Thousands of years ago, in the Era of Fragntation, countless minor kingdoms and warlords rose across Tron after the Doom of Feypore. The land was consud by conflict and chaos, and many Mana Core Magi walked the earth.
Among them, two figures stood above the rest.
One was Bartholow, widely regarded as one of the most gifted individuals to ever walk the world. And the other was his close friend, his sworn brother, a Magus who did not belong to this world.
His na was Aldo Wagner.
On a vast plain, the land that would one day beco the heart of the Haynam Empire, the two figures stood at the edge of a wide lake. The water was still, stretching out before them like a dark mirror.
Neither of them spoke. The atmosphere between them was heavy, quiet, and
tense.
Aldo Wagner, a middle-aged man with burgundy hair and blue eyes, wore sky blue robes as he stood at the edge of the lake, glancing at the reflection of the clouds with complicated emotions in his eyes.
From ti to ti, he would cast brief side glances to his close friend
Bartholow. The latter had the appearance of a dashing young man with dark hair and brown eyes.
Wagner closed his eyes and couldn't help but sigh.
I'm sure Bart is going to ask how I know so much about the characters written in that vile book, he thought.
I did not want to disclose my greatest secret, but if this prevents him from falling into an endless pit of darkness, then so be it!
Wagner patiently waited for his friend's reply. He knew what he had revealed just now was a lot to digest.
At last, Bartholow turned to him with his piercing brown eyes and said, "How do you know about all of this?"
Wagner inhaled deeply, then t his friend's gaze.
"I have seen empires crumble under its weight," he said. "I have watched n who were once noble, true heroes! I've seen them lose their minds because of
it."
He clenched his fists.
"I cannot let you be drawn into the insidious sches of the Devils of Nine Hells. I am certain of it. Those symbols in the book you found... they match the records of Infernac. Please, trust ."
"Bart," he continued in a sincere voice. "I don't wish to see you fall into darkness. I have seen what becos of those who bargain with the devils."
Wagner shook his head slowly, his voice utterly grim.
"It never ends well."
Countless emotions flickered in Bartholow's brown eyes. A long ti later, he asked through gritted teeth, "I'm asking you how you are privy to this knowledge!"
He paused briefly, turning his attention to the lake before him. "I have lived for a long ti. Yet in all the centuries that I have lived and walked on this planet, I have never co across this... Infernac or even the knowledge related to the devils and the Nine Hells."
Bartholow turned back to Wagner and pressed. "So how! How did you co to learn about such information?!"
Wagner took a deep breath, having already made his decision. He knew that his answer would thoroughly shake everything Bartholow believed. It would break his view of the world.
But Wagner had to do it. He had to ensure that his friend did not fall for the diabolical sches of the devils!
He looked Bartholow in the eye and said in a low, solemn voice:
"It's because I'm not from this world. I was not born on Tron, and I did not
grow up here. I... arrived here. I ca here from a higher world called Myrrandor, a world where the Mana Core Rank is not the end of one's arcane path."
And as Wagner had expected...
Bartholow's worldview shattered when he heard his answer.
Night had fallen over the vast plain.
The sky was clear, dotted with countless brilliant stars, and above them the twin moons - Selene and Luna - shone brightly, casting pale light across the land.
Beneath a lone tree, Wagner sat on the ground with his back against the trunk. He held a parchnt in his hands, staring at it in silence.
Drawn on it was a crude sketch, uneven but simple, like sothing a child would make. Yet Wagner stared at the drawing with a fond smile. Tears threatened to roll down his cheeks, but his gaze never left the sketch.
It showed a family of four: a man, a woman, a boy, and a girl.
It was Wagner's family, drawn by his son a very long ti ago. This was the only nto he had of his dear family. Oh, how much he longed to reunite with them. But he knew that it was impossible.
He was dood to remain stuck in the outskirts of the cosmos, forever away
from his loved ones.
That fact hurt him. It hurt him very much.
After nearly a hundred years of studying the celestial phenona of this solar system, Aldo Wagner uncovered a truth that broke his heart.
There was no way to travel to Myrrandor. Tron simply did not possess the resources needed to fuel a teleportation of that scale.
The only way to leave this world was to wait for the planetary alignnt, a rare event when all the planets in the solar system aligned, their combined energy briefly generating enough power to open a passage to the Greater Universe.
The ancestors of Magi on Tron had left behind a path, one ant for the rare few who could endure countless trials, attain true Magushood, and then venture deeper into the universe to pursue higher arcane arts.
But even that was not enough. Those chosen few had to be fortunate as well, fortunate enough to not only reach the Mana Core Rank but also survive long enough to witness the planetary alignnt.
And Aldo Wagner was not fortunate enough...
He gently pressed the parchnt over his heart, then turned to look at the twin moons. For him, the next planetary alignnt was over three thousand years
away.
He would not live to see that day. He would not be able to reunite with his
family.
"Oh, Selene! Oh, Luna!" He whispered, tears falling down his face.
"Why must you remind of Myrrandor? So close, yet forever out of reach. My love, my children, forgive . I can never be ho again..."
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