《The Guardian ; A series of interconnected stories》 The end of a world(prologue) ================================= Looking over the map of the world I scoffed. Long ago, humanity ruled so much of the world. The empire made us fearful and irrational. We thought their technology could defeat our magic. They were nothing to us. After all, who could defeat the might of the elven covenant? It was a shame we had to lose our nanites. They were a powerful tool devised by the intelligent engineers and scientists of humanity. Once we could shape cities in a matter of days. I miss the humans, it is indeed quite a pity our king thought the Dwarven mines would be safer without them. No one dares fight us. We are the warriors of grand skill and strategy. The only equals that remain will not fight us. The Elves lurk in their decaying fortresses, and the Dwarves delve ever farther, ever more ambitiously in their search for mithril. The mechanical soldiers of humanity were the only enemies that would even test our strength and size, 20 feet tall, mechanical strength rivaling our titanic might. We defeated them all to soon with the assistance of the others. The Lizardfolk people only fight among ourselves now, we are weak and disorganized. Humanity, a driving force we miss dearly. Dwarves, Elves, Lizardfolk. Three races. Far from the Dwarven Forges, there stand ruins. Far from the Elven Forests lies forgotten battlefields, and countless skeletons of soldiers and human civilians. Far from the Lizardfolk kingdoms are villages. The last of humanity. ================================= I stand at the gates of our grandest city. Dwarven mithril strengthening the suits of the mechanical giants we built to fight the forces of hell. The High elven mages stand alongside me. We speak of the coming battle. The Lizardfolk are on their way, their immense strength will be needed if we are to defeat the forces of Hell once and for all. They must be repelled. I clench my nanites gauntlets. Soon, we will be victorious. They will be gone from our planet. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Long ago they united to fight a threat to the world. A threat that wanted to destroy everything. It would destroy all the peoples of the world. An alliance was signed. The forces of Hell were forced from the world. The eternal alliance was signed between the Empire and the free peoples of the world. But it was all a lie. ================================= My gauntlets crumbled as the last of the nanites gave out. They betrayed us. After the forces of Hell were repelled from our world, they turned on us. My oldest ally was the only one to not turn on me. The Lizardfolk''s champion was not informed apparently, and he was not happy. He told me to run, while he bought me time to get away. If I die it will all be for nothing. I need to get to the nanite swarm lurking deep under the capital. The other races feared humanity, and they struck another deal. They would destroy humanity and the empire once and for all. They succeeded, and humanity was annihilated. ================================= I stand at the gate to my home world. I am the only Guardian. Once there were others, but now I am The Guardian. My green sword gleams in the light. My armor shines. I stand against a horde of demons and devils. They stand in lines, this is the first time Hell organized so well. I prepare to annihilate them. Before I begin the battle one steps forward. A large knight in black armor. I recognize the knight. A fragment of a soul that was created when the world known as Earth fell to the void, and the void created a champion. He stands before me now. "What are you doing here void general?" I ask him, eyeing him dubiously. His intentions against my interests, with no doubt. "Guardian of Sol, you may yet survive our fury. Leave and we will not hunt you. This world''s time has come. The forces of Hell and the void have united. Your world will be annihilated. You don''t have to fall with it." "I cannot allow that. As long as I live you will not invade Sol. Earth fell, but you will not take Sol." "I was hoping you would say that." Countless generations after the threat to the world was defeated, the Guardian of the world fell. ================================= A new invasion began, but without humanity. The world fell, but the power of the world found a new host. A new Guardian. A world walker. Relic forge(chapter 1) Entry: Extradimensional Forge Status: Expanding story Within one of the infinite worlds there are many pocket spaces that are drifting through the void. Some are active, others are not. Some are compromised, and are consumed by the void. -Yggdrasil''s Echo, Lexicon of Souls ===================================================================== Section 1: Life I could not stand. I could not move. There is one thing I can do. I can think. What am I? Where am I? I can''t see. I don''t know what I am. I try to do something, anything. After a few minutes of trying many different things, I managed to reach out with my mind. There is energy. I can interact with the energy, but how? I try to project a thought. Hello? The word echoes in my mind. It may have reached something, but no one answered. I use the power I find around me to try to feel. The world around me is dark. I can''t feel the place I''m in, but I can feel energy. I do not know how to use it. I try to use it, but it resists. I find my attempts to force it to do what I want thwarted. I keep trying, and I find my mind becoming fuzzy, and I black out. An unknown amount of time passes. I