Post by Monika on Oct 4, 2009 21:17:34 GMT -5
At first I was hesitant to post this since I'm pretty sure no one actually read the first one (which is understandable from its comparatively large length) but then I decided to say "WHATEVER" and post this one anyway. This details the birth of the Four Elemental Orbs and the creation of magic as well as Super Land's longstanding hatred of Awesome Land. You don't need any background information, but you REALLY need to read the first one before starting this one. It may not make any sense otherwise. So, without further ado, I bring to you Awesome Land Origins: Creation of the Four Orbs!
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For a long time, the equivalent of what would today be called several years, the people of Earth and Seraphina and Delmerith lived in peace. The two gods would come to Earth when needed to solve problems. They would create water for their people when needed, but eventually grew tired of this and created clouds to produce water when necessary. They created fire for their people when needed, but eventually tired of this also and imbued the property of fire within various chemicals and products such as wood. This lessened the amount of times they had to go to Earth, but once the clouds dried up and wood was burned away they had to start all over. The two agreed that they could not do this forever and that sooner or later the humans would have to become self sufficient. What the two could not agree upon, however, was how they should do this.
“Why do we not just give them limitless control over the four Forces we created for their survival? It certainly would be easier than having to return to Earth everyday just to create the Forces for them.” Seraphina explained her side of the debate. She was happy to do anything for her creations; she felt the emotion of love whenever she referred to them. Like any other being, however, she enjoyed doing things for herself. “Yes, it would be a lot simpler, but far more dangerous, Sera.” Delmerith argued. He had since grown into the habit of calling Seraphina ‘Sera’ for short, as it was much easier and saved time. “Those Forces shape the world into what it is. If we let just any of them have the Forces, who knows what chaos they could wreak upon the planet!” “Well, why don’t we endow a select person with limitless control over the Forces?” Seraphina asked, although she immediately regretted it. “Are you out of your mind!?” Delmerith yelled. “Yes, let’s just give some random human the power to control the entire world! While we’re at it, let’s set saber tooth tigers and electric dragons on them for good measure!”
Seraphina sighed. “Well, if we give one Force to a different person, perhaps there will be a sense of balance.” Delmerith shook his head. “Even if we split the power between the four and they somehow didn’t let it get to their head, those people would eventually die. What happens to the powers then? We would have to go down there and reassign the power to someone else, and that would be as much trouble as just creating the Forces when needed in the first place!” Delmerith shouted. He was growing tired of the debate and was determined to win as soon as possible. “Well, do you have any better ideas, Delmerith?” Seraphina asked, equally tired and willing to let Delmerith win for the sake of ending the argument. “I say we give them our power.” Delmerith began, but Seraphina immediately began laughing. “And you say I’m out of my mind?! We can’t just go letting them have all of our power! That would be-” “Let me finish.” Delmerith interrupted. “I say we go down to Earth and channel some of our power into it as we always do, but we leave the power there before we go. Then we allow all of our creations to access the power when they need it. We’ll call it magic.” Delmerith said as he pulled up his robe sleeves. “Instead of giving four people the power to do this…” He summoned and endless torrent of flames from the floor of their palace and immediately doused them with a huge flood, drying the area with random tornadoes. “We give all of them the power to do relatively small tasks, such as this…” Delmerith created fire balls and a light rain from the sky.
“So you’re saying we give them access to our power of creation from Earth to perform these tasks when they need to?” Seraphina asked. Delmerith smiled and nodded, hoping she realized how perfect an idea it was. “Well…What happens when the task is over? Where does the power used to create this ‘magic’ go?” Seraphina said triumphantly, hoping she had found a flaw. “That’s the glory of it, Sera. Once the task is over, the power used to create the magic is sent back into the Earth where it can be used again. If we follow my plan, then the humans and all creatures will be able to sustain themselves for eternity!” Delmerith said happily, and Seraphina felt a twinge from annoyance. “Well, I don’t see any problems with your plan…But…” Seraphina hurriedly tried to find a flaw in Delmerith’s plan. As much as she wanted the argument to end, part of her still wanted to win. “What’s to say that someone isn’t able to summon tornadoes and floods as they please? Our power is limitless, and even if we leave a portion of it there for all creatures to use, they could still create disasters with it. For all we know, ages from now some young person could use this magic to destroy the entire population of the world!” Seraphina explained, and she created a hologram of the planet and watched as it exploded.
