From the plain towers of Penthania, I looked
out the eastern window and saw a group of travelers coming
towards the city from the north, across the great wastes.
Five years had passed since the unmagick was unleashed on the
lands, five years since these horrible wastes have turned
inhospitable to even the most basic of wildlife. It had been
five years since a traveler last came to our city.
Five years ago to this day, the council met
to decide upon the use of the unmagick, an ability we did not
understand, a force of which I did not approve. I alone
defied the council and said the effects would be too
disastrous, too devastating, and my skin of gemstone alone is
enough to prove my argument correct. The council, fearing I
would spout my resentment upon the streets and bring about an
uprising, had me locked in the tower under careful watch,
"for my own safety".
Who could these travelers be, who come to us
through the wastelands? From the tower I could tell the
travelers were tiny, their heads didn't even reach to the
guards' knees. One of the travelers removed his hood, and
golden hair billowed in the wind. It had been five years
since I last saw hair at all, and it was a magnificent sight
to behold again. I had almost forgotten it ever existed.
Those who guarded the gates stood around
befuddled, unsure of what to do. If humor were logical, I
might have found the situation amusing.
I decided I must meet these visitors. Outside
contact had been so long denied to all of us, but for me, it
appeared to be the only escape from a living prison. I could
see the remorse for our great misdeed on the face of everyone
of our race, which we now call Penthanian, even though we now
base our lives on logical action in all steps, showing little
emotion for life or existence. Emotionless logic was our way
when we released the unmagick to destroy the Arcanians, and
it has been our way ever since.
The outside door opened slowly to my knocks.
The will to hurry or slow down seems to be lost to our race,
now we only have movements timed with logical perfection. A
gem-bodied guard with an emotionless, lost looking face asked
me what I wanted. I explained that I wished to go the city
for the day and try to become a better member of society. The
guard didn't expect one of our race to bend the truth and for
some reason let me pass. I hurried down the steps from the
tower, much to the dismay of those I passed, who took their
steps as slowly as if they were their last.
I slowed down to catch my breath as I reached
the bottom of the stairs, paused for a moment at the door,
then stepped into the city streets and made my way to the
front gate to meet the strangers. Here and there, a
Penthanian with a bit of resistance to the change in them
glanced at me curiously. One or two seemed to recognize me
briefly before turning away and moving onward at a slightly
quicker pace. I hurried to the main gates and stopped to gaze
at the amazing sight before me. Tiny beings, beings that
brought a cry of beauty to my supposedly dry, emotionless
heart, fluttered in the cool wasteland breezes. Their golden
hair sparkled in the sun, their deep caring eyes looked at
everything with love and tenderness, and their thin wings
glittered like the skin on my body.
My observation from the tower window was
correct. Of the five who stand before me, not one stood over
a foot and a half in height. A single guard remained at the
gate, looking at me as if I might be able to offer up some
advice as to what he should do with these strange beings. He
informed me that the other guards had left to seek out the
High Magus, and would return shortly with him to deal with
the matter. I approached the small beings, which in turn
seemed to approach me, though it was hard to be sure with the
way they seemed to float in the breeze.
I asked of them in our native Penthanian
tongue what race they were, but they simply smiled and
chattered amongst themselves in some other foreign tongue. I
asked again, this time in the Frontacian tongue of which we
were once born. The largest of the beings, wearing small
golden robes, flittered closer to me and responded in perfect
Frontacian, "We are Secians shiny one, and what in the
name of the heavens are you?" I informed them I was a
Penthanian, the word still does not entirely have meaning for
me, and they chattered amongst themselves again quickly in a
high toned, wonderful sounding language. The one in the
golden robes turned back to me and said, "We have come
from the city of Secia, seeking those Frontacians of
Penthania in hopes of learning what has happened to us and
our home".
Slowly it dawned on me that our actions five
years past had been far worse then even I had warned. We had
believed that only Arcania and the valleys around it had been
transformed by the unmagick, but we were horribly wrong. I
did not even need to ask, for I knew that these who called
themselves Secians were really from the far northern city
state of Secia as they claimed, and had been transformed by
the unmagick as well.
