Riftwalkers

The atmosphere in the room imploded, the instant the words left his mouth all four of the mages crumpled to their knees. Isolda immediately lost consciousness and her body, unable to resist the enormous pressure that was crushing down on top of her, viciously slammed into the broken marble floor. The blonde boy tried to reach out his arm but they remained glued by his side. It was like a black hole had opened beneath them and its massive pulling force completely restricted their ability to move. The strain from keeping his head up was enough for him to nearly black out. He opened his mouth to call out for his companions but only a muted cry managed to squeak out. There was no visible object pressing down on them, on the contrary the entire room was completely unaffected aside from the cracking alabaster tiles underneath the four sorcerers. How pathetic, they were called the Royal Elite, the most prestigious among the generation of magian born during a time of exponential magical progress. Yet they couldn't even attempt to conjure a simple defensive rune in time to shield themselves. His two comrades that leapt in to aid him, Rekken and Theodore, had been able to withstand the force for just a moment but eventually succumbed to the weight. He couldn't even muster enough strength to look at the man but he could still feel his deathly gaze. This wasn't fair, who was this man and how could he just appear out of the blue and seize their Kingdom? His vision darkened and the boy lost consciousness. 

A little twinge of guilt tickled his chest, perhaps that rune was a bit of overkill for them. Rubbing the back of his neck he stepped toward the group of incapacitated soldiers, "It's good practice to not underestimate your opponent though." Kingston knelt down next to the unconscious male, "His name?" He pointed at the blonde boy, his eyes glared expectantly at the King who was still hiding behind his chair. Meeting his gaze Engeram reluctantly came out from behind his cover. "His- erm... his name is Gaius Laiden." The boy was able to fight against Dominion for a fair amount of time, despite the amount of authority and assurance Kingston displayed, he didn't fully understand his power. Little to nothing about the mirror dimension is known, of course there were attempts at using Riftwalkers, a special class of magian wielders gifted with the power of True Sight, to shed some light on the mysterious world that gave humanity this newfound resource. They weren't able to uncover much about the otherworldly plane but what they did find... was much more useful to them. See humans, despite their evolutionary intelligence that placed them firmly at the top of the world's food chain, were incredibly simple creatures. Power hungry, greedy, selfish, arrogant, and desperate people, they were truly a despicable race. They didn't care about this other dimension, they only cared about what they could gain from it, how they could exploit it, every nation racing to discover and monopolize any resource possible in order to benefit themselves, regardless of how many lives were lost in the process. Everyone was able to use the dimensional power to a certain extent, and as time went on the gaps of power between the people became increasingly large. Soon the amount of life essence present inside a civilian magian user and full fledged sorcerers were utterly staggering. Inevitably clans were created in response to this rise of power, paradigms shifted in every kingdom, every Ruler scrambling to secure as many capable mages as possible. Then suddenly there was a rift between the people, the uncertainty of having their safety placed in the hands of unfamiliar, incomprehensibly strong individuals. That uncertainty turned into fear, fear turns into desperation, desperation turns into the need for more power, for protection, for assurance. And they would have their salvation. In this world, Man are not born equal, then and now... and as the balance of power continued to sway... they were given their equalizer. 

𝐑𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬, powerful seers who's eyes could pierce the decaying wall that separated their dimension from it's mirror plane. They could observe the connection an individual's soul had with its alternate... and control it. They could strengthen or weaken, sometimes even sever the link between the two souls. All information that was discovered from the usage of Riftwalkers were seized by their respective Kingdoms for obvious reasons. Knowledge is power after all. These superior mages became the symbol of hope for those who were oppressed by the more powerful, almost poetically, most Riftwalkers were birthed from poor, insignificant families. Their glorious rise was truly magnificent, they were the catalyst for rebellion and started an Era of liberation. Overthrowing hegemonic societies, oppressive kingdoms, and even assassinating powerful Mages who abused their ability. They started off small at first... and maybe they should have stayed that way. 

