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There existed in this world several powers which contributed to its evolution and balance. The first and most obvious ones were of course the three primordial forces: Fire, Water and Earth.

Fire came from the depth, it was a force full of vigour which drove every living beings forward. It heated our physical body in order for us to move on this large world. Every gestures we made generated heat, every collisions emitted over the span of a fragment of second or across many decades this fiery energy. It was the strength of the living.

Water was found on the ground as oceans and lakes, but also in the sky in the shape of clouds and rains. It acted as a catalyst for all sort of energy, a soap to clean the impurities in mana, and evidently a precious resource for all living beings. Without water, the physical body dried, while the spiritual body accumulated detritus which he couldn't throw out by itself. It was the fuel of the living.

Earth could be observed all around us. It was the soil the plant grew on, the rock mortals mined for its riches, and evidently the continent on which everyone was born. It watched over us, providing what life needed to sustain itself. It may be the most passive force out of the three, but it simply was because the huge reserves of energy it accumulated over the years were inert, laying dormant until someone or something collected it. It was the foundation of the living.

Those three were the most basics sources of energy, anyone unconsciously breathed or manipulated them in their life. Drinking, training, studying, thinking, growing, we always used one of those three elements.

Then there was what the mortals called "magic". This pure energy was different, as its source came from something beyond the mortals' realm. When the gods watched over this world, they left traces of their passage. It scarred the world, conflicting with the primordial energies which were already present. But it somehow settled itself, and mana became the fourth energy regulating the equilibrium.

Mana are the remnants of the gods, their blood or their flesh, it was hard to give it a physical image as a god itself had no physical body unlike us. Mana came from the gods, yet in this godless world there is mana. Why?

Do not worry. I know the answer...

With four pools of energy frivolously trying to coexist, and the world freed from its watchers, something unredeemable was bound to happen.

This was where a fifth force intervened, a pre-emptive attempt to leash those four elements and to prevent them from clashing against themselves. The strongest will to face those forces, the mightiest strength to take them down before they started rampaging.

Heroes. Protectors. Mentors. They called themselves with many titles, but they all shared the same name: Dalenhs.

Overwhelming power, indestructible bodies, and indomitable mind. They were individuals who once were mortals, and now became closer to what a god would look like with a physical body. That was right: they were this era's divinities, the heroes of a time.

...

I stood inside a luxurious room, the chandelier was brimming with many stars and shining tints, the furniture showed a palette of colours covering from brown bark to red sap, fading themselves with the tapestries from the wall. There was a painting, hobnailed behind two vases clad with many jewels and holding bouquets of fragrant flowers, which depicted a serene forest where a brook was silently delivering water from one border to the other. Looking at the picture gave you tranquillity, a rare kind of peacefulness of the mind where you threw yourself amidst those trees, listening to the water flowing and maybe some bird chirping in the background.

In front of the painting stood a large coffee table with two curvy couches made of a delicate textiles, a nice environment to ease your pain while chatting with guests. You could easily tell the high quality from the interior with the numerous but splendid details the workers must have put to achieve this level of precision and magnificence, and also what kind of people could live in such a illustrious place.

The door leading here suddenly opened, a maid entered first then bowed before her master. Then, a petite girl appeared, wearing a long robe tinted with a vivid blue reminding onlookers of the clear sky outside. She made her way inside the room, then stopped when her eyes met mine.

But she didn't lose her cool, and calmly tasked the maid to brew her some tea. The servant obeyed and left us alone.

"How is life in the Academy?" I asked for starter.

The girl didn't look at me anymore, she simply made herself comfortable on the couch before closing her eyes, probably sinking in deep thought, or trying to ignore my presence.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" I asked again, used to her lack of interest with me.

But alas, I still heard no reply from the lady.

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I began to walk around the room, gazing at every objects while trying to estimate their value from a mortal's perspective. I hadn't this sense of money, I entirely based my conjectures on what mortal would be ready to give to get their hands on this or that. I grabbed a small statuette sculpted in the shape of one of those heroes from the Black War. Was it perchance a representation of Chaalith?

"I guess a person like you don't have many trouble in their life..."

Then, I finally received an answer from her.

"You do not exist... You are not real... This is my mind playing another trick on me..."

How sad to be interpreted as a hallucination. I understood not a lot of people were used to my presence as the Black God, even a few of the cultists were dumbfounded when I appeared before them. In the eyes of those mortals, I was sorted next to the realm of myths. I was a being existing beyond the threshold they could agree with.

"But I am real..."

Even though I was like this... My existence was definitive.

However, she denied all of it.

"No, no and no. The healing sorcerers already told me. You're just an illusion. You are not here. I see and hear you because my mind is toying with me, all in order for me to let go of my past trauma."

