1 Prologue

On the night of December 31, 1999 at the stroke of midnight, marking the turn of the century, burning lights split the skies around the whole world. The lights covered the sky with an array of colors that seemed to flow into the ground in thick river-like streams that came from the heavens. No one knew what it meant or what caused it, but the lights lasted 24 hours then vanished. At this exact moment the world grew in size like someone adding pieces to a puzzle that didn't belong, streets separated by miles of forest, buildings cut in half and swafts of grasslands placed between, and six new moons appeared in the sky. When the world grew, it caused major earthquakes and tsunamis, hurricanes and other natural disasters. The world, devastated by these disasters, had only just begun to see the full extent of the trouble as a new plague spread seemingly from nowhere and everywhere at once. "Magic sickness," as the plague came to be known, affected much of the world's population; most over 40 could not recover and none over 50 survived. The sickness was not subtle and hit hard and fast, causing mass collapse, so many died the dead were left where they fell. Symptoms included rapid aging and necrosis. However, the young not only survived, but were strengthened by the sickness. The world collapsed either because the leaders had died or the new dangers of the world divided the people in this world of magic.