Memory Crystal of The Last and First Elder—

Never before was anything close to a war ever needed for us. A few hundred of those on the Body Math, backed by someone on the Mind Path or Nature Path, and no one could stand against them.

It was not a matter of resolve or courage but a stark reality. Once an elf got to the intermediate rank, no matter of skill backed by a mortal body could compare. Even if they were somehow caught off guard, the only chance of wounding the elf was in the eyes, and even then, that wouldn't kill them. The bone of the eye socket would stop the blade.

With their bodies reinforced with mental energy, the only thing that can penetrate is more mental energy. It isn't even like someone on the Nature Path, where enough pain could cause them to blank out and lose control of their mental castings. No, those on the body path had their mental energy fused into their very being.

So with an unbreakable wall surrounding a being that can cause natural disasters or evoke crippling fear within all around them, no army could stand its ground.

Individuals might hold firm, but they would be the ones bisected to serve as an example.

Only a few races had shamans and mystics that could momentarily halt our advance, but they were few and far between. A precursor to what will be considered real strength in a thousand years of further development. Such crude manipulations of world energy could barely be considered a Path. And if a group of them were together, it would hardly take the attention of a whole sect trying to gain some slight notoriety.

To say we entered a war with armies of tens to hundreds of thousands marching in the field never happened. There was never any need.

To even officially call a war under the rules of The Pact required two-thirds of its members to agree, and getting two of the three factions to agree on anything was considered impossible.

After the Mind Path's antics, it was the simplest thing in the world to declare war for them, though it wasn't an all-out war.

No, the Mind Path was too smart for that.

Though it was never considered possible, two factions within The Pact could turn on the third and try to subjugate them, as they would an external foe.

What they did was bring up a provision in The Pact for a dispute between two factions that can not be resolved without bloodshed. Typically it was used for clans and sects when they both thought something belonged to them. They would fight until one admitted defeat.

The Mind Pact twisted it so that they claimed that because the Nature Path was unwilling to pay them reparations — in the form of handing over control of the World Tree while still maintaining its upkeep — for forcing the Pact on them and the ensuing generations of persecution, the Mind Path had the right to challenge for control of any city. A challenge that would be done by right of conquest.

And when they conquered the city or area they contested, they would use the same reasoning to challenge another area of land, usually in a poorly guarded location. Or a place the Mind Path had stacked troops outside of.

With the practice already well established, if grudgingly so by most, the Mind Path started to break the wills and minds of those on the Nature Path they captured. They were not bound to service for years like honor duels, but while the battle for the territory raged, they would be under the Mind Path's hospitality.

Those on the Nature Path could resist better than those on the Body Path, and with the limited time they were held, there were few successes, but some minds were still broken. And the intensity of the fighting had gotten to the point that it was more likely that anyone with the possibility of being captured would rather kill themselves than risk having their mind broken and be used as a puppet to fight their comrades.

After the first frantic months of the war, it settled into a grind.

Even those of the Nature Path had to accept that there would never again be peace within their lands while the Mind Path still existed. Many tried to convince anyone who would listen that there was still room for negotiation and reconciliation, but only the desperate or naive would listen to them.

The remnants of the Body Path would never forget or forgive. And as the army of the Nature Path was exposed to the harsh realities of their foes, even they were calling out for more drastic measures. Measures that they would have to be the spearhead of, but it was better than sitting back and waiting for the next attack to fall down on their necks.

Of course, the World Tree was closed off to the Mind Path, but it was already too late. Their enclaves on scattered worlds were self-sufficient. And those not already isolated on worlds started proxy wars like wildfires, manipulating armies of natives as disposable pieces to attack the interests of the other Paths.

Not that the Nature Path closing the gate to the World Tree mattered, as the Mind Path had found some way to slip around all of the precautions placed around the World Tree and slip onto distant worlds. The Tree had grown too big and touched too many words to be completely monitored and controlled.

There were never many, but even worlds wholly controlled by the Body and Nature Path had to be on the lookout for sabotage. And the farther away the world was from the elves' home world, the more direct the attacks would become.

With Nature's Path being predisposed to large engagements, the war turned into one of attrition.

But a war of attrition was a war the Mind Path was destined to win. Their vast cities under the earth pumped out army after army to throw against the Nature Path, and every casualty was one that wouldn't be around in the next battle. While the Mind Path had armies of disposable short-lived cousins ready to march to war.

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And with the Mind Path in control of the Pact, the Nature Path could never appropriately retaliate.

From the start, the outcome was already preordained.

The Mind Path ground their way forward, isolating the Nature Path into small areas where they could destroy whole armies with little more effort than kicking over a pile of dirt. With every cataclysmic battle, the Nature Path destroyed the world around them.

They had failed to keep balance within their people, and now the balance of the world was falling apart as they destroyed it. While it may not be apparent on the surface, their will to keep fighting was vanishing, and their mental strength was weakening.

Weakened though it might be, they would not accept the rule of the Mind Path, for every record of the Mind Path ruling showed what that would lead to. And if someone didn't trust the records or theories, all they had to do was look at their current society.

While the power of our mental abilities inherently leads to a few reigning over the many, those of the Mind Path take it to an extreme. They have to.

To them, knowledge is quite literally power.

