Amethyst 1. Inception ✓

18. Fables and Fissures

In a bid to catch up with what everyone else as doing, I started spending a lot of time in the library with Aahan and Nia.

Squeezing the team practices in between the increasing practical classes had been difficult. Although I was getting used to life at Asteria, there was a gnawing worry at the back of my head.
I still didn't know what my element was, and now most of the class had done demonstrating their powers. I was unable to summon my powers at my own free will. The only time they had presented themself was when I had felt threatened. Even then, it was highly unreliable. 

I soon learnt that Nia was a wielder of fire and Aahan of water. Maybe it was simply my imagination, but I had a feeling that Aahan didn't particularly enjoy wielding his powers. Both of them were already quite advanced at controlling their magic, although none as much as Aris. 

We sat one afternoon in the library, where I was trying to read a particularly tricky chapter about the history of Obscura.

'After a few hundred years of inception of Obscura, the Achtsenza (Vanity, Pride, Envy, Wrath, Greed, Lust, Sloth and Deceit) started gaining prominence. In the year 423, the extensive power of the Achtsenza resulted in the physical manifestation of these sins in the form of shadow creatures who started roaming the streets of every country in Obscura. 

Some say that they even made it to the Fairy isle, although this claim is disputable. 

Eyewitnesses recorded their observations of people engulfed by the creatures as 'Vaziho' whose characteristic features include 'empty' and 'soulless' eyes. They roamed the streets in search for the sin that had corrupted them. These victims were considered to be random. (again, a disputable claim since many believed they themselves invited the onslaught of Achtsenza by yielding to the very sins whose shadows later consumed them)'

"All of this," I muttered, "I never realized Obscura was so religious."

Nia knitted her eyebrows in confusion. "Religious?"

"It's this thing in the mortal world," Aahan replied before I could interject. "The mortals believe in higher powers and worship them in a number of ways. Some have deities, others don't."

Nia gaped between us before I realized that she must have been in Obscura ever since birth. Religion there was perhaps different. Aahan on the other hand, may have been from Earth, or he could simply be well versed since he seemed to know everything anyway.

"Religion is not a thing here, Zeke," Aahan said, gazing at me. "Not the same as Earth at least. There's the Faith of the six Deus. Obscurans, all the countries, worship the six elements. In fact, they have ever since the Dark War."

I blinked, unable to process anything. I knew the Deus were powerful and had come  to the conclusion that they were analogous to 'Gods' on Earth.

Nia explained, "The Deus were initially just Nuvues who rose from the ranks of their Guilds. They created an army of strong Nuvues and spearheaded the Dark War which pushed the shadow manifestations into a timeless void said to be suspended in the celestial skies. It's called The Chasm. It was then sealed by Helios- the Starlight wielder or the first Asterius, who was one of the Deus. Of course-" her face darkened, "he perished."

"Horse shit," Aahan said nonchalantly, fixing his eyes on the open book in front of him as he turned a page and shook his head. "That part is bullshit. I don't believe he is dead. As long as the Deus maintain their divine status, they remain immortal."

I gazed at them, amazed. "What happened to this army?" My eyes widened as realization struck me. "They turned to be the Vartiyahs?"

Aahan nodded. "Precisely. However, unlike the Deus, they weren't immortal hence the Deus needed a new army of Nuvues and created the school- Asteria- to recruit capable Nuvues."

"What made them immortal?"  I asked.

Aahan scrunched up his face as if thinking hard. "Their powers did," he sighed softly. "The Deus aren't really...physical forms. They live and breathe through their element. Fire. Water. Earth and such. Their powers have ascended to such a level that their life is no longer rooted in tangibility. It is postulated that they live as long as their element lives. Unless of course, a newer Nuvue dethrones you in which case their power overwhelms your own. That's why they don't like anyone who can become as strong as they are."

"Wicked," I exclaimed under my breath, awed. Aahan shrugged and went back to his book and Nia picked up another and started reading it. I shifted my gaze around the ornate library, my eyes studying the various books kept there.