The healing sorcerers... Those doctors. They knew quite a lot when it was about healing both physical or spiritual damages, but what did they know about scars to the consciousness itself? You healed a flesh wound with an ointment, you healed a soul wound with a spell, however, they never found any remedy for past trauma. Not knowing what kind of treatment to give, they merely spouted lies at her, trying to dull the pain with confusion.

But that was not what she needed to recover. She needed time until she asked herself the right questions, she needed help until she gathered the strength to question herself. And when she would ask those questions, what kind of answers would she found?

Do not worry. I know the answer...

For now, she needed not yet to rest, but another little push from me.

"You can't let yourself be fooled by them."

I had to poke at her, even if I was annoying.

"You can't let them tell you what you are and what you aren't."

I had to, even if I it did fuel the folly in her head.

"You must remember who you are. Remember your past and your duty!

Remember your name, Ouu!

-STOP!!!"

The room shook as if an earthquake made the whole place tremble. She was holding her head in her hands. I was overstepping on my role, but that was a minor setback compared to the importance she held to the world.

"Stop it... Stop it..."

I made the girl shed tears. How rude of me.

We suddenly heard faint knocks on the door, probably the maid who hesitated after hearing her master yelling all of a sudden. I had to apologies in some way, and I knew no lady wanted to be seen crying in front of others. So I put my hand on the door, then opened it to let the maid come in with a cart full of tea and patisserie. She put the cup and the tea-pot on the table, then left the room without spelling a word. I took control of her psyche, making sure she had no memory of ever coming here.

Seriously, who was an illusion?

I stood next to the table, helping the girl with the tea and the cakes to try and give a nice atmosphere in the room. She lifted her head, lured by the smell. I handed her a tissue to wipe her tears, which she accepted even though she told herself I was not real. She tried to grab the cup of tea, but her hands trembled, so I helped her drink a small gulp before putting the cup back on the table.

"What is happening to me...?" She sobbed after cooling down a bit.

I told her the truth I knew about her. The same truth I repeated each time she asked me.

"A few years earlier, you soul was subjected to an abnormal situation. Due to an unfortunate event, you absorbed too much mana in one go. Your spiritual body should have exploded, but it withstood the pressure.

Instead of exploding... It released this enormous amount of mana around you, leading to the destruction of your parent's manor where your whole family resided."

And then she unconsciously tried to forget this event by erasing this memory. Feeling the strange surge, I arrived on the scene, only to see rumbles and ruins. I made sure to enchant my presence in order to hide myself from the mortals... But she still saw me. It didn't help at all, as she began to tell everyone she saw the Black God. The healing sorcerer probably thought she invented my intervention in order to explain the anomaly.

“But why did it happen? Why me?"

This was... The most difficult part to accept, in the story.

"Listen to me. You are no longer who you think you are. Ever since that incident happened, you became someone else.

You are something greater than what you always imagined.

Alicia Stenndislad, you are now one of the gears that manage the world."

Everytime a cataclysm was bound to happen, the fifth force watching over the equilibrium proposed a solution to us. It was our duty, as living beings, to welcome this solution the best we could.

Those surviving cianalas depended on their dalenh, the Fallen, to repel any catastrophe. But now Aederinilitium cured his amnesia and unleashed him unto this forsaken world. He would find Qalendra and reclaim his independence sooner or later.

As for the other one, his quest made him unconcerned with the current world’s situation.

As for Alicia, I was surprised to understand her circumstances. Her soul being suddenly exposed to a massive amount of mana could mean many things: assassination, unfortunate winds of magic, or something less perceivable.

But no assassins were sent to cut her head. The circulating mana was too stable in the region to provoke a hurricane of this amplitude. Then what could have possibly happened to her?

Do not worry. I know the answer...

I knew the answer. I knew what to do. She became part of something… Or in truer words, she was already part of something bigger, but it only manifested itself a few years earlier.

Years ago, when the manor was blasted by the explosion of mana, it was actually a sign. She was chosen. But she somehow refused, and the aftershock made the building collapse. She was lucky she survived the event... Or was she?

I had to persuade her somehow, I had to make her stand up and become this time's hero. However...

"But I don't want to be a hero... I can't save the world... I’m just a monster who slaughtered her family…"

... Not all heroes succeeded in their role. I was also aware of that. Not every tale ended on a happy note.

...

The world was regulated by four major forces: Fire, Water, Earth and Mana. The fifth force existed solely to maintain the status quo between all four of them.

The day the world would be shattered drew near, and for the first time... I believed the fifth force made a mistake in its decision...

She… Couldn’t possibly become a hero. The burden was too heavy for her, and she already lost too many precious people this early in the journey.

Someone had to protect her.

Someone… But how?