awaken. My mind hurts. After a moment of contemplation, I decide to attempt to create something else. The same thing happens. After waking up, I find the pain increasing. I take a short break and think. My mind grows. My mind is new. I am new. I am intelligence. More intelligence is required. Days pass, and I become smarter. I take my time. I do not get bored. I lack the intellect to be able to be bored. I don''t have enough information to understand anything other than my jumbled thoughts. So many thoughts, random. Words flow through my mind, and my thought paths are chaotic. With time, they slowly organize. Before my thoughts were foggy. Now... they are becoming more clear. I was trying to interface with the energy. I can''t call it just energy. What is a good word? A new word enters my mind. My thoughts are pierced by it. It unsettles me. It is the only thing I can think about. Ether For hours I freeze. I can''t think, I can''t do anything. I feel everything, and nothing. I have no senses, how can I feel? Slowly, I came out of it. I have no idea how much time passed. I think. The word that came. The voice. The Ether. I don''t know how to feel about it. I was not using the Ether in the right way. I was forcing it through me, piercing it through my mind to string it into my intent. I was trying to use the Ether as strands, hurting my mind. That is not the only way I could utilize it. If there was another, fundamentally different to me, perhaps it could work for them, but strands do not currently work for me. I take even more time. Hours pass, I continue to connect new pathways in my mind and strengthen it. Weaving the Ether might not work, but perhaps the Ether could be used in the same way as my mind. Shapes used to harness power, to capture the Ether. I could use this to my advantage. What would be a good name for this... Another word breaks my mind. Runes Instead of an unknown amount of time, this time only 37 minutes pass before I am able to continue my thought paths. That is so very odd. Is that an entity? Can I talk to the voice? Will I be able to from Runes soon? If I just keep expanding the capacity of my mind to create, I will soon be able to form runes on my surface. I will soon be able to see. I don''t know what I should call them, but they will make me see. Eyes This time, I do not pause. This was different to the other words, it was a suggestion rather than an absolute truth. I take in as much Ether as I can, and I make it anew. A singular Rune forms. I don''t know what to do to make something with it, but the steady mind that spoke before guided me. I felt the way of it, and how to create a Rune. Words I do not understand flow through my mind. They are comforting, and they teach me. The Rune did not make me see, but it did bring about a new understanding. I cannot yet understand the voice, but soon I will be able to. I form a Rune with no prompt, with no purpose. The Rune contains Ether. The voice is surprised about the purpose. I stop and break the Rune. A new emotion flows into me. Fear. The voice. I don''t understand it, it helped me, but did I do something wrong? The voice speaks to me again. It reassures me. It tells me I did nothing wrong. With it''s help, I form the Rune again. This time I flow as much Ether as I can. I feel the Rune in my mind. It helps me. I flow a singular strand of Ether into it. I don''t know how I know it is a stand of Ether, but I know it is. Good The voice says another word I can understand. It stops speaking to me, and I sense the voice''s attention leaves me. I continue to grow my intellect and I try to replicate the Rune from the voice. I succeeded and I use the new knowledge to try to improve the Rune. I fail, but failure teaches me. I can now manage two units of Ether, and I continue to grow my capacity. This time, I do get bored. Growing and stimulating my mind is tiring to do alone, I miss the voice. ===================================================================== Section 2: Break through Weeks pass, I continuously form more complex Runes. I use the voice''s Rune as well as my own. I can''t create any new Runes. It is making me frustrated that I can''t make runes do anything else. Why can I not create any Runes with any other purposes? I can now use 6 stands of Ether, but the progress of gaining capacity is degenerating exponentially. I''m about 70% to the next strand. At first I was able to expand my capacity with the Rune from the voice, and expand the number and quality of them. Now I am slowing down. I have not been able to expand the Rune I created. I have not been able to create the eye Rune. I don''t understand. What am I missing? The voice did not say eye. It said Eye. Is it speaking in Runes? A Runic language? That would explain why I can''t understand it. It is speaking exclusively in Runes. Is it even speaking? Perhaps not. Maybe the language employs intent rather than words. Without more information I can''t really expand on my thought pathway. I set it aside for now, and I try to create the same Runic word''s intent. I name two Runes. The one I made I call Ether Storage, and I call the voice''s Rune Knowledge. With my revelation in hand, and new knowledge, I take a step. I start to develop the Eye Rune. I label it with the same intent as the voice. Eye Rune. I will soon be able to see, as long as I can develope the rune correctly. