1 The Beginning
Two hundred years ago, the world changed. Once everything on Earth could be described using science, but things happened that can't be answered by it alone. Science progressed to a position where humans could travel to distant planets in the solar system using ships traveling at the speed of light, but it all changed that day.
In the year 2153, dimensional cracks started to appear across the world. Through these cracks, a new type of energy seeped into this world. When tested using the equipment, the results were inadequate, but one thing was made sure. This is the most powerful energy that humans have ever encountered.
The governments saw this new energy as a way to solve the increasing energy crisis, while corporations saw dollar signs in it, fighting over for rights to the energy. Though the scientists are happy that it opens new fields of exploration for them, they are afraid of where this energy came from. They wanted to know more before trying to utilize it.
Most didn't pay any attention to these cautions and paid a hefty price.
Within a year of the cracks appearing, the animals of the world started to mutate. The mutation at the beginning was negligible, but it progressed as the time lapsed. Once normal pets or domesticated animals or wild animals became beasts.
They started to hunt other beasts and humans for food. The military across the world began to fight these beasts on a daily basis trying to protect as many as possible. Great walls are built around habitats to defend against them.
The effect of these fights is minimal. Ordinary weapons like guns didn't make a dent in these beasts. Only powerful weapons like missiles and such made any impact. Still, they all know if they use nuclear weapons, they will doom themselves permanently. It would be better to leave this world than to nuke themselves. The humans had no choice but to use conventional weapons for survival.
In this new age, there was one thing the humans didn't recognize at first, but the beasts did. Like animals, some humans too mutated and started to store this new energy in their bodies.
No one paid attention when it all started, but the beasts started to show powers of elements as time progressed. The beasts became magical beasts.
The governments saw patterns when those beasts hunted. Many times they went for weak persons, kids who can't fight, ignoring attacks from the strong. No one understood why. They finally had a chance of checking what made those magical beasts attack the weak ignoring the strong.
A young boy during a beast tide was rescued by the military at the cost of losing thousands of soldiers. This caused uproar in many places. Was the life of one is worth thousands, they asked.
The final answer was, Yes, it was worth it. The scientists compared the boy to the body of a magical beast. They found similarities. Both of them stored the new energy that seeped into the world, causing great changes in the world.
After losing more than 98% of the population and reducing the total population to a mere 2 billion, the world finally found a way to fight the magical beasts effectively.
Like those magical beasts, some humans too can use the new energy for elemental attacks. These humans had naturally mutated genes that helped them to store and use the energy. The energy has similarities to the magical energy mentioned in fairy tales and was named such, MANA. To use this Mana, one has to have the mutated genes, referred to as the Magic Genes.
The problem is that only one in a million has naturally mutated, processing these genes, which is in no way suitable to fight for long. The remaining world came into an agreement for their survival. Old names are forgotten, and a new ALLIANCE took birth.
The Alliance funded scientists to find a new way, and they did. They created a way to artificially cause the mutation in humans through the use of a new serum called Magic Genes Serum.
With that, one would be sure that humans took back their position at the top of the food chain, but they were wrong.
The materials required for serum production are not easy to acquire. The scientists initially found an unknown element near the cracks. While testing it, they found it can be used for the production of serum. Everyone searched for it across the globe but eventually found that the element was not of Earth and came from the cracks.
The only way to get the unknown element is to go through the cracks. When soldiers entered the cracks, what awaited them was worse than the beasts they saw. More than 90% of expeditionary forces died, but the world got hold of this new element in huge quantities, enough to create 10,000 of these new warriors. These warriors are now the hope of mankind, and they are named MAGE.
Within years the power of mankind increased as the Mages' number increased. As the mages gained more control over using Mana, the more powerful they became, and they started exploring more of the cracks. As the exploration of these cracks increased, so did the quantity of the serum produced.
This, in turn, increased the number of mages in the Alliance. As the safety of humankind increased, so did the population. The numbers boomed exponentially as if they were trying to reach the old numbers, and they were not far from it.
By the year 2253, the number of new cities rose, and so did the population. Even with a heavy death rate, the numbers started to climb up.
To maintain order within these cities and protect ordinary civilians, the Alliance created laws and rules to be followed or punished. The Alliance gave autonomy to the cities so that they would be easy to govern.
City governments are formed where the city would have power over large areas of land. It includes other cities, towns, and villages. They have the right to collect taxes within the said area but within the prescribed limit of the Alliance. The city governments are burdened with the protection of these areas.
