New World, fiction

1.
When I was young I was visited by a strange events that opened my eyes forever. I was marked differently than others, and I stood out wherever I went. Though difficulties plagued the life around me, my spirit remained in tact.

My father was a madman. A jack of all trades, he suffered from a variety of ailments that I cannot quite describe today. He has been searching for the secret to life for as long as I have lived, traveling across the world in search of it, bringing the family with him. He attended a prestigious government program that granted ordinary citizens to serve the lords that governed the great country. He was also devoted to the black arts that were outlawed by the ivory tower, but prevalent throughout the land.

My mother was poor, but kind and sweet. She followed my father wherever the travels took us. He was looking for this dark arts power, this magic, that was eventually revealed to me. He had never found it, however. He was introduced to it through my mother’s mother, a mystic who was a devoted follower to the dark arts, and claimed to be anointed by the spirits.

When I was a child I began having visions, though I never knew what they meant at the time. When I closed my eyes I would visit a world perfectly mapped to ours, but entirely different. With different people and events, but you wouldn’t know any better. The difference is, this world defied the laws that govern the one I grew up in. I will show you later what I mean, but there was a magic here, and in this world I learned this magic, and learned to take this magic with me, into the world.

As my father frantically sought this magic for himself, we traveled all across the globe. I attended many fine schools, and saw many beautiful lands of varying color, but I never encountered the magic my father was looking for. It was only in my dreams.

I’m writing to you now in Hong Kong. I’m stationed in a port, and I will be traveling along the coast to meet the indigenous people, and learn of their culture. The dark arts are strong here.

The ship is the finest in the fleet, run by the elder seamen. They have worked their way through the ranks and have achieved the highest status of master seaman, demonstrating the ability to comfort and serve the guests. The ship sails on and under and above the water, wherever the cities exist.

I now drink quite a bit, because the powers that have been revealed to me are overwhelming. The alcohol is the only way to assuage the responsibility I now feel for sharing these powers with man. But not many people are capable of understanding these powers, which only adds to my frustrations. The other added benefit is that it allows me to feel the powers more acutely. The realm of men is a heavy one, with heavy loads to bear. There is always the programmed response, which is unnatural and unnerving. The alcohol allows me to forget this response and react more naturally.

When I was young I was visited time and time again by a being, much like an angel, or a daimon. I would wake, alone in my room, and we would talk, and they would teach me sacred wisdom and divine teachings. Much like spiritual leaders, or a teacher. They would not tell, but reveal, and never before I had a question. Only after. It became my responsibility, my duty, to have the questions ready for them so that whenever they visited, I would be ready to ask.

I was visited by one recently, and we walked a very long time, and they showed me a great many things. I asked what my purpose was. A question that had been to my mind for so long, but that I never truly asked. Or perhaps I never understood the meaning of purpose?

He showed me that my duty was to reveal this world to others so that they may be inspired to seek it. It is always accessible, at any time, but when you sleep you are most likely to be visited, and to embark on these journeys.

At the time I write you there is a dark cloud hanging across the globe. There are industrialists who have created a gray world, a material world, full of things, but no story. There was a recent civil war between two families that I fear will tear the world apart.

It was a war between an industrialist man and an ivory tower woman. These are the two factions that exist now.

The industrialists own the majority of the resources across the globe. They manipulate and manufacture various totems for the people. Unnecessary things, but the people are compelled to accumulate these totems. They adorn their life with them, though they don’t know why.

The Ivory tower is a society of seers. They tell the people what is right and what is wrong, and work with them to find united. The ivory towers exist all across the land, and they continue to build these towers higher and higher with every passing year. Traditionally, large families would govern these towers, and the power would transfer among them. Each passing year these towers grew larger and higher.

Initially, they were just tall enough to see all the land, and hear the people. The people would look up, and they would see the towers, and they could speak to the towers. As the power grew, the towers got higher, and eventually they got so tall that people could no longer talk to those at the top. And the families inhabiting the tower, though they could see the people, they could not hear them. And so in time, they failed to understand them.

In time the people became lost, without the guidance of the seers, and the industrialists began exploiting their weak state.

This is why the war broke out.

