Logical Reasoning and Raw Emotion II
The gods didn't just disappear; they were banished by all beings during the Age of No Records. No one ever knew why all beings (conscious and unconscious) banished the gods, or how this could make any sense in its context. But there is some truth to it. Because just as the gods were exiled, they did the same. The gods abandoned all beings, abandoned the world they built and gave meaning to. The result of this abandonment was catastrophic for all living beings, not just humanity.
The Age of No Records, as its name suggests, has no records for humanity. Only myths, historians deductions, and people's tales. But paradoxically, there are records of the time before this age. The Age of Fixity, as the people of the current age call it. Why this name?... Because it was an age where the gods existed to create and innovate, guide and protect, judge and reward, to interact with nature and destiny... In general, the gods represented a symbol of life and values.
In the Age of Fixity, under the guidance of the gods, magic was... easy, widespread, accessible to everyone, and also different. So naturally, the disappearance of the gods at the end of the Age of No Records had a significant impact on this aspect of existence. Thus, for an entire age, humans lived without any magic in the world. This age was called the Age of Peace, although this name was enforced by many non-religious organizations that spread the message that humans do not need gods to live and that mana is just a poison that ignites wars and causes destruction.
This age, called the Age of Peace, was the longest age among all previous and future ones. The world underwent several major transformations with the disappearance of Mana. Many creatures that depended on mana for existence weakened, mutated, or went extinct. Systems based on mana collapsed, religious and philosophical values changed, also arts and languages were affected in many parts of the world. But with every change comes adaptation and evolution. The middle of this age witnessed the emergence of many new skills with the discovery of permanent alternatives to mana. Such as biological engineering, the exploration of new energy sources, the emergence of new social systems, and most importantly, the spiritual and philosophical transformation of the new humanity as they liked to call themselves.
The Age of Peace continued to evolve at a frightening speed. At a certain point in the history of this age, humans tried to write a new history for the world. But this coincided with the appearance of a Mana Crack in the world. Of course, the new humanity was very cautious of this unknown change in the world, even non-religious organizations warned against it strongly. And naturally, over time, humanity became more curious. Organizations and governments could no longer suppress the growing curiosity, so they relaxed their stance on the matter, as the Mana Crack (they didn't know what it was at the time) appeared harmless from the moment it emerged from nothing.
The Mana Crack became a subject of interest for researchers and remained so for a very long time. Over time and experiments, humanity managed to benefit from it as an inexhaustible energy source. Of course, this created many conflicts over this energy source, but they didn't grow much in size because humans at that time didn't lack energy sources. But this changed once news of Mana's return to the world spread. Apparently, someone succeeded in learning a little about controlling Mana; it wasn't much, but it was a beginning. The beginning of a new age. The beginning of the Age of Chaos.
As its name suggests, the Age of Chaos is an age of collapse. Humans might convince themselves that equality among individuals is the logical solution to all conflicts, but at the first sign that an individual can elevate themselves above everyone else, most will jump at the chance, and they did. But unfortunately for them, it wasn't that easy. Unlike the instinctive magic of the Age of Stability, which they had only heard about in legends, the mana that emerged from the mana crack was unusable for most humans, even deadly if forced. They learned the hard way that to be a mage, you must learn something you don't understand.
Since the records of the mages from the Age of Fixity didn't provide much help, as magic at that time was guided by the gods, everyone turned their attention to ~the first mage once more, the first mage after the last~ as they liked to call him. Why was he able to learn unlike other humans?... After many studies and experiments on the unfortunate mage, the word innate emerged as a preliminary explanation.
The word innate didn't carry the same meaning it does today. At that time, humans struggled just to establish a stable connection with mana, let alone shape or use it. They were very influenced by the legends of the magic of the Age of Fixity and took that as a reference in their learning, which ultimately led them nowhere. Once again, they turned their attention to the innate humans, who began to appear more frequently despite their rarity, and seemed to be able to learn more than their ordinary human counterparts.
This time, ordinary humans took a more peaceful approach. They asked the innate humans to teach them their knowledge. The latter agreed willingly. The innate humans understood the danger of the mana emerging from the mana crack, so their advice to ordinary humans was, "Forget about the old ways. The way to learn is through trial and error."
This was the innate humans attempt to shade ordinary humans on their learning journey, and it was the last one. Ordinary humans took that advice seriously, and it became their path to the Age of New Magic (known as the old magic in the current age).
The beginning of the Age of New Magic didn't mark the end of the Age of Chaos; it only fueled it. Humans learned to control mana through trial and error. Of course, the human losses in this learning process were very high, but with every life lost, something new emerged to cover that loss. The conflicts over the mana crack became very large, wars at that time were just a daily routine. The average human lifespan dropped to 36 years, and the emergence of more Mana Cracks only intensified the conflicts.
Thus, both the Age of Chaos and the Age of New Magic went together until they reached their end, which marked the Age of Exploration and Learning. In this age, at least one mana crack appeared in every place in the world. Mana itself didn't cover the entire world, but it covered enough to put some sense into humans to stop their chaos.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
By that age, all the progress humans had witnessed in the Age of Peace had almost disappeared, so they had to start anew. The new found magic was a great help in building the world to suit the future magical orientation. Humans divided among themselves as they always tend to do. This age, as its name suggests, focused only on exploring and learning mana. This age also marked the invention of the concept of spells. It was revolutionary at the time because, unlike the magic of the Age of Fixity (which no one knew anything about by then except that it was referred to as instinctive), the concept of spells was something unlimited by concepts.