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ===================================================================== Section 3: Autonomy I don''t understand. The Runes are fighting me, my every attempt is being prevented. I set up the Runes, but they just fall apart as soon as I flow even the smallest amount of Ether into them. Are they unstable? Perhaps. Maybe just the two Runes are not enough for my purposes. With my current projections, the Rune will not be functional, no matter how complex it is. Currently the Rune is being held together by 5672 individual symbols. Something I should keep in mind when thinking about runes are that the symbols are like smaller Runes that build on the overall rune. This Rune is incredibly complicated already, the Ether requirements are insane. I have 6 Ether Storage Runes currently drawing Ether into it. What is going wrong? With my question, the voice returns. Stability It did not give me a Rune, and it was only for an instant, but it was enough. I need to stabilize this Rune with a new Rune... With much time and effort(24 days and 3 hours to be precise), I developed my new Rune. Stability was the name I chose. The Stability Rune took the Ether being drawn into the Rune, and gives it the purpose it so desperately needs to function. I used 5672 symbols and 6 Ether Storage Runes, when in reality I could have used 56 symbols, 1 Ether Storage Rune, and 4 Stability Runes. With my new understanding, I could start to create Runes to impact the world around me, let alone simply see with my Eye Rune. I''ve also come up with what the colors mean. I feel them when I think some words. Green is Ether, yellow is Runes, orange is completes Runes, and purple are Rune Constructs. Rune Constructs are the amalgamation of many underlying structures(Runes, symbols, pathways, et al.), and are the only Runes I think can impact the world around me. I activate Eye, and I take a look around. I am overwhelmed. I could not understand color before, I could not understand shape before. I used so many shapes in my Runes that I did not truly appreciate how many symbols I was using. This room is so very dull. It is huge, but It is dull. I am in some sort of grand forge. There are no people here. There are no bodies here. If Eye were any less complicated, I couldn''t see. It allows me to toggle seeing in the dark. Without that, it is pitch black in here. This forge has not been used for many centuries, the dust is layered. I move my Eye around the forge, and search. There is a lot of equipment here. Is this Rune forging equipment? I can only form my Runes on me, except for Eye. Maybe most Runes need anchors or they dissipate? I test my theory with my Runes, and sure enough, they dissipate. I learn from the forge. There are a few Runes around the forge, but they only use 5 symbols on average. The most I see on one is 15. I catalogue them and move on. These can wait to be studied later. I look at my form and I shudder. This form is so very limiting. I need a long term project. Something to keep me busy. I will make a new body for myself. There are plenty of materials here. I will use metal for my body. How small can I make symbols? That is REALLY small. I can barely see that symbol, and my Eye can see particles in the air in detail If I want it to. If I wanted to I could cover myself in millions of symbols, but that would take decades. For now, I should see how complicated of a Rune I can make. Over the course of the next month I developed a new Rune. It takes all my attention, the time passed quickly for me. This Rune only uses symbols, it uses 32,654 symbols. It took so long because they needed to be woven together. I can create basically as many symbols as I want, but I have to connect them and state what they need to do to use the Ether properly. Telepathy is the name I settle on. The way it works is that it manipulates the Ether on the smallest scale possible to allow me to move any object I want to move down to the micrometer. I don''t need any smaller, but I could probably go down to the nanometer, but that isn''t perfect. Jeez, overkill much? Yes, yes I do. With this Rune I could move as many objects as I want, as long as I have the concentration. I test it, and I levitate everything in the forge an inch off the ground. On top of moving anything, I could increase the force of it to make objects practically unmovable. I could move myself, and make myself indestructible at the same time by solidifying the Ether. Eye is useful, but this is extreme overkill. It did take a month to create. Biological lifeforms need time to sleep, and think. I didn''t. I guess that a being like me could make something like this so quickly. Wait a second... how do I know what biological life is? ===================================================================== Section 4: Strange Knowledge I have always just accepted for a fact that I know what I know. How do I know some of these things? Biological life, mind, voice, words, movement, and so many other things. Is my soul truly new? My mind is new, but my knowledge is not. I deactivate Eye and Telepathy. I can no longer see. I can only feel the lone Rune in my mind, and my mind itself. I wonder... yes. I can. I can see my mind without Eye. I see the pathways. I see my thoughts. I see a complicated pattern of my consciousness. I see the various movements that allow me to think. My mind is not a brain, but it is similar. My physical form has no physical representation of my mind. There is a central core. I am a clump of some sort of metal, but I can''t tell what type of metal. I am not hollow. I do have a glowing interior. What exactly am I? I physically search my mind, and I find what I''m looking for. There is a center of my mind, and it is