Chapter 2: Strange New World

Our current story – like most stories – begins with a person.

This person is a frail baby girl with bright pink eyes and a few strands of hair visible on her head.

While this child lay in her crib, deeply contemplating her predicament, she came to a shocking realization –------- she must have been reborn!!

Now let us pause for a brief moment as I sense the reader might be somewhat confused.

Let me attempt to explain how she reached such an odd conclusion.

You see, dear reader, this child was not a child in mind but merely one in stature.

She had once lived another life; yet, who and what she originally was she could not recall.

Presently, there were only two things vividly engraved in her mind. One was her original name and the other was the content of a book she had read – somewhere and sometime ages past.

At least, she presumed it had been a book since its recollection was so clear.

The girl was first unsure of why she could only remember these two things; however, after some careful consideration she deduced that both her name and the book must be... well... important and she was satisfied to leave it at that.

Sure enough, after a few moments she glanced up at the ceiling and realized how conveniently relevant memories seem to be within stories.

For spread across the ceiling was a giant symbol of a dragon holding a jewel close to its chest.

This was the symbol of the country described within that book she had supposedly read – the country of Elysium.

Long ago the country was founded by a powerful Mage, dubbed 'the Ancient'.

His son was believed to have been the very first Familiar.

Elysium, and every county like it, consisted of Commoners and Elites. The latter possess magical abilities given by the Mage, the former do not.

Now an Elite can either be a Familiar or a Warrior.

The Warrior is a wielder of sorts, while the Familiar is more like the weapon being wielded.

At birth the Mage himself imparts to each its ability – as his spirit sees fit.

Firstly, let's look at Familiars.

Quite the peculiar thing - they naturally tend to be easily aggravated and emotionally unstable.

Their special ability is taking on the form of a specific mythical beast. They are also able to cast spells which fall within the element of that beast.

A Familiar can either be: a Dragon [whose element is wind], a Basilisk [who uses water], a Cerberus [uses fire], a Sphinx [uses earth], or a Unicorn [whose element is light – more commonly known as healing magic].

Warriors, on the other hand, are able to use all five elements though their spells are far weaker. A Warrior's special ability, thankfully, is tranquilizing Familiars.

Why did the Mage set it up this way you might ask?

Who knows; perhaps he desired to save his Elites from conceit – no one is ever so good as to not need another.

In any case the effectiveness of a Warrior's ability to calm a Familiar down increase after the two enter into a contract. Familiars and Warriors form lifelong contracts which interlace their fate.

These contracts hold many benefits. The most important thereof is: less pain while casting.

You see, since the Ancient was of a different kind than the people who lived among him, his powers were also somewhat incompatible with them.

For this reason Elites experience immense pain or immense fatigue after using magic.

However the Mage, it is said, desires to transform an Elite's body into something that resembles his so that his magic can freely flow through them without causing harm.

Although using magic hurts the caster, casting seems to be the only way for the Mage to accomplish this goal since casting 'cleans out the gutter' as it were and removes all impurities within the body that hinder the flow of the Mage's magic.

Nevertheless until this sifting process is fully complete a contract serves to somewhat lessen, though not remove, the burden casting has on the human body.

And as mentioned above – for obvious reasons – it is safer for everyone when Familiars and Warriors are linked.

No one wants their entire county torn down to the ground because some Familiar in some desolate street lost its temper after stepped in a puddle.

Oh and there is one last thing that deserves mention:

In this world there is something called dark magic.

It does not belong to any of the 5 elements, and quite frankly is not even an element at all. It is perhaps more accurate to call it something like the shadow of an element since it is not the thing in and of itself but merely an empty and somewhat inaccurate copy.

It did not originate with the Ancient like all the other elements did.

No one knows for certain exactly how it came to be but there are tales that tell of an Elite who, long ago, desired to separate the Mage's power from its source.

You see, dear reader, because the Ancient Mage is the source of all magic he is also the only one who can indefinitely sustain it.

Magic needs to feed.

Therefore only someone immortal can ever fully satiate such a life-draining force.

When an Elite tries to break away from the Ancient – thereby cutting their magic off from its source – the Elite would then become the new source.

However, since human life is limited the magic in them dies.

And dead things rot.

This rotting magic then came to be known as dark magic.

Rooted in deception; like shadows it constantly shifts.

At the start it seems to add to the host, but this is nothing more than a momentary tease. Dark magic will never deliver exactly what the caster asks of it and will always end up taking much more than the caster originally agreed to give.

So dear reader, take heed – habits have a way of forming us.

The more you practice a thing, the more you become like it.

Thus the more you practice the Mage's magic, the more you become like him and the more compatible his magic will be with you.

Likewise the more you practice dark magic, the more compatible you become with it and the nearer you move to death.

Ah but I fear this Narrator might be going off track.

For the moment let us return to our current story – the story of a girl who woke up in a strange new world.