The industrialist were in charge of managing the people on the ground. They gave the people roles, and the ivory tower ensured that the people followed the roles.

Once the towers became large and tall enough, the industrialists began making the roles, and taking the role of the ivory tower. However, the industrialists didn’t know the people. They couldn’t see the people as a whole. They were on the ground, and could only see them as parts, not the whole. So they began treating them as parts, and working them into roles that were lethal to their self.

There was a famous industrialist who consorted with many other industrialists, as well as those in the ivory tower. he was an ambitious man, a man who inherited fortunes, and had no taste except for power and pleasure. He famously exploited the people, worse than many others, but the people loved him. They were frustrated by the lack of direction, and this man, despite his horrid failings, spoke to them. It was easy as that. Most other industrialists hid away, working in dark chambers out of sight. But this man walked among the people. He lived lavishly, and this inspired people. Because he walked among the people, they believe he was one of him. But this was a great lie, as I will eventually reveal.

The woman in the ivory tower came from humble beginnings, but devoted herself to the crafts of the ivory tower, learning to listen to people, learning to understand their plight. He married another seer who famously maneuvered the masses into propensity during hard times. He was well liked, and so her own reputation was elevated, and she continued working in the ivory tower, listening to the people, and building the towers higher. Because of her humble beginnings she made many friends with the people, as well as the industrialists. She believed in partnering with the industrialists as a means of helping the people. She rose through the tower, climbing higher, until she possessed some of the highest power in the land.

The last great leader of the ivory tower, an ebony man, who was disarming, and came from the lowest class of society, but born of seers, created a void in the ivory tower.

As is tradition, the people come together and select the next great leader. These people typically come from within the ivory tower. However, the tower had become so distant and high, that the people didn’t know who they were picking.

The industrialist man, claiming to be a man of the people, came forward and criticized the ivory tower for being so tall. He wanted it lower, he wanted to talk to the people like he always had. This man never cared for the people, however. He only employed them, and exploited them. But the people didn’t know this. Or at least, they didn’t care. They only wanted to speak with the ivory tower, they only wanted their voices heard, so that they could live in harmony once again. They were starving, and the struggling to live. They were fat, and they were bursting with material things, but they were as poor as ever. They were thirsty for a message from the ivory tower, a message that resonated with them.

The alcohol is working its way through my veins. I have many more stories to tell.

The great land has a storied history. Groups of men and women devoted to the dark arts traveled from distant places escaped lords and settled into a fertile land. They spread disease when they landed and tried taming the indigenous peoples with their magic. The people would not take, however, and the men of dark arts would later kill these people, slaughtering them because they were immune to the magic.

They needed slaves however, so they found another land which they captured people which were called skraelings and cast their magic upon them. They programmed them with the dark magic and they worked tirelessly for them, building this empire today.

There were a few men, however, who were imbued with the white magic that was revealed to me. These men formed a society that was the basis of the ivory towers known today. They had defected from their homeland, just the men of dark arts before them, because they wanted to establish their own towers. These men abolished the dark arts, and as the ivory tower of the new world was built, the dark arts became more taboo.

Not long after the founding of the new world a great civil war broke out that abolished the dark arts, and put an end to the magic that enslaved so many people. It cost many lives, but the men in the ivory tower eventually won out, and this liberated legion of skraelings. It did not put an end to the black magic, however. It just went underground. There were temples scattered across the country at this point, with many in the southern regions. Despite the liberation, many men continued to practice the arts, but disguised their magic as industrialists.

Traditionally, industrialists were men of industry, or labor. They worked hard to keep people fed by whatever means possible. Their aim was to alleviate starvation. The lords were typically landowners, men with great power and influence. Some lords resigned themselves to being industrialists, in order to stave off starvation on their land. Others resigned themselves to leisure, and hired industrialists to do the work for them.

Once the dark arts were abolished, many men formed faceless alliances that used the dark arts, so it was hard to tell where the magic was coming from. They would inscribe their magic in various areas and the weak would succumb to these powers and follow the magic. They would work for these masters, doing whatever they wished, and in return, they were provided tokens for food, as well as pleasure. The dark arts were masters in producing objects that enhanced pleasure, and so society became filled with objects, and tokens became the chief aim and desire for the new world.

