Chapter 2 : Legends
Estiah had been created by several ethereal beings that became its gods in the process. The entire world had been built around one simple concept from which it drew the power to exist: balance.
These Old Gods also created life on this world, but separated the creatures into two very different species, that would be the two faces of the same coin. One would be symbolized by the light and called "humans", and the other representing darkness and called "demons". The gods also forged the wills of these beings so that one race would always unite and fight the other.
As a small portion of the powers employed to create and maintain this world remained on its surface, both races were gifted with equal abilities to draw upon them.
Thousands of years passed, and both sides were fighting what seemed to be an endless battle. Wielding magic either to create or to destroy, each side had its own specialties; but in the end the balance was always maintained. The gods were pleased.
It was, in the end, a world like many others ...
... Until one fateful day, when the most powerful human wizards mastered a spell that they never should have: the forbidden art of resurrection. By doing so, they achieved immortality.
The nature of magic is such that, the more power you have, the faster your powers will increase. Now that they could not die, their powers would only increase forever...
A few years passed, and these immortal wizards became the most important tool in the war of humans against demons. And their powers still grew...
They eventually became tools of destruction. A single wizard could eradicate thousands of demons with a motion of the hand. The demons were shattered, broken, struggling to hide without even looking for a way to fight back knowing that they would be crushed, the power gap between themselves and the creatures of light had grown too great for them to close.
As the demons approached extinction, the war came to a stop. Humans had gained the power to reshape the surface of the world and built wonderful cities all around its surface.
Little did humans know then about the necessity of balance to the very existence of the world. And they did not realize that by destroying it, they were weakening the other laws that were keeping the world as it was.
The first to vanish was the one that was keeping the unity between the will of the creatures of light.
The greatest wizards, who had achieved amazing powers, didn't understand what to use them for. Madness started to crawl into their minds, and the first wars between humans broke out. These wars became calamities, as both sides were made of immortal beings with the powers to raze mountains.
The world soon entered a state of total chaos, and the soul of all humans became tainted as they lost forever their status of creatures of the light. But the wizards were still feeding themselves with power, faster than ever...
Until the point where some began to challenge the Old Gods.
It is at that very time that the gods understood the direness of the situation. They knew that their world would be destroyed if no immediate action was taken. And so, for the second time, all the gods bonded together and used their divine powers to place a terrible curse upon every living being of this world. The curse was as such:
"All knowledge used to harm or heal a living being is to fade from the owner's mind. All items seen as weapons or armor are to fade from the plane of existence".
The effect was immediate. All the wizards lost most of their powers and their immortality, and all the wars across the world instantly stopped as no one was able to kill anyone else.
A few years later, an age of perfect peace started. The wizards finally welcomed death, and most people believed that the gods had finally answered their prayers and granted the world eternal peace and joy.
How wrong they were...
The rain was still pouring and the night had fallen, but the young man couldn't realize it. He had closed his eyes a few moments earlier, and images of the past were flowing in his mind. He also hadn't noticed that he was no longer listening to a story through his ears, but instead directly seeing it in his mind. His body was cold, his head was heavy, his skin was itching... but all these impressions could have been someone else's. His spirit was wandering in a world thousands of years old, craving for more.
Under the old tree, the shadows almost looked alive, growing larger and larger. They all strangely seemed to be coming from a young man sitting with his eyes closed, alone.
And yet, the story continued.