1 And so it begins
It came upon a midnight clear.
No, not God.
It would be good if it was God.
At least the uncertainty would be gone, and for good or for bad, the story would have ended right there and then. The good would go to heaven, and the bad would burn in hell. The end.
But it wasn't God, and the story did not end. In fact, the real story had only begun.
What was it that came upon that midnight clear?
A mysterious, radiant beam of light.
It shone upon the very center of the African Continent, soundlessly illuminating it for exactly forty two seconds before disappearing without a trace.
Forty two seconds is a very short amount of time. But in extreme cases, it could also be extremely long. Too long, even.
A Formula One car can travel 4.41 kilometers at top speed in that time. A nuclear blast can vaporize everything within a radius of 12.6 kilometers. Without air resistance, a bullet could travel a mind boggling 35 kilometers in 42 seconds.
For that beam of radiant light, 42 seconds was enough for it to charge the air of the entire world to create a brand new power.
Mana.
And if it was the end of it, it wouldn't be much of a big deal. Mana was literally useless to mana insensitive human beings.
But no, the beam of light did not stop there. It caused a much more terrifying effect than just that.
It awakened most of humanity to mana.
Many Mana Awakened described the sensation of their awakening as something akin to drinking a cup of ice cold water after nearly dying of heat and thirst in the desert.
It was as though their dry and brittle cells were suddenly inundated with a vibrant life force that surged and seethed within them, triggering an instant qualitative evolution which not only strengthened them physically, but also unlocked their inherent affinities to the five elements.
Iron. Wood. Water. Fire. Earth.
For some, their powers were extremely limited. All they could unleash were weak jets of water or perhaps a tiny fireball that could deal grievous burns to… a mouse.
That mouse would probably squeak in terrible pain, and scamper away to the nearest mouse hospital for treatment, all the while cursing the evil human wielding the fearsome power of fire so potent that it could almost kill a strong mouse such as itself.
However, on the other end of the spectrum, the powerful Awakened could do more than just terrorize mice. Much, much more.
Those with incredible luck awakened into horrifying amounts of mana which allowed them to cast giant spells strong enough to destroy entire cities!
And as they say, if you wish to know a person's true character, grant him or her great power.
After the awakening, the true colors of hundreds of lucky people wielding heaven-defying might were instantly revealed.
A beggar turned into a Fire Knight, and he was vengeance personified, killing all those who scorned him previously and taking all of their possessions for himself.
A teacher became a Water Witch, an evil mage who became a modern day pied piper, mind controlling hundreds of children to do her bidding.
A bully victim transformed into an Iron Guardian, a steadfast defender of justice, using his incredible strength to protect the unawakened, becoming the people's champion.
And many, many more.
Their appearance heralded the arrival of a new age in humanity.
The Age of Power.
With millions of Mana Awakened spread all over the world, chaos ensued. Many of the smaller governments quickly lost control of their countries and were replaced by newly surfaced powerhouses.
Singapore, Mauritius and many in the Pacific Islands were examples of such countries.
But a semblance of normalcy remained in the world as the bigger and more powerful countries quickly acted to secure and recruit powerful Awakened. America, China, Japan, Russia, and most of Western Europe retained control of their lands.
Others weren't so lucky. Those citizens whose governments merely had middling power suffered the most as complete chaos ensued.
Gangs, mafia and other evil intentioned Awakened who gained access to spells powerful enough to rival those of their governments immediately acted to rule the world around them.
South America, Africa, South East Asia, India and Australia were prime examples.
Alliances were rapidly formed and battle lines were drawn within those countries as the two sides sought to create some sort of deterrence against their enemies by grouping together and increasing their overall strength.
It was like an arms race of incredible proportions. But alas, as with most arms races, it did not end well.
Within a few short weeks, as the other countries acted to stabilize their control over their lands, these countries quickly descended into chaotic civil war.
The powerful Mana Awakened from each side went after each other at every opportunity, attacking with bloodthirsty savagery that would put the most fearsome beasts to shame.
Thousands of weaker Mana Awakened and countless Unawakened died in their world shattering battles until at last, only the victors remained alive.
Alas, all of the above mentioned countries and regions fell to the "rebels".
South America, Africa, India, all of South East Asia and Australia, basically all of the powers in the Southern Hemisphere, underwent a change in leadership as powerful individuals appeared and took full control.
Still, with their appearance, the civil wars were finally over.
The world gave a deep collective sigh of relief even as the other governments reluctantly acknowledged the new powers in control of the various countries.
Might, after all is said and done, is right.
A new world order called for new players in the global stage.
Nato, the UN and every single global and regional organization disbanded.
A brand new organization led by a mysterious powerhouse with the power to collect information took their places as the only global organization in existence.
They were called The Court of Ages, and their function was to simply publish a very specific set of information.
The top 100 most powerful Mana Awakened in the world.
It didn't matter if they were good or bad.
If they were powerful, their names would be included in that list. So what if they did things immorally? They had the power to back up their actions. They were still right in the end.
Good and evil lost their meaning in face of the boundless might displayed by these unbelievably powerful characters.
The Court of Ages called them Monarchs and they were the world's first S-rankers.
With the Monarchs spread almost evenly across the globe and keeping each other in check, a pervading sense of normalcy returned. The peace ushered in a Golden Age of unprecedented progress and extreme prosperity on planet Earth.
For nineteen loong years the world grew and the Mana Awakened increased in number and strength.
All was well until one day, several pieces of shocking news electrified the world.
23 names within the Golden Ranking, all from Europe, suddenly changed to include the word "Sovereign" behind as a suffix.
The fifth ranked self-styled Space Sovereign from Germany challenged the third ranked President Quinn of the USA and defeated her in an earth shaking battle over at the Arctic Sea!
Moving up the ranks within the top 100 was a rare occurrence due to the sheer accuracy of the Court of Ages, and the fact that once you reached your peak power, there was simply no way you could power up.
The fact that the Space Sovereign could jump two ranks from fifth to third simply meant one shocking thing.
She hadn't reached her peak strength. She could still grow!
Immediately after the Space Sovereign defeated President Quinn, Europe suddenly declared themselves as an Empire and then declared war on China!
The whole world was instantly thrown into an uproar.
To make things worse, an insidious new power also appeared from the depths of the Oceans. Millions upon millions of Mana Awakened Merfolk invaded every single coastal city on the face of the earth!
And just like that, chaos descended upon Earth once more, and it was into this time of war that Damien Bloodbane was born.