“There’s nothing stopping anyone from doing that.” Delmerith explained, and Seraphina was about to rejoice in victory until he continued. “But as you said, our power is limitless, and any human who tried to amass all of it for such a disaster would invariably be destroyed physically and mentally. And even if a human came along who was able to resist destruction, he would still have to take ages to learn how to use all of this power, and hopefully by that time people will have tried and succeeded in stopping him.” Seraphina put her head down on a table and conceded victory to Delmerith. “You go down there and create this ‘magic’ of yours, Delmerith. I’ll be down momentarily.” Seraphina bid Delmerith farewell and laughed as he went down to Awesome Land.
“Haha. He may have won the argument, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let his idea take over!” Seraphina quickly began working on her own plan, drawing up various designs before going to Awesome Land herself in secret. She disguised herself as a young, small, basket carrying girl cloaked in a purple robe and approached the home of Vesler, a man who had become well known throughout the world for his craftsmanship. Seraphina knocked on the door; a very gruff voice answered. “Who is it?” The voice did not sound very pleased and Seraphina recoiled before realizing she had to come up with a fake name so as not to give away her presence. She had to prevent Delmerith from finding out about her scheme at all costs. “Um…It is…Sera!” she exclaimed after much hesitation. ‘Hmm…I hope that name is good enough…I’ll have to work on keeping a low profile later…’ she thought as she waited for the door to open. “What do you want?” the voice answered angrily. “I…I would like to buy some crafts.” Seraphina said, and the door opened to reveal a relatively young man, perhaps in his early 20s, with long black hair and a slightly muscular physique that fit his average, less than 6“ height. “What? A little girl? You will forgive me for my rudeness! This is my father’s workshop, and he says that I will never be a master craftsman until I shun all things besides my work. Sorry.” Vesler extended his hand as an apology, and Seraphina shook it, causing him to immediately withdraw. “Quite the…um…handshake you have there…” Vesler said suspiciously, staring at Seraphina’s hand. “What did you say your name was, little girl?” Vesler asked, dunking his hand in a container of ice water he normally used for forging tools.
“Sera.” Seraphina repeated, trying her best to act as human like as possible. “Right. Well, what did you need, ‘Sera’? And what‘s in the basket?” Vesler asked. He was a very bright man, not only an expert at crafting but at all things in general, and he gave off the impression that he did not believe Seraphina at all. “I’m glad you asked. I heard that you were one of the best craftsmen in the world and I would like you to make four glass orbs, like these.” Seraphina took the drawings from the basket. They detailed four perfectly spherical glass balls, aesthetically pleasing with a relatively small size. An average size man could fit two or three of them in his hand. “Well, I thank you for the task, but why me? Surely you could have gotten any craftsman to create four orbs?” Vesler asked, eying the documents inquisitively. “Yes, yes I could have. But the glass for these orbs…Only you have it. It’s a very special glass with…strange properties. It expands at the holder’s will and can store…um…It can store things…like water…or fire.” Seraphina stumbled over her words several times, trying to explain clearly without revealing her purpose.
“Ah, yes, a very rare glass indeed. Father and I found this one day in the center of Awesome Land where Lord Delmerith and Lady Seraphina descended one day. It is very difficult to work with; even my father could not mold it into anything useful. I, however, managed in creating a plethora of objects with it, and let me tell you that it is one powerful glass!” Vesler said proudly, showing Seraphina various cups, tables, desks and other glass objects. Seraphina nodded and smiled. “So can you make the orbs, Vesler?” Seraphina asked excitedly, eager to succeed in her own goal before Delmerith. “Of course. And for you, Lady Seraphina, I’ll make them free of charge.” Vesler laughed, looking directly into Seraphina’s eyes. “S-Seraphina? Surely you must h-have me mistaken w-with-” Seraphina hastily tried to come up with some lie to feed Vesler, but he merely laughed again. “Haha, you can’t pull the wool over my eyes. The handshake, the need for this glass, the name. All signs point to our goddess Seraphina.” Vesler put mittens on each of his hands and took out a vat of molten glass from his furnace. Seraphina sighed and said “Yes. It is I, Seraphina. But you mustn’t let anyone know, especially Delmerith. These orbs are a secret plan of mine.” Seraphina pleaded. “Of course. Your secret’s safe with me. The orbs shall be ready soon enough…” Vesler said, and he set to work as Seraphina watched eagerly at the mysterious ways of craftsmanship.
