Prologue: Epheria

Epheria.

Three hundred and thirteen years ago, this world was but a mundane plane littered with nine continents that housed different cultures – lifestyles, really – and histories.

Typical of sentient life, great conflicts would ensue from time to time under Epheria's bright orange sun. Women, food, land; somehow, over the centuries, over millennia, these three stood as root causes for bloodshed. In that regard, Epheria was nothing special.

Until a certain modern time, it seemed no different from other expansive globes of blue and green cast through countless mirror dimensions.

Until that one day...

The bright sun which had blessed all things without partiality suddenly dimmed, and Epheria was dyed in darkness… for an hour.

Unofficially (or maybe officially) humanity recognised this tragic event as the Darkening.

The first eleven minutes following this event were particularly brutal when evidence of it reached the lonely planet.

Many died in the chaos that followed.

Many lost themselves to confusion.

Many began spouting hysterical, supposedly divine gospels that had not existed until their minds manufactured them in collective darkness.

The rest attempted to find and preserve what was most important to them; family or carnal desire.

In that short time of chaos, everyone who was alive found out that the world was as vast as it was small. Sadly, that wasn't exclusively a good thing.

When the sun's light returned, hope also showed its face, but despair had carved scars too deep in its victims. There was hardly any celebration.

However, mystery and curiosity filled in that joyless void.

When the sun came, it shone with a myriad of colors before it returned to its bright orange state.

Blue, violet, gold, green, and finally, silver.

Because of this – another short-lived mystery – life on Epheria never returned to its usual mundanity.

People of different races began awakening the Spark within their minds along with different species of the wild.

The Spark was an additional sense, an organ, really. It was located in the brain, and it allowed various creatures to perceive a new element that had blossomed into the universe.

Fint.

All humans developed the Spark to perceive Fint, but not all of them could do it. Beasts had it worse. Few received the Spark, and most who did, died.

The colors the sun's rays had manifested on that fateful day registered in the eyes of individuals who could perceive and use Fint. They represented unique expressions of the Spark in their brains.

Only a few managed to develop their Spark to a significant level, beginning to create unique, supernatural mechanisms that were passed down through various channels. This was to be expected.

What was even less surprising was the fact that over time, greater conflicts broke out as different nations pushed those that could wield Fint in different ways to the forefront, weaponizing them in great battles.

In the First Myriad War of Epheria, three continents were lost to the sea, having been obliterated by the powerful men and women who battled on them recklessly. Even when they did not cause the collapse of a great land mass, they believed that nature would replenish itself with time, after they had vanquished their enemies.

They found their thoughts to have been very wrong.

Unfortunately, Fint turned out to be a gift that took the more it was given.

A temporary stop to the War was announced after the devastation had shaken the many continents and their nations. Many concessions were made in order to not set the world alight.

This was a wise choice.

However, surprising to no one, the War might have ended, but the battles did not.

The creativity and foolishness of mankind knew no bounds.

Instead of warring openly and causing brutal devastation that costs millions in differently-colored slices of paper, not to mention lives, an association rose to mediate the conflicts between nations; an association with no name.

It facilitated what became a popular trend in the modern day: battles that didn't exist, battles whose participants didn't exist.

Extremely powerful experts, masters in their control of Fint were inducted by the nameless association and dubbed 'Hired Heathens', becoming what other globes of green and blue would have likely designated as shadow mercenaries.

It was them who fought the world's battles, without loyalties and without being seen. Well... with a few crazy exceptions.