Brecken laid down on the bed built into the left side of the carriage. Lucas was already snoring, despite their conversation ending less than ten minutes before. The sun had gone down an hour or so ago, and the carriages began to move a bit before dark, as the oranges and reds of twilight shone through the open cloth covering of the carriage. The cool night air wafted into the wagon, bringing the light sent of the trees and flowers as they passed. Locusts sang their harsh songs, mixing with the steady sound of hooves beating into the dirt road. The chorus of travel began to fade into the background as Brecken closed his eyes, going over all that Lucas had explained.
Hundreds of years ago, three or four, Brecken couldn't remember exactly, there were Way Mages all throughout Atleos. They were men with the ability to send out the power within them known as The Way. With it, they shaped the land around them, changing the weather to help grow crops, or diverting rivers to help villages in a drought. No man was more respected than a Way Mage. They were the pinnacle of leadership and capability.
Through the years, they became corrupted with greed, using their power to set themselves as kings and queens. Years of wars over territory and power followed. Noble families with noble lines played games of power, doing their best to breed Way Mages and gain an edge on the world stage.
The common people suffered greatly in those times. They did not individually hold the power to stand against them, but they came to an agreement. Their exploitation under the Way Mages could no longer stand. They rose up, led by a Way Mage who preached the end of his own kind. Under his banner, thousands of commoners fought back. The Way Mages and their royal families where overthrown after a long struggle and countless deaths.
After the first great war, the Way King vowed never to use his powers to enforce his will. He wanted the people to follow him through their own free will, not because of his might. His people united under him, knowing he was a man of his word. He spared the remaining Way Mages and exiled them to the Deathwood Forests, a barren land where nothing grew but black twisted trees on the other side of the Withering Mountains. With their exile, he declared Way Magic illegal, suggesting to any who learned they had the ability to suppress it and live a happy simple life for the good of Atleos.
The Way King promised that if the Way Mages ever returned from their exile, he would strike them down in Deathpeg Pass, the only passage to and from the Deathwood Forests. A great wall was built at Deathpeg Pass, and a hand selected legion of soldiers were chosen to protect it. They came to be known as the Pass Watchers.
Years of peace followed, and the threat of the Way Mages faded into memory. Mothers told of the evil mages to keep their children in line, and men mocked the Pass Watchers, calling them men waiting for the end of the world that would never come. The Great Way King grew old, but through all his years, he stayed true to his word and never used his power to subject the world to his will. When the end began, he was a grandfather six times over.
One day the king received a message from a lone rider, half dead, who rode straight from the wall to the king himself. The Way Mages had returned, but they were not alone. They brought men of stone, fire, water, and air, and under their might they crushed the Pass Watchers and flooded into the mainland.
An army of Elementals razed the land, led by the fifty survivors of the first great war. Under the new banner of the Brotherhood of the Way, they destroyed anything in their path. Many people rose to fight the horde of Elementals and their Way Mage masters, but none could meet their might. For years the conflict went on as the Brotherhood slowly fought their way to the walls of Serpenthelm. In the fields around the great city, the Way King met the forces of evil himself.
The earth itself shook as the great King and his last remaining armies fought, scaring the lands around Serpenthelm; scars that still mar the land today. The battle lasted days; some accounts even said weeks. The King fought against the Brotherhood with all of his might, but it was not enough. As all hope seemed lost, as he stood bleeding on the battlefield, he used his last remaining strength to convince the Elementals to turn against their masters. With the combined strength of man and Elemental, the Brotherhood was destroyed. The Way Mages where truly eradicated when the dust settled. The Great King was gone, destroyed from using his last remaining power to turn the tide.