Meanwhile, in the center of Awesome Land, Delmerith had gathered a huge crowd of people so that he could give his first demonstration of the concept of magic. The crowd cheered, even before Delmerith had begun. “People of Awesome Land, for ages have you had countless problems, for ages have you tried to solve them, and for ages have Seraphina and I come down to solve them for you!” Delmerith began, and the crowd silenced themselves, wondering where this speech was going. “And for ages have Seraphina and I grown tired of this.” Delmerith braced himself as the people now jeered him. “That isn’t to say that we don’t love you, because we do. But we think it’s time that you do these things yourselves.” Delmerith waited for the crowd to respond. “And just how do you think we do that? We have no way to just make water for our drink and fire for our foods!” the townsfolk yelled, and Delmerith felt mildly annoyed. “That’s what I’ve come here to tell you! Listen!” he yelled back, and the crowd silenced themselves once more.
“Whenever Sera and I - that’s Seraphina’s shortened name - come down here, we each leave a portion of our power in the Earth to prevent our presence from causing too much destruction. I had the brilliant idea that if we left our power here and gave all of you access to it, you would be able to create water or fire when necessary and sustain yourselves for as long as you live.” Delmerith explained, and the people once again cheered. The cheer stopped abruptly as the townsfolk asked “And how are we supposed to use this power of yours? You are a god, Delmerith, and we humans cannot just harness that kind of power!” “That’s my second goal here today. I am going to give you all preliminary instruction on using this power, which I have called ’magic’. For some of the more powerful effects to occur you will need to practice, but creating things such as fire and water when needed should be simple enough.” Delmerith said, and the magic coaching process began.
Back in Vesler’s workshop, the four glass orbs had been completed, and Seraphina began jumping up and down in excitement. “Thank you very much, Vesler. Now, watch as I begin my own plan. While Delmerith is out creating this magic of his, I will imbue these four orbs with limitless control over the Forces needed for your survival!” Seraphina exclaimed, transforming into her true, goddess form and levitating one of the orbs between her hands. “Wind…” Seraphina spoke, and flashes of light were emitted from her hands, brightening the entire land and attracting some unwanted attention from some unsavory neighbors…
In Super Land (still on the ground at this point), Ophanis, a man of around 6’5” and imposing stature, the man whose insolence had given all of his people shining wings, and the man who had since become the very militant leader of his country, sat upon a golden throne in a golden palace created from resources he and his citizens had stolen from across the world. Ophanis, who was perhaps 10 years older than when he had first burdened his people with wings, had mastered the art of flying, just as all of his people had, and had begun commissioning some people as scouts to spy on the world, or - more specifically - Awesome Land. One such scout landed at Ophanis’ feet and said “High Seraph Ophanis.” bowing before him. Ophanis had taken on the title of ‘High Seraph’ perhaps to honor Seraphina or, more likely, to spite her.
“What is it?” Ophanis demanded, grabbing his golden scepter, the weapon he most often used to inflict punishment to those who delivered bad news. “While patrolling around Awesome Land, per your orders, I noticed a most peculiar event.” the scout said, standing at his full height and staring at Ophanis. Ophanis stared back coldly and yelled “Spit it out! I don’t have time to waste.” The scout continued. “I saw Lady Seraphina-Sorry.” Ophanis had condemned the use of the title ‘Lady’ before Seraphina’s name and scowled at the scout. “I saw Seraphina in the workshop of that craftsman, Vesler, holding an orb between her hands. She seemed to be channeling some sort of energy into the orb. Quite peculiar.” the scout finished his report.
“Is that all?” Ophanis demanded, loosening the grip on his staff. “That doesn’t…Wait. Seraphina…Orb…Something does not seem quite right about this. Continue your patrol, and pay extra attention to Vesler and Seraphina. And while you’re at it, see what that fool Delmerith is up to as well.” Ophanis commanded, and the scout nodded, flying back to Awesome Land, directly above Vesler’s workshop.