These alliances became popular, and in time a new slavery spread across the land. In this way the alliances regained control over the people with the dark arts, all while the men in the ivory towers were satisfied that the dark arts were not a threat.

Initially these alliances provided much security and stability. It attracted people from across the world to visit the new world in search of these tokens, so they could taste the magic of these objects produced. This influx of industry allowed the alliances to grow larger and larger, so they encouraged the immigration. The immigrants would usually keep the magic of their homeland with them, but soon the power of the dark arts caused them to forget their own magic.

The ivory towers were initially called so because of the white magic that guided their decisions to govern. The towers were built tall in order to see over all the land, and observe the people and the industrialists at work. They could be seen sprouting from the horizon, and the people could look to them and speak and they could be heard, even from great distances.

The white magic is something that cannot be described, it can only be revealed, and it is only revealed to those who seek it. Those who do are named the seers, for they seek and they seek, but not everyone with the title has earned it, and many claim to see but they do not seek, and instead become consumed in the dark arts.

The seers pass this knowledge on in tomes and books of knowledge, but it is left encoded in plain text, so that only those who seek will see. Many who wish to pursue the white magic enroll to study as a seer, but never attain the status. They only see the words, and keep them in their spirit as a vessel, never letting it permeate them. In this way the magic has been passed down for millennia.

These temples invariably teach many things and many rituals. The brightest seers typically go on to work in the ivory tower.

Today the ivory tower is no longer inhabited by seers possessing the white magic. The black magic under the guise of industrial alliances have corrupted the society so severely, that the temples themselves have fallen victim to the dark arts. What was once the wellspring for eternal power, now the temples have become centers bent on seeking the tokens. The black magic corrupted the seers, and many would continue to be industrialists themselves, spreading the magic, and producing magic objects and collecting tokens for pleasure.

The most damaging effect was the seers who left the temples for the ivory tower, that once shining star. The sacred divide between the white magic of the ivory tower and the industrialists began to splinter as they began colluding together to gain more and more tokens.

The common citizens that were the most pure lived entirely upon themselves, dependent on no token, and no industrialist.

The white magic, while it is revealed only to those who seek, is most potent in nature. Those who live amongst nature and seek find themselves imbued. These men and women have enormous power wherever they go, and they tame beast and men alike. Their magic allows them to transcend the natural world and provides them abilities to travel into the divine kingdom beyond. They never go hungry, and they never war. They live in peace, and possesses infinite tranquility and wisdom. They feed off the land as it provides for them, and make regular sacrifices of their most prized earnings. In this way they transcend and the magic imbues their being. The indigenous people of the new world possessed magic much like this, but it was extinguished with their extermination before we truly understood its power. The men of white magic understand that whatever they consume, they become, in body and spirit.

Most men never fully form and remain like animals. These are the men named skraelings. Though they appear human on the outside, on the inside they are empty, filled with animal appetites. The dark magic turns men into skraelings. Being a skraeling is like being a slave, or a zombie. The skraelings do not think. They only act, and their only desire is to accumulate more tokens, and collect more objects of the dark arts. They are asleep though they look like they are awake. They do not understand they are under a spell, and so waking them is next to impossible, and even dangerous.

The only way to wake a skraeling is death of their spirit. This may happens when their body is on the verge of death. Or when their spirit believes it will be annihilated and leaves their body. Only when the spirit dies can a skraeling awake, and even then it must be immediately be subjected to the white magic to fill the void. If it is not, an even darker spirit may fill it.

Many years ago, before my lifetime, the industrial alliances began to lose their grip on the skraelings. The alliances became greedy and consumed with the tokens themselves and nearly forgot about the skraelings. Famine struck and many skraelings began to suffer and die.

At the same time, this happened in the middle earth of the old world. The industrial alliances had begun to lose their grip on the people as starvation took hold, and men lost faith in their leaders. A new lord rose up, steeped in the darkest of magic, and he turned them into a fierce society of skraeling’s. He lead everyone to believe that he was a messenger of white magic, and that through his leadership he would purify the country of middle earth from the dark arts, and extend this empire across the globe. Though white magic never kills except in self defense, this leader convinced the people that purification meant killing off all those who threatened their land with the dark magic, and so he began finding the weakest skraelings as well as those who’s families belonged to greet lines of seers of white magic, and killing them off.

