our failure, all of our knowledge of magic will die with us.” The other four present nodded and voiced agreement.
A new member of the council and the only Elf to remain behind, a woman named Aeri Spring, asked, “So you’re proposing that we five go off and abandon the world until we can come back? That doesn't seem like a very good way to help our people through this hardship.”
The old witch agreed, “Yes, that is why we’re not all going. I’m much too old for another great adventure, and I can do the people more good by staying and helping wherever I can. Besides, you will need me to stay awake to enchant you all in sleep.”
“Unfortunately, what I can do, will not work for you, dear friend.” She turned to the vampire. “Yes, I know.” He replied. “I wouldn’t agree to it either way.” He continued. “If I slept away the years, I would surely die as the blood drained from me. I can do more with my thralls fighting to protect what settlements still remain. It must be you three; Aeri Spring, the Mistress of Botany; Klazam, the Archmage of the Collegia Magica; and Maestro, the Foremost Thaumaturge of our age. Do you agree? This challenge will be fraught with perils such as you three have never braved before. Even I am fearful at the thought of the trials you three will endure. You in particular, Maestro, will have the hardest burden to bear…” His frown tightened.
“It is you who must follow the Nameless into insanity to find out how to heal the Tainted Land. You must succeed where he failed, however. Do not fall too deep into the Void or you will be lost.”
Klazam nodded somberly at this, and replied, “I agree, although I have a suggestion to make. As you say, this journey will be perilous, and we’re already going to lose two of our own number, so to prevent our collective magical knowledge from being lost forever, I recommend that our remaining friends create three copies of a special tome, with which we will enchant with the sum of our knowledge.”
The council readily agreed to this, especially after the witch pointed out that the enchantment she was planning to use had never been used before to this degree: she couldn't guarantee memories would come with them on their temporal journey intact.
Preparations were quickly made, and they were transported to a glorious glittering ice cavern dimension to lie down and sleep away the years.
A thousand years later, give or take a few dozen years, the enchantment finally broke. Waking up in a haze, Maestro and Klazam stumbled around, and horrified, they saw a skeleton where Aeri Spring laid. “So it begins, our journey of peril.” Their only possessions were a pair of tomes, and blank memories. There was a portal at one end of the cave. Given nothing else to do, Maestro and Klazam started to walk through it.
I am not leaving but my presence in IRC and on the server will be almost non-existent for a while.
I want to keep some of the favorites but I think it would be great for us to try some different things as well. Ideas welcome!