Seraphina had finished imbuing each orb with a different element and smiled at Vesler, awaiting a response. Vesler stood their with his mouth ajar, shocked and unable to find any words for what he had just seen. “I don’t blame you. I’m sure I would be speechless if I were not accustomed to such an event. Well, I suppose I had better explain.” Seraphina said, the four orbs - one red, one blue, one brown and one clear - floating around her. “Although Delmerith’s magic idea is wonderful, I feel that…well…I’m inclined to like my own idea better. These four orbs will give the possessor unlimited power over Water, Fire, Earth and Air.“ Seraphina demonstrated, holding the Orb of Wind toward Vesler. The papers in the workshop began flying around in a circular motion, suggesting that an invisible tornado was present. “These…Orbs of Nature, I’ll call them…should only be given to such a person I find trustworthy, obviously, and as this person I choose you, Vesler.” Seraphina smiled again, but Vesler merely shook his head, trying not to faint. “Me…Power…Nature…Joking! All a joke…” he rambled incoherently. Seraphina laughed and reassured him. “Yes, I understand. Such power you humans are not accustomed to. But you’ll be fine with them; don’t worry. Just try not to let the Orbs of Nature fall into the wrong hands. Who knows what could happen!” Seraphina warned him, and with that she re-disguised herself, set the Orbs down and walked over to where Delmerith was hosting the magic assembly. Vesler sat down on the floor and looked at the Orbs. Each one radiated a warmth and power he could not begin to describe. He began documenting this experience on a sheet of paper, while the Super Land scout above him did the same.
“How interesting. Very, very interesting. Lord Ophanis will be most pleased.” the scout chuckled, and he flew over to the crowd near Delmerith, flying just high enough so that he could see what was going on without being noticed. The people in the crowd had their eyes closed, focusing their minds and listening to Delmerith’s words. “Once you master this art of focusing, you’ll be able to use magic easily.” Delmerith told them. “With magic, you could accomplish just about anything. You could create a small toy…” Delmerith summoned a ball in his left hand and threw it into the crowd. “…or a natural disaster.” The god created a tidal wave which disappeared right before it hit the crowd. “All you need to do is practice. Now, I want you to focus on fire. Think warm thoughts, perhaps a pot of soup or something…” Sparks appeared in front of some people in the crowd; miniature flames appeared in front of others. It was clear that some were naturals at Delmerith’s proposed magic idea, but they all slowly began to understand it just the same. The scout above them wrote down what he saw and hurried over to Super Land, descending at Ophanis’ feet once more.
“What news do you have this time?” the High Seraph demanded, clutching his golden scepter anxiously. “Delmerith has created something called magic which allows anyone to access his reservoir of power to create any phenomenon that he or she can think of. What’s more, it seems that the orbs that Seraphina created, so called ‘Orbs of Nature’, give unlimited power of the four Forces - Water, Fire, Earth and Air - to anyone who holds them.” the scout reported. “WHAT?!” Ophanis yelled, rising to his full, frightening height and smacking the scout across the face with his staff, sending him to the ground. “That wretch always did favor Awesome Land and its people over the rest of us. No matter…I’ll just have to secure these ‘Orbs of Nature’ for myself. Then shall this world cower before me as its true ruler and shall Seraphina whimper before my might.” Ophanis laughed. “Stand up.” he commanded the scout. “There is work to be done. Thank goodness we were given the power to destroy.” Ophanis thought aloud as he stepped outside the palace and surveyed his people, all of whom were performing normal, everyday tasks, with the assistance of flight, of course.
“All of you, gather around!” Ophanis yelled in his loud, soul piercing voice. The people of Super Land all came together in a crowd, kneeling before their leader. “From what my intelligence agent has told me, Awesome Land has been given a great power by Seraphina: the ability to control the Forces we use everyday.” People gasped as he said this and began to stand from anger. “But Seraphina is a wretched fool and did not foresee the great country of Super Land intervening in her plans.” The crowd began to cheer but was silenced after receiving a quick glance from Ophanis. “For far too long has she given them aid, helped them with such menial tasks, and generally preferred them over us, her more perfect creatures!” Murmurs rang throughout the crowd in agreement and Ophanis smiled as his manipulation worked. “Forever shall she and all of Awesome Land regret the day that she scorned my people! The hour shall soon pass when our chance to strike at this odious fool of a god and the people she loves most shall arise, so let us make haste, brethren!”
Ophanis had the crowd riled up now; even if he had commanded them he could not have gotten them silent. He began to point at various people in the crowd and assign them tasks. “You, create objects with which we can end the lives of the people of Awesome Land. You, begin training soldiers with which to use these objects! And you, scout…You tell me more about this magic so that we may use it against them. The time when Super Land lives in the shadow of its neighbor country has long since passed! Soon not only Awesome Land, but all of the world shall learn to fear the great Super Land, and its great leader: The High Seraph Ophanis!” The crowd went absolutely insane for this speech and immediately started creating weapons and training soldiers. As Ophanis and his scout went into his palace to discuss magic, a shadow set over the horizon, and it was clear that Awesome Land’s fate…and perhaps the fate of the world…would be paved in blood.