While many of the industrial alliances welcomed this leader, and embraced his purification, they feared losing control over their own legions of men. They were starving, and suffering, and slowly the white magic was spreading faster and faster. A new lord of the ivory temple was chosen to lead and he rebuilt the society and gave hope to the starving people. Slowly, the white magic began taking hold again, and men and women were rising up and out of despair, and regaining the powers.

This period was tremendously powerful for white magic, and the industrial alliances became weaker than ever. They colluded once again, however, and when the time came for a new lord, they chose one of their own. This man worked with the alliances and together formed a coalition to fight the leader in the old world. They devised a new alliance named the war machine, and this machine produced the most devastating dark arts magic, capable of killing, but also capable of producing the most tokens for pleasure. This pleased the new lord and the industrialists.

The war machine cast a cloud over the new world once again, but the leader of the old world was defeated. It was only because of the war machine that this was possible. They vowed to keep this dark arts machine running for the rest of time, finding any enemy possible to kill and collect more tokens. At the same time, they instituted a new plan that would prevent hunger and starvation from ever happening again, and thus prevent their lose of magic. If skraeling’s would never be hungry and suffer, the white magic would never arise, and the dark arts would continue prevailing, and the industrial alliances would prevail forever. To do this, they created a magical rock that they added to all food. Tokens were needed to buy the rock, and by consuming the rock, it would produce pleasure, much like the magical objects. This was genius, because starvation and suffering would never be a problem again, and they would always labor to consume more of this magical rock.

In time however the industrialist alliances became greedy and fed more and more of this rock to the people. Soon they became sick. The magic was overwhelming them, and their bodies would change shapes, and illness would consume them. The industrialists devised a plan to create more magical elixirs and special magical objects to mask the negative effects of the magic rock. This worked for a time. The industrial alliances collected more and more tokens because of these advancements in dark arts. The plan continued working.

As I write you now the dark magic is stronger than ever, but the people are sicker than ever. The dark cloud hangs very low, and it has spread across the globe. The white magic exists in places, but it is often corrupted before it can reveal itself to others. It always persists, though. Wherever there is death and suffering, the white magic has a chance to regain footing. The dark arts are masters of the wakeful death, however.

The two families that are vying for power have a long history in the dark arts. Like I mentioned, one is an industrialist from a long line of disciples of the dark arts. His family name is Icon. His ancestor came over from the old world and possessed the dark arts and grew the alliance over time, passing on the magic to his wife and sons, and so on. He is the fourth generation, and has mastered the arts on a grand scale. His children are also grand masters of the alliance.

The other family is one of seers. Her family name is Chriton. They are respected in the ivory tower, as well as by industrialists, which should always raise an eyebrow. He husband was a lord, and she served in many high profile ranks throughout her lifetime.

Her recent defeat came as a shock to the ivory tower, and those within the temples.

Currently, Icon is transitioning his power, and assembling the other industrial alliances trained in the dark arts around him.

There is an awakening happening, however, across the land. The skraeling’s are slowly waking up. The black magic is losing its effect like it once had.

The temples are churning out more graduates than ever, but they graduate without any knowledge of the white magic. This was never a problem before, but many realize that they owe a tremendous number of tokens, and told to repay them back to the temple, and they aren’t sure why this is happening. White magic needs no tokens. It conjures power and pleasure on its own accord. And tokens are of black magic, something that many people are slowly realizing.

2.
Being in the government program, my father moved often. He was stationed around the country and our family followed him. He was deeply devoted to the dark arts and to the ivory tower who he served, but there was something amiss. His parents had fallen victim to the magic rocks, and they were constantly ill. Their bodies had grown amorphous and they became all the more dependent on the tokens for survival. My father mistakenly thought the dark arts would save him from their plight, and he enrolled into the government program on this premise. But his aversion to the magic rock and the lifestyle created a schism in him that he carried. The magic did not work quite so well on him, and though he was deeply devoted to the dark arts, the ivory tower did not receive him well, and though he tried adapting to the industrial alliances, he was not welcome there either. Though he wasn’t always in agreement with his father, he did join his father in forming an industrial alliance, though it failed in due time.