It was then I realized that these Secians had
made a mistake in coming here. The High Magus would be
furious to learn the decisions of his council had caused even
more suffering then he was aware of. Could it be possible
that we changed the entire world? Regardless, these Secians
would be made to disappear before society could be disrupted
by their influence. I quickly explained to the Secians that
they were in grave danger, and asked them to leave with me
from the city and travel to any place, anywhere but here. The
Secians talked amongst themselves; the concept of danger
seemed almost foreign to them as they gazed excitedly at the
city while they talked. I gave thanks to my ancestors that my
people had become so slow and monotonous in their movement;
in the old days, the High Magus would have easily been upon
us by now. Finally, the Secian in the golden robes waved off
the others and turned to me, saying in a firm tone: "The
world is not what it once was, and all beings are not what
they once were, we love and trust all, and put our love and
trust into you that perhaps we are not as welcome here as we
would like to think". At this point he turned to the
other Secians, who all turned their gazes away. "We will
leave the city with you for three days, to listen and learn
from you of what has happened. When that time is done, should
we find reason, we all shall return to the city together to
spread understanding and peace to the people of the city"
he finished and smiled to me with a childlike innocence on
his face.
"Understanding" - could the poor
innocent one say anything worse? Such a word would start
riots, cause chaos and uproot what the High Magus had spent
five years attempting to build and control. I quickly hurried
them out of the city and we made our way towards the wastes
below. The lone guard stood still watching our movements
without a flicker of emotion upon his face. Whether he knew
the Frontacian tongue or simply chose to pretend the entire
situation was not occurring, I cannot to this day say for
sure.
Down from the hills we traveled, myself
slowly floating behind the fluttering Secians as I rode a
spell of flight behind them. They seemed like the fairies of
myth, the way they glittered in the air, extremely happy and
content, as if they didn't know they were flying through a
vast wasteland of death. I noticed they would constantly turn
back to me and look at my skin with a disturbing look in
their eyes, a lust if one could call it that, though I knew I
had nothing to fear from them. As we reached the lower lands,
I could see distant Arcania, the land of those we now call
Arachnians, who suffered the most from our destructive magick.
The Secians continued to talk among
themselves as they continued towards some predetermined point.
As we continued on, a large stone outcropping came into view
in the distance. The Secians explained to me they had stayed
there the night before, and found it quite comfortable.
Upon reaching the outcropping, I ended my
flight spell and landed gently on the ground. It was growing
dark, and the Secians landed around me and began to remove
tiny blankets and other supplies from their bags. In the
center of the stone pile, covered by a large stone that
jutted out above the rest, was a burnt-out fire pit. The
Secians removed a number of wooden sticks from their bags and
placed them on the pit, then lit them with a dart of fire.
Once we had settled down around the fire, the
Secians asked me to explain what had happened to the world to
change things so much. I sighed deeply, knowing this would
only be the first of many times I would tell the tale, and
then slowly began to relate the details as they came to my
mind from the past.
Approximately ten years ago, our kingdom of
Penthania was jealous of the realm below us. The realm was
called Arcania, and those who lived there were the most
powerful users of magick in the world. A number of our land
attempted to steal a set of magickal volumes from them so we
might have the skills on magick on the level of theirs. The
Arcanians, ordinarily peaceful people, were furious at us for
breaking the peace we all lived in, and destroyed those who
attempted the raid. The Arcanians declared war on Penthania
and for four and a half years our two realms would battle
with magicks the likes of which the world may never see again.
The Arcanians were the greatest magick users
in the world at the time, and we knew from the start that we
had little chance against them. After four and a half years
of defeat after defeat, the High Magus went into the great
libraries of Telfast to study, and did not come out for six
months. When he finally returned he called a council meeting.