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BLABLA HOPE YOU ENJOYED. Questions, Comments, Concerns? Post 'em here and I'll come back and answer them ASAP. Until next time, this is
(Insert current Username here)
Signing Off
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For a long time, the equivalent of what would today be called several years, the people of Earth and Seraphina and Delmerith lived in peace. The two gods would come to Earth when needed to solve problems. They would create water for their people when needed, but eventually grew tired of this and created clouds to produce water when necessary. They created fire for their people when needed, but eventually tired of this also and imbued the property of fire within various chemicals and products such as wood. This lessened the amount of times they had to go to Earth, but once the clouds dried up and wood was burned away they had to start all over. The two agreed that they could not do this forever and that sooner or later the humans would have to become self sufficient. What the two could not agree upon, however, was how they should do this.
“Why do we not just give them limitless control over the four Forces we created for their survival? It certainly would be easier than having to return to Earth everyday just to create the Forces for them.” Seraphina explained her side of the debate. She was happy to do anything for her creations; she felt the emotion of love whenever she referred to them. Like any other being, however, she enjoyed doing things for herself. “Yes, it would be a lot simpler, but far more dangerous, Sera.” Delmerith argued. He had since grown into the habit of calling Seraphina ‘Sera’ for short, as it was much easier and saved time. “Those Forces shape the world into what it is. If we let just any of them have the Forces, who knows what chaos they could wreak upon the planet!” “Well, why don’t we endow a select person with limitless control over the Forces?” Seraphina asked, although she immediately regretted it. “Are you out of your mind!?” Delmerith yelled. “Yes, let’s just give some random human the power to control the entire world! While we’re at it, let’s set saber tooth tigers and electric dragons on them for good measure!”
Seraphina sighed. “Well, if we give one Force to a different person, perhaps there will be a sense of balance.” Delmerith shook his head. “Even if we split the power between the four and they somehow didn’t let it get to their head, those people would eventually die. What happens to the powers then? We would have to go down there and reassign the power to someone else, and that would be as much trouble as just creating the Forces when needed in the first place!” Delmerith shouted. He was growing tired of the debate and was determined to win as soon as possible. “Well, do you have any better ideas, Delmerith?” Seraphina asked, equally tired and willing to let Delmerith win for the sake of ending the argument. “I say we give them our power.” Delmerith began, but Seraphina immediately began laughing. “And you say I’m out of my mind?! We can’t just go letting them have all of our power! That would be-” “Let me finish.” Delmerith interrupted. “I say we go down to Earth and channel some of our power into it as we always do, but we leave the power there before we go. Then we allow all of our creations to access the power when they need it. We’ll call it magic.” Delmerith said as he pulled up his robe sleeves. “Instead of giving four people the power to do this…” He summoned and endless torrent of flames from the floor of their palace and immediately doused them with a huge flood, drying the area with random tornadoes. “We give all of them the power to do relatively small tasks, such as this…” Delmerith created fire balls and a light rain from the sky.
“So you’re saying we give them access to our power of creation from Earth to perform these tasks when they need to?” Seraphina asked. Delmerith smiled and nodded, hoping she realized how perfect an idea it was. “Well…What happens when the task is over? Where does the power used to create this ‘magic’ go?” Seraphina said triumphantly, hoping she had found a flaw. “That’s the glory of it, Sera. Once the task is over, the power used to create the magic is sent back into the Earth where it can be used again. If we follow my plan, then the humans and all creatures will be able to sustain themselves for eternity!” Delmerith said happily, and Seraphina felt a twinge from annoyance. “Well, I don’t see any problems with your plan…But…” Seraphina hurriedly tried to find a flaw in Delmerith’s plan. As much as she wanted the argument to end, part of her still wanted to win. “What’s to say that someone isn’t able to summon tornadoes and floods as they please? Our power is limitless, and even if we leave a portion of it there for all creatures to use, they could still create disasters with it. For all we know, ages from now some young person could use this magic to destroy the entire population of the world!” Seraphina explained, and she created a hologram of the planet and watched as it exploded.
“There’s nothing stopping anyone from doing that.” Delmerith explained, and Seraphina was about to rejoice in victory until he continued. “But as you said, our power is limitless, and any human who tried to amass all of it for such a disaster would invariably be destroyed physically and mentally. And even if a human came along who was able to resist destruction, he would still have to take ages to learn how to use all of this power, and hopefully by that time people will have tried and succeeded in stopping him.” Seraphina put her head down on a table and conceded victory to Delmerith. “You go down there and create this ‘magic’ of yours, Delmerith. I’ll be down momentarily.” Seraphina bid Delmerith farewell and laughed as he went down to Awesome Land.
