A Forgotten Era II

The Aeos were one of the ancient races, being given the simple name of the Ancients. Before humans, elves, dwarves, and so on, occupied the lands, beings materialized by the world itself through magic were the rulers of everything. There were the Earth Walkers, the Water Dwellers, the Fire Keepers, the Sky Bourne, and several others. With their combined effort, they brought life to the world. From there, they adopted their own names and became the Gods that are worshiped today.

The Sky Bourne became the Aeos. Like the rest of the so-called "Gods," they were worshipped by the people whom they created, but as time passed, it became clear that they were no longer needed and so they went into seclusion.

Having been relying on their creators for so long, the creations were distraught when they disappeared. They were angry at their Gods for abandoning them at first but they soon learned how to take care of themselves and as time passed, the Ancients, which was the name given to the creators, were forgotten. They became nothing more than myths.

However, not everyone forgot about them. There were still a select few that passed down the stories of their existence. The creators of the sun for one, also known as the Litash, were the Gods of the humans. They may be gone from this world, but the humans are still able to call upon their spirits and have them manifest, using their magic as a medium. However, the truth was that they were never really gone...

The dwarves followed the Forgers, or the Fire Keepers. The elves did the same for the Evak, the Earth Walkers. The list goes on with each race having their own "God" that they believed in. Out of them all, there was one exception among the Ancients that did not have anyone that worshiped them. They kept to themselves and watched as civilizations progressed, choosing to not interfere as the other Ancients have.

It was safe to say that the Aeos had no one to remember them by and their existence faded into nothingness throughout the ages. Within enough time, they became nothing more than myths. There were no records of them at all.

As for how any of this had to do with the racial war between the demons and humans, it was because two of the Ancient races had a feud with each other. And like parents, like children, the feud carried over to their creations. This, of course, got the other Ancients involved even though they didn't want to be a part of it.

Having broken this oath of not interfering anymore in the current world, a terrible war broke out which would be known later as the Bloodtides War. During the peak of this war, the Ancients gathered together for a meeting to make sure this wouldn't happen again.

Days of discussion quickly became months, and months became years. When it became clear that no conclusion could be reached, that was when the Aeos decided to make the sacrifice. Cooperating with the Drathos, the Ancients of night, they let the Ancients of day have their way and ended the way.

The rest of the story was known to Kies already and the Stormcaller didn't need to explain any of that. The Drathos also abandoned their creations, the demon race and alongside the Aros, they suffered heavy damage.

The "Gods" of the sky were not immortal. They too, could perish just like anybody else. With the fall of the Ancients of the sky and the demons into hiding, it marked the beginning of a new era, a prosperous one with peace... Or so one would believe.

However, taking a look at history, this did not happen. The humans were a proud race, taking on the trait of their creators. Despite the other races having sided with them during the war, the humans betrayed them. And if that wasn't enough, the humans then betrayed each other, causing war between the kingdoms. Finally, they betrayed even their own kingdoms, with the leaders becoming corrupt and choosing to throw away their own people for the sake of wealth.

The Drathos were enraged at this. Besides the Aeos, they were the ones that lost the most from this, and this was the "peace" they got? The other Ancients had already gone back into slumber since they thought that there was no need in watching everything play out. The treaty was made and they had to leave things up to time.

The Drathos saw that there were no redeeming qualities of the humans and demanded that the Wardens, the name given to the Ancients of day by the humans, get rid of their own creation, pointing out how they were going to be the end of the world.

The Wardens, being the prideful bunch they are, blamed it on anyone but them. They refused to destroy their own creation, arguing that it was because the other creations were lesser than their own. Furious, the Drathos ran to the Aeos once more for help. However, the Aeos were no more. They were on their own.

Since all the other Ancients were slumbering and nowhere to be found, the Drathos had no choice but to take matters into their own hands.

The oath, which was sworn upon by all the Ancients was broken once more. The Drathos communicated with the demons, even going so far as to lend them their powers. Using this method, the demons grew immensely powerful, making up for their lack of numbers.

The Wardens were not happy about this least to say. Abiding the oath they made, the Wardens did not lend their power to the humans anymore. They didn't need to. Before the birth of the first human, the Wardens wanted their creation to be perfect. If they couldn't achieve perfection then they wanted it to be better than the others. And one way to do that is to take the elements of the other creations and put them into theirs.

Magic is not something anyone can use. It is a blessing. And the ones who gave out these blessings were none other than the Ancients. While it was possible for a creation to use magic that didn't belong to their creator because another Ancient outside theirs favored them, in most cases, the creations would only be able to use the magic of their creators.

