1 Is It A Crime?
Magic-Users and The Holders of Strong. Two kinds of people existed in this world, the ones who could touch the heavens and the ones who could only view it from beneath. Magic users lived in a utopia, created by the Three Divine Mages, also known as the three Goddesses of Arupio.
Eeara, Aaura, and Haaura; Aaura gave Magic-Users the ability to see the life essence of other Magic-Users, this skill was named, "Eyes of the Angels."
Aaura created the mountains, the clouds, and even the ground the Strong Holders walked upon. Aaura was a perfectionist and an artist, she painted the landscape so that no one would ever run out of inspiration to create their own worlds. It was a portrait of sorts that most were welcome to draw inspiration from.
Eeara gave Magic-Users the ability to hear the whispers of sprites, fairies, and in extreme cases, they could hear spirits; and even exorcise them. Some can even hear into the future to a certain extent if their soul is pure, although, it is a rarity for that power to be wielded by anyone.
Eeara turned air into wind and gave the world sound, so all could hear the beauty of her creations. She gave the world an ocean in order for people to hear the waves of serenity crash against the soil. All used to be silent before Eeara gave the world soul. Eeara was a musician, she wanted her people to know songs of hope. Songs that could invigorate even the most flustered soul, her wish was for her chosen people to hear a song that could soothe their souls.
The last of the three was Haaura, she allowed Magic-Users to harness the power of magic. Haaura was the strongest of the three of them, the sole benefactor for all magic that exists today. Haaura wanted all people to have the right to magic, however, her sisters did not agree with her reasoning. In order to stop Haaura from giving power to all, she was sealed away by her sisters in a sneak attack and locked away.
Haaura cried out from her binding as her anger continued to increase with her anguish as she realized that the world she had wished for would never be brought to fruition. Unable to die, and unable to live, Haaura did the only thing she could. She waited for the day she would be freed from her bindings.
However, before Haaura had been sealed away, she managed to give a small amount of power to a young man on the planet that she'd hoped to cultivate. The power wasn't much at all, however, it wasn't the amount of power that mattered, if the boy trained himself, and learned the ways of the land, his seedling of power could one day grow into a tree that could give life to many more.
The power she'd given to the young boy was only false hope for her, a way to keep her from losing her sanity, a chance for her to be saved. She knew the odds of being rescued were slim to none yet she sent it anyways. The single drop of power came along with a message that only the wielder of the power could read.
"Grow strong, free your world from its bindings and fly to the heavens; Only then will you learn the truth of your existence. Break every chain, young warrior." This message had been ingrained inside of a boy. He was a Strong Holder who lived on the ground like all of his peers. The name of the boy was Hubrid, a slave name given to him by the people who owned him.
The Strong Holders had no divine figures to look up to. They were merely slaves that were forced to pick grains and farmed in order to please the people of the clouds, the Magic-Users. They transported the vegetables and cattle from the ground unto the clouds every month while leaving the stronger slaves to watch over the weaker ones. It was a vicious cycle, the strong beat the weak, the strong became weak, and the weak became strong only to beat the new weak.
Strong Holders could lift more than a Magic-user when it came down to physical feats and could exert themselves physically more than Magic-users, The only way for Strong Holders to gain power was through physical training.
Mages laughed with gaiety whenever they visited the farms as they saw the lesser beings exerting themselves physically instead of mentally. They'd point and laugh, others would throw food that the Strong Holders would fight over in order to eat it only for the mage to make it disappear after the fighting ceased.
Strong Holders coveted the Magic-Users, their power was so unfathomable and unreachable, so far away like the floating kingdom in the sky they could barely see from their view.
Strong holders would do anything for such power yet they knew nothing they did would be of use. Strong and Magic could never be put together. It would be a disgrace to the two great Goddesses the people worshipped. Tales created by elders used to say dubious things about such a thing being created.
"If a man wielded both Strong and Magic, they could possibly control every element." -Druchess The Wise.
Druchress removed himself from the kingdom and decided to live a life on the ground in order to be spared from the wrath of the king for his words.
"Although alone Strong is weak and pitiful if it were combined with Magic. Such power could rival the two Goddesses," -Omaegius The Philsopher.
He was boiled alive for the words he spoke, formerly known as Omaegius The Philosopher he was renowned across Arupio for his studies. He spoke to the king regularly and during one of their talks the king was offended by his speech.
He was stripped of his title and burned slowly in a pot and forced to see all of his studies and books tossed into the fire under the pot to fuel the flames that heated the pot of boiling water.
He was gagged and restrained as he was forced to suffer, however, he managed to slip off the device over his mouth and said his last piece before he silenced himself of his own free will.
"To fear something so preposterous shows how weak-willed a man can be. I forgive you for this pain because now I realize why you tremble so much. I wonder if the rumors were true?" Omaegius says as he closes his eyes with a smile and sits unwaveringly still as he awaits his death.
The king feared the prophecy that had been told to him from a seer long ago. The seer said these words and disappeared because he knew what would happen after he offended the king.
"When the day Strong and Magic come together, you will rue the day you treated those people like ants..."
Those words gnawed at the king day and night, not knowing when the seer's vision would come true he decided to take action himself.
"Wipeout all of the Strong-Holders at once!" The king shouted at his army as they all began marching down the bridge of clouds that connected the Arupio with the ground. They began stabbing elders, young men and women, and even the slaves they had put in charge of the other slaves.