“Haha. He may have won the argument, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let his idea take over!” Seraphina quickly began working on her own plan, drawing up various designs before going to Awesome Land herself in secret. She disguised herself as a young, small, basket carrying girl cloaked in a purple robe and approached the home of Vesler, a man who had become well known throughout the world for his craftsmanship. Seraphina knocked on the door; a very gruff voice answered. “Who is it?” The voice did not sound very pleased and Seraphina recoiled before realizing she had to come up with a fake name so as not to give away her presence. She had to prevent Delmerith from finding out about her scheme at all costs. “Um…It is…Sera!” she exclaimed after much hesitation. ‘Hmm…I hope that name is good enough…I’ll have to work on keeping a low profile later…’ she thought as she waited for the door to open. “What do you want?” the voice answered angrily. “I…I would like to buy some crafts.” Seraphina said, and the door opened to reveal a relatively young man, perhaps in his early 20s, with long black hair and a slightly muscular physique that fit his average, less than 6“ height. “What? A little girl? You will forgive me for my rudeness! This is my father’s workshop, and he says that I will never be a master craftsman until I shun all things besides my work. Sorry.” Vesler extended his hand as an apology, and Seraphina shook it, causing him to immediately withdraw. “Quite the…um…handshake you have there…” Vesler said suspiciously, staring at Seraphina’s hand. “What did you say your name was, little girl?” Vesler asked, dunking his hand in a container of ice water he normally used for forging tools.
“Sera.” Seraphina repeated, trying her best to act as human like as possible. “Right. Well, what did you need, ‘Sera’? And what‘s in the basket?” Vesler asked. He was a very bright man, not only an expert at crafting but at all things in general, and he gave off the impression that he did not believe Seraphina at all. “I’m glad you asked. I heard that you were one of the best craftsmen in the world and I would like you to make four glass orbs, like these.” Seraphina took the drawings from the basket. They detailed four perfectly spherical glass balls, aesthetically pleasing with a relatively small size. An average size man could fit two or three of them in his hand. “Well, I thank you for the task, but why me? Surely you could have gotten any craftsman to create four orbs?” Vesler asked, eying the documents inquisitively. “Yes, yes I could have. But the glass for these orbs…Only you have it. It’s a very special glass with…strange properties. It expands at the holder’s will and can store…um…It can store things…like water…or fire.” Seraphina stumbled over her words several times, trying to explain clearly without revealing her purpose.
“Ah, yes, a very rare glass indeed. Father and I found this one day in the center of Awesome Land where Lord Delmerith and Lady Seraphina descended one day. It is very difficult to work with; even my father could not mold it into anything useful. I, however, managed in creating a plethora of objects with it, and let me tell you that it is one powerful glass!” Vesler said proudly, showing Seraphina various cups, tables, desks and other glass objects. Seraphina nodded and smiled. “So can you make the orbs, Vesler?” Seraphina asked excitedly, eager to succeed in her own goal before Delmerith. “Of course. And for you, Lady Seraphina, I’ll make them free of charge.” Vesler laughed, looking directly into Seraphina’s eyes. “S-Seraphina? Surely you must h-have me mistaken w-with-” Seraphina hastily tried to come up with some lie to feed Vesler, but he merely laughed again. “Haha, you can’t pull the wool over my eyes. The handshake, the need for this glass, the name. All signs point to our goddess Seraphina.” Vesler put mittens on each of his hands and took out a vat of molten glass from his furnace. Seraphina sighed and said “Yes. It is I, Seraphina. But you mustn’t let anyone know, especially Delmerith. These orbs are a secret plan of mine.” Seraphina pleaded. “Of course. Your secret’s safe with me. The orbs shall be ready soon enough…” Vesler said, and he set to work as Seraphina watched eagerly at the mysterious ways of craftsmanship.