This age also reached its end and remained true to its name. Immediately after came the Age of No Gods, which was a fiesta of it's own. Ages passed, and magic evolved along with the world until they reached the current age (which they haven't named yet). The current age is not flawless or beautiful as they portray it. Besides soul magic, which was declared forbidden in the Age of No Gods, many high-information magics were restricted in the current age, such as memory magic, knowledge magic, void magic, time magic, dream magic, emotion magic, consciousness magic... and many others.
The prohibition of soul magic (high-information magic) and the restrictions on any high-information magic were not for simple reasons; there is a story behind it. This is something that Silora's mother shed light on in her words to her (after the one-year punishment ended) when Silora asked her about the reason for this ban and prohibition. "The prohibition of soul magic does not originate from this age, but rather from the time when its flaws were first explored—specifically, during the Age of No Gods. There are many tales of those who lived in the Age of Fixity, under the guidance of the gods, who could perceive their souls as naturally as we perceive our hands. With the gods' disappearance, however, that ability vanished, leaving a profound uncertainty that humanity has long ignored, until the consequences became apparent. "
"This notion may seem strange to an ordinary person, yet it underscores a truth: some concepts are simply beyond human comprehension. In ancient times, the existence of the gods bestowed meaning upon these concepts and established boundaries—limits that provided guidance and mitigated danger. Today, magic is dangerously flexible, unbound by any divine limits. This renders it powerful and unpredictable, particularly in realms that challenge human understanding. "
"Ordinary individuals would not seek out these concepts, for it is a futile endeavor. But for those of innate ability, like you and me, the situation is different. I shall not delve into my own nature, as innate mind magic has yet to reveal clear flaws. However, soul magic... those endowed with it seem to perceive the world's imperfections. Arriving at this conclusion is no trivial matter. It is widely acknowledged that something transpired in the Age of No Gods that led to the complete ban of soul magic. Consequently, stringent restrictions were imposed on any high-information magic, such as my own."
Seem to perceive the world's imperfections? At that time, Silora didn't pay much attention to this sentence, and her mother didn't explain it either, perhaps thinking that she would understand. But now, this sentence seemed the closest to her situation. She was innate in soul magic (as her mother guessed), the world around her seemed to be playing tricks on her, she struggled to find any meaning in everything she had gone through and was going through right now.
Silora took a deep breath and stopped her thoughts on this subject in general, I will have time to delve into this, once I survive. She told herself as she removed her black cloak. The comprehensive protection shield spell her mother had imprinted on the inside of the cloak had disappeared once its activation conditions were met (loss of consciousness). She stood up with difficulty from her place, every movement sending waves of pain to her mind, but she endured it with willpower alone.
For the fourth time in one day, you saved me, dear mother. She sighed as she thought about how her mother would act in her situation. She didn't think now about the consciousness similar to her mother's inside the spellbook, or anything else in that regard. Life is priorities, Even in such a situation, her mother's words accompanied her and will continue to accompany her, hoping to save her. But they certainly carried logic.
Silora looked at the barrier shield around the ship; two layers had disappeared from the place where she had crashed on the right, even the third layer had deep cracks on its surface. Silora thought for a moment about trying to escape from there, but she knew well that the killer who hadn't appeared yet to finish his job wouldn't allow her to do so.
Silora emerged from the wreckage of the stairs she was in, her body feeling strange, tense, and painful. Every movement she made was only by willpower, as if it moved not by instinct rather by orders, like moving a puppet with a distant consciousness, every movement requiring prior thought and the action itself.
Silora steadied her hands on the ship's railing to stabilize her stance. She looked around; it was still night, so she hadn't been unconscious for long. The ship was still silent as she had left it. And the person who almost killed her was nowhere to be seen.
So she waited... Why? Because Silora decided to confront. her initial plan to make chaos had failed; she didn't even get the time to set it before finding herself on the brink of death. But now, she decided to confront. Although the idea seemed crazy, it was the most logical in her situation. There was nowhere to run to, no one to turn to for help, and if she tried to escape, she would only be giving her back to a mad killer. At least confrontation would give her an idea of what was ahead of her and she wouldn't have to worry about her back. In a direct fight, although she wouldn't match her opponent in any aspect, she had to try, "Crazy as it seems, I have to try?"
Silora didn't just wait for time to pass; she prepared herself mentally, and as for her body, she concluded that it would hold up for now. She didn't get enough time until a new sound entered her hearing range, ringing loudly in the silence of the ship. The sound of unhurried footsteps coming from the stairs leading to the middle floor.
Silora adjusted her stance to a more guarded position, not risking being sneaked up on again, even though the person standing in her view didn't try to do so. He just stood there watching her, his black mask covering his face, giving no indication of this... killer's thoughts. As she had seen him before, he was still dressed in all black, although now more bloodstained.
The killer noticed her gaze and pointed to the bloodstains on his clothes. Silora imagined he smiled under the mask as he said in a cheerful voice, "This is on you."
She didn't respond to his words; she knew that very well. There would be time for self-reproach once I survive?
In light of her lack of response, the killer took a step back, which was strange. He took a few more steps towards a pile of boxes gathered in front of the ship's railing in her line of sight. He arranged a box on the deck and sat on it. His silver-white eyes met Silora's crimson ones. He removed his black mask and looked at Silora's cold, unreadable expression that carried faint curiosity. With a wide smile, the killer said, "Nice to meet you. Finally, we meet."