The Books of Blutora

4 : The Banishing of Lundell

In Teldess, our world, there is a history of a phenomenon known as Ley Lines. To understand this, you need to think on a cosmological scale. From time to time as the world travels through space, it will encounter an aura of magic floating through the endless vacuum. These auras are typically massive, much larger than the size of the world itself, and as such when this happens it usually engulfs the planet for hundred of years at a time. This occurrence of Teldess encountering Ley Lines is very rare. Typically thousands of years apart, and rarely there are periods where it happens more frequently, around a few hundreds of years apart.

When the planet finds itself within a Ley Line, the flora and/or fauna can be susceptible to acquiring magical abilities, properties, and a connection to the aura, allowing-for example-certain people to learn the ability to use magic much, much easier than most. Another example of this is when certain plant life gains the ability to live much longer than normal by acquiring certain magical properties that extend it's lifespan.

It's important to note that in present day Teldess is not within a Ley Line. As a matter of fact it has been more than a thousand years since the last encounter, and as such very few people even know of the existence of these Ley Lines. Those who do hold this knowledge are certain historians and scholars whose research brings them back to magic from era's ago. This brings us to an important question though, how do the Ezeru, and the Dukaze have a connection to the aura, well past when the most recent Ley Line occurrence took place? To learn how this is possible you need to know about a story that goes back a ways to the A era in Westwend, an event known as the 'banishing of Lundell', the story of Aravae and how Izan saved the ancient Yimaro... and created the Dukaze, and the Ezeru.

The year is A-455, for many years the Yimaro elves of Westwend have been under the strict control of an outcast settlement of Arberi people. These Arberi were banished long ago from likewise settlements to the south, they traveled around Blutora as nomads, eventually making their way north before settling down in the lands that would later become the province of Mel Alari. They built up a village known as Lundell, nearby to where the city of Westwend would eventually sprout up.

The Lundells were outcast due to their extremist nature and general disregard to others that was viewed as dangerous and reckless. Upon settling they quickly found it was no simple task to thrive without a relationship with others, and as a solution they began stalking the roads of the area and taking stray travelers and lone merchants. This went on for years, ambush an easy target, take them to Lundell and force them into laboring for their people. Lundell was built right next to a mountain range, and more specifically a small mountain on the outskirts of it. The formation was packed underground with various materials that were valuable in trade. It was these deposits the captured and enslaved Yimaro elves were forced to mine. This went on for many years, until the Yimaro numbers were in the hundreds. What gave the Lundells the ability to keep the elves in their service, was the fact that the Yimaro young were held captive above ground always at risk of death if the elves dared try to resist or escape. Over time the Yimaro had built into the walls of the quarry houses to simulate what best they could of their old life, they called their underground home Westwend, for the last thing they knew of their old lives was traveling West, before they were captured. In large what kept the elves going was their devout belief in the idea that Izan would reward their hope someday, and free them from their servitude.

At this point, in the year A-455, the Yimaro elves in servitude have almost completely exhausted the deposits of materials. While mining one of the last chunks of stone they uncovered a strange glowing gem, however none could figure out exactly what it was, as every time someone would get close, their skin would start to burn. They kept it a secret from the Lundells until a few days later one of the quieter elves, a woman known as Aravae felt a strange call to the gem. She approached it despite the warnings of the others, and to their surprise she was unfazed. A group gathered witnessing the impossible, whispering and wondering. When she got within reach of the mysterious rock, she placed a hand on its surface.

The moment her skin made contact, a blinding light filled the normally dimly lit underground mining settlement. Upon the light braking every inch of darkness, the entirety of the enslaved Yimaro elves blacked out for a matter of moments. When they came to, Aravae was nowhere to be found, but that was only the beginning. The top of the mountain had opened up to reveal the sky and the sun shining light down into their underground settlement, and more accurately exposing the gem in the center, emerging from a field of bedrock. Nobody could approach the gem just as before, however when it came time that the Lundells would come to collect materials gathered, they weren't there. Eventually, some of the elves bravely journeyed to the surface to investigate, only to find the entire village of Lundell empty and lifeless. It was as if the entire population of Lundells had vanished in a second. The buildings still appeared lived in, their was still fresh food laying about, but it was completely void of the Lundell people, not a trace left behind as to where they had all gone.

Many historians have taken to the theory that during the flash of light, while the Yimaro were unconscious, the gem released an otherworldly energy, a Ley Line, created in that very moment that shot out into the cosmos. This disintegrated the peak of the mountain and opened the city up to the sky. On it's way into endless space however, in its raw, unstable state a sliver cracked like a branch of lightning and struck down in two separate locations in Blutora. One was in Mariteia, specifically striking the Aestisic in Goldcrest. The other was in Izheka, striking Mount Inzurill, in Lethio.

The aftermath of this event saw the Yimaro of Westwend make contact with their fellow elven cities to the east. They decided to remain in and build up the underground settlement of Westwend so as to remember their struggle, and as an homage to both Aravae and of course the guardian of hope, Izan. In the unassuming city of Goldcrest far to the south, the Aestisic tree gained otherworldly magical properties when struck. Not only that, but every Arberi human within a very significant radius also gained these magical properties intertwined with their DNA, most notably resulting in a deep, unbreakable link to the auras of magic dormant in the heart of Teldess. These humans from this point onward would become the Ezeru race.

Over in the lands of Izheka, when Mount Inzurill was struck, the peak of it's mountain was similarly disintegrated. Within a matter of moments, all of the flora in the mountain valley Lethio was built within began to change. The trees grew red or blue, magical pulsating vines wrapped most of the trees sprouting alien growths and fruits. The people of Lethio at the time, the Yimaro elves that lived there, within an even larger radius than the south were all imbued with this same deep link to the dormant auras of magic in the heart of the planet. These elves now connected to the ability to use magic much easier, became the Dukaze race.

Historians learned of the horrors the Yimaro of Westwend had to endure for many years, and support came in from all across the Yimaro people towards helping the Westwendites resume a normal life. This event would become known as the 'banishing of Lundell' and most, still to this day, hold that this point in time was the result of direct interference by one of the nine deities, Izan the guardian of hope himself. Many pushed for this event to be marked as the end of the A-era in time, given it's magnitude, but as for what really sparked the eventual start of the B-era, that is a story for a different time.