My fathers aversion to the magic rock was one of the saving graces for my own revelation. I was not raised on its magic, and so I never suffered the negative effects. On the contrary, my father prided himself on being very healthy. His emphasis was at odds with the dark art rituals, but it groomed me to be pure in body, and grew to be strong with an imposing power that emanated.

My father enrolled me into a dark arts temple from a young age, after I began having trouble acclimating to the state run programming centers.

The state run programming centers were available for the public, and it was illegal to teach the dark arts. This was a major benefit for attending, but the best seers rarely instructed at these places, so the education was often poor.

My time at the young dark arts temple was very difficult. I never fit in. And I struggled to keep up. The dark magic had little effect on me. I grew up all over the country, and did not consume the magic rock. The superiors grew very angry that I wasn’t assimilating with the programming, so they prescribed me regimen of dark magic potion. This produced a trance like state that allowed the dark arts magic to work its way into me.

Even from a young age I could tell my spirit was being seduced by something bad. I would regularly throw the elixir back up and go about my day, acting like I had consumed it. My performance didn’t improve.

I had many friends who were also struggling with the dark arts temple. Our parents would beat us and fill us with more and more magic in an attempt to pacify our spirits and infect them with the dark arts.

My closest friend and I explored our own magic and let the dark spirits guide us deep into the realm of the underworld. Here we escaped during temple and in our free time and made friends with the dark spirits. This made the suffering bearable and provided an escape. We practiced and performed rituals with one another in an attempt to save our spirit from the damage inflicted by the elders. This made our bodies strong and immune to pain. We would torture our bodies to demonstrate the loss of feeling of pain and the ability to joyfully endure. This was powerful.

One day awoke to hear that my friend was taken away from me, and plunged in to the underworld forever. His spirit could not be retrieved. This had a profound impact on me, and left my parent very troubled, for the dark arts was not suppose to kill a child. Only deserving adults. My parents were very alarmed. They didn’t know what to do, but they didn’t trust the young dark arts temple any longer, so they enrolled me in a state run program once again, but filled me with even more black magic elixirs in an effort to keep me on track.

I was exposed to many kids my age who were not followers of the dark arts, but they were good people. This surprised me, but I liked them.

This was the first time I was exposed to other elixirs. These were different than the ones the dark arts prescribed. They opened me in different ways, and soon I became fascinated by the states of being I was experiencing.

During this time I became sick as I consumed more and more elixirs. My parents became alarmed again, upped the elixirs they provided, and eventually enrolled me into a young government program. I was housed with all boys and trained to be a soldier.

I soon discovered the power of vibrations. These vibrations moved me into different states of being, much like the elixirs. I became obsessed with trying to hardness these power. My parents also understood the power of these vibrations, and encouraged my explorations. My father came on hard financial times and eventually gave me the option to go back to state run programming, which I pursued, since there were many other kids my age also pursuing this interesting magic. Vibrations have the interesting ability to synchronize the mind into various states of being. They can be used for good or bad, black or white magic, but understanding their power was a powerful mechanism, and a tool that many found influential.

The year I returned another dear friend who submersed himself deeply in the dark arts was claimed to the underworld. Two of my closest friends were claimed by the dark arts. This was wrong. This shattered my world.

I became very skeptical of the dark arts, and plunged into the world of elixirs, exploring every sedation of pleasure I could find. My parents wanted nothing to do with me, and insisted I was off course. They disowned me and I fled into the underground with others who partook in the elixirs. These adventures exposed me to a variety of people from various walks of life, and I learned a great deal.

I chased the elixirs and the pleasures as far as possible, seeking this escape as a substitute for the dark arts, but still just as blind and empty.

I came close to death and confronted the spirit Beelzebub on a number of occasions. The judgment was before me several times, and there was much debate as to what to do with my body, which was very sound and fit, and the my mind was very strong, but my heart was not taking to the dark arts.

I was a strong vessels, but I had many holes.

On one of my final judgments, as I was seated in from of the daimon Beelzebub, my body was on the verge of rot, and my guardian being appeared and I became light. The divine being gave me instructions for the rest of my life. I was chosen and I must follow and seek, and seek, for as long as I have breath. This was my gift. This was my duty. This was my purpose.