And all of the strongest casters are, almost to a one, egotistical narcissistic megalomaniacs. It is almost like manipulation and treachery are fed to them from their mother's breast.

Whether it is our perception of the powers that have led them to this course or its inherent nature, I can not say. What I can say is what they have become from our treatment and festering in their self-created cesspool of a society.

I can understand why they pulled into themselves. They were given very few options. My ancestors hunted them until they had nowhere else to go. Only the Nature Path stepping in stopped my ancestors from pursuing them as they fled the surface lands.

The twisted course their Path took once they were below the surface could be understood, though it should also be viewed as one of the greatest tragedies ever happening to our people.

Now it was clear they would destroy and defile everything we had built if they ever came into power.

A future that looked like it would come to pass with greater certainty every decade the war dragged on.

The Pact, once an iron-clad collar around all our necks, was being twisted beyond recognition. Actions that would have cost a caster their power were now becoming commonplace, as the perception of everyone was being warped by endless savage battles.

The document, which was supposed to offer us endless prosperity and peace as we worked together, became the leash of slavery and conflict for our people. It was only fitting in a way, for our Paths forced this upon the Mind Path, and they were the first to feel the caress of its jaws around their neck.

Slavery was a harsh teacher. And a great incentive to learn how to twist the rules in your favor. It might have taken generations, but they are finally on the other end.

With victory within their reach, the Mind Path doubled down on their practices. Why would they change something that worked better than they could ever hope?

The places once thought impregnable began to fall as their defenders were ground into nothing.

Those on the Nature Path were driven back into their Great Forest, where the World Tree held power. And those of the Body Path were hunted until they became nomadic bands, always on the brink of being found and broken.

A few villages still existed, but they were the homes of those at the peak of the Body Path. The ones that could not be killed in battle, only old age.

And still, the Mind Path would not stop their war.

We pleaded with them to stop, as by this point, it became clear that there would only be one winner, but they refused. Victory would be theirs. All they had to do was wait.

While the Nature Path still had control over the heart of the World Tree, most of its branches on other worlds were in the hands of the Mind Path. But the Nature Path could still see what was passing along the passages of the World Tree.

They could see the slavery imposed by the Mind Path on other worlds. Tens of thousands were marched from their world, clapped in irons, to fates unknown.

The Mind Path would not stop.

They could not.

There was always a power struggle between the Mind Path's factions as they were always one-upping each other. The moment once faction stopped accumulating power with all its facets was the moment they became weak enough to succumb to one of their many rivals.

Eventually, once those who oppose them have fallen, they will destroy themselves. But ages will pass from now until then, and the depravities that will be imposed on countless worlds will be unimaginable.

No, the Nature Path would not allow such a fate to happen. So they defiled the Pact far more than what the Mind Path had done to it.

Their High King, a being so in touch with the world that his mental energy was only limited by the world around him, turned his power on the Pact.

The Pact, in its simplest form, was a contract of equality. So that everyone who was part of it would be treated equally and have the same chance.

Our powers are linked to our will and intent. But there is little difference between what we desire the most or least when it comes to such areas. In fact, when it comes to willpower, what we desire the least often drives us to do more than pursue a dream.

So with mind and the few remaining elders' agreements, the High King gave us everything we didn't want.

But the High King would need more than endless power to destroy the living document. He would have to draw on the will of his people. So they gathered for a great ceremony, one that was even larger than The Pact's creation.

They poured power into the document and started off with themselves. All they ever desired was to live in harmony with the world and people, so they made themselves hated by it. The full ramifications will take time to see, as the will of a world is not so easily or quickly changed. But given enough time, suppressed by the heavens would be the expected result.

We of the Body Path wanted physical perfection and mastery over ourselves. We looked at the world, following animals and the elements to create skills along our Path. So they pushed our powers outward into the world while our bodies became like we long studied. Taking on the appearances of the animals our fighting forms were named after.

With the imbalance, it was easy for the Nature Path to force a change upon the Mind Path. They wanted to rule. To guide the masses. So they made them unwilling to trust. Not unable, but only the closest of bonds and greatest assurances would be required to be given even the slightest fleck of trust.

Nearly instantly, every single member of the Pact could feel the changes and wanted it gone.

The Pact shattered, but even its creators didn't understand what they had done. So far, everything that the Pact did was external. It made them unable to act or forced conditions upon them.

But what the Nature Path did was use the Pact to change us. It changed our souls. No matter how quick the cause was destroyed, the change was already made.

Our society collapsed.

Is collapsing even now.

Those who followed the Body Path are becoming animals. Our powers feed the change, feeding the growth of hair and claws. Fangs replace our teeth, and our eyes burn while they change. And whatever our powers become, they are far different than what they were.

But most of all, the change is taking away our minds. We are being driven by instinct.

Only I, Rakol, Patriarch of the Badger Claw Clan, have been able to retain my mind for these few years. But even I don't know how much I will keep once my mental energy is gone. I don't think it will be much, if any.

So I will leave this account while I can. And if we should become nothing but mindless savages, I have faith we will regain our minds eventually. And hopefully, in the centuries to come, discover this chamber, which holds the truth about your origins.

Whatever you choose to do with the information, I beg you, do not forget it. For our tragedy will be bound to repeat.