They relocated their farm and cattle to the clouds as they finished wiping out the Strong Holders.
Hubrid was stabbed through his heart with a magic arrow-like many of his family and friends.
He lay on the ground bleeding as his blood poured into the soul. Haaura felt the magic essence of the young boy fading as she began to feel tears streaming down her face as she realizes that her hope was lost.
"Alright, everyone! Good work, let's report back to the king at once!" A knight shoots a flare of purple exploding magic into the sky to alert his allies.
Everyone continues back to the bridge that connects their utopia with the ground as a race of people lays on the ground bloodied. Any of the Strong Holders that could have survived the initial attacks were doomed to succumb to the poison magic that was spread across the land.
Hubrid coughs up blood as he gasps for breath, unable to move his vision begins to fade.
"By the power of the third forgotten Goddess, do not allow this boy to die!" A peculiar-looking bearded man says as he stabs his staff into the ground.
Haaura cries, tears of joy. It had been so long since anyone prayed to her. As if she were possessed she shouts back knowing that no one will hear her. "I hear you!" She shouts as she continues crying. "I hear you..." She says with a sniffle as she sits in the corner of her cage in a fetal position.
The ground the staff had been implanted in begins to contort. The color of the grass turns dark and the soil becomes soft. Hubrid finds the power to look at the man who was shouting and see's a long white beard that's nearly taller than him. His face looks wrinkled and he appears to be wearing a purple robe with symbols covering the exterior of it.
Haaura's tears fall to the cold concrete of her cell with wet splats and crept down into a crack at the corner of her cell. A singular teardrop manages to touch the crack and it falls through. The droplet falls down from the heavens that sit even higher than Arupio itself, and it falls through the solid clouds that the Magic-Users sit upon, and it continues falling until it touches the staff that the bearded man had put into the soil.
As the tear touches the staff, the soil hardens, and the grass turns into a bright green color. Haaura continues weeping as she wishes she could help the man who prayed to her.
"Thank you for your benevolence, kind Haaura." The man says as he rips his staff out of the ground and stabs it into the chest of Hubrid.
Hubrid's gasping stops as he ceases to move.
"Be reborn as the man who'll break the bindings of this world!" He says as he pushes down harder into the chest of the boy.
A voice speaks to Hubrid as he lays on the ground.
"Grow strong, free your world from its bindings and fly to the heavens; Only then will you learn the truth of your existence. Break every chain, young warrior. Grow strong, free your world from its bindings and fly to the heavens; Only then will you learn the truth of your existence. Break every chain, young warrior. Grow strong, free your world from its bindings and fly to the heavens; Only then will you learn the truth of your existence. Break every chain, young warrior."
Hubrid awakens in a cold sweat inside of a cavern as he heaves in an attempt to catch his breath.
He had little recollection of what happened, the walls of the caves were jagged enough to draw blood by just looking at them and a makeshift bed made of cold stone was attached to a high-up place on the wall. On top of the bed was the old man and his beard. It nearly reached Hubrid's face as the old man slept upon it.
Just as Hubrid began to try and talk to the man he jumps off his bed while holding his beard in his hands.
"You're finally up?" He says with a gruff as obvious dark circles under his eyes are visible to Hubrid.
Hubrid looks at the man in silence as he looks over his body for the wound that'd previously been on his body.
"Where is I, who our yoo?" Hubrid says slowly in an attempt to speak correctly.
"What's wrong with your language boy? You look old enough to speak. How old are you?"
"Fitthen," Hubrid says as the man looks at him perplexed.
"Well young man, it appears that you have a lot to learn. I'm Druchess, the man who'll be tutoring you from this day forward! My mission is to train you in order to overthrow the hierarchy of the sky!"
He states proudly as he throws his right hand up pointing at the ceiling as he accidentally drops his beard to the ground. He begins trying to pick it up as Hubrid stares at him with even more confusion.
Slaves like Hubrid are taught only the bare minimum in order for them to do their job efficiently. They were banned from learning too many words and from reading. Although Magic-Users didn't fear Strong Holders revolting, they did it so that no Strong holder could ever have the potential to match the intellect of a Magic-User.
Druchess sighs as he loses the grip on his beard as it unravels to the ground and looks at Hubrid with annoyance.
"Looks like we'll have the start from the beginning then," Druchess says as Hubrid tries to tug on his beard.
Druchess pulls a dusty book out of his robe that reads in bold letters. "Book of Knowledge."
Druchess then begins to read the book verbatim to Hubrid as he scratches his head in nonplus. As he continues reading the confused look on Hubrids face begins to dissipate as Druchess turns the page.
"Alright, the prologue is out of the way now young man. By the way, what is your name?"
"Hubrid." He says in a clear and concise manner.
"Well Hubrid, you appear to be a quick learner, you'll be ready in no time!"
"Weady for waht?" Hubrid says as Druchess closes the book with a sigh.
"Never mind, for now just sit down, and listen to this story. This story tells a tale of the forgotten Goddess Haaura, erased from history under the order of her sisters. If you are who I believe you to be, you'll understand me despite our language barrier. Now then, I'll teach everything I know." Druchess says as his beard drops the ground again as he looks at it with his patience dwindling...
