Storytime - Part 2

"It was roughly 300 years ago... An event we today have come to call the cataclysm! An event that wiped out roughly 85% of the worlds population. The skies turned red and most of the lands turned black from fire and destruction." Leipeg started telling the story and suddenly most of the class had become interested.

"It was a time long ago, when the ancient Zemaylan Empire ruled most of the world, through a civil war they had crossed with the line of succession and they were finally uniting the world again, peace and prosperity had finally started showing progress again. The Empress of the time had a husband named Belketh, he was an extremely talented mage - on par if not even better than our own Headmaster and Archon of the mage council."

"He wanted to create a global arcane gateway system! That could quickly bring travellers from one side of the world to the other, thereby bringing food and resources to nations or regions that were in dire need of it! All in all a very good thing should it be completed."

"It was an amazing project that brought in the twelve greatest mages of the era! Old friends they were, that together worked on making this a reality, combining all of their skills and talent under Belketh whom united them."

"It took them months of hard work, and hundreds upon hundreds of assistants helping them, the first step was to make short arcane gateways, such gateways are easy and they already exist today. Because they do not carry risk being their size, so the problem lay in creating large enough gateways to transport long distances!"

"Now you might wonder? Why not simply use teleportation circles? And that is a good question, the answer is that teleportation circles need daily maintenance and they need to be recharged by wizards after a lot of short uses. Also not every mage can properly run a teleportation by themselves, and the ones that can become exhausted after enough uses!"

"The Arcane Gateway was a way to transport a lot more than teleportation circles could and it required less maintenance if completed. Months went by and they slowly created small gateways to support the big ones over distance. Eventually a prototype was finished!"

"They managed to teleport across half the planet by connecting two large gates using the smaller gates as focus points to channel all the extra energy. Large contraptions had been built to safeguard them all and a lot of people were present to make the dream a reality!"

"The prototype worked and the mission was a success, so several more months of work followed, to complete the project and create more big gateways. Eventually... there were 8 big gates and hundreds of smaller support gates around the planet."

"The opening ceremony day came when we were going to finalize the project! It was going to be celebrated and seen as the greatest wonder of our time, surely it would bring about a golden age for the entire world!" Professor Leipeg took a breath and let it sink in... "But alas, things rarely go as we hope for them to do!"

"Call it fate, call it misfortune, call it the work of some evil god! In one of the countries that were a part of the project, a great terrible event had begun there, call it an ancient weapon or evil... we do not know! But whatever it was - it was wreaking terrible destruction and when the gateways activated, the sheer amount of magic from the gateway system amplified the destruction, even worse since the gateways were two way....."

"The destructive force spread through every gate which became amplified by every small gate and spread through every singular gate, the destruction was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. It spread like a wildfire through the system we had spent so long putting all our minds and backs into. In a matter of minutes, our gateway to help the planet had become a gateway that destroyed the planet."

"The city we were in was the origin point so all you would find now is a big lake if you travelled there. The brilliant minds and their assistants all over did their best to keep the damage to a minimum and shut down as many gateways as they could, as far as I know, I am the only survivor."

"All the others died to try and undo their own work." Leipeg became quiet for a while. "The results of the damage back then is the reason why the nations of today exist however, The Zemaylan Empire is long gone together with many of the other nations that existed back then."

"However the land survived and healed and new nations rose from the ashes, The Rejuan Republic, The Rookian Kingdom and all their vassal states. Vazmodia Empire, Noorian Oligarchy, Kingdom of Zeppinon... all new places that exist because of the actions in the past. But history teaches us that change comes and goes wether we like it or not!"

"But it also teaches us that we must always learn from history! An invention that was created with such goodwill could backfire so badly, I don't think anyone would have ever guessed it or seen it coming, so when you all become prominent and excellent mages in the future, please do realize that your inventions and creations can cause a lot of harm without the proper safeguards."

"Obviously we had safeguards for the system, but they were not enough. We were pressed for time so we built a shaky foundation and a strong middle to support the top, but in the end without the solid foundation the whole project came crashing down."

"As future mages it's your jobs to ensure that you build things from the ground up! To never take magic for granted, because where the 12 greatest mages of their time failed, we have an opportunity to learn from their mistakes." Leipeg finally closed his book and looked at the class.

One student raised their hand and asked, "Were you really there? Doesn't that mean you are over 300 years old?" The questions made Leipeg chuckle. "Wizards, Mages, Warlocks, Witches, Sorcerers, all kinds of spellcasters can live long lives after uncovering a lot of the deeper secrets. Magic itself can extend our life. So yes, I was really there... I was just a young promising assistant mage though!"

"My master sent me through the gate with her final words being, 'Someone has to record this and ensure it never happens again!' Quite sad but true her words were. I am here to teach you about the dangers magic bring, after all magic going out of control is nothing new for most of you. I am sure many of you have experienced it at least once!"

Many of the students nodded silently to themselves when he said those words. Even Samuel, thankfully he had just been practicing cantrips when it happened, so he understood what it meant from a very basic perspective and unless he tried casting really difficult spells above his level he was certain that he could control it.

"That is why most mages use a focus to cast through, if a spell goes really wrong when you have a powerful focus, like a wand or mage staff... only the focus will break the first time. Focuses also help casting spells, it makes it harder for the spells to even go wrong in the first place, many mages learn to cast silently when using a focus, only a few talented among you know how to silent cast with your mind without using a focus."

Samuel knew he could cast simple spells without a focus, but his bladecasting technique actually made his blades work as focuses for harder spells. So he was a bit of both, but he looked at Ulma with admiration when he remembered her talents, she was able to cast really powerful healing magic without saying a single incantation or word.

Ulma felt a small nervous blush when she realized all of her teammates looked at her at the same time, she looked back at them and shrugged looking a bit shy suddenly. They smiled and turned their attention back to the teacher, most of the teams had looked at eachother thinking about what their teammates were capable off.

So they were a bit surprised when they saw the professor looking extra at their team when they looked at him, they couldn't tell if he was looking at them with admiration or suspicion. But he turned his eyes away quickly.

"So if you all would be so kind as to take out the book on National History on page 59 about the Golden Cities of Kar... after all, the first eight cities of our republic were made by 8 great mages, today we are going to be learning a bit about their origin and founding."

The rest of the class was indeed a lot more learning and more stories of how things came to be in the republic and about the great mages that founded the original cities. The 8 Great mages had elected a leader amongst themselves, the one considered to be the greatest they became the Archon. The First Archon was Kar Azul, whom had died an early unknown death and been replaced by a Dragonkin woman called Stormeth, whom eventually passed on because of old age but not before naming Vazal as her successor much to everyones surprise. Because out of the 8 original mages 6 were still alive, Kar Azul and Stormeth had both been two of them, so one could assume the next Archon would be one of them, but an extremely talented Dragonkin wizard had made a name for himself and had become just as powerful if not more powerful than the original 6 that were still alive.

That is why he had become Archon officially, but many guessed it was because he had such revolutionary ideas, ideas that helped shape the nation into an even better place. He had both power and talent and was a genius at gathering people of skill to help the nation and world.

The class eventually came to an end and everyone gathered their things to go and get something to eat before going to their specialization classes.