Chapter 1: Strange occurrences
Rythian reclined into the armchair of his study, rubbing his weary, sunken eyes. He had been translating tomes from various languages to try and further comprehend his magical abilities – or rather, lack of them. For years he had attempted to use his magical rings and create alchemical compounds, but he lacked any form of fuel, Mobius or Aeternalis, and he could no longer create the dark matter he had relied so heavily upon before… the incident. He had come to the conclusion of two theories:
One, that the nuclear explosions from petty wars of the past had altered the entire magnetic – and magical – spectrum. At least there had been a truce – between himself, the crazy scientist (that is, Lalna, although he had heard rumours of a battle with the members of the corrupt organisation 'H.A.T Corp'), and Sjin. Sjin had decided to retire to a life of farming after their encounter, but this was never going to be enough for the 'master builder'. There were also rumours that he was building his own kingdom, but Rythian knew that their quarrels had ended – he even aided Nano and himself in building his basalt tower, his own little piece of Blackrock stronghold.
His second theory was much darker: magic was dying, although he couldn't explain why. Some older magic was still around, and he had recently attempted to improve his knowledge on thaumic magic. This focused on manipulating the elements. He had discovered alchemical wizardry not that long ago, and now it no longer worked. His hypothesis was that the older the magic, the longer it took to die out. This disturbed him, as he couldn't for the life of him find any kind of cure.
He stood and walked to the balcony of the top floor. From here he could see for miles, but he felt that something was wrong. He looked over the river and saw Saberial and Zoey's 'fortress' across the river. The main tower had been painted the colours of the rainbow, and he knew that that was Zoey's work. A stark contrast to Rythian's Spartan design, built for defence over decoration, but even at their previous home she would brighten up the place, with – No, stop thinking about her, Rythian told himself. She had abandoned him to live with Saberial (an ex-mercenary) a long time ago, but Rythian had never really moved on from their days of living together as close friends in Blackrock hold. However, that dream had been shattered long ago. Banishing those thoughts from his mind, Rythian looked out to his surroundings: the dense woodland around him, the wide plains to the east, the western ocean and, of course, the glowering mountains that encompassed the horizon. For a moment, he thought he saw a figure standing atop one of these mountains, but when he blinked, it vanished. Must've been nothing, Rythian thought to himself as he returned to his desk.
He decided to write an entry of his findings in his diary before he became too tired to think coherently:
Day ? (Post-devastation)
Time slips by me. I have spent days sat working in this study, possibly weeks. However, my search has not been fruitless; I have discovered two alarming theories about the decline of magic in our world. One is the impact of nuclear activity on the spectrum of magic, and the other is that magic is simply 'dying'. If this is the case, I cannot seem to find the cause. Perhaps it is not quite dying, as my philosopher's stone seems to work every now and again, but very rarely. Maybe it is being subdued by some dark power. All I know is that at the current rate this is occurring, it will be a while until my ender magic is affected at least. Damn you Lalna, damn you to hell
Why can't I STOP THINKING ABOUT HER
TEEP's moved ON, so should I
He scribbled out the last few lines and sobbed quietly into his arm, his head face-down on the desk.