The majority of dwarves used fire magic and the majority of the elves used some sort of nature or life magic. Should an Ancient that isn't their creator take interest in them, they could bless them with magic that their race normally doesn't see. An example, though very rare, would be an elf with the blessing of fire. And this is the exact reason why it is impossible to find a human with dark magic and a demon with light magic.

However, the humans were able to utilize all other sorts of magic. Why was this? Well, the answer was a simple one. The Wardens just took some of the blessings of the other Ancients without their consent and gave them to their own creations, equipping the human race with a variety of magic capabilities during their creation.

At first, this worked wonderfully for the Wardens. Every human was able to wield multiple types of magic, but... There was a problem. Fire did not work well with water or ice. Life conflicted with death. While the other races were given at most one blessing, the humans were given all of them. This led to the magic canceling out in most humans, rendering them unable to use magic. And even in the cases where one could use more than one type of magic, one of the blessings would overpower the others, essentially restricting them to only one anyway. This was a huge blunder on the Wardens' part. If only they weren't so greedy... Then many more humans would have been able to wield light magic.

The Stormcaller told Kies all of this while shaking his head disappointedly, pitying the outcome of the human race. Magic users were difficult to find among humans for this reason. The Stormcaller ended the story here, finding there to be no need of telling Kies the rest as he has already seen the rest of it himself.

"So... How does any of that have to do with why we chose to sacrifice ourselves?" Kies asked, astonished by the fact that the Aeos basically did all this for the sake of it. It wasn't even their problem to start off with and yet they gave up so much for the mistakes of the other Ancients. This selflessness, he saw it as foolish and not heroic.

"How, you ask?" The Stormcaller tapped his feet, thinking of a way to tell Kies. "This may sound bizarre, but if we don't stop this, then the world will end."

"...What?" Kies found this hard to believe but since it was coming out of the Stormcaller's mouth, it had to have some merit, didn't it? "The world will end?"

"Yes. As unbelievable as it sounds, it is true. And unfortunately, I can't explain this to you either... I'm not allowed to. All you need to know is that the Ancients won't stand back and watch this war unfold, not a second time."

The so-called calamity that the Stormcaller hinted at, did it have something to do with the Ancients descending on this world again? "You're telling me that I have to stop this war!?" Kies exclaimed.

"No. You don't have to. If you don't care about this world then you can sit by and watch everything return to dust. It's your choice. I won't tell you what to do from now on." The Stormcaller got up and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Kies called out to him to get him to stop. He had many questions.

The Stormcaller did stop but he didn't turn back around. "The promise you made that day... And the other... And recently... Are they all just empty promises?" he asked Kies.

"Promises?" Kies wasn't sure what the Stormcaller was talking about.

"For a better future."

It took Kies a second, but he remembered what the Stormcaller was talking about. "...You were watching!?" It was the promise he made the other night on top of the roof. But it wasn't really a promise. It was just motivation to keep himself going, and the Stormcaller knew this as well as Kies did. Although he took on the Stormcaller's final wishes, it was more like a temporary goal to keep him going. He took on the task because he didn't know what else to do...

"You're lost, aren't you? You can either choose to stay lost... Or you can find your way. It's up to you," the Stormcaller said again. The choice was all Kies. "I said it before, and I'll say it again, this will be the last time I can help you. You're on your own now. I'll respect your decision no matter what you choose. This is farewell."

"Wait!" Kies called out to the Stormcaller again but he didn't stop this time. The Ancient melted into empty air and was gone, leaving Kies standing alone in the middle of nowhere.

No... It wasn't the middle of nowhere... All around him, things began to change shape and colors became distorted. In just a few seconds, the small empty paradise in the sky turned into a lifeless and dark, yet familiar place.

The ruins... Kies was now standing in the ruins of the floating island which sank to the earth.

"..."

Emotions that Kies thought he had long forgotten came surging back in his head like a tsunami. Frustration. He was frustrated at everything that happened. Loneliness. He didn't know why but he felt empty inside after the Stormcaller left. And lastly, regret... He didn't know why he was feeling a sense of regret either, but the feeling gnawed at him.

However, Kies did know one thing... He had to find out the whole story himself. The Ancients... Beings that were considered Gods... He was one. And based on his knowledge, he was the last and only one of his race too.

The end of the world? And saving it? Learning the truth? There were a lot of things that he had to do now... But... Kies punched the next to him, frustrated. It shook and a handful of the few precious leaves it had became loose and fluttered to the floor, returning to the earth.

"Why me...?"

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