Beneath the Lost Skies: The Magic and the Weight of History
Carlos, the demon, took care of the stewardship of the military forces by organizing rigorous training for Cælora's troops. He led each elite group with unwavering determination and elevated warriors to a level of skill never seen before.
Cælora's army was now more formidable than ever, a mix of vampires, elves, dwarves, goblins, dragons, demons and humans prepared to face any threat.
In the huge training plain of Cælora, there was a great deal of tension. The magician soldiers dressed in their uniforms stood in a line under Carlos' gaze.
«Today, you will not be wise men. You will be fighters.»
A murmur ran through the ranks. Zeriel, a human mage specializing in lightning, was silent. Valken, a dragon clenched his fist. Eldra, a magician elf who mastered celestial magic exchanged a worried look with her comrades.
— Carlos: «Put down your poles. Let go of your enchantments. Here, only brute strength and technique count. If you want to survive, you have to learn to fight without artifice.»
The Magicians hesitated for a moment. To them, combat without magic was an absurdity. But when faced with Carlos, a demon known for single-handedly defeating legions refusing was not an option.
Carlos: «Let those who think they can touch me come.»
With a battle cry, Zeriel rushed first, followed by a dozen others.
Carlos barely moved. He dodged a punch with a simple movement of his head and grabbed Zeriel by the throat before crushing him to the ground like a rag doll.
"Too slow."
Valken was attempting a martial hold. Carlos parried with one hand and violently threw him against another mage. Another tried to hit him in the side but Carlos spun and struck him with his knee that sent him rolling several meters.
The fight became a brutal choreography. Carlos, without magic completely dominated his opponents. His body moved with diabolical precision: millimeter dodges devastating counters, bone-breaking throws.
He grabbed Eldra in the middle of the jump flipped her into the air and then smashed her to the ground while sweeping away three other fighters with a roundhouse kick.
His control of the fight was absolute.
A mage attempted a concealed stabbing. Carlos twisted his wrist with brutality and pinned him to the ground with a blow of his palm that made the earth shake.
«If you don't know how to fight without your magic, you'll die to the first anti-magician who comes along.»
Several mages were on the ground covered in sweat and dust. Some were groaning in pain. But in their eyes there was a kind of understanding.
Carlos released Eldra and Zeriel and crossed his arms.
«Get up.»
Despite the pain, everyone got on their feet.
«Again.»
There was a wild smile on the demon's lips. Cælora's army would fear no threat.
Meanwhile, Eirlys the dragon stood in front of the vast shelves of one of Cælora's libraries, an endless sea of scrolls, scrolls, and books. The Great Tower of Cælora was one of the most sacred places in the kingdom with its top barely touching the heavens.
Morning light through colorful stained glass windows illuminated the ancient tomes and artifacts arranged on pedestals. She felt a shiver of respect wash over her mind every time she entered that room. Every object here had a story. Each book an ancient secret.
She had been chosen not for her strength but for her ability to understand the importance of preserving this knowledge. Eirlys knew that without this knowledge, the kingdom was in danger of falling into oblivion and that without the roots of memory, it was impossible to understand the current struggles.
That morning, she was captivated by the ancient manuscript found in the depths of the library, the Codex of Balance. This book was of great importance not only because it contained forbidden knowledge about ancient civilizations, but also because it seemed to describe the mystical principles that maintained harmony between realms and dimensions.
The lines of the work were written in an ancient, indecipherable language, but Eirlys thanks to her dragon nature had learned to recognize the symbols, rhythms and nuances of this lost writing.
Her fingers flipped through the pages and she concentrated. The magic contained in these pages was not only arcane but philosophical. The ancients believed that the balance between the worlds was not maintained by brute force but by a fragile interplay of invisible forces: human actions, choices, and cosmic energies that intersected at critical moments.
This wisdom had been lost over the ages and many of the ancient rituals described in the codex were now obsolete, if not forbidden, because their power was too dangerous to exploit.
Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching behind her. She turned her head slightly and saw a familiar figure. It was the mage Orin, one of his former students who had now become a young scholar on the rise in the royal court of Cælora.
– Orin: «Mistress Eirlys. I find you still immersed in these dusty books. Don't you have a little respite to give your mind?»
Eirlys: «Wisdom is found in the constant search for truth even if it means walking dark paths.»
He walked over and looked at the open book in front of her. His eyes narrowed when he saw the ancient symbols before looking at his mentor with great curiosity.
– Orin: «Are you still looking for the old magic? You know that kind of power is dangerous... and that this book is sealed for a reason.»
– Eirlys: «Knowing everything is dangerous, Orin. But everything is also necessary. These rituals that you fear have not been forgotten for nothing, of course. But their real danger lies not in their use but in our misunderstanding of what they represent. The balance between power and wisdom is fragile. If we allow ourselves to lose one of the two, everything collapses.»
– Orin: «But if...»He paused, searching for his words. «What if you discovered that this balance has been distorted?»
Eirlys: «If that happens, then the kingdom will be nothing more than a sandcastle ready to be swallowed up. History will not forgive us for such mistakes.»
He was silent for a moment thinking about the gravity of his words.
Orin: «What should we do then?» he asked in a dubious voice.
Eirlys was heading to another shelf where she was pulling out an ancient scroll, smaller than the Codex of Balance. It was a rare document almost unknown to the students of the kingdom. The Chronicle of the Five Spheres.
Eirlys: «There is a more subtle path»,she says as she unrolls the scroll. «A path back to the source. Each sphere represents a phase of existence, a stage of evolution through which the kingdom has passed. We need to understand these steps, understand where and when the balance started to crack.»
She paused with her gaze in the old scriptures and then continued:
«The answers will not come from a simple rebellion or a conquest. They come from the dialogue with history, with what we have forgotten.»
Orin would walk up and take a look at the symbols on the reel. He didn't understand everything but he felt a sense of renewal of hope perhaps that emanated from these ancient words. He felt that there was an invisible connection to these lost civilisations to their quest for truth and balance.
–Orin: «Do you think it's still possible to restore this balance?»
–Orin: «It is always possible to restore balance, Orin. But the question is whether we, the heirs of these ancient wisdoms, are capable of doing so. The path will be strewn with pitfalls and perhaps the kingdom will suffer before it is reborn. But it is too important to ignore.»
Eirlys' words echoed in his head and Orin knew that he was standing on the threshold of something bigger than himself. The quest to restore balance was not simply a matter of magic or conquest. It was a struggle to understand the meaning of existence and to reconcile history.
By this time, he was no longer just a young scholar. He had become a witness to a thousand-year-old secret, a secret that if discovered could change the fate of the entire kingdom.
CHAPTER ENDED.