When I returned to my senses, I had a renewed sense of spirit. No longer did the elixirs appeal to me. My spirit was whole, and I was empty.

I had gained powers that I never imagined, though they were still far from developed.

I had heard of a shapeshifter before. These men who were like gods, capable of being whoever they wanted to be, achieving whatever they wanted to achieve. They were everything and nothing. They were formless, taking the form of whatever they needed to at the time. These shape shifters were a faction of seers. They possessed a light that allowed them to elucidate the dark arts and empower the sleeping skraelings to action.

But my powers were just beginning. I was instructed that for ten years I will be alone, and I will search, and I will never be filled, and only at the ten years, when I broke my body in the world of the dark arts, would the purpose of my life be revealed.

The divine being told me I was to complete twelve labors before my body would be broken and my purpose was revealed. I would toil for a decade undergoing this transformation of mind and body and spirit in order to achieve this message from beyond.

I assumed the identify of a shapeshifter, and became invisible wherever I went, like a reflection to those who saw me, they saw the best in themselves, and this allowed me to move amongst those in the dark arts with relative ease, yet not be found. Whoever I encountered saw themselves, the best in themselves.

In this way I returned to the state programming and took the entrance exams. The divine being moved through me and I passed and gained entrance to an academy in the northern reaches where nature flourished, but where the frigid cold permeates the bones.

In this place I was alone and I practiced the dark arts and mastered their instructions, becoming and appearing to be the best of the pack. This was an isolated academy with seers providing very close attention to the development. I met a close confidant that I will say more on at a later time.

I excelled here and gained entrance to one of the most prestigious temples in the country, in the heart of the new world, in the middle of the darkest part of the country, but where they were renown for one thing: vibrations. This polis produced the most skilled technicians of the vibration arts, capable of filling millions of skraeling’s into various states of being with their frequencies. It was at this temple that I gained a reputation for being different, though no one could figure why. I met two more confidants that I will elaborate more about at a later time.

When I selected my areas of study, I chose two opposite areas of focus: studying the origins of white magic, and learning to evaluate the impact of spells, or black magic. These were two opposite areas of study, but to me they pushed me to the boundaries of what was worth understanding.

Soon I graduated and was accepted into a global industrial alliance. I was a skilled shapeshifter, but I excelled at the dark arts. I was capable of working mindlessly and making converts of people to forfeit their tokens for magic objects.

I pursued this work to perfection, hoping that my divine being would reveal himself during this achievement and reveal more for me. This did not happen, however.

Along the way I was visited by the great divine being and he instructed me to pursue the battles of the body and consume rightly and eat rightly, for this was the way to holiness, and white magic. I abided by this and subjected myself to the most rigorous physical battles. I gained in strength and my power was increased. The muscles on my frame grew larger and larger. And I ate the meat of many massive animals to consume the power and incarnate it for myself. This power emanated from my being and attracted the attention of many powerful people, although many people saw it as brutish, or threatening. But most respected this, as it was the highest form of mastery, in both white magic and dark arts.

The more I excelled in gaining tokens, of which i accumulated countless riches, the more dead I became inside, and soon I began to seek for pleasure in other things. Women, mostly.

I used my abilities to seduce many women, sleeping with them effortlessly. Eventually I used my powers to seduce women of other men, thinking that perhaps they would satisfy me, like they satisfy their partners. This was not the case, however. I even gained a reputation for being a specialist in pleasure, and women paid me to seduce and love them. I stayed in this realm for some time until I met a woman who finally seduced me.

She was self taught and the blackest of black artist, capable of great magic. The magic never worked on me, but I became obsessed with trying to heal her of the dark arts. This task almost consumed me, taking me to my very end, almost breaking my own body to release her from the dark arts grasp, but it was all in vain, and it taught me a valuable lesson.

I had disavowed her and traveled the globe in search of answers, thinking if I cannot heal, who can heal? But it was not my duty to chose who is healed, and who the white magic is revealed to. It is only revealed to those who seek, and some never seek. And if I am to gain my full power, seeking to heal another is not seeking the white magic. This was a powerful lesson that provided much strength.

I had traveled around the globe in search of answers.