Kingston's eyes drifted away from Gaius, towards Isolda. He only knew as much as the average person, several decades ago The Alliance was formed, a pact between powerful Riftwalkers to essentially establish control over continents and facilitate its Kingdoms. To do this they would need to first eradicate the current rulers, and the people, who had suffered the abuse of these kings for generations were all for it. The masthead for the Alliance was Hal Acampora, a man that was literally worshiped by thousands. He would be the one who would change the course of the world forever. A prodigy even amongst the world's deadliest association of Riftwalkers, it was as if the entire world was expecting him to ascend to the heavens as an angel. Kingdom after kingdom, they fell at the hand of Acampora the ascendant, his influence spread rapidly as he swiftly conquered numerous nations with the help of The Alliance. The people couldn't believe their eyes, they were truly on the edge of escaping this Age of Oppression. They truly were... but The Ascendant would bare his fangs too soon. He was destined, he was the chosen one, honored by the heavens he was humanity's greatest Mage now and forever. Worship me, praise me, sacrifice for me, I will save you. That's what he thought, his confidence and ambition were at an all time high, and he wanted more. And so he set into action, his greatest accomplishment... and his worst mistake...

Some movement out of the corner of his eye pulled him out of his thoughts when the girl in front of him began to stir. "What..." Her milky white eyes canvassed the room, looking past the limp bodies of her companions she stared at Kingston. He stayed crouched next to Gaius, not moving a muscle, patiently waiting to see what she would do. After a brief moment of silence she asked, "What are you." Her speech and movements were docile and not as cautious as before, the young Riftwalker recognized the sparingly deep chasm between their powers, and if Kingston wanted to kill them, they would not be able to stop him. The man pondered on her question, even he himself was not entirely sure, "A War Power." He said loftily, not so much as an answer, but more like he was doubtingly reciting something that was told to him. The girl's eyebrows knit into a frown, not sure what it meant, before she could say anything else the palatial gates to the throne room screeched open. Rows of Royal Knights clad in black and gold Armour, rushed into the chamber, weapons drawn. Medical Mages immediately initiated healing runes to tend to the still unconscious group on the floor, the regiments of Elite soldiers swiftly encircled Kingston. Breaking through the wall of shields and spears an older knight took off his helmet and approached the king. The grey beard on his rugged face twisted into a scowl when he saw Engeram curled up in a fetal position behind his throne. "Pathetic damned farmers." He spat, not lifting a hand to help the so-called 'King'. "Interesting reaction." The man in the centre of this whole episode still hasn't moved a foot from where he stood. "We liberated ourselves from those Bordium Fort bastards only to fall into the hands of another arrogant noble family." So Engeram was just a figurehead after all, a faux king who was simply put in place to cull any attempts of another revolution from the people. Before Lambridge was discovered they were simply a large combination of villages. The land was rich in natural resources and agriculture, so when the first Kingdom who stumbled upon this place saw that the mass population were uneducated and simple laborers... one could imagine how things would end up. King after king they all failed to establish a firm grip over the people. These blokes were a bit smarter than the rest, placing a popular and well liked native family in power and using him as a puppet. The old knight stepped away from the false king and looked at Kingston with distaste, "You are smart. Strong too. It truly is a shame that we are not able to let you live." Outside the rioting continued to escalate, if nothing was done soon they would see a repeat of the Bordium Revolt. This entire situation was unsalvageable, his whole plan to transition into power peacefully was now completely out the window. How the hell did these guys respond so quickly? He was this close to slowly persuading the villagers and yet... "Agh..." He groaned, this was most unfortunate, he hated boasting but... there was only one way to rein in the residents in time to prepare the land for war. Closing his eyes he felt the still unfamiliar magian energy flow through his body, the interdimensional essence swam up his arm, into the desired rune. That burning sensation which he never could have imagined before, lit up the marked patterns that stretched across his forearm, he thrusted out his arm, wispy black smoke curled off his fingertips, the dark mist poured out from the runic tattoos that were now flashing in a deep crimson red. Every Magian Knight in the room dropped their weapons, staring in awe at something nobody has ever seen before, the most powerful of runes would only be able to shift from their colorless state into a shade that was unique to its user. Only once has a runic crest been able to manifest its essence so boldly... That was Hal Acampora's Heaven's door rune. Everything seemed to gravitate towards his open palm, energy continued to coalesce at his command until his entire body was practically brimming with what otherwise should have been invisible life essence from the mirror world. Everyone braced themselves for what was to come, but even the prideful old general couldn't possibly predict what was about to happen. Suddenly Kingston's eyelids sprung open, his pupils once again disappeared into the darkness that completely covered his eyes.