Chapter 7
The Rise and Fall of Arcadya's Magic:
By Willow Treow
In the beginning, magic seeped through every crack and crevice of the land.
It was an intricate web, pulsing beneath the surface.
Every living thing had a thread of this web and it breathed life into the very soil of the continent.
Some research suggests that magic itself, at its core, is a sentient entity.
The four elemental Gods had ruled this realm since its creation. Each a guiding point on the sacred compass, representing ruling elements needed to sustain the delicate balance of life.
North: Ignius, God of Fire
East: Ethra, God of Air
South: Nephrani, Goddess of Water
West: Dyea, Goddess of Earth
The Gods ruled alone for years, taking on the heavy burdens that came along with it.
They gave and took with their elements, sustaining everything peacefully.
Over time, as the population grew and their workload became heavy, they decided to bestow some of their divine power to their most worthy and devout servants; the humans that were created to worship them.
They each passed down a kernel of their power to the most faithful disciples, who devoted their lives to the elemental Gods.
Acting as faithful wardens to the land through their magical affinities, and the Gods that ruled them.
And with this, the lineage of wielders was born.
What the Gods did not anticipate was how that magic would move through generations.
As time went on the devout and faithful line that the wielders had originated from looked different in every region.
Magic manifested as a reflection of their individual soul, predetermined by genetic makeup and the fates that were even beyond the Gods’ reach.
Determined on their journey through the underworld, also known as Aethur.
It was impossible to anticipate, despite lineage, who in a family was going to generate what gifts. And if they were worthy of those gifts, which became a great point of contention later on.
Each wielder would materialize the obvious abilities from their magical line, in its basic form: the manipulation of that specific element.
But they could also embody other aspects of their reigning God, all varying in levels of potential power.
For example, Fire wielders could not only manipulate physical flame, they could also control heat, could sometimes see long distances through thermal energies.
Some of the more gifted could actually create flame itself, from nothing.
Water wielders were often gifted healers.
Some lore suggests the wilder water wielders were more beast than human, becoming amphibious over time.
There are even reports of the most powerful water wielders being able to manipulate their appearances through the movement of one's bodily fluid, plumping lips here or elongating a nose there.
Over the years, the magic began to change the way the humans interacted with one another.
Hierarchies were built entirely on the powerful wielders produced through time, and the gap between humans and wielders grew.
The last monarch of Arcadya made to rectify this.
She defied the traditions and laws of her country, marrying a human without a drop of his own magic.
She claimed her own Earth magic was strong enough to sustain them, to help the Kingdom flourish and her husband dedicated his life to bridging the gap between humans in another way: innovation.
For a short time, the King and Queen worked together flawlessly.
She worked her magic, ensuring the Kingdom was well fed, while the King encouraged a technological and industrial revolution.
He created a Council of brilliant minds, and the advancements made throughout his time ruling were astounding.
Medicine, communication, transportation.
Industries thrived, and all were developing at a rapid pace.
They thought this was what they needed to bridge the inequality and prejudice between wielders and humans.
Unfortunately, complications rose when the Queen's magic began to misfire.
Speculation and hostility rose, wielders and humans began to fight openly.
Their animosity grew as other areas of magic began having issues.
It was simple things at first. Mass manipulation of the elements became difficult.
The leer stones that once held magic began to stutter.
Devices that integrated magic and technology no longer worked together flawlessly.
The old magical families, the ones who'd been in power for centuries, demanded that technology be stopped, that the Gods were angry mortals tried to manipulate the natural order of things.
But the humans refused to go backwards. They wanted assurances that they would not fall back to the bottom, that they would be treated fairly going forward. They had become used to the advances of their new society, and they didn't want to return to being slaves to those with magic.
The King and Queen tried to calm both sides, but were eventually torn apart. The Queen got sick, desperately pushing her magic to its limits to try and heal the land that was clearly dying. To feed the Kingdom that was slowly slipping into a hungry chaos.
A civil war broke out, and catastrophic life was lost throughout the continent. The wielders' magic had become unpredictable, which at first benefited the humans as their new weaponry far surpassed that of the old world.
The fighting lasted years, and during that time the land changed drastically, making it almost impossible to continue on.
In order to survive, they needed to shift their efforts on resources on all sides.
The country became lawless. Several new facets of leadership had been created and agreeing upon a course of action was fruitless.
During the last battle, the Queen and several other powerful wielders used their last scraps of power to create the Barrier and fled.
To the current day, scientists and officials cannot determine what the barrier is made of, or what its initial purpose was.
The structure is essentially a sheet of untouchable magic, rendering a small portion of the continent inaccessible.
Collecting samples and studying it has proven difficult, as those who come too close essentially combust.
It's reported this last act killed the Queen, and was the final offence to the Gods that had once taken care of Arcadya.
The King was never seen again. There were reports he died shortly after the Queen, that they had been two halves of one soul and couldn't survive without each other despite their differences.
This has never been confirmed officially.
In the wake of all the disaster, the Council of New Providence was formed, and without any magic they sought to restore the land.
During this time, the devout clergy members had been given guidance towards the future from the Gods themselves, claiming they knew the best way towards our salvation.
Unfortunately, there were still parts of the Kingdom who disagreed.
So it was split in three, using the mountain lines and the tar pits that now sliced the country as natural borders.
"Willow...." I interrupt, a hand smacking over my face with a groan.
"What?!" she barks.
"Claiming they knew?! You are openly saying you don't agree with history in some of this, you know. Just in flowery words." What I don't say out loud is what twelve-year-old writes like this in the first place? No wonder she's always getting into trouble.
"Half the people in my class can't read, including my teacher. Now shut up and let me finish," she quips, and clears her throat dramatically.
Soland is made up of the lawless, the grifters who choose to live life under no law or religion. It's said most of the war criminals fled there during the war, the land barren and uninhabitable, anyway.
Zaphira was created by idealists. Parts of the original Council the King had created had survived, and held onto the hope that both technology and magic could find a place in this world together. That the answers were out there somewhere.
New Providence was left to fend for itself, its mission to live faithfully until the Gods returned and blessed us for our devotion.
Giving to the temples, living life in faith at their mercy.
The clergy who had originally been given these messages along with the grand Council are adamant this is the way to return things to what they once were.
And that brings us to the current day. All magic, technology, and innovation is prohibited. All in hopes that one day the continent will be blessed and restored.
There's a pause in Willow's speaking and I wait a minute before responding, wondering if maybe she's just out of breath.
I eye her across the room. She tosses the paper and flops over on her stomach.
She's not even a teenager yet, and she wrote that?
She's gotten in trouble a few times, teachers assuming she'd stolen work or had others write it for her.
They tested her two years ago, making her answer questions in essay form in a jail-like setting––according to Willow––to gauge her true mental capacity.
Turns out, she's just a little genius. In a very different way than Linden, but just as impressive.
"Well, that was neat," I say with a smirk.
"Neat?!" she huffs. "That was good work Maple! I worked hard on it. Got suspended for it." She grunts, crossing her arms.
"It was brilliant, Willow. You're brilliant.
" Her tough act disintegrates with my words, but because I'm her big sister, I can't help but say, "But you didn't get suspended for the essay.
You got suspended for not following instructions and arguing with the teacher. .. again." I give her a knowing look.