Witchcraft & Sorcery

About 1000 years ago, various rifts connected the fourth realm (Earth) to the realm of the faekin. The faekin were about to become extinct due to certain reasons and they came to Earth and shared their magical knowledge with humans.

Man coveted the raw magical powers of the faekin and attained them through diabolical and cruel means, exterminating the faekin in the process using the help of a mysterious individual. This brought the rise of witchcraft, known as 'Theoma'; which means 'to ascend' or 'rise' in Faetum.

Two hundred years later, a greedy king ridden with jealousy of the churches sought the power that could rival theirs. In his pursuit, he gathered works of the Dark Apocrypha and learned witchcraft under the ancient witches. The ancient witches only taught this king the surface of magic because they feared the karma of what they did to the faekin. Afraid the king's thirst for power and his capability to do anything for it might gravely endanger them.

However, the surface of magic the ancient witches taught was enough to fill in the gaps of the Dark Apocrypha to some extent. This allowed the king to perform inhumane sacrifices and summon a demon, to which he sold his soul for power. With his newfound powers, he conquered nations, enslaved people, forced them to believe and worship him as a god, if people denied him then he gave very ill and pathetic punishments. He even went back to the ancient witches and trapped their souls in a jade stone saying no one apart from him deserves to be god. He then instigated a bloody war between the Solean Kingdom (currently the Holy Solean Empire) but lost his head to the Holy King of that era. This evil king was once a ruler of the Thu Dynasty, King Linn Soh Thu.

The end of the holy war marked the ending of an era and the beginning of another with the crowning of the next Holy King, Solomon.

King Solomon was unique from his predecessors, given his unique divine blessing of Wisdom. He was known as the weakest Holy King ever but his military tactics in war and his methods of governing outmatched his predecessors and even generations to come.

It is unknown what transpired but that who was once labeled the wisest king in later years became the Sorcerer King. He took the research diary of King Linn Soh Thu his church confiscated and modified it with his research of the Dark Apocrypha. King Solomon performed worse grotesque rituals compared to King Linn and contacted evil spirits but instead of selling his soul, he devoured them using his knowledge obtained from the Dark Apocrypha. King Solomon devoured a total of 72 evil spirits.

The five church factions had to band forces together before they could defeat the Sorcerer King and his army of dark otherworldly creatures, but not after he had documented his knowledge and raised over 100 disciples. This was the true birth of sorcery, known as 'Geoma'; meaning 'to descend' or 'fall' in Faetum.

A witch, the male version called a wizard, is born with the ability to sense spiritual energy, communicate with animals, and perform basic spells using willpower when subject to strong emotions. They start at the novice level but if they break and betray the Oath of Theoma and renounce their humanity to study black magic they are called warlocks or black witches.

A sorcerer, a female version known as a sorceress, starts at the apprentice level. They can only learn Faetum, basic alchemy, and use enhancing potions like strength potion and temporary-spirituality-amplifying potion to perform basic ritual spells. They only become true sorcerers when they devour a spirit creature. They could also consume the souls of countless witches but that is almost undoable because witches aren't very easy to find. However, when they devour the souls of normal humans, it increases their life span instead and maintains their youth; hence, they mostly consume the souls of children and young adults.

Regardless of moral compass, all magical practitioners are known as Mages. Mages are ranked by power over nature and knowledge in 10 classes. First-class to second-class mages are called junior-rank mages, third to fourth are middle-rank mages, and fifth-class to sixth-class are senior-rank mages. Mages above the seventh class are known as Magus. The 7th-class is known as High Magus, 8th-class is Grand Magus, the 9th-class is Archmagus, and the 10th-class is called a Supreme Magus.

The same method of grading is applied to spells. First-class and second-class spells are known as basic or low-level spells, 3rd-class and 4th-class spells are known as advanced or mid-level spells, 5th-class and 6th-class spells are known as epic or high-level spells, 7th-class to 8th-class are greater spells, 9th-class are grand spells and 10th-class spells are classified as legendary spells.

Spirit creatures start from grade-7 of the Universal Grading System. The spirit creatures of this grade are partly incorporeal. Grade-8 spirit creatures are known as either benevolent or malevolent. Grade-9 are called either cursed or blessed spirit creatures, while grade-10 spirit creatures are called either evil or divine creatures.

Contacting and contracting a divine spirit is an impossible feat and is ranked as a legendary spell, easily placing Athena in between Archmagus and Supreme Magus.

Mages below cannot read the spiritual energy of a higher class mage and can only sense the tremendousness of their spiritual knowledge. This is also the case for those in equal classes, therefore, Amon treaded carefully after seeing Athena's divine spirit.

Amon, also known as Berne, had placed Athena as an individual that was about to near the peak and become a supreme magus. And this is because of her being a user of the profane arts (sorcery) but still having a divine spirit as her contracted spirit. It was an unfathomable feat. After all, getting to that level is also very unfathomable. He had no reason to doubt her use of profane arts because she was in the body of a child and he had methods that allowed him to know that was definitely not a puppet she was controlling from afar but a living, breathing child brimming with youth.

The only other option was if she was actually just a child, which was even more impossible. There was no way one could ever get to such a level in just one normal human life span.

Amon had a smile on his face at hearing Athena's name and title. He walked forward to shake her like a gentleman and said, "What a beautiful name, exalted one."

"Mm, so charming…" Athena let him kiss the back of her hand.

Athena asked, "When will I be able to see how much progress you have made?"

Amon replied with elation highlighted in his tone, "Tonight, exalted one. Let us meet here three hours after dusk."

Athena nodded and said, "Very well then. I shall take my leave."

Fwoosh!

Fire erupted from the ground and swirled till it covered her whole frame and vanished along with her.

Amon still wore the fake smile on his face as he thought …I can't sense negative energy from her. How did she avoid the madness? A mage of her level has most likely made immense breakthroughs…

A reddish black magic circle appeared below Berne and he slowly descended into it. He let out the final words with a smile, "Fabulous."

After a minute, several people in white hooded cloaks laced with gold wearing golden skull masks with intricate patterns appeared on roofs and streets. Surrounding the area.

An individual with a manly frame, who seemed to be the leader, walked into the alley with careful strides and hissed then said, "They escaped."