Teleka: Dawn of a New Age

Prologue

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Long ago, in a world nearly forgotten, lived a civilization of two dominant species.

The first was known as the humans: A vast group of people who for centuries dominated lands across the world and created societies of great wealth, power and knowledge.

Although their innovations were plentiful, many years and lives were lost fighting wars over all three. For a time they had known peace once more, but even they knew that it would not last forever.

The second species, known as the teleka, weren't nearly as densely populated amongst the regions as the humans. However, though they lacked the political power and influence found among human societies, the teleka held power in a different sense.

A phenomenon which granted them the strength to create a shield they could see through, to wield a sword without ever gripping its hilt, to launch arrows far into the sky without the string of a bow to draw them.

A power we call: The Wisp.

Many workers of various trades benefited from using the wisp to create great societies of their own.

There was even a time when both the teleka and the humans lived in harmony to create them together, but just as the humans had feared the return of war, so too the teleka.

And one day, that fear became a reality.

Prince Gabrias Lucil IV had claimed the throne as king of Caledonia in place of his father who had lost his life to a violent plague.

A plague which had begun to ravage the lands, inviting death to strip them of their brightest minds.

King Gabrias believed the plague was naught but God's punishment for the alliance and acceptance of witchcraft.

In other words, a punishment for befriending the teleka and benefiting from the Wisp.

The new king's first decree: an extermination of both.

Teleka were ordered to be burned alive at the stake and every building, structure, and system in Caledonia found to be developed with the Wisp were to be used as kindling for the fires.

But the teleka would not give up so easily.

For this was their home too and so then did the tides of war rise.

The teleka fought their way through many of the king's men, but the king had tricks of his own up his sleeve.

Soon his soldiers began poisoning the water and air with a mysterious smoke-like substance they called "nocletus".

Any teleka who ingested it, would temporarily lose their control of the wisp, rendering them completely vulnerable to human attacks.

As the war had gone on, so too the deaths carried out by not just the battles, but the plague that soon followed for those who survived them.

Both sides had grown tired of their losses and after nearly a year of discord, decided and agreed upon the conditions for a peace treaty in an effort to fight the spread of the plague together.

The humans had realized that a war with people who had helped build the very foundation of their kingdom was futile and the teleka had learned that war was only a distraction from the progress and innovation that made the kingdom so great in the first place.

Because their interests aligned towards the fight of a common enemy, the treaty was signed, the war had ceased and the kingdom of Caledonia had once again become the bastion of coexistence it was created from.

"...and one day, we'll return."

Elspeth would often end her daughter's favorite story with these words. Her hand remained placed on the headstone she had read it to, hoping that she could still hear them.

The wind blew more than usual that day and from a distance, she could see the dark skies of the storm that followed it. Her hand, still sitting atop the headstone that she had been kneeling in front of, began to feel the droplets of water that the gusts of wind had carried there.

With her eyes closed, she leaned her head forward if only to ignore the oncoming storm for just a brief moment longer.

"I'll be back soon, my love. I promise."

Just as the rain began to slowly get heavier, Elspeth stood up to make her way out of the cemetery and back to the horse where her friend Isbeil had been waiting. As she began to make her ascent onto the saddle, she looked back one more time with a bizarre feeling that it might just be the last time for a while that she would get to see it.

"Everything alright, Els?" Isbeil asked.

Elspeth nodded.

She climbed up to the saddle to sit behind Isbeil and with a slight rise of her left hand, used the wisp to create a barrier just big enough to fit above both of their heads. The heavy rain that was once pouring down upon them, now stopping in its place only to roll off to the side.

"It's no roof but I suppose that should do," said Elspeth.

"Good enough for me. C'mon Rodrigo!" Isbeil replied, signaling her horse with a clicking noise until it galloped.

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