Meanwhile, in the center of Awesome Land, Delmerith had gathered a huge crowd of people so that he could give his first demonstration of the concept of magic. The crowd cheered, even before Delmerith had begun. “People of Awesome Land, for ages have you had countless problems, for ages have you tried to solve them, and for ages have Seraphina and I come down to solve them for you!” Delmerith began, and the crowd silenced themselves, wondering where this speech was going. “And for ages have Seraphina and I grown tired of this.” Delmerith braced himself as the people now jeered him. “That isn’t to say that we don’t love you, because we do. But we think it’s time that you do these things yourselves.” Delmerith waited for the crowd to respond. “And just how do you think we do that? We have no way to just make water for our drink and fire for our foods!” the townsfolk yelled, and Delmerith felt mildly annoyed. “That’s what I’ve come here to tell you! Listen!” he yelled back, and the crowd silenced themselves once more.
“Whenever Sera and I - that’s Seraphina’s shortened name - come down here, we each leave a portion of our power in the Earth to prevent our presence from causing too much destruction. I had the brilliant idea that if we left our power here and gave all of you access to it, you would be able to create water or fire when necessary and sustain yourselves for as long as you live.” Delmerith explained, and the people once again cheered. The cheer stopped abruptly as the townsfolk asked “And how are we supposed to use this power of yours? You are a god, Delmerith, and we humans cannot just harness that kind of power!” “That’s my second goal here today. I am going to give you all preliminary instruction on using this power, which I have called ’magic’. For some of the more powerful effects to occur you will need to practice, but creating things such as fire and water when needed should be simple enough.” Delmerith said, and the magic coaching process began.
Back in Vesler’s workshop, the four glass orbs had been completed, and Seraphina began jumping up and down in excitement. “Thank you very much, Vesler. Now, watch as I begin my own plan. While Delmerith is out creating this magic of his, I will imbue these four orbs with limitless control over the Forces needed for your survival!” Seraphina exclaimed, transforming into her true, goddess form and levitating one of the orbs between her hands. “Wind…” Seraphina spoke, and flashes of light were emitted from her hands, brightening the entire land and attracting some unwanted attention from some unsavory neighbors…
In Super Land (still on the ground at this point), Ophanis, a man of around 6’5” and imposing stature, the man whose insolence had given all of his people shining wings, and the man who had since become the very militant leader of his country, sat upon a golden throne in a golden palace created from resources he and his citizens had stolen from across the world. Ophanis, who was perhaps 10 years older than when he had first burdened his people with wings, had mastered the art of flying, just as all of his people had, and had begun commissioning some people as scouts to spy on the world, or - more specifically - Awesome Land. One such scout landed at Ophanis’ feet and said “High Seraph Ophanis.” bowing before him. Ophanis had taken on the title of ‘High Seraph’ perhaps to honor Seraphina or, more likely, to spite her.
“What is it?” Ophanis demanded, grabbing his golden scepter, the weapon he most often used to inflict punishment to those who delivered bad news. “While patrolling around Awesome Land, per your orders, I noticed a most peculiar event.” the scout said, standing at his full height and staring at Ophanis. Ophanis stared back coldly and yelled “Spit it out! I don’t have time to waste.” The scout continued. “I saw Lady Seraphina-Sorry.” Ophanis had condemned the use of the title ‘Lady’ before Seraphina’s name and scowled at the scout. “I saw Seraphina in the workshop of that craftsman, Vesler, holding an orb between her hands. She seemed to be channeling some sort of energy into the orb. Quite peculiar.” the scout finished his report.
“Is that all?” Ophanis demanded, loosening the grip on his staff. “That doesn’t…Wait. Seraphina…Orb…Something does not seem quite right about this. Continue your patrol, and pay extra attention to Vesler and Seraphina. And while you’re at it, see what that fool Delmerith is up to as well.” Ophanis commanded, and the scout nodded, flying back to Awesome Land, directly above Vesler’s workshop.
Seraphina had finished imbuing each orb with a different element and smiled at Vesler, awaiting a response. Vesler stood their with his mouth ajar, shocked and unable to find any words for what he had just seen. “I don’t blame you. I’m sure I would be speechless if I were not accustomed to such an event. Well, I suppose I had better explain.” Seraphina said, the four orbs - one red, one blue, one brown and one clear - floating around her. “Although Delmerith’s magic idea is wonderful, I feel that…well…I’m inclined to like my own idea better. These four orbs will give the possessor unlimited power over Water, Fire, Earth and Air.“ Seraphina demonstrated, holding the Orb of Wind toward Vesler. The papers in the workshop began flying around in a circular motion, suggesting that an invisible tornado was present. “These…Orbs of Nature, I’ll call them…should only be given to such a person I find trustworthy, obviously, and as this person I choose you, Vesler.” Seraphina smiled again, but Vesler merely shook his head, trying not to faint. “Me…Power…Nature…Joking! All a joke…” he rambled incoherently. Seraphina laughed and reassured him. “Yes, I understand. Such power you humans are not accustomed to. But you’ll be fine with them; don’t worry. Just try not to let the Orbs of Nature fall into the wrong hands. Who knows what could happen!” Seraphina warned him, and with that she re-disguised herself, set the Orbs down and walked over to where Delmerith was hosting the magic assembly. Vesler sat down on the floor and looked at the Orbs. Each one radiated a warmth and power he could not begin to describe. He began documenting this experience on a sheet of paper, while the Super Land scout above him did the same.