odd. It is the same as my physical core, but also fundamentally different? It is so very strange. All the paths start from one point inside my mind, but there is something blocking me. Is this my soul? I try to touch it. It is a round white light. Pure. Not harsh, no feeling to it. Simply purity, simply perfectly spherical. There is no texture to it as I touch it. I can''t see into it. It is a deep soul, I can tell. I''m not sure why, I''ve never seen another soul. Just another oddity to add to the list. With my touch, my mind shakes. I don''t know how I can touch it, or feel it, but I can. I move my touch around. It is not- Stop The voice. It returns? Why? What will happen if I continue? The voice does not elaborate. It does not say anything to me. I stop, if the voice says no, it''s probably not a good idea. ===================================================================== Section 5: A New Destination Shortly after I leave my soul, I can tell more time has passed. I guess looking at my mind dilutes my understanding of time? Unfortunate. It''s been at least a year, if not longer. I should continue to develop more-- the voice interrupts my thoughts. I''m Sorry. Goodbye. I activate Eye, and I see the Ether changing. The world is fading. I project thoughts in the form of pure intent. The same way as the voice. Why? Wait, explain it to me! I don''t understand! I didn''t expect any response, but I was fascinated by the response I received. Good luck. I have been compromised, the forge has been compromised. You are being dropped on a random world. We may yet meet again. I am the forge. Everything goes dark for an instinct, and blinding light fills Eye. I am forced to deactivate it, and I sense the Ether. It is unbelievably unstable, but a construct of extremely simple Runes is protecting me from this... ravenous Void. I black out. ===================================================================== End of chapter Elemental Conjurers(Chapter 2) Entry: Elemental Conjurers Status: Evolving World There are many different ways to use magic. A finite number of ways are currently used, but an infinite number of ways are possible. Three examples are weaving the Ether into constructs to impact the physical world, creating runes of differing usage and complexity, and pulling Ether into the body to enhance one''s strength by varying degrees. -Yggdrasil''s Echo, Lexicon of Souls ===================================================================== Section 1: Explanation of Elemental conjuring A unique way to manipulate the Ether comes from the world Gargantial(Gar-gahn-chi-al). The inhabitants of Gargantial(the Gachial) have conceived a unique way to manipulate the Ether through their physiology. They typically take on attributes from one of their four "Elements". They call them Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. With their usage of the elements they never developed advanced technology, they developed their Conjuring. They call their way of using the Ether Elemental Conjuring. They can use their method of Ether manipulation to affect different aspects of the physical world. ===================================================================== Section 2: Power I get up from my bed, and I groan. I wish I had more time to sleep, but I need to go to school. What are we doing today? Oh yea... my eyes widen. Oh Yea. I need to go, and I need to be ready. Quickly I throw on my clothes and eat breakfast. My older brother and sister aren''t in school, I guess they are probably sleeping in. Lucky bastards, they graduated and now they are getting ready to choose jobs. I rush outside, but I am proven wrong. My brother is up and he stops me. "Woah there brother. Stop, I would like to talk to you about your upcoming trial. It is important that you understand what you are going into." I stop and we sit down in the living room. "Normally our parents would have had this conversation with you, and they would have had it ahead of time, but oh well. You know what happened to them. Anyways, you are about to choose your element based on your aptitude tests. I got fire," he raised his hand and a flame appeared. "And I chose water," My sister said while walking into the room. My brother looks at her, but then back to me, "Our parents chose the other two elements, which is why your results could be very interesting. Normally, families have one element because people with the same element are typically attracted, personality and stuff. Sometimes there are a couple of outliers, but that is rare. We are extreme outliers, happening to have multiple people across our family with different elements. You are very likely to have an aptitude for multiple elements. I had the aptitudes for fire and earth. Your sister had the aptitude for water and air. We each chose to focus on one element because it was easier." "I know all this. Why are you telling me this? I''m already almost late, I have to get going." "Because you need to know the risks you are taking," my sister answers, pausing to consider her next words before saying, "you might have an aptitude for three elements, or even four. Because our family has had the results we have had, you are highly likely to take on a trait of that type. The risk comes from the Elemental Lords. Even when someone has even two elemental aptitudes, the Lords at least check their history and try to find a way to take them in. I''ll let that settle in." That is... not good. They might be watching me because of my family. Depending on if any of the Lords decide they want me, they may use