Preface
In the providence of God, and the untold billions of worlds that have existed through the unknown reaches of time and space. The story of our home, Earth, has been recounted many times though iterations both similar and different to the one we know. This story, this iteration is both similar and different to the world we know and call home. Sharing stories of origin, some laws of physics, histories, cultures and beliefs these different worlds touch on our own but draw from many sources and paint a picture vastly different than the original. A world of science, of fantasy and of magic, this world is a story full of the pages of past hopes, dreams, and fears.
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Prologue 1
In the beginning, there was the Word, and the Word was God. the Word has always been and will always be. The Word in the form of God looked out unto the Void and spoke, “Let there be Light”, and so there was Light. Time passed and God took note upon the Void and Light in that they did not properly mix and in seeing there was difference separated the two so that they would not render each other into nothing. Under the Word, the Light was called mana and retreated into the heavens and the Void was called space and occupied all that was in existence. This existence became the universe and all that existed within the boundaries of Time. Eventually, God once more spoke. Commanding the Void of space and all that was empty to be filled with firmament. And on this firmament, a world called Alysia both similar and different to Earth joined many other worlds and many other stories.
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*Alarm Blaring*, Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!!!
“Wake up Ambre! Wake up!”, Ring! Ring! Ring! “Wake up Amber! Wake up!” Ring! Ring! Ring! “You're going to be late wake up”
Dragging herself out of a pile of blankets and pillows used to hide from the cold February air in her small unheated apartment. Amber took a pillow to hand and smartly threw it at the alarm clock that was attempting to both deafen and awaken her from a sleep as deep as night was cold.
*Crash* “Ah that's much better,” she remarked. Stretching twisting and turning in an effort to cast away the stiffness that comes with sleep she finally stood up out of her small narrow bed and quickly began to ready herself for the day by showering dressing as rapidly as possible due to facing the prospect of being late once again. Taking a moment to look in the mirror and touch the black eye that still aches but is healing from the incident a week ago she takes a compression bandage from the pile in the bathroom and gently compresses her breast to hide her figure and binds the sore ribs that lurk under her battered and bruised abdomen. “I'm lucky that nothing is broken, these marks and the pain will slowly fade,” she says to reassure herself as she readies herself by brushing her long blond hair and tying it into a simple braid. Finishing quickly and snatching her bag off of the floor at the end of the bed. She twirls in place quickly looking in the mirror to make sure her knee length skirt doesn't come up enough to show her thighs before ducking out the door and dashing out the of the small one room apartment towards the train that will soon be departing for school.
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Running down the sidewalk, long legs quickly eating up the distance. the crowd and press of people begin to thicken as the entrance to the train station approaches. looking down at her watch and over the heads everyone in front of her, “dammit why did I have to hit the snooze button!”.With this and the train, horn sounding its eminent departure the realization gradually sets in that she is going to once again be late and have to suffer detention with the very people that tormented her the week before. Under this crushing realization, she stands to take a moment to sigh and resign herself to being late she finally arrives at the platform swiping her card though the reader so that the fare is withdrawn from her meager savings. With time now on her hands as the next train will not depart for 20 minutes, she sits on a bench and takes out a book of notes to study. saying to herself quietly, “I really need to make sure I get a 100 this time, i can't afford to let my grades drop any further here at the end of the semester because if I fall below the top 10 ranking there is no way I will ever get a full ride to the Academy and grow strong enough to be able to go through the gate to stake a claim and win my citizenship.”
Turning to see the projection of the station's magitech display above the central kiosk. An advertisement showing the Academy in question scrolls across the banner followed by a clip of a sharply dressed spokesman in a black dapper suit and thin saber standing solemn and still before blurring into action quickly cutting down his barbarian challenger in a brutal demonstration. Turning to the display the man raises his arms and speaks saying,”Look to the skies for salvation. We are coming.” with that the Imperial Academy logo flashed into being and the display once again shows the train departure schedule.
The Academy in question is the national institution for the education of mages and knight in the empire of japan. Known throughout the world as the bastion of knowledge it offers strength to those that are strong and power for those that are hungry for it. Located on the edge of the empire it partners with the guilds and corporations that need the rare and exotic materials found in the blighted realms regions. Regions where the blight of raw mana leaking into the world breaks down advanced technology and prevents the ungifted from being able to use even the most basic of machines. Forget electronic circuitry, even classic mechanical steam engines build of black mana ordered steel are degraded by the raw manna that seeks to break down the inventions of man.
Standing quickly and using her size to move to the front of the line as the train slid into the station. Amber fortified her resolve to finish her last year of high school on a note of high success and show all of the girls that bullied her the last 4 years that even she a commoner can become a citizen of the empire and join the gifted in the greatest of magic schools.