“How interesting. Very, very interesting. Lord Ophanis will be most pleased.” the scout chuckled, and he flew over to the crowd near Delmerith, flying just high enough so that he could see what was going on without being noticed. The people in the crowd had their eyes closed, focusing their minds and listening to Delmerith’s words. “Once you master this art of focusing, you’ll be able to use magic easily.” Delmerith told them. “With magic, you could accomplish just about anything. You could create a small toy…” Delmerith summoned a ball in his left hand and threw it into the crowd. “…or a natural disaster.” The god created a tidal wave which disappeared right before it hit the crowd. “All you need to do is practice. Now, I want you to focus on fire. Think warm thoughts, perhaps a pot of soup or something…” Sparks appeared in front of some people in the crowd; miniature flames appeared in front of others. It was clear that some were naturals at Delmerith’s proposed magic idea, but they all slowly began to understand it just the same. The scout above them wrote down what he saw and hurried over to Super Land, descending at Ophanis’ feet once more.
“What news do you have this time?” the High Seraph demanded, clutching his golden scepter anxiously. “Delmerith has created something called magic which allows anyone to access his reservoir of power to create any phenomenon that he or she can think of. What’s more, it seems that the orbs that Seraphina created, so called ‘Orbs of Nature’, give unlimited power of the four Forces - Water, Fire, Earth and Air - to anyone who holds them.” the scout reported. “WHAT?!” Ophanis yelled, rising to his full, frightening height and smacking the scout across the face with his staff, sending him to the ground. “That wretch always did favor Awesome Land and its people over the rest of us. No matter…I’ll just have to secure these ‘Orbs of Nature’ for myself. Then shall this world cower before me as its true ruler and shall Seraphina whimper before my might.” Ophanis laughed. “Stand up.” he commanded the scout. “There is work to be done. Thank goodness we were given the power to destroy.” Ophanis thought aloud as he stepped outside the palace and surveyed his people, all of whom were performing normal, everyday tasks, with the assistance of flight, of course.
“All of you, gather around!” Ophanis yelled in his loud, soul piercing voice. The people of Super Land all came together in a crowd, kneeling before their leader. “From what my intelligence agent has told me, Awesome Land has been given a great power by Seraphina: the ability to control the Forces we use everyday.” People gasped as he said this and began to stand from anger. “But Seraphina is a wretched fool and did not foresee the great country of Super Land intervening in her plans.” The crowd began to cheer but was silenced after receiving a quick glance from Ophanis. “For far too long has she given them aid, helped them with such menial tasks, and generally preferred them over us, her more perfect creatures!” Murmurs rang throughout the crowd in agreement and Ophanis smiled as his manipulation worked. “Forever shall she and all of Awesome Land regret the day that she scorned my people! The hour shall soon pass when our chance to strike at this odious fool of a god and the people she loves most shall arise, so let us make haste, brethren!”
Ophanis had the crowd riled up now; even if he had commanded them he could not have gotten them silent. He began to point at various people in the crowd and assign them tasks. “You, create objects with which we can end the lives of the people of Awesome Land. You, begin training soldiers with which to use these objects! And you, scout…You tell me more about this magic so that we may use it against them. The time when Super Land lives in the shadow of its neighbor country has long since passed! Soon not only Awesome Land, but all of the world shall learn to fear the great Super Land, and its great leader: The High Seraph Ophanis!” The crowd went absolutely insane for this speech and immediately started creating weapons and training soldiers. As Ophanis and his scout went into his palace to discuss magic, a shadow set over the horizon, and it was clear that Awesome Land’s fate…and perhaps the fate of the world…would be paved in blood.
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BLABLA HOPE YOU ENJOYED. Questions, Comments, Concerns? Post 'em here and I'll come back and answer them ASAP. Until next time, this is
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Signing Off
