"Can't you see? The Rending freed us!"
"Can't you see? The Rending bound us!"
The elder spoke in a tight, weary voice. "Can't you see? It did both, both at once."
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The Rending. Everyone remembers it in different ways. In some ways, the contention over the true events of The Rending is as violent and convoluted as all the religious contentions of the Pre-Rending Era bound into one.
The Ordo Holocene officially categorises it as a Class I Global Extinction.
The Ordo Magicka officially categorises it as a Magically Significant Event of Chance.
The Ordo Academus deems it a Unexplainable Magical Event - Category I - Little to No Knowledge
Few are those left in our world who remember The Rending. Manuscripts age, and stone erodes. Bones to ashes, ashes to dust. Though we have tried, our level of technology far falls behind what the mere mortals had a mere four centuries ago. Bereft of magic and bereft of essence, they were forced to use primitive means to enhance their capabilities. However, with all of our divine magics and immortal stones, we are still far behind the mortals in the area of information and data. Ancient Pre-Rending history tells of a time when information was unbound, and could be found anywhere by simply searching for it.
Imagine that, young man. A vast archive of data spanning many countries and all continents, with instant entry all across the globe. A repository of information where you could get anything you wanted, if you knew where to look. A Grand Library like no other. Information free and flowing, for every citizen to improve their lives with. Since the Ancient Mortal Empires fell, those constructs have been long lost. Myth tells that the information never died out, but even the most staunch of us are doubtful of that information.
I shall dispense with the pleasantries, Junior Professor Darius. I sense the impatience in your eyes as you hear my words, or scroll through this text if you are reading this after my passing. As a newly-minted Ordo Rendia Professor, you are qualified to look through some of our records of history, Pre-Rending and Post-Rending combined. I simply wish that you use this information well. History is filled with those damned and blessed with information, and only time will tell which category you fall in.
Be a savior, be a villain. Since The Rending... we know it matters not.
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Darius Silverman looked up from the text document contained in the first miniature supercomputer that his civilisation had built. He had remembered reading in the Imperial Newspaper about the building of the computer when he was young, and his mother still swore to this day that if you were there, you would have seen his eyes shine up like a powerful electric lightbulb. In fact, the very reason why he had applied to the Ordo Rendia after the tedium of Quaternary Education was so that he would have a chance to work with this very computer. Its luscious, metallic curves overflowing with grace and precision, its very core shining gold and silver... He swore he could marry this computer if it meant sole access to it.
He was intrigued over the message contained within the computer, but it had been left forty years ago, and most of the knowledge within had already been dispersed or leaked to the public. After all, when you could gain the information for free simply by joining the Ordo Rendia, Darius thought with a slightly derisive tone, it was hard to keep anything really "a secret". No, he was here for this very computer, and the secrets contained inside. Ever since he was a little child, he had dreamed of getting to know this masterpiece representing everything humanity had become in the last four centuries.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Two and a half decades of hard work, all to get here, he thought. Darius had begun Quaternary Education at the age of nineteen, a year earlier than most people. He had exited with a degree in Ancient History at 23, a contentious topic, as what was now "Ancient History" was debatable. But, contrary to everyone's expectations, Darius chose to pursue a career as a Junior Professor in the Ordo Rendia. Little did they know...
The computer, at the very peak of human technology, could hold up to 300 text files. Three hundred whole text files! Darius gasped in wonder as the engine within the machine thrummed to life when he turned it on. However, as Darius was marvelling at the sight of the computer, someone walked by, and his little moment of reverie was interrupted. Startled, Darius looked up to see a Chinese scientist with a wan-looking face, seeming to be powered solely by coffee and nicotine. "Staring at the computer, boy?", the scientist asked as she tipped a bottle of water up to his lips. "All of us do, when we first start out."
Darius felt his face turning red, and embarrassed, he replied in a squeaky, mouse-like tone as he drank from the water bottle. "Yeah."
The scientist let out a little chuckle, and let out a little sound that, in Darius's mind, could mean anything from derision to amusement. "Well then, you'd better get sorting through those files. They won't look at themselves, and I think you'll find them interesting." She set her pace to a trot as she seemed to glide away from the computer research lab.
Darius focused his eyes on the computer, trying to fight the growing blush on his face from his little interaction. As the scientist walked away from the computer and back into her research room, the door shut behind her.
A little table opened, and he gasped in surprise.
Identification Process: Please enter your name: _________
Darius hesitantly entered "Darius Silverman" as his name. He hadn’t heard of any “Identification Process” in the Imperial Newspaper when he had read about this computer, but that was to be expected, after all. Secrets were tightly kept under lock and key in this age.
Identification Process Complete: Files Unlocked - Welcome, Darius Silverman
How was the computer so advanced? 300 text files of storage sure as hell couldn't do this, and neither could any other computer ever created Post-Rending. Darius felt a million thoughts run through his mind in an instant. Was the Ordo Rendia even created after the Rending? Did a Pre-Rending computer survive The Rending itself? He steeled himself to quell his curiosity and focus on finding as many answers as he could in the computer.
Current Qualifications: Junior Professor, 1st Year - Five Files Unlocked
Authorized Ordo Rendia File List for Darius Silverman
File One
File Two
File Three
File Four
File Five
Hesitantly, Darius tapped on the interaction screen of the computer to select "File One". Nothing happened for a full twenty seconds, and he began to wonder whether something was wrong with the machine. When forty seconds had passed and nothing had happened, he called for help.
"Hello? Is anyone out there? I'm stuck in he-"
Darius felt an ancient force tugging on his legs. He tried to stay put in his position, but the force only grew stronger with time. He tried with all his might to dig into the steel floor of the laboratory computer room, ripping his fingernails and toenails in the process. Bleeding and scratched all over, he made one last herculean attempt to wrest himself away from the force by clinging onto the steel computer. After two straight minutes of peak physical exertion, his arms felt ready to break, and he finally let go. His feet fell from under him, and something pulled him back. Something unnatural. Something that went against the order of the univ-
Darius snapped out of his thoughts as he realised with horror that he was quickly rushing towards a portal in the wall. He screamed one last time before his words were cut out by a familiar System notification.
*Ding*
You are now watching File One. Timer suspended. Welcome to Hell.