A shaman sat in deep meditation. She was known as one of the most powerful beings in this region, with abilities that could rival even those of shamans from other cities. The way of life of her people had been shaped by an ancient crisis when the Nexus first manifested in her world.

Then, in these ancient days, a great rift formed between the newly transcended enlightened and the humans, changing their paths and destinies forever. Echoes of this divide still lingered in their society, like a faint scent of old fire on a breeze. But even after all the hate and aggression they had to endure from humans, the enlightened had persevered and adapted, harnessing the power of the elements to protect their people and maintain balance in the world.

The shaman was contemplating her position as the leader of this city and the path that led her to where she was now. She remembered well how the world changed all these centuries ago. Abruptly. They didn't have any time to prepare.

Chaos reigned during the first years after the fall of the Old World. By their sheer numbers, humans overwhelmed the disoriented enlightened, who didn't even understand they had any special abilities yet. However, as years and decades passed, the enlightened organized, built their own communities, and found ways to defend themselves. And, of course, they mastered the manipulation of the elemental energy through the Nexus. Their power only grew while humans gradually lost the technological know-how of the old world and moved towards simpler ways of life.

Ultimately, a fragile balance was established between the two races.

But there was one significant problem. She and her fellow shamans couldn't find a solution for it for decades. Enlightened people were unable to bear children. The only source of growth or even keeping the population at the same levels for them was the transcendence of a human. There was no logical explanation for this limitation other than it being a fundamental aspect of their world. And there were only two ways for someone to become an enlightened: through a natural happenstance or a grueling and costly ritual.

Through natural ways, it just happened occasionally that a human transcended. Shamans have argued about the prerequisites of this process since the dawn of their race. Since the moment the caste of shamans formed in their society. But there wasn't enough information or experimental data to be sure. Luckily, newly transcended had an innate sense of the places of power and were drawn to the enlightened cities. Most probably, they were motivated by this new sense they acquired during the transition, a connection with elemental energy.

But it would have been too easy if that was the end of the story, right? Not all humans were happy to let these people go. Some were horrified to lose their relatives. For others, it was a reminder of the wars of the past, conflicts between humans and what they called the "undead," myths and legends of ancient times. So, not all these newly transcended would reach their new communities. Sometimes, they were killed.

There was another, more controversial way. It was the method favored by most shamans and cities—a ritual at these sources of elemental power that attracted the newly converted so strongly. That power wasn't a simple beacon, it could offer so much more to those who knew how to wield it. And one of the ways to use it was to transform a human into an enlightened.

They rarely requested the consent of the individual, as the severity of the process erased all memories and even the sense of self. That new transcendent wouldn't ask the shamans why they were subjected to this torture just because they didn't remember being tortured. And the shamans kept the process a tightly held secret, shared only with the members of the inner circle.

While for most of the world's inhabitants, it seemed that humans and the enlightened didn't have any relations, a clandestine economic system has grown around these rituals. The enlightened had valuable goods and services to offer to humans in positions of power. These leaders, in turn, were eager to trade away some of their troublesome citizens in exchange for powerful artifacts provided by the enlightened. These were often old-world electronic devices, skillfully reconstructed and improved by the enlightened artisans. They rarely gave away anything special, though. Like items they made for themselves and for trading between the enlightened cities.

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The shaman smiled with yearning, remembering that old world and its technological marvels. Nowadays, they didn't have much use for these toys, replacing their functionality with magic. But humans didn't have any arcane powers. And they didn't have the ancient production lines either. So, they had to use what the enlightened allowed them to have.

Once unwavering order began to crumble as the years passed, and the world continued to adapt to the existence of two sentient races. It was a slow decay but one that could not be ignored by her people anymore. Where before there had been a constant stream of newly transcendent beings, now only a few trickled in every decade. The situation was aggravated by the fact that while the enlightened were almost ageless, they were not wholly immune to the passage of time. They weren't immortal. Accidents happened. Not to mention random clashes with humans that were getting rarer and rarer but happened nevertheless.

Desperate to reverse this decline, the shaman and her peers searched for solutions for decades. Each enlightened city took its own approach—some enticing humans with open trade and peaceful coexistence. Others, in contrast, resorted to deception and bribery. There was an even more radical group among them. Shaman hardliners rejected compromise entirely, refusing to accept any newly transcended humans as their citizens. Words like "tainted" or "heretics" had been used. Even though there seemed to be no intent on behalf of any human for them to be transformed.

Overzealous fanatics... This isolationist stance only made their communities wither into oblivion even faster than it happened for the other places.

"There should be a way to bring all of us together and strengthen the enlightened community!" muttered the shaman, coming out of her reverie. "All our approaches are unsustainable. If it continues this way, or even worsens, in a few thousand years, there will be no enlightened left in this world! Was that really the goal of the Nexus? To create us only to become extinct so soon? I don't believe that!"

Suddenly, a powerful disturbance of elemental energy sent shivers down her spine. The air around her seemed to crackle with aftershocks of an intense power burst that pulsated with the familiar patterns of her own element. But it was much more than that.

As an enlightened being, she knew that only a select few shamans possessed the ability to master two elements. To harness three energies simultaneously and create an artifact or conduct a ritual was considered nearly impossible, with only a few recorded instances in history. Yet here, at this moment, she could feel traces of all four elements: cool breeze of air, solid grounding of earth, fluid movement of water, and scorching heat of fire.

"That can't be!" exclaimed the shaman, jumping to her feet. "Impossible!"

With a sense of urgency, she abandoned her favorite spot and ran back to the bustling city. The council had to be called.

Could this finally be an opportunity to unite her people? All of the enlightened, regardless of their affinity, under the banner of all four elements?

Some of her peers talked about a prophecy that foretold a person who could wield all four affinities and blend them together. The Omniarc. Typically, she dismissed things like that as nothing more than fanciful tales for the newly transcended. It is not only humans who need their myths, right? But this energy pattern was undeniable. It pulsated in the air, its distant strength amplified by the shaman's connection to the source of power of her city.

The origin of the signal wasn't local to their area. She could feel that in the decaying patterns of the elemental energies. But it was powerful enough to come through all that distance.

They had no time to waste; discussions needed to start immediately, and scouts sent out. Surely, shamans from other cities would have felt the same energy spike and would be taking measures and interpreting it as well. They had to respond proactively before anyone else claimed this opportunity for themselves.