Skyhaven City - Speculations and Storytelling (1)

The others present in the chamber nodded in agreement as they began to ponder in silence. After a moment or two, Seran was the first to speak, "I have a theory that just might match up with what happened, mostly. Do you know about space beasts, by any chance?" Seran had to ask this question, as very few people in Aregard were aware that such creatures existed beyond the sky.

With confirmations of ignorance coming from all but one, Johann, Seran sighed, "That's fine, I doubt there's anyone that can really explain these creatures that's still alive. The Juneau Clan should have records of them, but those are rare cases, correct?" He looked at Johann with a small grin.

The old mage nodded, "Indeed. Due to their exceptional rarity, in the last 3000 years of accurate records, only 2 cases were ever confirmed. Before then, what records we had that were undamaged after the Invasion only listed another two, and the Juneau Clan had existed for at least two millennia at that point. That means only 4 cases in 5000 years have ever been proven to be real. That is how rare they are. Outside of my clan, I believe only the Oracle and a handful of Fate Seers know about them due to their unique capabilities."

As the others were astonished by the new information about a particularly unusual race, Seran continued, "In that case, I will explain to everyone else. A space beast is less of a race and more of a term used for an unnaturally powerful existence that dwells mostly in space or between spaces. On average, a single space beast, when mature, is capable of rivalling a god." Horror took over the expressions of the listeners, who only calmed down after being reminded of their scarcity, "Every space beast is considered to be unique, as are their individual abilities. They all possess the ability to live in space and have little interest in anything other than others of their kind, but no two space beasts are alike. Johann, do those documents specify what abilities these space beasts incidents consisted of?"

Closing his eyes to concentrate, the Juneau clansman stated, "The first two no longer have that information due to the damage caused by the Invasion, but the more recent pair of events do. The first one was the worst incident overall, due to its timing and its scale. When the Invasion was starting to get into full swing and the Demon Kings had just crossed over, a space beast happened to be travelling by our world. While they, meaning the gods, did not give descriptions to the Oracle, they emphasized that it had appendages similar to wings that fluttered as it moved through space for no apparent reason. As it was above us, it appeared to ruffle one wing a tad, like one would do if your hand gets tired after lots of writing. That one action caused a ripple that, once it descended to our world, smashed open the rift tenfold and allowed the two Devil Ministers and the Devil Emperor to cross over."

Soundless explosions went off in the minds of those present, save for the two speakers, as this new information brought new fears and revelations to their previous knowledge. Seran, noticing this, calmly stated, "Remember that this was 3000 years ago, not now. From what I know, there are no space beasts anywhere near Aregard." Sighs of relief came from all around as the boy demigod smiled.

After taking a sip of tea to quench his mild thirst, Johann continued, "As for the second, it was roughly 1500-1750 years ago, I can't recall specifically when it occurred, but I remember what happened because those of Juneau Clan are taught about it when we are being brought up as children, in particular when we are learning the ancestors of the family. Two generations prior to the Volcanic Sage's appearance, one of our most senior still living elders, Sage Heavensfall Varric Juneau, bore witness to this event and was fortunate enough to not only live to tell about it, he even benefited from it immensely. According to his oath-sworn retelling of the event, he had been standing on a beach on the northern side of the Central Continent, about five or six kilometres of a nearby city, at around sunrise when he saw what looked to be a meteor dropping from the sky. He said he was only an Earth Mage at this point in his life, so his instinctive reaction, after watching for some time and realizing to his horror that it was flying in a direction that would land near him, was to immediately bolt for his life perpendicular to its path."

As the imagery of the incident was painted vividly in his listeners' heads, Johann continued to recite the story he knew by heart, the climactic drama thick in his tone, "Not even three minutes passed after he started running when he heard what he could only describe as a combination of multiple volcanoes erupting simultaneously at the same location, followed by a brief silence... and then, WHAM!" He slammed his hands on the table, making everyone, except for Seran who had been expecting it, jump in fright before giving him mildly annoyed yet thoroughly curious looks, "An extremely hot wave of air smashed into his body, leaving most of his body broken in the process as he was catapulted 10 kilometres eastward and more than a kilometre into the sky. From his unfortunate vantage point, as he was falling, he witnessed the devastating aftermath: the entire city, about half the size of Skyhaven, had completely disappeared, leaving an enormous crater big enough to fit the entire Cloudy Mountain we stand upon inside it and still leave enough space for another half to fit on top of it. The coastline had collapsed as well, and ocean water flooded into the now open space that still radiated smoke and ash into the sky."