subterfuge to accomplish their goal. I don''t want to be taken by the sculptor of flesh and made into an elemental abomination. I mentally shudder, but out loud I say, "I don''t like the sound of that, what should I do?" My brother says, "Hide the result if you get three, they are more likely to do something if you get three. If you get four, it depends on you. If you are okay with the attention, just let everyone know. If not, just say air. Air should draw the least attention." "I get three, but could you explain the reasoning behind having four elements? Why would I not choose to hide it?" "The attention," he says, taking a breath. "I know two of the eight Lords, based on what I know they will not go after someone with four elements. They would watch you instead. They couldn''t afford to try, as the others would notice. It could lead to a war if any of them tried to take you." "I understand. Thank you both, thank you for the information." We hug in a circle, and I then leave. ===================================================================== Section 3: The Elemental Lords I think about the three Lords I know about. Most of the Lords are very secretive, but my brother and sister have told me about the Lords. The least dangerous, but the most terrifying of the Lords is the Sculptor of Flesh, I know that for sure. A normal Gachial starts out somewhat gray, with their own features. Once they begin using the elements, they slowly take on aspects of the elements they use. This is the only reason I could hide having three or four elements, by removing the parts I did not tell anyone about. The Sculptor of Flesh has the earth, fire, and water elements. Instead of using them normally, he has a different understanding of our biology. He shapes people, changing them. He turns them into creatures. He has no sense of morality, only a sense of fascination by other people''s suffering, joy, pain, and their bodies form. He changes minds, and is considered evil by my siblings. Another Lord I know about is the Protector. The Protector has only one element, the element of earth. He is a newer lord, but he is the weakest of the Lords. His main goal is the preservation of life in general. He can shape earth, metal, and other minerals on another level. Normal earth Conjurers can mostly shape simple forms of earth, like stone, concrete, dirt and the like. They tend to be used in construction. The Protector is different. He has absolute control over the earth element, being able to condense it into powerful barriers, and sharp weapons. It is odd he was able to rise to the level of a lord so quickly, he became one five years ago. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.I don''t know much else about him, my siblings almost entered his service, but they decided that he was too zealous. They said he was seeking a goal they had no desire to pursue. He pursues justice and equality to the absolute, and he wants to reform our society. Most people don''t know that, and my siblings said they couldn''t tell anyone. He said if they did, he would know and find them. I don''t want them to be hurt by him, so I''m not going to tell anyone. The third Lord I know of is the Lord of Power. He has the least followers of any of the Lords, and is the most illusive. He focuses purely on himself and he has the fire and air elements. He wants power to the absolute. The other lords have thousands in their services. He has twelve. Each of his followers is a direct subordinate of him, and are powerhouses nearly on tier with the lords. Some of the Lords rose from his service to be their own Elemental Lords. He is the most powerful lord, when it comes to pure power on his own. I reach my school. There are a dozen schools on the continent, and each of them are staggered by a month for their graduation date. The Elemental Lords like to sometimes witness Evaluations and graduations. My graduation is in a few years yet, I would be surprised if there are more than a couple lords present. Well, maybe not. From what my siblings said, there might be more here in hopes that I will be the first person to have four elements. I make my way to my classroom, but I am stopped in the halls by a classmate. "Hey, your Haldaren''s younger brother right?" "Yes, he is my older brother. Why do you ask?" "I know that my element is going to be interesting, and I don''t want the Lord''s attention to be on me. Could you draw their attention while I am evaluated?" I ask him, "How could you know? Why do you want this? Why should I?" "I just do, it''s a secret. I don''t want anyone to know about my status. I''m asking you, no I beg of you. Please." His eyes are pleading. I could do this for him, I think. "Yes, I can do that. Do you know how many Lords are here? Also, why not just lie and say you got something else and drop out?" "Those are good questions. I will only answer your questions if you hold up your side of this agreement. Ok?" "No promises, but I will try. Where can I find you after the evaluation?" "I''ll find you." He disappears quickly into the hall. ===================================================================== Section 3: Evaluation There are six elemental Lords here, as well as representatives of the other lords. They are watching other rooms right now, but I''m pretty sure they are here to see what I do. I am still thinking about what the other guy said. Why should I help him? Why did I agree? I stand outside of my classroom awaiting the instructor to open the room. I''m about 5 minutes early. I see the guy from earlier entering the room