All of the council members including myself were there. We
all knew the High Magus would present us with some sort of
hope, he had to. We sat in our seats in the council chamber
and applauded our leader as he entered through the golden
doors of rule, he stood tall and proud upon the podium, a
massive tome with red-trimmed binding in his hands. He called
out to us all for silence, then spoke words that will stay
with me for the rest of my life, as my heart crumbled when he
pronounced them upon us. "My friends, before us stands
the future, and in its path stand those from below us in the
valleys, those who rival the will of the Gods and wish to
bring destruction upon us all. I have studied the tomes of
Telfast, and found within them a spell of tremendous power, a
spell of unmagick, a spell that will leave the Arcanians
without the ability to use their magick. They will live, and
thus we will do the Gods' will bringing peace upon all, but
they will be powerless to attack us any further." Wild
applause filled the council chamber after the High Magus'
words, but I knew better, I saw the look in his eyes of
concern and worry, he was not telling us all he knew about
this unmagick.
The Secians look confused after I said this;
they glanced at one another and shook their heads with
puzzled frowns. I waited patiently, and finally the smallest
of them spoke up and said, "But that would be not
telling the truth". I thought for a moment on the
strange thing the Secian had said, did they expect the truth
from everyone? The one in the golden robes recognized the
confusion upon my face now, and with an intelligent glint in
his eyes, explained to me that those of his race could no
longer make up stories, the truth was all they knew. I
wondered what other wonders I would learn of these people,
they seemed completely innocent in a world of devastation and
destruction. Perhaps that was part of it; it seemed to me the
unmagick had added the traits of each touched by it that they
held at the time of its unleashing. Those from Penthania were
emotionless and uncaring about others, the Arcanian's furious
and hateful as there magick was torn away, and these of
Secia, totally innocent of the event, had become the innocent
unassuming people. I cleared my throat softly and continued
with the tale.
The applause came to an end in the council
hall and one hand arose quickly into the air - my own. The
High Magus nodded to me and I stood, hundreds of eyes turned
upon me, like the many eyes of a spider turning upon its prey.
I called out, "High Magus, this new unmagick, while
sounding quite wonderful in concept, brings to mind a few
specific questions. How do we control such a powerful force
from affecting us and those around us? How will it affect the
land if the very magick is torn from it?" and finally,
perhaps the greatest mistake I have made in my life, I raised
the question, "And how are you sure you know that it
does what you say?"
An oppressive complete and utter stunned
silence filled the council. Had someone stirred, I believe
the very Gods may have struck them down from above for
interrupting the event. The High Magus glared at me with a
hate in his eyes I have only once seen before, from a lone
Psycian slave brought to Penthania by the Empire in the early
days of our city state's founding just a few months after the
destruction of Psycia. The utter disgust was clear to all in
his response to me, though he never once looked at me again
from that point on. "Fellow Frontacians, we are the
rulers of these lands, no matter what claim others lay upon
it. We are the greatest mages in the world, regardless of
what the Arcanians believe. We must once and for all use this
power to remove the hate and envy of us from their blood so
that they might live as the docile servants they should be.
Do not question that which the great Telfast created and that
which I have mastered and understood. We shall all combine
our skills and create this spell for the good of humanity, we
do not act in evil, there will be no repercussions."
At this point, I fully realized these fairy-like
Secians were not only innocent to the cares of the world, but
also tremendously intelligent. Each of them nodded with every
word of my tale, a look of complete understanding not only of
our fates and those of Arcania, but of their own fates as
well. Tears ran down their eyes in pity for all involved,
they spoke words of comfort and forgiveness for all, even the
High Magus whose own ego and fears overshadowed reason in his
actions. I gave them a moment to recover before I continued
on.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the vote
stood three hundred and twelve to one in favor of the
unmagick; I alone stood against it. The High Magus ordered me
locked in the towers so that I would not interfere with the
event, though he told the council it was for my own safety.
One day later, exactly five years from this day, the High
Magus gathered our people in the city center bearing the
tomes of Telfast. Every resident of the city lined the
streets to help in the magick, only I from my vantage point
of the towers was not allowed to participate. For hours they
chanted and cast, and many passed out upon the city streets
from exhaustion. Finally, as the sun reached its zenith,
waves of energy formed around the city. Blinding auras of
blue and white exploded and raced around the city, hundreds
fell exhausted to the ground, until finally with an
incredible tremor that rocked the entire city, the waves of
energy shot into the distance and began to change all they
touched. Our city began to warp, the bright color becoming
bland and pale. Our skins began to meld with the gems on our
foreheads until our people looked like giant gemstones. (The
Secians seemed quite excited by this idea, though it was
truly terrible and gruesome). My mind began to change as well.
