Indarra: World Below

Prologue

There was a time when magic walked the earth, and wondrous and deadly creatures were common. There was a time when magic was innate, a property and a skill that all humans could learn. But humans are power-hungry by nature. The power of magic was used for all manner of uncouth and reckless motives.

    This lust for power caused wars, until at last, one powerful mage saw fit to make all magic void. There was no way to lift this last spell over the earth, and in casting it, this mage gave his life.

    Without magic, the peoples of the earth lost much of their structure and their advances. The great mage had not foreseen these effects. Without magic, wounds would not be healed, and people would not have the advances they had depended on for decades.

    In response, a small group of warriors and magicians lifted an island into the sky. They saw the beauty and the need for such volatile power, and vowed to preserve the art, to replenish the dying world.

    As they rose into the air, a vision was granted one of them, a prophecy and a creed for the building of their city:

    One ruler for the city in the sky

    Two people sent down at their coming of age

    Three abbeys where the people will lie

    Four youths to reverse the power of the one great mage

    From above and below, they balance the world

    For a time, the hopefuls looked for these prophesied four, but as a century slid past, there was no sign of them. Eventually, the words of the creed became a secret to all but those who ruled, and even then just a fable.

    Truth can become fables can become true again.