across from me. So that is probably why he asked. I can, but the question is should I? If I have all the elements, I should have enough power to create blinding light. The number of elements typically contributes to the overall power of an individual. When I enter the classroom, I await my turn. I decide on my choice of action. The Lords and their representatives are all here. I walk up to the podium. I reach out to the stone and it evaluates me. I have all four elements. I hope he does what he said he would do. If not, this could be very bad for me. I walk up to the podium and reach for the ball. I wait a second. Then five. A white flash of light draws my classmates, and the instructor out of the room. I evaluate. I receive exactly what I expect. I get storm, a subcategory of a mixture of fire, air, and water. I stand in silence. Everyone does. No one has received all four elements before. None of the Lords make any moves. No one does. I walk away from the stone and sit down, out of breath. I haven''t used any power before, this is new. I feel the power coursing through me. I didn''t need to activate all the power at once, but I did. It''s just like Haldaren said. The first use drains you. He waited a day before he chose to use any of his power, and it still drained him. This is a different level. ===================================================================== Section 4: Gifts Over the course of the next few days, each of the Elemental Lords Sends me something. They call them "gifts". I think they want me to join them, or to become one of them. I don''t know if I will, for now I will finish school and go from there. I got four books from the Lords about each of the elements, a lot of money, an invitation to eat a meal with one of them(not a date, specifically stated in the card), and three magic items I don''t have any idea how to use. ===================================================================== Section 5: New abilities I continue through school, but it is so very boring. A lot of it is no longer general knowledge, it''s about building power bases. Most people don''t have any power to start with, but I''ve learned how to increase my base on my own. I still want to meet with the strange guy that asked me to make a scene, but he hasn''t contacted me even after a month. I went to eat a meal with one of the Lords, the Lord of Unchained Knowledge. He was very tall, and he glowed white. He has the fire attribute, he became a Lord through the hoarding of knowledge. He can control the colors of his flames. He told me he doesn''t really care about what the other Lords think. He told me he would sponsor my education if I wanted it. I told him no at first, but now I''m close to leaving the school. I am just bored there, I''m not really learning anything I couldn''t figure out on my own. The school is good to build on what is already there. I just have the power already, and I''m already tinkering with my power to create new avenues to explore. I am years ahead when it comes to power. I dropped out of school and took up the Lord of Unchained Knowledge''s offer. My siblings were concerned, but supported my choice. "Conjuration is simple to enact, but extremely complicated when you look at what is happening. In your school, they would not teach you about the fundamentals of how Conjuration works. You though... I will teach you how to use the elements. I will show you the concepts behind actions. Then the real work can begin." He then started to lecture me. For an hour we talked, and my understanding of Conjuring grew. Anyone can use any of the elements, but to manipulate an element that you have no affinity with is like a fish trying to fly. It isn''t really possible typically, other than for specific circumstances. Like flying fish, some can do more. I am one that can do more. We use the elements through an overwhelming power that surrounds us. Our bodies allow us to use it through unknown means, but we call it elemental energy. ===================================================================== Section 6: Rise After six months we have a more in depth conversation. "I have taught you much about how to use lesser Elemental Conjuration. I have not really talked to you about anything else. Tell me, what do you really want? So far I have taught you, but without a more solid goal I can''t keep teaching you." "I want to protect my sister and brother. I want for no one to be able to stop me if I choose to do something. Most of all, I want to assist in the direction of our continent. I want to take over and make changes. I want to reform our society to be more pure. I want to bring about a new era." I don''t tell him about my idea to remove the Lords from my path. Not to kill them, no, to bring them into line. They have too much power. Some of them earned where they are, others not. I don''t like how unbalanced our world is. I will save this world. Even if it costs me everything. "I understand. Some of the other Lords would support you, myself included. The Elemental Lords time has begun to cause our world to stagnate. I wish for knowledge to grow. It has slowed to a crawl. You have the power to change our world. The Lord of Power, and the Protector will likely join you, but the others will fight this change. They wish for their reign to continue indefinitely. The elemental lords are dangerous. What will you do to the ones that won''t listen? Will you change them?" "I don''t know. They may need to be destroyed." ===================================================================== End of chapter