Fear, love and caring floated to the back of my mind, and
logic and planning moved to the fore. I resisted these
changes, refused them, and kept with me some of the emotions
that precious few others would hold. Worst affected was the
land outside of the city. Once lush and beautiful, it had
changed. The valleys below, home of the Arcanians, had become
a vast wasteland. Not a living creature or plant could be
seen in any direction, only death and emptiness stretched as
far as eyes could see. From my vantage point in the tower I
was the first to know what we had done, the waves of energy
continued on into the distance far past the range of the eye;
where and if they ever stopped we will likely never know.
I continued the story and finished the tale
describing what we had found since the unmagick was done, the
changes that had occurred, and most importantly the retreat
of the newly dubbed Arachnians further to the north into the
vast regions of that which we now called the Great Wastes.
The Secians shared in my sadness and almost seemed to drain
it from my very being into their own, they seemed truly
overwhelmed that a people could do such a horrid thing.
Strangely, they were also very ready to forgive and accept
the changes for the best. The Secians explained to me that
all life is sacred, and that all mistakes can be righted if
one is pure and true. The way they spoke, I truly believed
them. For a few moments they sat in silence as I stared up
into the night sky, the stars sparkled brightly around a
nearly full moon while I thought over everything that had
occurred and what would become of me when all was finished. I
brought my emotions under control, something my race would
actually be proud of, and begged the Secians to tell me what
had happened in their land so that I might know of what had
become of their great land and people who were once my kin.
They told me of a warm summer afternoon, a
soft cool breeze blowing through the plains of Secia,
suddenly interrupted by a massive wave of energy exploding
across the land. As it passed, the land around them began to
grow larger and larger as it was torn into a giant wasteland.
What had once been grassy hills were now rocky jagged peaks
of mountains. Two of the younger Secians chuckled softly and
shook their heads, knowing what came next in the tale. The
one in the golden robes smiled and explained to me that they
had thought the terrain had grown around them, but quickly
realized that they had in fact shrunk. The gems in their
heads were gone, and they felt an incredible longing to
search out and recover gemstones like the ones they had lost.
I learned of how their magick had faded slightly, to be
replaced by a natural magick within them. Magickal flight
with tiny wings, and a strange bond to all living things,
especially the Dragon. The Secians told me they could no
longer harm living creatures, and to do so caused them
incredible pain. (They could apparently still destroy things
like plants, magickal constructs and the undead without
feeling this pain)
The Secians told me of their travel to
Penthania while the rest of the race moved to a newly found
island of Secia somewhere off the coast of Aradath. They told
me of a run in with one of the Arachnians who was filled with
hate and rage at their magick, but the Secians were able to
calm the beast, give him food and sent him on his way. Such
love for all living things, it is my assumption the Arachnian
would have readily torn them to bits had they given it the
chance, yet they did not even comprehend the danger, only
caring to heal and see the Arachnian on its way. The Secians
told me of the blasted wastes that covered every inch of the
land they traveled, and the horrible death that was found in
the wastes. Nothing other then the Arachnians lived within
the wastes that they were able to find. They finished their
tale with their arrival at Penthania and meeting me, each of
them clapped loudly and seemed quite excited by all the
information they had gathered this night. The one in the
golden robes hushed the others and smiled to me saying,
"Tomorrow we will leave to return to Secia, we have no
place in this city, and from what I see you do not either. If
you wish to come with us, you are more then welcome. We will
leave in the morning, please have decided by then". The
Secians were quickly asleep, but I would be awake all the
night.
I would leave with the Secians in the morning and make the trek with them to the island of New Secia where I would live out the rest of my days. I had truly found the perfect race, almost always cheerful, they never told lies, they loved all living things (I would later learn all but the Muatana-al), and most importantly they cherished my gemstone skin. To this day, I have found no day where these Secians are not able to bring out the emotion deep within me, and I have never been happier, ever.
PLAY NOW 
ORLD 
FFECTING 
VENTS